Big Brother 21: Nicole Anthony’s journey to the final 3

As Big Brother 21 comes to a close, we take a look at how each member of the final 3. Last up is Nicole Anthony.

Nicole Anthony has been the biggest underdog of Big Brother 21. Her game has been like a roller coaster ride. She started off on the bottom, rose to the top, and now finds herself in the final 3 with a showmance. Can she win the final HOH Competition and break up the showmance? Or will her lack of physical prowess come back to haunt her?

Nicole’s Big Brother game

Nicole started off Big Brother 21 in a weak position. There was big alliance of 8 and later 9 that she wasn’t part of. She lost her allies Ovi Kabir and Kemi Fakunle in the first 2 weeks. However, she did form a final 2 early on with Cliff Hogg III. With Ovi in Camp Comeback, Cliff and Nicole formed an alliance called “The Fellowship of the Zing” with Ovi to strike if Ovi returned.

Disaster struck when Christie Murphy overheard Cliff’s strategy talk with the cameras. Cliff was nominated alongside Jessica Milagros. When Kathryn “Kat” Dunn won the Power of Veto, she used it save Jessica. As a result, Nicole was named the replacement nominee. Head of Household Nick Maccarone and Isabella “Bella” Wang (part of the Gr8ful alliance running the game) wanted Nicole evicted.

However, 6 members of the Gr8ful alliance split off and formed the Six Shooters alliance and wanted to target Nick and Bella. With Nick and Bella being safe from eviction, the Six Shooters flipped the vote and saved Nicole. Cliff was blindsided in a 6-4 vote. However, the blindside went for naught as Cliff returned in the Camp Comeback twist.

Things changed for Nicole when Cliff won Head of Household after he returned to the Big Brother house. Cliff nominated Jackson Michie and Jack Matthews for eviction. However, Michie won the Power of Veto to save himself. Christie Murphy cut a deal with Cliff to ensure both Christie and Cliff’s safety and Bella was named the replacement nominee. Bella was then evicted 8-2.

The dynamics of the Big Brother house shifted once again in Week 5 when Holly Allen won HOH. Holly nominated Sam Smith for eviction alongside Nick Maccarone. After Nick won the Power of Veto to save himself, Kat was named the replacement nominee to hide her relationship with Holly. This nearly backfired on them when Holly and Kat’s relationship got exposed and the Six Shooters broke up. Kat’s last-minute plea saved her and Sam was evicted 9-0.

In week 6, the door busted wide open for Nicole. Jessica won Head of Household and Nicole helped form the Cliff’s Angels alliance with Jessica, Kat, and Cliff. Jessica nominated Jack Matthews and Jackson Michie for eviction. Jessica also won Power of Veto, ensuring that one of the two alpha males would be evicted. Jack became the first member of the jury in a 6-2 vote.

The balance of power shifted once again when Tommy Bracco won HOH and tried to reform what was left of the Six Shooters. Cliff and Kat were nominated for eviction. Christie became a 3rd nominee after losing America’s Field Trip. When Tommy won the Power of Veto, he used it to save Christie, leaving Cliff and Kat as the final nominees. Cliff made a deal involving himself and Nicole for their safety and Nicole’s ally Kat was evicted 6-1.

Then Michie and Holly went on a tear in HOH Competitions winning 4 in a row. During their HOHs, Michie and Holly formed an unlikely alliance with Cliff and Nicole to get to the final 4. The deal paid off as power stayed within the new group of 4 all the way until final 4.

Nicole finally won her first competition during the double eviction. She upheld her end of the deal by nominating Tommy and Christie for eviction. She had a golden opportunity to backdoor Michie, the biggest threat in the game, during this time as Cliff won the Power of Veto. However, she passed it up to repay Michie for keeping her safe the previous several weeks.

At the final 5, Michie won Head of Household for the 3rd straight time. He nominated Tommy and Cliff for eviction with the intention of evicting Tommy. Nicole then won the Power of Veto and used it to save Cliff, forcing Michie’s showmance Holly to be the replacement nominee.

Tommy made a deal to save himself with Cliff and Nicole that Tommy would throw the HOH at 4 and go after Michie. It looked like it had worked. However, Michie had eavesdropped on them making this deal and used the information to create a lie about Tommy in attempt to get Cliff and Nicole to distrust him.

Unfortunately for Michie, this move didn’t work as Cliff and Nicole were still going to get rid of Holly. However, Holly made a deal with Cliff and Nicole to throw the HOH and POV at 4 in order to save herself. In the end, Cliff and Nicole evicted Tommy.

At 4, Nicole won the Head of Household Competition after Holly threw it to her as planned. Then Michie won the Power of Veto to save himself and become the sole vote to evict that week. Michie voted to evict Cliff and save his showmance Holly.

As a result, Nicole found herself the underdog once again being in the final 3 of Big Brother 21 with a showmance. On Sunday’s episode, Nicole competed in part 1 of the 3-part final HOH Competition. She finished in dead last, meaning she will take on Holly in part 2. The winner of part 2 will face Michie in part 3.

Tune in to the season finale of Big Brother 21 tonight at 9:30 pm eastern to see if Nicole can take home the $500,000 prize!