The Final Five - Big Brother 26 - Week 11 (Ep. 34-35)

It’s weird to say that the marathon of Big Brother 26 is nearing its finish! We’ve seen twists and turns of all sorts. Competition of high energy and deep thinking. Drama on top of more drama. What was there not to love about this season?

As for the remaining players, I think it’s fair for me to say that it’s Chelsie’s game to lose. She has done nearly everything right in the final portion of this game. Will she be able to close it out?

Let’s talk more about it!

Before we get into the craziness of this past week, I wanted to go over the recap of the double eviction! It did seem like it was pretty set in stone that the target would be Angela after Chelsie had won that HOH. I guess if she isn’t going to go after her alliance members, she would be the biggest threat left. She’s won HOH, the power of veto, and has been able to convince people to bring her along further in the game. Even if her social game isn’t the strongest, she’s done a little more than Kimo and Rubina in my opinion.  

It goes without mentioning that Chelsie winning that double eviction HOH was crucial for her game. Now moving forward, she has the advantage in numbers and alliance members. Unless Kimo and Rubina were to win HOH, she might not go home. 

I feel like everyone knew Angela would probably be going home. Including Angela herself. Hence why Kimo or Rubina didn’t fight at all when they were told they were going on the block. Then you had Chelsie accidentally spoiling to Angela that she was the target. I think that’s when she realized it was probably the end of her run on Big Brother. Chelsie is lucky something drastic didn’t happen and that her slip-up wouldn’t come back to hurt her. 

At one point, Cam mentioned that Chelsie winning HOH was huge for Makensy’s and Cam’s game. No… it was only good for Chelsie. 

Makensy continues to confuse me. We will talk about it more later. After the double eviction, she said that both of her targets (Leah and Angela) she put on the block have since been eliminated. Then she went on to admit that Leah and Angela weren’t even going after her. Don’t you get how that’s confusing, Makensy?

Now to this past week’s HOH competition where they had to build a tiny keycard with tweezers. Truthfully, Makensy was the only one who got anywhere close. Maybe that’s partly due to her construction background and knowing that the base of her keycard was the most important part. Rubina was shaking uncontrollably the entire time which made it very difficult for her. Kimo was the only other possible threat but he would get like halfway and it would always fall. Then you had Cam… being Cam. Which means that he wasn’t very competitive. 

Props to Makensy for grabbing another win under her belt. However, It’s hard for me to call her the “comp beast” of the season due to Chelsie not competing in that challenge. She has proven that she will be competitive in most competitions she’s involved in. 

I will note that with fewer people in the house, you can tell they are trying to fill time in the episode. Especially, with more things that are going on in the house that don’t always have to do with the game of Big Brother. Maybe it’s them doing TikTok trends, singing songs, etc.

One thing I found interesting during the episode was when they talked about Kimo’s eating habits. You can’t forget that Big Brother is such a big social game. Since you’re stuck in the house with these people… you have to be aware of some of those unconscious tendencies you bring in from the outside world. Noticing how your personalities or everyday actions might clash with others is so important for people entering the house!

I again found it baffling how Makensy went about this HOH week. We have seen that when she has power she focuses on making people happy/doing jury management, rather than making big game moves. It’s kind of a letdown because I don’t feel like it does much for you to be honest. I think Chelsie said it last week… but the jury is going to respect big-game moves rather than trying to make everyone happy. It’s that sentiment that I think Chelsie will win.  

For example this week, she is heavily focused on the all-girls final 3 because she wants to make amends with Rubina. It’s an attempt to build loyalty by taking Rubina off the block. It just doesn’t add anything to her resume. 

At least we finally saw someone trying to take actual shots at Chelsie (other than Angela during Jankie World). Rubina tried to sway Makensy into placing Chelsie on the block with something Chelsie had mentioned nearly 20 days ago. It was a good effort! However, it didn’t come to much because Makensy might be brainwashed by Chelsie. Chelsie is pulling the strings and has her doing whatever she wants.

When thinking about who they would target this week, I would say it was pretty much a toss-up between Kimo and Rubina. I find them pretty equal on the threat level. Maybe Kimo has the upper hand due to his social game and his move to take down the Pentagon alliance. I do feel for Kimo considering he’s been on the block countless times. It just seems like he hasn’t gotten a chance in the game. Rather than actually doing the strategizing, he has had to plead for people to keep him constantly. 

Then we made it to the BB Comics power of veto competition! Another all-time classic. People will have to let me know which covers were their favorite. Mine were Sweet Kenney K as a wiener and T’kor’s Cro-Slay. Kenney’s one was just hilarious and T’kor’s was pretty creative.

As for the challenge, I think we need to talk about Cam and his unfortunate performance. Hopefully, it doesn’t seem like I am too harsh on him because I like him as a Big Brother contestant and because he went to my alma mater, Penn State. He definitely can give more in these competitions. He’s a former Division One athlete… he’s done much harder physically challenging things. I know it because I’ve seen him play at Penn State haha. I just feel like he has more to give. The fact that it took him 30+ minutes is pretty upsetting.

I completely understand why Makensy and Chelsie would be annoyed at him too! At the moment, he’s the person who didn’t do anything on the group project but has an A grade. 

With all that being said, I do want to point out that this has been an incredible first season of Big Brother to watch! Props to the players and producers for what they have been able to create this season. For example, the veto has been used every single week! It’s the first time in Big Brother history that has happened. This just so happens to be the first week it wasn’t. 

By the way, that song that the group sang for Julie during the live eviction… was actually pretty good! 

Continuing on, I will admit that I am a sucker for the sappy emotional moments of shows. Therefore, the messages from home made me smile a good bit. I would assume that this is probably the longest any of these contestants have gone without seeing/contacting their family members. It’s a great confidence booster for them and just nice that they can check in with them. Not knowing what’s happening in the outside world might be one of the most difficult things about this game. 

I know I was harping on Cam before but I actually like that he took the initiative to try and keep Kimo. It was a logical and strategic move that helped his/Chelsie’s game. I think it gives them both better odds in the end. However, because Makensy was so set on Rubina, they didn’t go through with it. I am on the side of believing that they still should have and that they didn’t need Makensy’s approval either.

As we know, Kimo was eventually evicted from the house. Which, I think they all saw coming as well. Even Kimo, considering he didn’t seem too upset. Actually, he took it like a champ by wishing them all the best and good luck. It’s definitely fair to say that he has made his community in Hawaii and his family very proud. 

I can’t believe we are this close to the finish! Thanks again to anyone who has read any of my Big Brother blogs through the past couple of weeks. It’s been so fun to jump into this new community. With that being said, we are down to the final four and I will talk with you next week!