Austin May Put His 'BB' Showmance In Jeopardy

Leading up to Thursday's double eviction on Big Brother 17, it looks like Meg is the likely candidate for the night's first eviction. Although James and Meg have made a few attempts at flipping the house, Vanessa is still running the show here, which means Meg is almost definitely going home. But one of the plans concocted this week, Operation Trojan Horse, is based on convincing Austin to evict Julia from Big Brother, and then cast the blame on Steve, and it's pretty tempting. Game moves aside, the main thing Austin is worried about in this situation is pissing off Liz. Now that they are officially boyfriend and girlfriend, would Liz dump Austin if he voted to evict Julia? A few weeks ago, the answer was probably, "of course!" but now... I'm not so sure.

For starters, Julia is not playing a particularly strong or smart game. Her knowledge about Big Brother is limited, and she has yet to win a competition. Late last week, Austin and Liz were scolding Julia for putting their alliance in a tricky position. Meanwhile, Liz has been getting stronger as the weeks go by, and while her cockiness might be bugging BB fans, she's in a great position right now. Julia, like Meg, is kind of dead weight. Austin and Liz still need the numbers for now, but I think she could be easily convinced that getting rid of Julia might have little effect on her game, assuming she plays it right.

There's also the fact that Liz's feelings for Austin are growing as well. Gone is the Liz who could barely stand being touched by Austin. In her place is the Liz who says things like, "I'm just happy I made it this far with you." Maybe keeping your boyfriend around, who can at least win competitions with you, isn't so bad.

On the other hand, Julia is her twin, after all, and it would be seriously messed up of Austin to evict her. Even though her Diary Room entries lately indicate otherwise, Liz seems to be someone who cares what other people think, and most people would be less than thrilled if she let Julia's eviction slide. Plus, if Julia reacts so strongly to Liz and Austin making out, I can't imagine what her reaction would be if Austin evicted her and Liz was cool with it.

Only one person can win Big Brother, and I think Liz likes her chances against either Austin or Julia. As long as Liz keeps her head in the game, it doesn't really matter who ends up in the final two with her.

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

Image: CBS