Warning! The following contains spoilers from the opening hours of Big Brother Season 26's live feeds as of Friday, July 19th. Stream the feeds with a Paramount+ subscription, and read at your own risk!
After being delayed by a bit, the live feeds switched on last night, and Big Brother Season 26 really got rolling. Unfortunately, there's no option to rewind or use the archives to revisit all the fun of last night thanks to the shocking decision made by the show to remove them. However, for those who didn't stay up late, CinemaBlend has you covered with the details on the Head of Household winner, their target, and the familiar twist seemingly creeping its way back into the game.
The rumored 17th Houseguest turned house A.I., Ainsley, promised she would shake up the game. Based on what we now know this morning, she certainly did that and more with what appears to be a throwback to Season 16 as the house debates how to approach the opening week of this game.
Angela Murray Won The Week One HOH
Angela might've struggled to keep her balance in the opening advantage competition, but she apparently crushed it in Big Brother 26's Week 1 Head of Household competition. The oldest woman in the house is running the show, and she's trying to find some sort of alliance to rock with once her week is over.
We've seen the first HOH succeed and struggle with maintaining alliances once they're no longer in power. So, hopefully, she's running a good enough HOH that people want to protect her.
Kenney Kelly Is The Target
Those who thought Angela might want to buddy up with the only other Houseguest north of 50 were dead wrong. The Utah mother wants to target Kenney Kelly, and she sees the Boston cop as her main competition in the game. As far as why, I think maybe she assumes people lump them in a group because of their age, but perhaps something happened in the first couple of days in the house that we didn't witness.
Nominations This Week Will Work Similar To A Past Twist
We learned at the latest episode's close that the nominations and evictions would be different this season of Big Brother, but honestly, it sounds very familiar. Chatter was heard on the feeds about an "A.I. Arena." Based on what we've heard, there will be four nominees, and it will appear that those four will go head to head to compete for a chance at safety.
It sounds very similar to Season 16's Battle of the Block, and as someone who watched Big Brother 16 just a year ago and had a lot of thoughts, I have concerns. Battle of the Block is an entertaining twist in theory, but in execution, it's very easy for the Houseguests to manipulate it.
For example, if Angela wants Kenney out of the game, all she has to do is nominate him and then three other people. Assuming this is like Battle of the Block, all Angela needs to do is ensure that Kenney's teammate competing in the veto intentionally throws the competition. If she succeeds, then boom, Kenney is gone and he never really had a chance from the start.
As a disclaimer, I will add that we don't know if this is the normal way Big Brother will operate or if the Deepfake HOH, which seemingly impacts the Head of Household, was the reason why there are four nominees. The fact that Angela believes she'll have control over all nominees makes me feel that isn't the case, but we can only wait and see for sure. If only someone on the live feeds had mentioned these powers as I had hoped!
Ultimately, we'll have more answers when Big Brother airs a new episode on the 2024 TV schedule this Sunday, July 21st, at 9:00 p.m. ET. Tune in for the special 90-minute episode, which is sure to have viewers on the edge of their seats as they learn the details of this new season.
