Shocking House Flip, New Head of Household Leaves Everyone Scrambling

With Thursday’s shocking eviction of Cedric leaving the powerful Pentagon alliance — and its larger Collective — lying in pieces and way on the outside, a massive power vacuum left the possibilities wide open for what may turn out to be the most important HOH of the season.

This Head of Household takes power amid an uncertain House, looking for leadership and safety. The HOH is always a pivotal person in any given week, but in a week with this much uncertainty, what an opportunity to solidify power and build alliances for shelter moving forward!

It certainly could not have been more important for what was left of The Pentagon: Brooklyn, Cam, Chelsie, and Quinn (to a lesser degree). The former three voted to save Cedric, showing their cards and their vulnerability.

But it was just as important for Kimo and T’Kor, who betrayed Quinn’s trust and their own Visionaries alliance by orchestrating the House flip. Only time will tell if that was a smart move. Quinn keeps making his own life more difficult with his mouth, but we have to give him some grace on this one.

It’s impossible to play the game of Big Brother alone, and he genuinely thought the three of them had something special that could ride deep into the game. He clearly hasn’t been doing enough work to nurture that relationship, as they took his Pentagon reveal with panic rather than feeling good he let them in on it (though they’d already excluded him from the second Collective, so maybe this ship had sailed).

Nevertheless Quinn’s loose lips absolutely sunk his personal ship, as well as the ships of the other three points of the Pentagon. It always sucks to be on the outside, as Quinn absolutely knew when he rightly stated, when was first invited to the Pentagon, that he and Brooklyn were fourth and fifth in a trio looking to add numbers.

He didn’t like that feeling, but decided to ride it out for a bit as it was still safety in the meantime. Kimo and T’Kor decided to take a different route, blowing up the entire game in the meantime.

The iconic Wall competition continues to disappoint season after season. Remember when these Houseguests used to hang in there for hours and hours? Were previous generations tougher? Do the newer generations just not push themselves as hard? Is the competition harder than it used to be?

While we don’t know the reason for it — and may never will — BB26 continued the trend of shorter and shorter Wall competitions, in fact setting a new record for the shortest Wall of all with the final competitor falling at 31 minutes and 45 seconds. That’s a far cry from 3 hour-plus competitions we’ve seen in the past!

As always, the Wall favors the young, the fit, and the petite. Rubina proved that true, making it all the way to fourth place, while the oldest remaining Houseguest, Angela, dropped out after just three minutes, eight seconds.

The order of drops and their times was: Angela (3:08), Kimo (4:57), and Joseph (7:15), becoming Have-Nots for the week. They were followed by Leah (8:26), Chelsie (8:30), T’Kor (14:47), Makensy and Brooklyn (18:00), Rubina (22:37), and Cam (28:56).

The season’s biggest and most public rivarly continued their epic battle for the ages as it came down to Quinn and Tucker. Tucker has been a competition beast all season, seemingly unbeatable, while Tucker is a stronger all-around competitor. Alas, in a season driven almost entirely by competitions so far, that’s not enough.

Tucker took Head of Household, securing his fifth competition win in as many weeks. A clearly devastated Quinn was reduced to tears for the second time in just a few hours, after breaking down at the absolute betrayal of trust that left him feeling more alone than ever when Kimo and T’Kor blew up The Pentagon.

Now, in his most vulnerable moment, his biggest enemy in the House just won all the power. Tucker is guaranteed safety for the week, with Quinn both an obvious and likely choice for nomination and eviction.

If there’s one thing Tucker has been known to do in the House, it’s been to go rogue and mix things up. He’s kept himself on the Block and put himself in danger, confident in his competition prowess to pull him back out. He’s certainly proving that over and over again.

In fact, with two shots to save himself each week (Power of Veto and AI Arena), Tucker may well be invincible in this game until something changes. Backdoor doesn’t exist right now and with the exception of Matt (who didn’t really have the time), every evictee has been a comp winner and possible threat.

With the fall of the Pentagon also came the rise of a new alliance. Tucker joined forces with Rubina and flippers Kimo and T’Kor to work together, while Angela overheard and forced her way in like … a Tank. Then, after Tucker’s win, the Tanks decided they should invite Joseph to join, as he did flip with them. In doing so, they formed Sixth Avenue — with Joseph an obvious sixth position.

So if Quinn is the Tanks/Sixth Avenue’s obvious target and the thing everyone is expecting, a very confident Tucker is more incentivized to zag while everyone is expecting a zig. He explained, too, that he’s beaten Quinn in everything they’ve competed in so far, so he’s not that big a threat.

For all Quinn’s smarts and physical abilities, Tucker has outplayed him physically, and Quinn outplays himself with his mouth over and over again. His game is so sloppy, the Wall comp might have actually cleaned him up a bit.

Tucker told Quinn as much, while sharing genuine respect for being such a strong competitor. In a confessional, he even admitted he was being genuine. Quinn isn’t someone he’s as concerned about as some other players who are much more effective in their social games.

Plus, we’re kind of enjoying this showdown between the two unlikely foes. Honestly, we could even get behind a secret alliance forming between the two of them that no one would be able to even see as they could continue feuding publicly for as long as possible.

Either way, as we saw early in the episode, Brooklyn was basically telling the House to vote out Rubina, and even told Rubina herself she was going. She was wrong, but Tucker sees her as more of a threat due to her influence in the House.

