What's Austin & Julia's Relationship On 'BB17'?

If you've been keeping track of Austin and Liz's showmance/fauxmance on Season 17 of Big Brother , you already know that their relationship is about as complicated as it can get in the BB house. For starters, there is the issue of Austin falling in love with Liz, while Liz is lukewarm at best and sometimes seems to just barely stand being around him. Then you have the fact that Vanessa keeps sticking herself into the middle of everything, stirring things up and manipulating Lizstin as part of her strategy. And, on top of all of that is maybe the weirdest aspect: For the first few weeks of their relationship, Austin had no idea that Liz was switching places with her twin, Julia. And, let me tell you, Austin and Julia's Big Brother relationship is totally different than his one with her sister.

Having survived five evictions, Julia and Liz have officially crossed the threshold they needed as part of the Twin Twist. Now, Julia gets to enter the house on Thursday's Eviction episode to play her own game alongside Liz. Although it's clear now that Austin is super into Liz, it's tougher to pinpoint what his relationship is like with Julia. As far as I can tell, it's been all over the place.

Austin & Julia: The Early Years

Before Julia outed herself to Vanessa as one half of a BB Twin Twist, Austin and Lizia (the name for both twins) spent quite a lot of time together. They worked out together often and were in an alliance with Jace and later Vanessa. Austin now contends that he definitely only liked Liz back then, saying that he felt conflicted because sometimes he liked her and was attracted to her, and other times not at all. I don't think we'll ever really know what the deal was back then, but even if it was just to keep up appearances and protect their secret, Julia and Austin were on good terms.

The Golden Age

When Vanessa told Austin the truth about Lizia, there was a definite shift in Austin's relationship with Julia. Whether it was because Julia finally had an out and could stop pretending to be close to Austin, or because Austin realized he probably couldn't pursue both twins, or some combination of the two, Austin and Julia started acting like BB siblings.

As the closest person in the house to Liz, Austin was able to fill Julia in on a lot of details when the twins would switch places. They laughed, they talked Big Brother history, they strategized. It was nice.

The Rift

Over the last week, there has been a definite change in how Julia feels about Austin, and it has not been a good one. There are a few things at play here.

First, there's the conversation Julia had with Steve about the Lizstin showmance. Apparently, Julia did not actually think that was a thing, and she was not at all on board with pretending to like Austin just to protect the twins' secret.

Then, Austin told Jason about the twins and essentially gave Jason his blessing to target Julia in order to save Liz. Whether Austin meant it or was just using it as a game move, I don't know. But, afterwards, Julia was not at all a fan of this.

And then Julia found out about the Lizstin kiss, and her reaction says it all.

Wherever Austin and Julia stand now, there's no telling what things will be like with both twins in the house at the same time. If Julia's smart — and I definitely think she is — she will form alliances separate from Liz and stay the hell away from Austin.

Images: CBS