Big Brother Finale Recap: Did The Right Houseguest Win Season 26?
It was the summer that refused to end, but a whopping 90 days later, we finally have our Big Brother Season 26 winner!
But first: a recap of that cutthroat final Head of Household competition, where Chelsie, Makensy and Cam battle it out for the season's last morsel of power. We last left the trio as they were hanging on for dear life in Part 1 of the comp. When Sunday's finale picks up, the three remaining houseguests are still clinging on to their contraptions in what looks like an endurance challenge from hell. Makensy is first to fall after 26 minutes, and even though Cam is hungry for a win, he drops next after 37 minutes. That leaves Chelsie as the winner of Part 1, and she gladly shuts down Ainsley's power source for good.
* In Part 2, Cam and Makensy must destroy Ainsley's AI brain and... a raven delivers the comp instructions?! (Expect the unexpected, I guess.) To start, both houseguests must free three neurons from a slide puzzle, then correctly connect a set of wires. The winner: Makensy! (Cam, of course, apologizes to all his dawgs in the crib for taking the L.)
* BB24 winner Taylor Hale takes over the jury roundtable from Dr. Will Kirby this season. (Don't worry, you can see him again real soon.) Some jurors feel that Makensy's comp wins should be heavily considered, but Kimo notes that some of Mak's moves were actually made by Chelsie. Quinn says Chelsie's lies were so good, he couldn't even fact-check them (which he sees as a good thing), but Angela doesn't seem to have much respect for her. (Bitter much?) T'Kor says she values social and strategic moves more than comps, noting that Cam played the game that she initially wanted to play. The jury still doesn't know whether Cam, a Division-1 athlete, threw any or all of the comps.
* While the jury ponders where their votes will go, Chelsie and Makensy go head-to-head in Part 3 of the HOH competition. After avatars of their former houseguests make three statements about their game, the ladies must figure out which one is "corrupt" (false). It's neck and neck until the very last question, but Makensy wins the comp and gets all the power to decide who she'll sit next to in the final two.
* When Julie checks back in with the houseguests, Makensy makes her most important decision of the game: She chooses to evict Cam, giving Chelsie the other seat in the final two. (Was that the biggest mistake she made thus far? We'll see!)
* The jury begins its interrogation and Chelsie explains how she knew when to speak up, and when to shut up and let things play out. Makensy tries to sell the fact that getting Leah out was her move (SURE), stating that nobody influenced her to do so. (Does she know that cameras have been recording her, or...) Chelsie then claims that her greatest moves were convincing Makensy to use the veto on Angela to weaken Quinn's game, and later, persuading Makensy to get Leah out. Chelsie's overall case is presented strongly and confidently. (Maybe even one of the best Final 2 performances in BB history?) Makensy's been no slouch in this game, but in this moment, it feels like Chelsie's running away with this thing.
* When the pre-jury hits the stage, Tucker brings Rubina flowers, Matt and Angela bury the hatchet (sort of?) and Brooklyn apologizes for #CharcuterieGate. Julie also clues the jury and finalists in about that Biden-Harris switcheroo — they were the only Americans who didn't know!
* The moment we've all been waiting for arrives and after Julie reveals the jury votes, Chelsie is declared the winner! (And it was a landslide, too — she received all seven votes.) As for that $50K America's Favorite Houseguest prize? It came down to Angela, Tucker and Quinn... and the winner is Tucker.
There's one last ha-ha to be had: Jankie is revived and the cast participates in one last Jankie singalong! Hooray?
That's a wrap, Big Brother fans! How do you feel about the events of Sunday's finale? Grade the season in our poll below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts!