Big Brother 26-Mels Season Recap 10/13/24

Good morning for the last time this season because we’ve made it to finale day! Its been great but the last few weeks have taken forever. Since Jankie week, MJ and Chelsie have just traded hoh’s so it’s made the end game kinda dull. We’ve watched Chelsie take out who she wanted every week for a while. Only women have won the hoh since the jury phase began and it didn’t hurt their odds that they got out most of the men early. This is the pre-jurors meeting up again before finale. (minue Lisa, maybe she took the picture?) In most seasons, this picture would probably include the F4.

Today is going to be sort of a season recap so strap in, this may be a long one…This season was different from ‘the usual’ and I think that’s part of why I’ve enjoyed it so much. (It was like a house full of the Foutte alliance) Strategically, the hg’s were a mess but they played hard and that’s all I ask from players. Even the recruits, who may only be there for followers, still tried to play the game. (most of them) Having the comps finally be equitable again after so many years made this season possible and so much better. (How long has it been? Around 10 years or so?)

I’ve mentioned before, only 3 players out of the 16 didn’t win a comp and that’s amazing. The game will always be more exciting with a back and forth when anyone can get some power. On top of that, they finally added a twist that didn’t just help a big alliance in power get even more power.

Julie trying out an AI comp:

The AI Arena twist was great and if you’ve read my recaps in past seasons, you know I loathe ALL twists….always! They found a good one so I have to give production props for it. I hope they realize, this twist only worked because the comps were fair, in case they do it again and I hope they do it again.

This season may be remembered for bad but entertaining players, the veto being used 11 times in a row and some of the worst HOH’s we’ve ever seen. It was a season of volunteering for the block, accidentally taking out your allies and the block being “a resume builder.” (Haha, damn recruits!) While volunteering for the block was in, shomances and alliances were out this season. (Project Runway reference) By the time Tucker left, he had them scared to even make alliances anymore.

MJ staring at herself in the mirror, the usual:

There was also a recurring theme of jealously this season that we haven’t seen since maybe BB9 or BB15. We always have a shomance or two to contend with but the “crushes” were out of control. There was MJ and Leah competing for Matt’s attention the first week. Cam, Quinn and Joseph all liked Leah. MJ and Leah both liked Tucker. (Lets not forget Kimo’s crush on Tucker too)

Tucker, who originally liked T’kor, (sorry, she wasn’t available) ended up falling for Rubina. Matt’s continued to talk about MJ like they’re dating since leaving but MJ moved on to Cam after he left. Chelsie began to spiral over it since she’s really into Cam. Chelsie even got creative and ended the Cam & Leah and Cam & MJ flirting by making up game reasons for it. (Even her personal stuff had a strategy)

It was refreshing to have such an unproblematic cast too. The arguments and meltdowns were at least game related and that’s fun to watch. (Ya, they trash talked each other but that’s normal) The worst things we can say about the final 3 is Cam couldn’t win comps, MJ’s ego is too big and Chelsie has a crush on a guy who probably doesn’t feel the same way. That’s not too bad for a show with some sketchy casting choices in the past. Here’s some other memorable things from the season as I run through the evicted houseguests. (Let me know in the comments if I left out something you think is memorable)

Evicted Houseguests:

First, there was Matt, who played too hard from the start. If you remember, Matt was holding meetings in the storage room on the first night of feeds. He an MJ were talking to everyone about how “Angela needs to go” WHILE she was the hoh and before she’d even made her noms.

Derek, Joseph and Matt:

Remember how much he talked? He gave MJ and Leah some competition! Remember when he cut Leah off? She told him “shut the f*ck up Matt, I’m talking!” (I wonder how many people wanted to say that to Leah this season)

This is Matt after Angela walked past him and yes, he had the “crazy eyes.”

He’ll forever be linked to Angela’s “crazy eyes” speech and that day is right up there with Keesha’s Birthday from BB10 in my opinion.

Lisa left next but she won a veto, made moon water and glittered everyones food before she left. (She even inspired my birthday cake which I glittered this year!) She set the tone for veto holders having one on one meetings this season and it continued after she left. She was in a one sided feud with Tucker she didn’t even know existed and had everyone wondering if she was a real chef or lied about her job. (Ouch!)

What can I say about Kenney? He was a cop but said he was “Sweet Kenney K” the sausage guy. We got more out of Kenney after he left the game from his socials. (His pineapple videos in the grocery story are actually funny and I like his wife, she’s funny) Anyway, we’ve learned that along with being a quitter, he may also be a swinger. (You do you Sweet Kenney K) He missed his family, he wanted to go and he did.

