Big Brother 18 Recap: Battle Back Special Episode!

The special Big Brother Battle Back episode is finally here! Tonight we’ll find out which of the first five eliminated houseguests will win the chance to get back in the house and possibly go on to win a half million dollars. If, of course, they don’t just end up immediately being targeted for eviction yet again.

Tiffany Rousso, sister to former houseguest Vanessa Rousso, was the last player to be evicted before the special Big Brother Battle Back episode on Friday night. She joins previously eliminated competitors Glenn Garcia, Jozea Flores, Victor Arroyo, and Bronte D’Acquisto. The five houseguests will be facing off head to head as they struggle against each other to claim victory and a second chance in the game.

Most of tonight’s episode will be focused on the pre-taped Battle Back competitions with the five evicted players. Unfortunately we will not get to see the Head of Household Competition until Sunday, although it’s possible it may have already actually happened in real life. Whoever won the Battle Back challenge will be among the HoH players, so we aren’t sure yet whether or not that means they will or won’t be guaranteed a safe week after returning to the game.

Battle Back Competition Results:

Round 1: Glenn vs. Jozea

First up we have Glenn Garcia vs. Jozea Flores in a modified version of the previous “Berry Balanced” Head of Household Competition from earlier in the season. In this version of the competition, there is a new ‘poison berry’ that each houseguest can grab and use to make the other person lose all their berries.

All of the houseguests have been sequestered from each other until the challenge, so this is the first time they are finding out who they will be going up against (or at least that’s what the show is making us think). Jozea says he’s the Messiah, so if Jesus can walk on water, he should be able to walk on log beams!

Glenn and Jozea are neck and neck when Big Brother starts drenching them with rain. As Jozea starts leading, Glenn decides to go for his ‘poison berry’ to tank Jozea. However, Jozea manages to beat him back to the berry collector and lock in his first ten berries, so Glenn can’t use the ‘poison berry’. Jozea decides that even though he’s ahead, he is going to use his own ‘poison berry’ to mess up Glenn. This puts Glenn so far behind, he just can’t possibly catch up. Jozea wins.

Round 2: Jozea Flores vs. Victor Arroyo

Former BFFs Victor and Jozea now have to battle it out against each other. They are battling in a modified version of the tennis challenge earlier in the season. This time they will be aiming to knock rackets with each other’s faces on them. Victor makes a joke about Jozea’s balls flying at his face is not good.

Victor gets the first one down, then Jozea gets one. They are both terrible at hitting targets. They are both complaining about being tired from having to run around collecting their balls. Victor takes the lead but Jozea quickly catches up. Then Victor manages to pull ahead again and hit the last two targets. Victor wins!

Round 3: Victor Arroyo vs. Bronte D’Acquisto

Bronte and Victor will be fighting in memory challenge featured earlier in the competition. They will watch short moving photos on three different monitors, and then have to answer questions by putting up the correct houseguest’s photo. Bronte tells Victor that there is not a single person in the house that likes him before they start the game. That’s just rude!

Both of the players seem to be guessing wildly in a lot of cases. Victor tries to buzz in first, but he has three things wrong — although he doesn’t know how many are not right. Bronte buzzes in next, but she only has one thing right.

Victor tries to chime in again, but this time he has one wrong. He starts going off in Spanish in the Diary Room about how it is all too fast and difficult! Bronte tries again, but she is also wrong again. She just starts changing around her houseguests over and over and keeps hitting the buzzer. She says it’s a match game and she just has to keep trying until she gets it right. But Victor manages to figure out all the right answers first and wins once again. Bronte tells Victor as they hug it out that he should not trust anyone in the house if he gets back in.

Round 4: Victor Arroyo vs. Tiffany Rousso

Time to crown a Battle Back champion and determine who will be going back in the house. Tiffany is bummed to see Victor because he is a competition beast. Victor is happy to hopefully put Tiffany in her place this time.

In this challenge, Tiffany and Victor have to hang on ropes while listening to audio clues and putting together a puzzle hanging on a big wall. The audio cues tell them times bands will be playing at the “Electric BB Festival” and they have to make sure they also put the right band names with the right times in addition to completing their wall puzzle.

Tiffany says she is good at puzzles so this is her kind of challenge. Her strategy is to work from the bottom up. Victor, meanwhile, is working to go from top to bottom and work as fast as possible. Both Victor and Tiffany realize that they have put the top line of words of the big poster in the wrong place. So they both have to move their whole puzzles up.

Victor finishes first and now he’s working on his band names matching the right times. Tiffany is way behind and Victor finally manages to get it all right and buzz in. Victor wins! Tiffany hugs him and tells him “trust Frank” and “don’t trust Day.”

Back to host Julie Chen and time to tell the houseguests about the Battle Back twist and Victor to return to the house. She calls them all to the living room and announces that a player will be coming back. The players scream and squeal when Julie tells them one of the first five evicted houseguests will be coming back in.

Naturally, the houseguests are less than pleased to find out someone will be coming back. Da’Vonne makes the best faces! Nicole is afraid it is Jozea coming back. They all wait anxiously to see… Victor is back!

Before the night ends, Julie announces that there will be another twist for the next four weeks. Hidden around the house are clues to a secret room. If one of the houseguests figures out the clues and finds the room, they will uncover a power that could change the game!