Big Brother featured the HoH Vince Panaro nominating three people for eviction, Zach Cornell receiving a game-changing advantage, and the "secret accomplice" exposed during the Season 27 episode that aired Sunday night on CBS.
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At the first Nomination Ceremony of the season, Vince, a 34-year-old who is unemployed from West Hills, CA, chose to nominate Amy Bingham, a 43-year-old insurance agent from Stockton, CA; Ashley Hollis, a 25-year-old attorney from Chicago, IL, who currently resides in New York, NY; and Isaiah "Zae" Frederich, a 23-year-old salesperson from Paducah, KY, who currently resides in Provo, UT, for eviction.
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The 90-minute Big Brother broadcast featured the 16 newbie houseguests, plus returnee Rachel Reilly, trying to determine who among them was the mastermind's "secret accomplice" on Day 1 of the game.
Rachel announced that she was not the accomplice, but if she and the rest of the house couldn't figure out the person's identity, there would be 17 houseguests playing the game this season.
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Mistrust and suspicion broke out in everyone's conversations, and there were quite a few suspects.
In the end, 16 houseguests, minus the accomplice, cast their votes. Five people thought the accomplice was Zae, and 11 players thought Rylie Jeffries was the accomplice.
"If Rylie is the accomplice, he will leave," the mastermind announced.
Rylie, however, was not the accomplice, and he didn't appreciate being accused of being a liar.
The houseguests failed their mission and so the accomplice got to officially join the game as the 17th houseguest. The accomplice's identity was going to remain a secret going forward.
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"You haven't seen the last of me," the mastermind teased.
Big Brother viewers, however, learned that the secret accomplice was actually Amy, who had been one of the first houseguests to enter The Hotel Mystere.
"I pulled it off. No one suspected me. I got zero votes. But now, I'm going to be guns blazing to win this season and make that $750k for my family," Amy shared in the Big Brother Diary Room.
The houseguests subsequently received a message from The Hotel Mystere's management team.
Rachel was told she'd have to sleep in the Have Not room, eat slop and take cold showers. However, the hotel decided to comp her stay for Week 1 as well as three other Have Not houseguests.
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Rachel picked Cliffton "Will" Williams to join her, and then Will selected Zach to accompany them.
Zach got to pick the third Have Not, and, although he really wanted to spend time with Lauren Domingue, he went with Ava Pearl, who apparently flashed puppy-dog eyes at him.
Rachel, Will, Zach and Ava were told they'd be safe from eviction that week, which made many houseguests -- especially Jimmy Heagerty -- even more worried and wary about Rachel's ongoing position in the game.
Zach then received a secret message in the Diary Room, that he could use the $10,000 he had won to buy his safety in the game.
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"Any time prior to jury, if you're on the block at the end of the Veto Meeting and you feel your game is in jeopardy, you can use this $10,000 to buy your safety," the message read.
"You can take yourself off the block by giving the Head of Household your $10,000 and forcing them to name a new nominee. The Head of Household can not stop this transaction."
Zach called it "the best power" he's ever seen on Big Brother, but if he ultimately decided not to cash in his prize money for safety, he could keep the $10,000.
Jimmy, Mickey Lee and Morgan Pope proceeded to form an alliance, and they called themselves "The Triple Threat."
Meanwhile, Amy and Rachel were bonding, and Amy said they simply "got each other."
Amy and Rachel dubbed themselves "The Mom Squad," and Rachel advised Amy to let the younger contestants enter showmances, become distracted and go after one another while they stayed quiet in the background.
Drama later unfolded once Ashley took a long shower in the HoH room. She rubbed Katherine Woodman the wrong way in particular, and the women had a confrontation.
But someone like Vince had bigger fish to try. Vince, the week's Head of Household, had to choose three people to nominate for eviction, and he worked with Jimmy to make the big decisions.
Jimmy pitched the idea that maybe they should break up the strong "bros" in the house: Rylie, Zae, Zach, and Keanu Soto.
Vince also developed a close, genuine friendship with Kelley Jorgensen, and the pair made a Final 2 pact on Day 2 of Big Brother. Kelley volunteered to go on the chopping block for Vince, but he was afraid nominating an ally would ultimately backfire on him.
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Vince considered nominating Ashley because of the whole shower ordeal as to not ruffle feathers and get too much blood on his hands. Most of the houseguests had pitched Ashley's name, and Vince apparently wanted to make the house happy.
When Vince and Ashley talked, she insisted that she trusted Vince -- but he wasn't buying it.
Amy, for her part, said she really liked Ashley and thought "#Showergate" was the "stupidest thing" she had ever heard.
Amy cried to Vince about how she'd be miserable if Ashley left the house, which made Vince consider nominating them both for eviction since Amy was going to be mad at him if Ashley ended up on the block.
At the Nomination Ceremony, Vince announced he had decided to nominate Zae, Amy and Ashley for eviction.
Vince explained how he didn't get to talk to Zae much and seemed like a bit of a "Wild Card."
Vince told Amy that her nomination just made the most sense for his game.
"Ashley, this has nothing to do with the shower... or anything personal," Vince claimed.
"Your words tell me one thing and your actions tell me the opposite, and it just made me really hesitant. You felt like the most paranoid person in the house, and I didn't know why."
Vince shared in the Diary Room how Amy was just a pawn in the situation because she's a great person. Vince said he needed to fill a seat and Amy was simply close with Ashley, whose name kept coming up as a potential target.
"If Ashley goes home, that's okay for me because I know she's going to be mad at me now and now she's going to put me on the block if she wins HoH next," Vince told the cameras.
"On the other hand, if Zae goes home, he is a strong competitor and he's one of the macho men. That's not bad for my game either! I don't care as long as one of them leaves the house this week."
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Ashley called Vince "a manipulator" and said she didn't trust him, and Amy thought it was a bad move for Vince to put her on the block next to her friend.
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Zae, on the flip side, wasn't really surprised about his placement on the block.