vanessa and shelli have alternated the previous 4 HoHs (it was BotB), so james should take down clay and put up vanessa, even without knowing how it'll unfold. all he can be sure of is that they all gave him their word and lied.
Shelli and Clay are hilarious. To not go up they were telling James they had nothing to do with Austin being saved. Now they are going to say the house is on board to get Steve out, Austin and the twins owe us for saving him, Becky and John agree, and obviously Vanessa agrees.
And then when James asks them who the replacement would be, who would they say? Their plan will never work, it's not like James won't try to verify it lol