‘Big Brother 27’ recap: The 16 new players move in and learn that [spoiler] is the ‘mystery houseguest’

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Who's ready to "expect the unexpected" for the 27th time?

The doors to the Big Brother 27 house officially opened on July 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. While the identities of the 16 players were previously announced by CBS, a "mystery houseguest" was also teased on social media and by host Julie Chen Moonves, who called the person "very polarizing." So, how did the contestants react to learning that [SPOILER] would be competing alongside them all summer long as the 17th houseguest?

And they're off!

The first eight houseguests are: Kelley, who grew up in a "teeny tiny town" of only 50 people; Zach, who says his "athleticism" and his "soft, sensitive side" are his biggest assets; Ashley, a NYC attorney who calls herself a "strategy assassin" and is open to a showmance; Rylie, who's broken all kinds of bones as a bull rider and hopes to make his brother, who has cerebral palsy, proud of him; Amy, a "very successful" insurance agent and a single mom; Adrian, a self-described "nerd" who wants to win the money to help his mom; Lauren, a bridal stylist and BB superfan who has a dream of opening her own design company; and Keanu, a personal trainer and Dungeon Master who was named after actor Keanu Reeves.

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As these eight explore the house, the viewers see a clock that's dramatically counting down from nine minutes. Amy is already annoying her houseguests for talking too much, and it's only been a few seconds — not a good sign! Both Lauren and Keanu have no intentions of telling anyone else that they are superfans of Big Brother. Before the commercial break, Keanu finds a secret room full of bunk beds.

The next group of eight houseguests are: Katherine, a fine dining server who's a "raging feminist" and admits to being "incredibly single"; Vince, a former driver who used to deliver food to the CBS lost, but who now is jobless and lives with his parents; Mickey, a "city girl" who also enjoys riding horses and ATVs in the country; Jimmy, a former federal government employee who found out he was fired on Twitter, but who will pretend to be a tennis coach; Morgan, a model and online streamer who is "always ready for some competition"; Zae, a door-to-door salesman who grew up in the Mormon church before recently leaving it; Will, the oldest contestant this year who podcasts about sports; and Ava, a NYC artist who draws aura portraits on the streets for some "extra money."

These players walk through the front door and meet the other eight who've already moved in. Jimmy immediately "connects" with Amy, so maybe her game isn't as bad as the previous segment made it seem. Will thinks Big Brother will be "easy money" and he can't wait to win the grand prize. Mickey compares Riley to a country Brad Pitt — sorry, Mikey, we don't see it! Keanu wants to start a "bromance" with Zae since they both have enormous muscles.

Julie's shoe, Big Brother 27CBS

The blackout

Julie calls everyone into the living room, where she teases them about secrets hiding behind the walls and draws their attention to a Head of Household relic on the shelf (it sort of looks like a prop from Legends of the Hidden Temple). The mysterious countdown clock hits zero, and the lights go out. When the lights come back on, the HOH object has disappeared ... as has Julie. All that's left is her shoe.

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A red character with a deep voice and big eyes calls himself the Mastermind, and admits to kidnapping Julie. The telephone rings and Julie tells the players to divide into two search parties: the first eight people will search for Julie and the others will locate the relic.

The search for Julie

Adrian, Amy, Ava, Lauren, Mickey, Rylie, Vince, and Zach are on Julie duty. They have to solve a large bridge puzzle in order to encounter eight doors, each one with a different hint from Julie about what she was wearing when they met minutes earlier. Rylie and Mickey are throwing the challenge because they don't want to be seen as challenge threats this early in the game. Zach opens the correct door and finds Julie ... but what does he win?

The missing HOH relic

The Mastermind has hidden the Head of Household object among several others that look exactly like it. Any time one of the other eight players grabs a wrong relic, they'll drop through a trap door and lose the challenge. They can locate clues around the set in order to ascertain which one is the real HOH, based on the colors of the gems and the shapes of the keys. Morgan is throwing the challenge on purpose. Keanu thinks he has the correct relic, but drops out of frame. Next to drop is Kelley, then Zae, then Will, then Morgan, then Katherine. This is bad, folks. Finally, Jimmy "feels good" about his choice, and he's right!

The prizes

It's time for Zach and Jimmy to find out what they won. "Slow down," Julie says when Zach shouts that he wants to be Head of Household. In actuality, Zach's prize is a $10,000 reward — not too shabby! Jimmy's prize is to name which four houseguests will be playing in the season's first HOH comp, which will take place later. Jimmy tells everyone that he wants to "trade" rewards with Zach since his has the potential of angering a lot of people.

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Jimmy says he'll name himself as one of the four players. But who will be the other three? He questions each of his housemates, and finds out that most of them don't want to compete at all. It's time for Jimmy to name his choices: he picks himself, Adrian, Ashley, and Vince.

The HOH comp

The challenge requires the four players to balance six cores on their BB Blaster for 10 seconds. That will destroy the Mastermind's lair and temporarily end his evil rule — make sense? Jimmy is going into this comp "guns blazing" because he wants to be the first HOH winner of the season. But Vince also desires that power, as he's petrified of being the first eliminated houseguest. Adrian comes close to winning but then he drops everything. Vince gets all six cores balanced and he pushes his plunger, and they miraculously stay put for approximately a millisecond after the 10-second mark. Vince wins!

The twists

Julie informs the players that Vince will be nominating three people for eviction, because the AI Arena from last year is now a "permanent part" of the game, only now it's called the BB Blockbuster. Great twist, lame name! Vince is worried now that "double the amount of people" will be mad at him. The Mastermind interrupts Julie to say there is "more mystery and chaos" to come. He's going to "add something" to the game, aka the 17th houseguest. And it is ...

Rachel Reilly!

The Season 12 fan-fave andSeason 13 winner(who was recently seen onThe Traitors) was first rumored to be in sequester by her friend andBig BrotherlegendJanelle Pierzina, and it turned out to be true. The superfans in the house are all freaking out about Rachel because she's a "huge threat in this game" and on the "Mount Rushmore" of Big Brother. She confirms to Jimmy that she's definitely playing the game. Bring. It. On.

The Accomplice

Just when we thought it was over, the Mastermind reveals that Rachel is not the 17th houseguest, but actually the 16th houseguest. Twist! In fact, one of the people in the game is the Mastermind's Accomplice and not an actual player. Who else is getting The Traitors vibes? If the other contestants correctly guess who the Accomplice is, they will immediately go home. But if no one pegs them as the Accomplice, they will officially join the game.

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Next up, the witch hunt for the Accomplice begins on Sunday night's episode of Big Brother. On Wednesday, the players will compete for the Veto medallion. And the first live eviction will play out on Thursday, July 17.

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