The New Panic Power On 'Big Brother' Is Something The Houseguests Should Worry About

Big Brother loves its twists, so it introduced one pretty early on in this season. The Whacktivity competitions from Big Brother 21 work a little differently than the regular HoH or Veto comps do. They also come with varying degrees of power. Ovi's Nightmare power was pretty major, whereas Jack's Chaos power was pretty meh. There's only one comp in the twist left, which leaves fans (and houseguests) wondering what the Panic power on Big Brother 21 is.

It's hard to use the previous powers for reference, because they were so different. Big Brother split the Whacktivity competitions into three comps spread over three weeks. The houseguests were also split into three groups and could only compete in one Whacktivity challenge. They also had no idea what the comp or prize would be when they selected which week they would like to compete. The winners of each competition would also stay anonymous unless they chose to tell other people or their power required themselves to be revealed upon use.

The first comp was the Nightmare one and it required Ovi, Cliff, Nicole, Kat, and Bella to sniff various rancid items to identify three that matched the ones in their buckets. Ovi won and his power allowed him to change the HoH's nominations secretly in the middle of the night, forcing the HoH to make new ones last minute. It was valid through the first six nomination ceremonies, and so it will still be in play if he can return to the game when Camp Comeback ends.

The second comp was the Chaos one where Jack, Holly, Michie (Jackson), Tommy, and Sam had to pick up snakes and match them to three inside a cage. Jack won and his power allows him to force a Veto player redraw after players have already been picked. It's valid until six player are left.

That leaves us with the Panic Whacktivity comp. The players competing are Analyse, Christie, Jess, Kemi, and Nick. Either Jess or Kemi won't be able to play since one of them will be evicted ahead of the comp. Reddit is abound with theories about what the power could be. Ovi's required a late night switch of noms — hence Nightmare power. Jack's requires a live last minute change to Veto players — hence Chaos. The Panic power should therefore throw the houseguests into a panic.

One Reddit user theorized that because the first and second powers affect the first two events of the week (noms and Veto) then the third power would likely affect the eviction. Perhaps it will allow the winner to force an immediate double eviction or eliminate/change some eviction votes. Vote flips and double evictions always panic houseguests.

However, another Reddit user theorized that the Panic power will let the winner choose who returns from Camp Comeback. They cited the timeline and Julie's wording as clues. The Whacktivity comps end Week 3. The Camp Comeback challenge ends Week 4. At that point, one of the first four eliminated houseguests will return to the game. Is it a coincidence that the final Whacktivity power is being handed out just a week before a player returns to the game?

The user also noted that Julie said the Camp Comeback houseguests could play the "social game." There has to be a reason they were permitted to keep living in the house. The extra time they spent in the house playing the social game will come in really handy if a fellow houseguest got to choose who came back. It could also be an anonymous power like Ovi's, where the winner doesn't have to tell anyone they had it. That would create a panic in the house as to who made the choice — sort of like last season's Hacker competition that sent everyone into a spiral of wondering who had the power.

The more panicky and paranoid the houseguests are the more they have secret convos, split and create new alliances, and throw around suspicion. So whatever this final power is, it should at least make for good feeds and good TV.