Cedric volunteered for the block to help out his alliance and he paid the price for it. Besides Matt, he’s the only one who Kenney told about being a cop. He was a sweetheart and it showed since he’s still popular with the viewers, especially being the 4th boot. His biggest contribution this season was the made up tv series “Young Cedric” even though it was a group effort. My favorite moment was his interview with Julie. Have y’all seen that gif of him smiling and then tearing up while seeing his goodbye messages? It’s so funny!

Without Cedric’s eviction, we wouldn’t have gotten this memorable moment:

Next came Brooklyn, the “married mother,” who hid that she’d been a Mrs. Texas. (She told Chelsie and I still don’t know why it matters but ok) She’s the only pre-juror I thought had potential as a game player. I consistently said she and Chelsie (along with T’kor at times) were playing the best games. Unfortunately, she’ll be most remembered for eating Angela’s charcuterie food. (She and her family have made videos about it herself so don’t feel too bad about it)

Angela’s distress in the diary room, on the floor over the charcuterie may be one of the funniest moments from the season:

After Tucker took out Brooklyn, he left right behind her. Tucker was the alliance buster who was great at comps, no matter what kind. He played hard and also terrible but it was fun to watch. He volunteered for the block to compete in the AI comps and even stayed on the block when he used his veto to save Angela.

Angela had a veto used on her 3 times and Tucker started the trend. He wasn’t your typical “bro” and provided alot of entertainment. He and Rubina outed their secret shomance after Leah caught them making out since it was gonna happen anyway.

Even tho he was in the only real shomance, it’s the least of the things he’ll be remembered for this season.

As for the last of the pre-jurors, there’s Joseph. He managed to be both self depricating AND claim he was a BB mastermind at the same time. He rated the hg’s on their game play, their air time and their popularity. Did I mention he did this TO the hg’s? (Haha) He may also be the only person to directly call Julie “Chen Bot” too. I enjoyed Joseph and his shit talking of the other hg’s with Leah was always hilarious. Joseph left on an allies HOH but he didn’t volunteer for it at least! We’ll remember Joseph’s ‘quality time’ he spent with himself in the tent during his 24 hour solitary confinement. (That’s a memory I could do without)

Quinn was the first juror and as a superfan, I’m glad he made it that far. He had ongoing feuds with Angela and Tucker, sent out his allies accidentally on both his HOH’s and America voted to put him on the block. The only thing larger than how much he loves BB may be how bad he was at playing it. (I still hope he gets his deep dive interview with Taran) I won’t ever forget his “you’re sick nasty…you look good in yellow…you remind me of a minion” speech to Leah while trying to flirt with her. (If my husband doesn’t tell me I remind him of a minion now, I may think he doesn’t love me)

With a cast this bad at the game, it’s only fitting that Quinn’s eviction was set in motion because OTEV was won in only 1 round. Haha

T’kor ran half the house for a long time, while only making 1 big move and barely talking to more than 3 people. She and Kimo blew up the Collective alliance in order to save Rubina. She was like a mob boss no one wanted to upset and used “mmhmmmm” to gain game info from almost everyone. All the hg’s adored her and wanted her approval. She always amused me by carrying herself like a little old lady, while only being 23.

She and Chelsie also did something that I haven’t seen talked about much. The two leaders (or most protected, not really leaders) of different alliances, protected each other for 2/3 of the game. They eliminated the outer people from both groups but didn’t touch each other. It was an unusual strategy and one that I’d like to see tried again. It’s more common to take out who you think is running a group. (Yes, I know they did it because they’re both black women but I’m saying, I’d like to see it tried purely as a secret game strategy) T’kor brought the crochet and glasses fashion every week and she easily had the best comic.

Leah left next and was taken out by someone she’d have taken to the end of the game. She finally caught on to the game but chickened out when she got the chance to make the big move. I guess that’s a bit unfair because taking out T’kor was the 2nd biggest move in the game at the time. It just wasn’t THE move that was going to propel her game forward. She still won the comp with the longest run time this season, which was 10 or 11 hours.

She’ll always be the Jankie Queen too.

Angela is alot and I get it. I think she’s a ‘love her or hate her’ vibe. If you fell into the ‘hate her’ camp, I understand why you may not have enjoyed the season as much as I did. Angela has the most standout moments of anyone, even Tucker. She gave the stairway speech she rehearsed all night and she mimicked Lisa’s walk and called her a twit. (Memes are still made daily with this image)

She outed her real week 1 alliance because she thought it was fake. She asked to join an alliance she knew had already formed which was…a choice.

From the charcuterie meltdown to the Lay’s chips in the diary room, she kept on giving. She started game rumors to get her way, (and it worked) had massive paranoia and had the veto used on her 3 times. She was the oldest houseguest at 51, understood game strategy better than anyone besides Chelsie and still won a fair amount of comps. She switched from being a joke to being a real threat in the game. (I’ve said it before, if Angela’s on tv again, I’ll show up to watch it)

Kimo is a super nice guy but another bad game player. He burped, danced and sang his way through the season, all while wearing a plaid flannel. He had 1 big move and I credit him more than T’kor for it. T’kor was on the fence the night before Cedric left and Kimo kept pushing for it. The two of them saved Rubina which created an unbreakable trio.

