Heading into the 18th episode of “Big Brother 26,” Head of Household Tucker Des Lauriers had just won his third Veto competition in a row, giving him all the power this week. He decided to pull Quinn Martin off the block and replace him with Chelsie Baham, putting her at risk alongside Brooklyn Rivera and Cam Sullivan-Brown. But with the A.I. Arena comp still on the line, it was anyone’s guess as to who’d be leaving the house on Thursday night.
Below, read our minute-by-minute “Big Brother” Season 26, Episode 18 recap/live blog to find out what happened Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite “BB26” houseguests on CBS‘s reality TV show, who annoys you the most and who you think will ultimately join the “Big Brother” winners list. Julie Chen Moonves once again hosts the series.
Here are the names of the 12 remaining houseguests: Angela Murray, Brooklyn Rivera, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Chelsie Baham, Joseph Rodriguez, Kimo Apaka, Leah Peters, Makensy Manbeck, Quinn Martin, Rubina Bernabe, T’kor Clottey and Tucker Des Lauriers.
8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘Big Brother’!” In the 17th episode, Tucker blew up everyone’s game at the Veto meeting after learning about The Collective and The Pentagon. Believing Brooklyn and Chelsie were in charge, Tucker removed Quinn from the block and put Chelsie up next to Brooklyn and Cam. So who will go home tonight? Let’s find out!
8:07 p.m. — Julie welcomes us to Day 38 inside the “Big Brother” house. Before we get to the A.I. Arena, we go back in time to find out what happened after that explosive Veto meeting. Tucker says he wanted to shake things up and put everyone’s cards out on the table. He confirms his main target is Brooklyn. Chelsie is fuming after Tucker accused her of being the ringleader of the house. She realizes Quinn threw her under the bus and now she has to do damage control. Brooklyn calls sitting next to Chelsie and Cam “my worst nightmare.” She’s more determined than ever to win the A.I. Arena.
8:12 p.m. — Tucker tells Cam he’s just a pawn. Cam has no problem completely shifting his game to work with Tucker. Meanwhile, Chelsie confronts Quinn, who denies telling Tucker about the Pentagon. He’s lying, but he does admit to telling T’kor and Kimo. Next, Brooklyn confronts Tucker for calling her out without even asking her what was true. Brooklyn denies being the leader of The Collective and puts the blame back on Quinn. Tucker tells Brooklyn her game is fake and he can see right through it. Brooklyn is not intimidated by Tucker and says he better pray she doesn’t win the A.I. Arena.
8:20 p.m. — Tucker has his sights set on getting Brooklyn and Chelsie out of the game, but unfortunately for him, he can’t vote. Chelsie is scrambling and promises Rubina she won’t target her or Tucker if she stays in the house. Chelsie wants revenge on those who betrayed her directly: Quinn and Joseph. Rubina likes Chelsie and wants to work with her. In fact, Rubina has always wanted to work with strong women, but now she’s tied to Tucker, the biggest threat in the house. Later, T’kor comments that Tucker is spending an awful lot of time with people outside their alliance, particularly Makensy. Rubina swears she’s not jealous, but wonders if Tucker is building an alliance with Makensy. T’kor and Rubina decide they both want to keep Chelsie. But what about Cam and Brooklyn? Well, Kimo tells T’kor that Cam has been spending more and more time with Tucker as well. What’s going on up in that HOH Room? T’kor is worried about Tucker having too many numbers. For the sake of their game, it might be best to dump Cam tonight and completely blindside Tucker.
8:22 p.m. — T’kor approaches Quinn to get his opinion. Why does anyone trust him at this point? Well, in this case it’s not a bad idea. Quinn swears he’s loyal to The Visionaries and seems on board to flip the vote on Tucker. But will they actually do it? T’kor says, “We have the votes. We have the power.” But will Rubina actually go through with this and go against Tucker’s wishes? Rubina tells Tucker the plan and he says, absolutely not, it’s stupid to get rid of Cam. In the Diary Room, Rubina says she’s “not here to play a man’s game.” I sure hope she’s telling the truth!
8:32 p.m. — It’s time for Brooklyn, Cam and Chelsie to compete in the A.I. Arena. The outcome of this competition could have a huge impact on how tonight’s eviction goes. If Cam wins, Brooklyn is almost certainly a goner. If Brooklyn or Chelsie wins the vote could be very dramatic! In this competition, players will have to unscramble words to create three A.I. images. The player who does this first will win the competition and be removed from the block. This looks complicated, I’m surprised they chose this competition for live TV lol. I’m confused just watching it. It looks like the words are becoming easier to read as time passes to ensure they finish in a timely fashion. Eventually Chelsie comes away with the win! Will Cam or Brooklyn be evicted?
8:42 p.m. — Julie tells the house that Chelsie won the A.I. Arena. Now that Chelsie is safe, Brooklyn and Cam have a few minutes to campaign. Everyone scrambles to decide who they will actually vote for tonight. Are they going to make a big move and blindside Cam? Or follow Tucker’s lead and get rid of Brooklyn? Brooklyn is pleading her case to T’kor and Kimo. Cam isn’t doing much of anything. Next Chelsea campaigns in front of everyone, stating she’s a target with a whole house of enemies. She tells them they’re playing for second place and Tucker is going to destroy everyone. Time for the vote!
8:50 p.m. — Chelsie votes to evict Cam, Leah votes to evict Brooklyn, Quinn votes to evict Brooklyn, Makensy votes to evict Brooklyn, Rubina votes to evict Brooklyn, Kimo votes to evict Brooklyn, T’kor votes to evict Brooklyn, Angela votes to evict Brooklyn and Joseph votes to evict Brooklyn. By a vote of 8-1, Brooklyn has been evicted from the “Big Brother” house.