‘Big Brother 27’ week 2 review: Jimmy and Keanu go to war

Only two weeks in and the chaos has already hit the Big Brother 27 house. Week 2 of CBS’s Big Brother 27 saw the house guests drop their guards and go on the attack to divide the house into two. The uncertainty of premiere week is long gone. The house guests have adjusted to the house and started to make their chess moves. Unfortunately, some have set fires to their games, while others are building up a group for the battle ahead. It’s a fascinating series of developments, especially for it to emerge so early into the season. Week 2 didn’t disappoint as an exhilarating round!

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

One of the interesting cases to emerge from the game is the troubling side-effect of “HOH-itus.” To sum up, it’s when a Head of Household (HOH) goes on a major power trip and damages their game by forgetting they’re only in power for one week. This outcome cursed many past house guests from winning the game. Jimmy is the latest HOH to go on a power trip.

What was he thinking?! It’s one thing to be firm and set your goals, but it’s another to push your alliance members away. You have to be callous and cold to cause your allies to form an alliance without you as a precaution. Mickey, Morgan, and Rachel made the right call to be wary about Jimmy; he was so quick to disregard any of their conversations and not listen to their feedback. That’s not the way to make your allies feel trusted and reassured. It’ll be interesting to see if Mickey and Morgan’s side alliance comes back to haunt him in the future. They’re building many strong connections, so it could be easy for them to pull new people into their groups.

Musical nomination chairs.

Jimmy’s nominations for Week 2 was chaos caused by power, both with twists and the HOH. His initial choices of Adrian, Keanu, and Kelly all matched the right calls you’d want as an HOH. For instance, Kelly and Keanu were obvious house consensus targets (we’ll get to Keanu shortly!), and Adrian was a behind-the-scenes threat that Jimmy could get rid of. I liked his final choices because any of them leaving would strategically help him in the long run. However, it’s what he did afterwards that was messy.

Why turn on allies who could help you in the game? Amy was a number who would blindly help Rachel’s side, and Will was a likable player that no one wanted to place on the block. And let’s not forget, he thought of putting up Ashley, who already supported him due to last week’s deal. Sure, Jimmy was forced to replace two more people on the block, but he could’ve easily picked off some of the guys or under-the-radar people. Jimmy was too focused on not getting blood on his hands that he bled his own chances. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hard pivots in a completely new direction in the coming weeks to save himself.

Competing in the dark.

The Week 2 challenges of Big Brother 27 were quite fun and elaborate. Firstly, the sewer HOH competition stood out thanks to its darkness element (e.g., the players being blinded in complete darkness) and the introduction of several powers. These darkness games are so satisfying from a game element because they keep everyone on an even playing field. Anyone could’ve found the large key in the darkness and claimed the HOH win. Plus, so much chaos comes from the house guests desperately trying to work their way around. Big Brother should always find a way to bring these back every season.

The Power of Veto was simple, yet so memorable thanks to the return of Big Brother 25’s Felicia and Big Brother 20’s Kaycee. If there is one thing that Big Brother does better than other reality TV shows, it’s honoring the history and house guests of the past. Big Brother loves to create challenges around iconic players! Having Felicia come back to announce the trigger words added plenty of humor and absurdity. The visual of her speaking the phrase while people dressed up as giant plants is the type of comedy you can’t expect anywhere else but Big Brother.

For example, Kelley’s twist competition to win a second POV. Fans of Big Brother will remember this iconic game when Kaitlyn lost the puzzle during her own twist competition on Big Brother 20. Sure, it’s a simple puzzle, and yes, anyone could finish it within two minutes. But Kaitlyn proved that sometimes not everyone can do it. Seeing this puzzle return was a nice nod to the past, and even though we all knew Kelley would solve it, it didn’t take away from the fun.

Is it the right strategy?

Speaking of Kelley, she’s in a group of house guests where their strategies have perplexed me based on their actions and growth (or lack thereof). Kelley winning a jury vote seems like a long shot. She’s openly banding with the powerful men and disregarding any opportunities to work with the women. Like whenever Rachel, Amy, or Ashley tried to connect with Kelley, she would be open in the moment, but then she would turn against them afterwards. Kelley may get carried to the end, but she can’t to convince anyone to vote for her to win the game. Or she may get cut along the way, as the men seem more interested in having a bro alliance this season.

Keanu, on the other hand, is playing with fire too wildly. Firstly, trying to follow Big Brother 15 winner Andy’s strategy of being in every room only works if people want you there. He’s intruding too much, to the point of being too visible throughout the house. But his real detriment was openly calling out people and making himself look like a threat. Keanu isn’t playing the long game; he’s too shortsighted, thinking he’ll win challenges to get to the end.

And finally, Rachel has pleasantly shown growth since her time on Big Brother 12 and Big Brother 13. She’s creating alliances, utilizing strategy, and she’s not getting into too many fights (the arguments with Zae and Keanu, notwithstanding). Though, her issue seems to be the cloud of her Big Brother legacy. She’s THE Rachel Reilly! Everyone is using her past image against her and not getting to know her as Rachel in 2025. More likely, Rachel isn’t going to win Big Brother 27 because she’s already won, and people don’t want to vote for a returning winner.

An accomplice no more.

Amy’s eviction, unfortunately, was a combination of errors that plagued her. The Week 2 votes were so scattered that anyone could’ve been evicted. However, her best chance of survival was if she had been sitting against Adrian on eviction night. No one wanted to vote Will out of the house. Adrian was a physical threat; it would’ve been perfect timing to get him out now, vs. dealing with him later on. So, for Adrian to have won the BB Blockbuster, that win sealed Amy’s fate. She knew it. Her alliance knew it. The house and viewers knew it. Her window of opportunity was slim.

But we can’t judge Amy’s outcome simply by one challenge loss. Amy was seen too much in the house as Rachel’s ally; someone who was too deep in Rachel’s alliance that couldn’t be moved. With the anti-Rachel sentiment growing, it was a win for the other side of the house to hurt the alliance by evicting Rachel’s closest ally.

Plus, Amy wasn’t campaigning strongly enough to convince anyone to work with her. She couldn’t win any challenges, and her alliances were squarely on one side of the house. Since Will was a likable houseguest playing in the middle, the chances of getting his vote were more advantageous than Amy’s.

Overall.

Week 2 of Big Brother 27 was an explosive week full of twists, turns, and tension. Jimmy’s HOH run could’ve been an easy week, but the powers threw him for a loop and left the house spinning. Keanu came ready to fight, and the other side of the house launched an attack against Rachel’s side. If you’re a fan of Big Brother strategy and social chaos, this week delivered plenty of it and more.

Big Brother 27 airs new episodes on Sundays, Wednesdays & Thursdays on CBS.