Big Brother 26 has now reached its jury phase, so it's time to rank the pre-jury houseguests from best to worst based on their gameplay. The Big Brother 26 pre-jury phase included the BB A.I. Arena twist, which required the Head of Household (HOH) to nominate three people for eviction instead of two. The three nominees had the opportunity to play for the Power of Veto, and then whoever was left on the chopping block on the night of the live eviction battled it out in the A.I. Arena. One player earned safety, while the houseguests voted to evict one of the other two.
After the final pre-jury eviction, the remaining nine Big Brother 26 houseguests were thrilled to hear that they had made it to at least the jury, and that the BB A.I. Arena twist was now over. The remaining houseguests include Angela Murray, Chelsie Baham, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Kimo Apaka, Leah Peters, Makensy Manbeck, Quinn Martin, Rubina Bernabe, and T'kor Clottey. However, Big Brother 26 has one of the strongest groups of pre-jury houseguests in the history of the game. Here's how they rank from best to worst, based on their gameplay.
1Tucker Des Lauriers – Evicted Sixth
Tucker Was A Competition Beast & A Wild Card
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Tucker, a 30-year-old marketing and sales executive originally from Boston, Massachusetts, but currently living in Brooklyn, New York, dominated the pre-jury phase of the game. He was a competition beast, winning one HOH, three Power of Veto, and two BB A.I. Arena competitions. However, Tucker was best known for his wild game moves, which included volunteering as a pawn several times, using the Power of Veto to save Angela instead of himself, and saving his rival Quinn with the veto when he was HOH.
Tucker seemed unstoppable until week 6, when he volunteered himself as a pawn for HOH T'kor, and didn't win the Power of Veto or the A.I. Arena competitions. He had saved himself from the chopping block three times before that, but his fellow houseguests couldn't resist evicting him while they had the chance. To make matters worse, it was partially his own fault for volunteering as a pawn. Tucker was evicted by a vote of 5 to 3 over Angela.
Although he was a wild card in Big Brother 26, Tucker was a loyal player, who stayed true to his alliances. He even continued to protect Angela after she betrayed him by trying to flip the house on him. Tucker was also involved in a showmance with Rubina Bernabe. Tucker was one of the most exciting houseguests in Big Brother 26, and he breathed new life into the game. He was a fan favorite who was voted to be the A.I. Instigator by viewers, who later rewarded him with $20,000 for his efforts. Tucker is certain to be offered a second chance to play in a future season.
2Lisa Weintraub – Evicted Second
Lisa Saved Herself In Week One
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Lisa, a 33-year-old celebrity chef from Los Angeles, California, didn't last long in Big Brother 26, but she made an impact in the two weeks that she was in the game. She was nominated in both of the weeks that she played. However, she won the first Power of Veto competition, and saved herself from the chopping block.
Although Lisa only lasted two weeks in the game, because she was nominated both weeks, she had the opportunity to play in two HOH, Power of Veto, and BB A.I. Arena competitions. She was forced to show what a strong competitor she was early on, which ultimately led to her downfall because her fellow houseguests saw her as a threat.
Lisa was evicted by a vote of 11 to 1 over Angela. Before Lisa's eviction, Angela had mocked Lisa's walk and called her a twit. Angela had caused so much chaos in the house during the previous week as well when she attacked Matt, calling him "Crazy Eyes." However, the houseguests saw Lisa as a threat, so they decided to evict her instead of Angela.
3Brooklyn Rivera – Evicted Fifth
Brooklyn Was A Leader In Her Alliance
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Brooklyn, a 34-year-old business administrator originally from Covington, Georgia, but currently living in Dallas, Texas, was a very strategic player. She was a member of the Collective alliance, and the smaller Pentagon alliance within it, but she also joined the other side of the house in the 5 Pointz alliance. When T'kor and Kimo orchestrated the house flip that led to Cedric's eviction, Brooklyn was blindsided, as she, Chelsie, and Cam were left on the wrong side of the vote.
When the Pentagon alliance blew up, Brooklyn's double life in the game was exposed. Therefore, when Tucker became the HOH the following week, Brooklyn was his target. He felt that she was "the head of the snake," and he wanted to stop her. Brooklyn fought hard to win both the Power of Veto and BB A.I. Arena competitions, but she came up short. Her campaign to stay didn't work either, and she was evicted by a vote of 8 to 1 over Cam.
Brooklyn's downfall was that she got caught in too many alliances, and then didn't win any competitions to protect herself. However, she was strategic while she was in the game, which helped her to get as far as she did. Brooklyn was under-the-radar in the beginning of the game, but when the Pentagon alliance was destroyed, it was too difficult for her to recover.
