‘Big Brother 17’: Julie Chen Says Austin Matelson ‘Doesn’t Even Care About Winning The Game’

Big Brother 17 is a season of unofficial duos. There was the now-defunct showmance of Shelli Poole and Clay Honeycutt; the “twin twist” pair of Liz and Julia Nolan; the fauxmance of Liz Nolan and Austin Matelson. It is a “fauxmance” because, as viewers know and Big Brother Network recounted at the end of July, Liz has never had a real interest in Austin. Austin, however, has fallen hard for the Miami marketing coordinator.

Austin’s relationship with Liz started before her twin entered the house, and it has remained despite Julia’s disapproval. As a result, there’s an awkward alliance of three that, by the rules of the game, can’t survive to the very end. As Big Brother viewers know, there is a final multi-part Head of Household competition between the last three house guests. That final HOH chooses to evict one person. The final two go before the Big Brother jury of evicted house guests. The winner gets $500,000 and the runner-up $50,000.

Third place gets nothing. But to hear Big Brother host Julie Chen tell it, Austin could not care less about how the Big Brother game ends up. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dalton Ross asked Chen if Austin is so blinded by love that he can’t see that the twins will never choose him over each other.

“Puh-leeze … he is SO blinded by puppy love. He doesn’t even care about winning the game. He just cares about getting to Jury House or ANY house alone with Liz. He is smitten!”

As an article in Bustle this week pointed out, the relationship between Liz and Austin is made even more awkward because of Austin’s alleged girlfriend back home. Before he entered the house, Austin said he would remain faithful to his existing relationship. Austin may be blinded by love, but Liz does not feel the same way.

Even if Liz and Austin do remain a couple-of-convenience, the three-way alliance may have other cracks. Julia has shown to have game disagreements with her sister and even, for a brief period, had a desire to align with meta-strategist Vanessa Rousso. That was before the house seemed to turn so fully against trusting Rousso, even though no one has yet committed to targeting her — with the exception of now-evicted Becky Burgess.

As Zap2It reported after Wednesday’s episode, Liz and Austin’s union might eventually make them a target, so the trio might not make it to the end after all.

Big Brother 17 airs three nights a week on CBS. Chen hosts the weekly live eviction episodes on Thursdays.

[Left photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images Entertainment; Right photo courtesy of CBS]