Elvis (impersonator) evicted from ‘Big Brother’ house

By Matthew Lutey

Elvis has left the building. 

Daniel Durston, a Las Vegas Elvis impersonator, was evicted on the CBS reality show ‘Big Brother’ on Thursday night by a vote of 8-1. 

Daniel had a few parting shots in his speech before the voting started. He called out Michael Bruner specifically for how many competitions he’s won, and called the entire house a bunch of clowns. 

“If you want me to go do your dirty work, vote to save me, or vote to evict me, and in about 10 minutes this season just got boring,” Daniel told his castmates. 

The objective of “Big Brother” is to be the last houseguest remaining, which results in a $750,000 prize. Houseguests are cut off from the outside world, followed by cameras and vie for power to be the Head of Household and nominate two players they would like to see eliminated. A weekly vote is conducted to evict one of the nominated houseguests. 

Daniel was the assumed target after Michael won the Head of Household competition on Sunday’s episode. Daniel nominated Michael for eviction in the first week of the season, and “The Leftovers” alliance that Michael is in collectively wanted Daniel out. 

However, the week wasn’t as cut and dry as it could have been. Daniel pitched to Michael that he is alone in the house, and that if Michael found a way to keep him, he would be loyal to him and help him.  

Even though Michael has a solid alliance behind him, he considered the offer because of his concern about his position within the alliance. Michael is worried about being considered a big threat due to his aforementioned competition prowess. 

Michael nominated the trio of Joseph Abdin, Monte Taylor and Terrance Higgins for eviction, but the stated plan of The Leftovers’ alliance was to backdoor (evict someone without giving them the chance to play in the veto competition) Daniel. However, Michael was not opposed to nominations staying the same and attempting to evict Monte this week. Monte is aligned with Michael, but is seen as one of the favorites to win the season. 

“Honestly, Monte is a big threat in this game,” Michael said in the diary room. “I have to decide if now is the right time to take this shot and flip on my alliance.” 

The possibility of that happening rested on the result of the Power of Veto competition. This week’s competition was OTEV (veto spelled backward), a classic ‘Big Brother’ competition that involves racing through the backyard to recover an answer to a clue, with one player being eliminated each round. Michael picked up yet another competition win, giving him all the power this week. 

Michael ultimately decided to execute the original plan of backdooring Daniel. He realized through a series of pitches that other houseguests wanted Monte out, making it clear that Daniel wasn’t as alone in the game as he was letting on.

“I’ve been contemplating making an unexpected move this week,” Michael said in the diary room. “But this is feeling a little suspicious, and I’m worried this could be a setup. It can’t be a coincidence that multiple people have come to me with the exact same plan within just a couple of hours. This has to of been a coordinated effort, and I don’t want to do anyone’s dirty work.”

Thursday’s episode concluded with a transition into the next phase of the season. The “Festie Bestie” twist ended, meaning houseguests will no longer win safety with, be nominated with, or play in the veto with their designated partner or partners. 

In addition, everyone remaining will either be in the jury that decides the winner of the season, or one of the final two houseguests. The jury phase typically commences with an endurance Head of Household competition on a wall, which is where the houseguests were as Thursday’s episode ended.