It didn’t win any of them the game but I have a feeling they’ll be life long friends. Besides, without these 3 together and Kimo especially, we’d have missed out on “The Big Brother House” song and alot of choreography.

Rubina didn’t want her game to be defined by a shomance. There was a chance it wouldn’t be since she made it so much further than Tucker. However, she didn’t do anything else so she’ll have to accept the shomance storyline. Without it, she doesn’t really have a one. (She’s a really nice person so there’s that) She was saved in week 4 and made it to the Final 4 so there’s that too, I suppose. I hope things work out for her and Tucker because she seems like she really hopes it will.

There was also a robot named Jankie that many preferred to Ainslee.

Well, until Ainslee killed him…live…on tv. I’m still traumatized!

My favorite quote from the week:

Chelsie: “I still can’t believe Ainslee killed Jankie.”

MJ: “If she hadn’t, I would have.”

Cam showed off his comp strategy which explained alot.

That was enough to almost make us forget he actually did win 1 comp this season.

He almost won a another veto at the F4 which would’ve sent MJ to jury. She wasn’t having that happen tho!

MJ showed off her acting skills (pretending to be upset) with a dramatic vote when she kept Kimo over Joseph.

One last look at the final 3:

Cam actually wasn’t a bad player. Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t play at all the first month but after he started, he always made good decisions. He started playing after the only time he was put on the block (besides at the F4) and won the veto. He’s also the only player who was able to change Chelsie’s mind about a vote and he did it twice. (Quinn and T’kor)

He had good reads on the house and often, even better than Chelsie did. He’s an example of how not being able to win comps can completely change your game. It also changes how you’re viewed as a player. Angela’s calling him a floater in the jury house but Cam wasn’t really a floater at all. He and Cedric started the Pentagon alliance and he stayed with it to the end.

He played other people who weren’t in his alliance at times and that definitely includes MJ too. He got MJ and Chelsie to take out both Quinn and T’kor when Chelsie wanted to keep them. He had a great social game and was only nominated once as a pawn. Yes, I know MJ and Chelsie have won the recent comps and kept him safe but he wasn’t a target even if they hadn’t. Rubina, Kimo, Angela, Leah and Quinn would’ve targeted Chelsie and MJ both before Cam. He’s also a known college athlete but still wasn’t targeted all season. That’s a pretty good social game in my opinion.

Don’t misunderstand me, Cam isn’t winning this game. I’m only saying he wouldn’t be the worst winner we’ve ever had but it wouldn’t feel satisfying either. A Cam win would be sort of like a Kaycee win from BB20, (not the comps obviously) where a boring, safe game with a likeable person won over the better strategic player. Actually, it would be more like a Lisa win from BB3. Lisa worked with the best strategist in the house, her game was decent but because Lisa was nicer, she beat Danielle. Anyway, I’m sorry for wasting 4 paragraphs on this because Cam’s not going to win. I’m going to shout out all the dawgs at the crib and move on.

MJ still thinks they’ll have the first women’s F2 and now she thinks she’ll be the youngest player in the F2. (Wrong again MJ) I wonder when she finds out she’s wrong, she’ll just say “I’m aware.” She isn’t aware but that’s her favorite phrase, along with saying someone “will fall in line.” (She even said Angela would fall in line when talking about the jury votes, lol)

She won alot of comps this season and competes well under pressure. I can handle the immaturity since she’s 22 but I wish she was a little nicer. It would’ve made her more enjoyable to watch. Instead, she’s petty, kind of mean and has a HUGE ego. (That ego has worked wonders for Chelsie tho and her ability to manipulate MJ)

MJ went from no alliance and never knowing what was going on to winning all the comps that Chelsie didn’t win. If she was more mature and actually knew the show, she might not be a bad player. She’s a really good liar and that impressed me but she isn’t strategic at all. I think her plan in a F2 would be to talk about comp wins and being alone for the first half of the game. The problem is she wasn’t really alone. She had Leah and Angela but she didn’t want them.

She could still win if the jury only values comp wins but I don’t think thats going to be the case with this jury. On top of that, Chelsie’s won 4 or 5 hoh’s and an AI comp herself, began the game without a vote week 1 and had her alliance blown up before the jury phase. MJ will have a hard time using comp wins and being at a disadvantage to beat Chelsie. I also don’t know how she’ll talk about her game and the moves she’s made. It should be obvious to the jury, the moves weren’t good for her and Chelsie plans to take credit for them anyway.

