Has Austin's Girlfriend Seen His 'BB17' Antics?

It's been weeks, and I'm still so confused about how I am supposed to react to the showmance between Austin and Liz on Big Brother 17 . At first I was creeped out by Austin's borderline obsession with Liz. Then I felt bad when Liz admitted that she was only close to Austin "for strategy." And now that Liztin is officially a couple, I just feel awful because Austin went into the house with a girlfriend at home. With how much the new couple has been flaunting their romance in the house, I have to wonder if Austin's girlfriend watches Big Brother .

This situation is happening in such a public forum, so it has to be really hard for her. If my boyfriend was going on a reality TV show, I would definitely watch him in support, so I have to assume that Austin's girlfriend, who based on his first HOH letter appears to be named Jen, was watching BB17 at some point — at least in the beginning of the season. Though she was mentioned in that first HoH letter in Week 3, her name was not mentioned in his second letter from Week 9. Part of me hopes that she isn't watching to spare her feelings from this difficult situation, and another part wants her to tune in just so she knows exactly what's going on and have an informed conversation with Austin once Big Brother ends.

Though Jen doesn't seem to have a public Twitter herself, her alleged sister, Megan Palacios, is on social media and has been supporting Jen throughout the whole season. Megan retweeted this post that references Jen just to remind anyone fawning over Liztin that he actually does have another girlfriend.

Megan also retweeted this video that Jace posted of Austin saying "Right, I don't think so. Obviously I have a girlfriend that I'm in love with," in response to Jace saying "Liz is hot." No matter what Austin may claim, it would seem from this video that he did not actually break up with his girlfriend before coming on the show.

This tweet from Megan suggests that Austin's girlfriend is watching the show and is very hurt by his embarrassing behavior.

In response to a Twitter user asking why Austin's girlfriend would know about his showmance, Megan replied by claiming that Jen has seen the show, as have Jen's friends, and Megan claims that production has tried to contact Jen. At this time, CBS has not responded to Bustle's request for comment on whether Big Brother production has reached out to Austin's girlfriend.

Megan has stated that she does not watch the show anymore, so it's likely that Jen doesn't either, though it can be hard to avoid Big Brother news sometimes.

I certainly don't blame Austin's girlfriend if she stopped following Big Brother completely. Austin has been disrespectful, and if Jen chose to stop witnessing that, she has every right to do so.

For more on this season of Big Brother, check out Bustle's podcast The Diary Room.

Image: CBS