In a reality television landscape filled with thrilling competition shows, few franchises are as difficult to win as CBS' Big Brother. Created by John de Mol, this social experiment has astounded viewers for more than two decades with its complex concept of having a group of strangers live together, vote each other out, and last long enough to hopefully win the $750,000 grand prize. It's a precarious game that has no set rulebook on how to win. Sure, there are countless strategies that have proven successful over the years, yet even those can ruin someone's game with the wrong cast — just look at Big Brother 26.
This season's twists have made it one of the franchise's most intense yet, with the past two weeks shocking viewers not only with the wild gameplay on display but who was sent home to become a part of this season's jury. And while these players may seem very different — one was considered by many the strongest in the house while the other had burnt almost every bridge they had — there's a shocking commonality in their downfalls. Because in a game like Big Brother, no matter what strategy you may try out or what former winner you want to emulate, it's your connections with others that win you the game.
Quinn Martin and T'kor Clottey Were Huge Parts of 'Big Brother' 26
Despite starting out the season as a strong player, Big Brother viewers weren't surprised to see Quinn Martin be the eighth person eliminated and the first member of the jury. His plea to stay perfectly illustrated the issues in his game; sitting next to Kimo Apaka, Quinn rattled off some deep-cut Big Brother references and cracked jokes, hoping that this "charm" paired with light talk about strategy would earn him the votes to stay. The cast were won over by Apaka's impassioned plea to stay and sent Quinn home, his fumbling here mirroring why he'd steadily fallen in power across the whole season.
Quinn was a BB superfan desperate to try and orchestrate some "big moves" like the BB players he looked up to, emulating the nerdy yet strategic persona that all of his favorite contestants had. Unfortunately, most of these moves were just Quinn backstabbing alliances he had with players like Chelsie Baham and Angela Murray, as well as projecting the character he wanted to be rather than his genuine self at every possible opportunity. It was a phony approach that cost him almost everyone's goodwill in the house and sent him out the door, his relatively early elimination showing how little power he had in the game. So how the heck did such a huge competitor get eliminated right after him?
Few players have gained as much social power in their entire seasons that T'kor Clottey amassed during her two months in the Big Brother house. Quieter than many of the loud personalities that make up this season, Clottey excelled with the concise, direct way she forged bonds with others. In many ways, she was the opposite of Quinn in how she used her genuine thoughts and feelings to create some of the strongest alliances of the season, leading the tight trio of herself, Kimo, and Rubina Bernabe. And even beyond them, T'kor made it a point to single out and connect with other players who she saw as strong, eventually bringing competition beasts like Tucker Des Lauriers or the other major social threat, Chelsie Baham, into her good graces. Yet all of this capital didn't stop her from being voted out almost unanimously the first time she was ever put on the block. And why, despite having such a proven track record of being a strong player with good connections, did T'Kor get booted so unceremoniously? Because of the one major fault in her game: not being able to see the bigger picture.
In 'Big Brother,' Flexible Players are Winning Players
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Authenticity was at the core of both Quinn and T'Kor's Big Brother eliminations, as while T'Kor showed her personality in ways the other player didn't, she was very picky about who she allowed in her circle. Of course, you shouldn't be trying to make close alliances with every single person in the game, but the week leading up to her elimination showed that T'Kor put barely any effort into connecting with the huge part of the house that wasn't in her direct alliance. The feeds revealed many moments of her sitting in silence with others, the player unable to conjure up a fraction of a conversation despite knowing that these were the people she should have convinced to let her stay in the game.
It was a much more direct version of Quinn's flaws, both players refusing to offer genuine insights; while he did this by putting on a dramatized character, she just sat there in silence and barely tried to speak with those she wasn't already comfortable with. In T'Kor's eyes, her relationships with proven successful players might have been enough, yet it's that narrow-minded outlook that made her forget there were so many other people playing the game. It was those people who she refused to grace with her genuine self that eventually tanked her game, both her and Quinn offering clear examples of how picky or non-existent authenticity could ruin your chance to win — examples that Leah Peters would do good to learn from.
Despite Peters being a quiet player for the majority of this game, the past few weeks have seen her emerge as a legitimate threat in the fight for the grand prize. It was her Head of Household reign that saw T'Kor's trio get dismantled, taking out what could have been a huge source of power for all three of the players going forward. And her strong relationships with people from all factions of the house, like Cam Sullivan-Brown, means that not many people are targeting her as a threat; not many, but that doesn't mean not at all. Because just like Quinn before her, Chelsie has clocked that Leah will often hide her strategy behind the "genuine" front she presents to others, and her role in T'Kor's elimination has greatly soured any relationship that Rubina and Kimo might have forged with her.
Sure, she has other allies, but her ignorance over the larger state of the game — namely, how she's been ignoring stronger alliances that were much more threatening challenge-wise than T'Kor's — means that she's on the bottom of most people's list when it comes to alliances. She's being called for having a faux personality like Quinn, and while she is much more open than T'Kor was, her refusal to target specific players openly has a whole swath of the house against her. In a game as tumultuous as Big Brother, these three show why giving your genuine self is such an important, and potentially detrimental, aspect of this game. If only there was someone who was handling this kind of authenticity perfectly — oh wait, there is.
Chelsie Baham Might Be the One To Beat in 'Big Brother' 26
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Big Brother is a constantly evolving, always invigorating game, one that has no surefire route to the end. Although each of these players might have had different tactics to show who they are to the rest of the house, it's undeniable that their progress with this strategy was determined solely by the situation this season put them in. Quinn might have been seen as charming on a different installment, and a more discerning group of players might have recognized T'Kor's specified bonding and voted her out way earlier. The only definite way to do well in Big Brother is to always be surveying your surroundings and adjusting to them, to be your authentic self to different degrees with everyone to make them believe there's always an opportunity for an alliance.
But this is a stressful, extremely demanding game to play — and one that Chelsie might just pull off. As shown by her involvement in all the previously discussed players' games, Chelsie has ingrained herself in almost every aspect of the household. She's currently leading her own power trio, and while the past few weeks has seen her butt heads with players like Cam and Angela, she always keeps enough of a connection to draw them back in. It's never smart for a contestant on Big Brother to try and copy the game of someone who came before them — just look at Quinn — but if future players want to see a masterclass of using authenticity to their advantage in the game, all they have to do is look at Chelsie.
