Two weeks into Big Brother 28 and the pattern is already clear: the returning reality stars are running this house, the rookies are either aligned with them or scrambling to catch up, and anyone who makes themselves too visible too fast is going to find out the hard way that week two is not actually too early to go home. Rome Seymour found this out. He found it out in the nomination ceremony, in the living room, in front of everyone, via a speech that was less "game move" and more "public dismantling." And then he lost the Block Buster competition and was evicted. So. Welcome to week two of BB28. Let's talk about what happened.

HOH: Devens Takes Control. Survivor Is Still Running Big Brother.

After Ashley's 14-0 eviction, Rick Devens won the week two Head of Household competition — a rodeo-themed shuffleboard tournament where houseguests competed in pairs, eliminating whoever they beat until one person remained. Devens won. Making it two comp wins in two weeks, counting the near-miss he had in the first HOH before his puzzle fell over. The man came to play, which is exactly what everyone in the house should have been more worried about on day one.

With HOH power secured, Devens immediately began building toward his actual target: Rome Seymour. Not openly — openly would have been too clean, too honest, and this is Big Brother. Instead, Devens ran two alliances simultaneously. The Crossovers — his real one, with Dee, Angela, Barrett, and Drew — and a fake alliance called The Red Corner with Dee, Kamu, Haley, and Chuk. When the two eventually merged into a single majority group, Drew named the new combined alliance "Toolshed," because, as he explained, they're all tools in the alliance. Drew said this as a compliment. It was not received that way by everyone. The alliance exists. It is called Toolshed. This season is going to be something.

The Nominations: A Ceremony That Turned Into a Floor Show

Devens nominated Jason De Puy, Lyric Medeiros, and Melody Morris — pointedly, all three were people Rome had specifically asked Devens to protect. This was the message. The backdoor plan required keeping Rome out of the veto competition, which meant putting up his allies instead and hoping his chip wasn't pulled. It wasn't. Rome didn't play in the veto.

But the nomination ceremony itself is where things went sideways in the best possible way. Devens used his speech to call Rome out directly — naming him, flagging his influence in the house, making clear that the nominations were designed around him even though he wasn't on the block. This is a move that works strategically and socially only if the rest of the house stays quiet and lets it land. The rest of the house did not stay quiet.

Angela Murray — BB26 veteran, Crossovers member, woman who clearly had been waiting for an opening — used the ceremony to confront Jason De Puy directly about emotionally manipulating her. In the middle of the nomination ceremony. That CBS had planned as a five-minute procedural moment. Angela turned it into the first real fight of the season, airing grievances about Jason's gameplay in front of the entire house, with cameras rolling, with Julie Chen Moonves presumably watching from a monitor and saying a quiet thank you. Jason later described the fight as "very disheartening" and said nobody spoke up for him. It was week two.

The Veto: Devens Wins Again. The Backdoor Is Complete.

Devens, Angela, and Barrett competed alongside the three nominees in the Power of Veto competition. Rome's chip was not pulled — the backdoor plan held. And then Devens won the veto, which at this point feels less like luck and more like the universe confirming that Survivor players simply train differently.

He used it on Lyric — who had promised she would never nominate him in exchange for her safety, a deal that will either be honored or become the centerpiece of a future episode when it inevitably isn't. Rome was named as the replacement nominee. The backdoor was complete. Rome, who had spent week one building what he called an empire of social connections, was now on the block with nowhere to go.

What followed was described by multiple sources as emotional. Rome went through anger, then despair, then — reportedly — something resembling acceptance and love, which is a very specific emotional arc for week two of a reality competition. He and Lyric had a conversation in which she told him she wanted to be with him on the outside. She asked him, if he was evicted, to wait for her. He said he would. It was week two of a competition show. This showmance had materialized approximately five minutes after the premiere and was now producing airport-farewell energy before the jury house was even a concept. Big Brother is a very strange place.

The Block Buster: Jason Saves Himself, Rome Runs Out of Moves

On eviction night, Jason, Melody, and Rome competed in the "Pirate's Booty" Block Buster — a race to rearrange oversized gems into their own columns. Jason had nearly won the veto by seconds earlier in the week. In the Block Buster he didn't make the same mistake twice. He figured out the fastest method, clocked in first, and saved himself. Just like that, the Drag Race alum who had spent much of the week in Angela's crosshairs was off the block and safe.

Which left Melody and Rome. And there was never really a question. Toolshed had the numbers. The house wanted Rome out. Lyric, who had promised to vote however kept him safe, ultimately told people she would vote to evict him — whether out of strategic pragmatism or an acknowledgment that love and reality television are not always compatible. Rome was evicted. The vote count was not close.

The Week 2 Situation Report

Two weeks in and the power structure of BB28 is already fairly legible. Toolshed — Devens, Dee, Angela, Barrett, Drew, and several others floating in the periphery — is the dominant alliance, led in practice by the three returning players who brought twenty-five seasons of combined experience into a house of rookies. Mallory is still in the house despite being Dee's original week one target. Jason survived a direct confrontation with Angela and won the Block Buster. Rome and his self-described empire are gone. Lyric is now a single woman in a house where the showmance that defined her first two weeks has just been evicted. And somewhere in the Toolshed, Barrett and Drew are apparently already considering jumping ship.

The pronoun fight between Jason and Devens and Kamu that CBS hasn't aired yet also still exists in the feeds. Week three is going to have material to work with. [→ À TOI : ajoute tes impressions — Rome en sortant, Lyric maintenant qu'elle est seule, qui te plaît de plus en plus]