At the same time, Brooklyn was the only one who was honest about those three votes to save Cedric. She threw out Cheslie and Cam’s names immediately. Cam admitted to his own vote and pretended to speculate Chelsie, while suggesting he had no idea about the third. Chelsie admitted to her vote, but lied she had no clue about either of the other two.

Nevertheless, with four former Pentagon members to choose from, Chelsie was the only one safe from the Block. He’s publicly saying Quinn is his target — and Quinn believes he really is — so Brooklyn and Cam (he claimed) are his best bets to get Quinn out. You can bet if any of the three come down in Veto, Chelsie will replace them.

Tucker Des Lauriers (30, marketing/sales exec) is in full control of the season, but he’s also playing with somewhat unpredictable players who love to take out threats (which he even preaches). Right now, the game is designed so he may never see the Block due to his competition prowess, so he may run through to the end. If he’s ever vulnerable, though, we think the House will take the shot immediately. [Grade: B-]

T’kor Clottey (23, crochet business) and Kimo Apaka (35, mattress sales) have linked their games even more after orchestrating this major flip. They’re seen as an unbreakable duo. For now, they’re well aligned, but they could also be seen as a huge risk due to the fact they’ve flipped the House once … they could do it again. [Grade: B-]

Rubina Bernabe (35, event bartender) is a pawn that could be used to try and weaken Tucker, but with the House flip, he and his allies have all the power, strengthening her position. She’s seen as an easy vote to remove at some point, which is actually to her benefit at this stage of the game. [Grade: C+]

Leah Peters (26, VIP cocktail) is slowly becoming invisible. [Grade: C]

Makensy Manbeck (22, construction pm) proved she’s a competitor and even changed her hair up to … maybe get someone in power’s attention. Otherwise, no one is really playing this game with her and she continues to float around. [Grade: C-]

Joseph Rodriguez (30, video store) has slipped into the power alliance by taking a chance and flipping with them. For now, that should work in his favor, as should the fact that no one is really paying much attention to him at all on a game level. He’s a number right now for the Tanks, but not really valuable. [Grade: C-]

Angela Murray (50, real estate agent) has amazingly recovered her game and is mostly staying out of trouble. She forced her way into the Tanks and for now, she’s a good number for them, and possibly a shield. We don’t see it lasting too long, though, or her being able to keep her hands clean. [Grade: C-]

Chelsie Baham (27, nonprofit dir) went from stealth running the house to stealth running for her life in this game. It’s an incredible downfall orchestrated by the most unlikely culprits (why this game is fun). We can’t imagine Tucker holding this alliance together, considering his own threat quotient, so we won’t say she’s down and out, but she’s in trouble. [Grade: C-]

Quinn Martin (25, nurse recruiter) needs to save his own game because despite Tucker seemingly wanting him to stay, the House might go rogue and decide it’s better to get rid of him. Considering how hard they betrayed him, we could see Kimo and T’Kor fighting to get him out. He’s in his most precarious spot yet, but not yet out. [Grade: D+]

Cam Sullivan-Brown (25, physical therapist) has been playing a quiet game of subtle power and control. Now, he’s quietly on the Block and if Tucker truly isn’t worried about Quinn as a competitor — or enjoys their back-and-forth — Cam could be in trouble if he’s still on the Block come Thursday. [Grade: D]

Brooklyn Rivera (34, business admin) is an easy target for Tucker as she’s very strong in the game socially and a definite threat to his own game so long as she can talk to people. He sees that as a bigger threat than anyone else in the former Pentagon. He’s scary enough in the game, we’re not sure the House would go against him while he has the power — but will he still want this come Thursday? [Grade: D]

(asides and comments — not necessarily strategic, but entertaining and sometimes revealing)

• “I really did care about Cedric. So being the reason that he went home, that does hurt. I’m sorry. I wanted him to stick around.” –Quinn (emotional in DR after eviction)
• “You gotta get the tougher competitors out first if you want to live in this house. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget that.” –Tucker (ahead of vote)
• “I really thought I was going.” –Rubina (to Tucker)
• “Your boy’s got some pull. Brooklyn’s face gave it all away.” –Tucker (not trusting her)
• “Well, it’s us against the House.” –Brooklyn (to Cam and Chelsie after eviction, including Quinn in “us”)
• “Kimo and T’Kor. Tucker’s still coming after me, man. So if they even cared about me, just for a second. Not even a warning, nothing.” –Quinn (emotional with Brooklyn, Cam, and Chelsie)
• “She leaned into my ear and whispered … ‘We gotta do it, or we’re screwed.’ And I realized, I’m actually not. She is.” –T’Kor (about Brooklyn regarding vote)
• “I don’t get mad, I get even. I hope luck is on your favor the entire rest of the season, because you’re gonna need it.” –Brooklyn (about Kimo and T’Kor)
• Who said I was gonna be the first one off?” –T’Kor (not the first one off)
• “Quinn, I got you if you let go. I’m just warming up, baby.” –Tucker (down to just the two of them)
• “I’ve kind of just had the worst three hours in Big Brother history.” –Quinn (after losing Wall)
• “Hahaha, karma is a bitch!” –Rubina (after Tucker wins)
• “It would destroy my game if you were not one of the people up there.” –Tucker (to Quinn about nominations)
• “Tucker and I have had the most bitter rivalry since the beginning of time.” –Quinn