4Cedric Hodges – Evicted Fourth
Cedric Volunteered Himself As A Pawn
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Cedric, a 21-year-old former Marine originally from Running Springs, California, but currently living in Boise, Idaho, seemed as though he could easily win Big Brother 26. He won the week 3 HOH competition, and was safely insulated in the Collective and Pentagon alliances. However, the following week, he made the classic Big Brother mistake of volunteering himself as a pawn.
Although they were in the Collective alliance with him, T'kor and Kimo couldn't resist evicting Cedric when they had the chance. They weren't in the smaller Pentagon alliance within the Collective, so they felt that they were expendable. Along with Joseph, they helped to blindside Cedric, who was evicted by a vote of 6 to 3 over Rubina.
Cedric was one of the most beloved Big Brother houseguests in history, by both his fellow houseguests and fans. Although he was only 21 years old, he handled himself well. He had class and dignity, and it truly pained his fellow houseguests when they turned on him, as evidenced by their tears. Cedric shouldn't have volunteered to be a pawn, but, hopefully, he'll have a chance to correct his mistake in a future Big Brother season.
5Kenney Kelley – Evicted Third
Kenney Continuously Talked About Going Home
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Kenney, a 52-year-old former undercover cop from Boston, Massachusetts, didn't expect being away from his family to be as hard as it was for him. When he missed his daughter's birthday early in the game, it sent him into a spiral, which caused him to want to leave the game. Kenney's heart just wasn't in it, and he frequently said that he wanted to go home, which affected his gameplay.
Kenney had to fight hard for the three weeks that he played Big Brother 26. He was nominated all three weeks, and he even won the Power of Veto in week 2 and saved himself. However, his only true ally was Matt, who was evicted in week 1. Therefore, Kenney didn't have a strong support system in the house, which made him an easy target.
Kenney was eventually evicted by a vote of 10 to 1 over Quinn, who America had voted as the replacement nominee after Makensy activated her America's Veto upgrade power. Kenney was an all-around good guy, but he simply wasn't cut out to play Big Brother. His family was more important to him, which was very admirable.
6Matt Hardeman – Evicted First
Matt Had A Now-Infamous Confrontation With Angela Murray
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Matt, a 25-year-old tech sales rep originally from Loganville, Georgia, but currently living in Roswell, Georgia, was the first houseguest evicted from the Big Brother 26 house. He was working with Kenney, Leah, and potential showmance Makensy. Although Matt was only in the house for 10 days, he'll go down in history because he was part of one of the most memorable fights ever when HOH Angela attacked him and called him "Crazy Eyes."
Matt had told Angela that if she nominated him during her HOH reign, then he'd have to go after her the following week. Angela saw this as a threat, and went after Matt in front of the entire house. He was brought to tears after Angela told him that his mother would be "so upset that her son's a brat. Her son is a straight-up disrespectful brat."It was a shame that Angela targeted Matt so fiercely.
Matt was later evicted by a vote of 8 to 3 over Kenney. It was terrible that he barely had the chance to play Big Brother, and his experience was marred by Angela's bullying of him. It's always heartbreaking to be the first houseguest out of the game. It was so sad that Matt didn't get the chance to reach his full potential in the game.
7Joseph Rodriguez – Evicted Seventh
Joseph's Throwing Of Competitions Came Back To Bite Him
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Joseph, a 30-year-old video store clerk from Tampa, Florida, prided himself on his lowkey, under-the-radar gameplay. He purposely threw competitions, and even said that he was modeling his gameplay after Big Brother legend, Dr. Will Kirby, and he wanted to win the game without ever winning a competition. Joseph was selected to play in six out of the seven Power of Veto competitions, but it was the week 7 one that he threw that ended up being his downfall.
Joseph didn't expect his ally, Quinn, who was the week 7 HOH, to name him as the replacement nominee when Leah saved Angela with the Power of Veto, but that's exactly what happened. If Joseph hadn't thrown the Power of Veto competition, he might've been able to ensure his safety. When he and fellow nominee Kimo lost the BB A.I. Arena to Rubina, Joseph was evicted by a vote of 4 to 3 over Kimo.
Although Joseph thought that he had a great strategy of throwing competitions, it led to his eviction in the end. He also flipped on his alliances, including the Collective, when Cedric was evicted. It would've been awesome to see what Joseph could've done if he played a more active game as he got closer to the end, but now he won't have that chance.
Big Brother 26 had some of the strongest pre-jury players in the history of the show, but some of their strategies were better than others. It's always sad to see great houseguests leave the game early, but sometimes they get second chances in future Big Brother seasons. Many of these Big Brother 26 pre-jury houseguests' evictions were the definition of the show's motto "expect the unexpected," and they'll be remembered for a long time to come.