It’s not a hot take to say Chelsie’s played the best game and has all season. That’s not to say it was perfect because at times, Chelsie was a pretty sloppy player. An example was when she was HOH, pushed MJ to use her veto and put Quinn on the block. As soon as the veto meeting ended, Chelsie decided she wanted to keep Quinn. Cam had to talk her into going ahead and taking him out. Chelsie sometimes took a bad route to get where she was going but she managed to get to the right destination anyway. That’s the best way I can describe her game.

Along with needing Quinn out, she’s also responsible for Tucker’s eviction, in spite of what MJ is saying. (Sure, if MJ hadn’t won the AI comp, they couldn’t take out Tucker that week) Still, she had nothing to do with the plan and was content to take out Angela instead that week, just like Quinn. Chelsie is also the sole reason Leah was evicted on MJ’s hoh and that left MJ no where else to go. She took out Angela on her own hoh during the double and that was the last person left who was targeting Chelsie.

It wasn’t until after the double eviction that Kimo and Rubina began to see Chelsie as a threat and by then, it was too late. Kimo was even planning to target MJ over Chelsie if he’d won the HOH at the F5. At the F4, she got MJ (the only vote) to get rid of Rubina, the only player who may not have taken Chelsie to the F2.

Sure, she’s not always the most likable player. She’s petty, shit talks people and has a weird obsession with Cam. Alot of her trash talking had been strategic tho, like keeping MJ and Leah not fully trusting each other, keeping Cam and MJ from getting closer, etc. (Plus, she can get therapy for the Cam thing with the dirty clothes)

Honestly, I don’t think she’ll need it because I think she’s going to be embarrassed once she sees how all the stuff with Cam has been perceived. She’s mature enough to learn from it and maybe not creep out the next guy she likes.

I know jurys are unpredictable but I still don’t see how Chelsie loses this game. Besides her game moves and controlling MJ like a puppet, she speaks publicly for a living, so I think she’ll kill the F2 speech. Recently, I heard someone compare Chelsie to Vanessa Russo from BB17 and it makes sense. They weren’t talking about the type of game Vanessa played or how she left at the F3 after controlling the game all season. They were talking about how Vanessa was seen as a player from the viewers.

Since Vanessa is viewed as an amazing player now, people have forgotten how she was viewed during her season. While it was happening, alot of fans couldn’t stand her. They rooted against her because they didn’t like her or the way she was playing the game, even tho she was very effective, just like Chelsie.

That’s the similarity I can see and think Chelsie’s game may be appreciated more later on too. Once we have some distance from the cringy parts, I think her game will be received very well. She’s done a fantastic job this season and deserves the win.

Short update from the feeds:

I still don’t know who Chelsie plans to take to the end if she wins the last hoh. She’s very convincing when talking to both MJ and Cam. One minute I think Cam since she’s always been most loyal to him and he’s the easier win. The next minute, it sounds like she’s serious about taking MJ, by the things she says to her. She’s been practicing a final 2 speech and she’s saying things that sounds like it would be against MJ but who knows?

Cam kind of gave her an out by telling her he wouldn’t hold it against her if she chose MJ. (Even Cam doesn’t think he deserves to win) 75k would go a long way to fix up the crib for the dawgs but whatever.

MJ, instead of working on a speech, spent her time talking more about Angela. (She may need to get some of that therapy too) Before, she was saying if Angela won AFP, she would never come back and do the show again. Yesterday, she was still talking about it. She also said she knew Angela would try to talk to her parents at the finale. She said she plans to tell her parents to ignore Angela and walk away.

It’s weird because if MJ gets any votes, I think they’d be from Leah and maybe Angela. I’m not saying she will get them, just that she could. Angela and Leah don’t know all the shitty things MJ’s said about both of them yet so it’s possible, just maybe not likely. Regardless, Angela said “you can do better” to MJ, which isn’t even an insult. She may need to let it go after 3 months. (Haha)

My final random tidbits:

A Tweet I agreed with:

The jury just needs 1 more and what the hell is Quinn wearing? Did he go to jury or county jail?

A shot of the jury discussion with Taylor:

Joseph was there to help Taylor celebrate her new job. I like that they’re still BFF’s even after dating and breaking up:

Don’t forget to check out my brothers show on Discovery in the spring if you can remember it. Any viewing support for it is appreciated, even if it’s not your cup of tea. (It should also be on Prime and HBO Max I think. It was last season but I had to buy it on Prime to save season 1)

Well, that’s it for me this season. I appreciate all of you who’ve taken the time to read the ramblings I’ve been writing. I know this one was long but if you’re antsy for the finale, maybe it can give you something to do. Come join me in the chat tonight for the finale and let’s hope it’s a fun one!

May your fall be full of beautiful colors, your winter find you safe & warm and your spring be filled with flowers. Until next summer and BB27, have a great fall, winter and spring everyone!

Mel