The game of Big Brother is hard for everyone, but especially women. They do well with social strategy, but the competitions are made heavily in favor of the athletic men. This was clear in season 25 when Survivor legend, Cirie Fields played the game. She was in alliances with everyone and had power over evictions. However, Jag Bains made it to the end of the CBS series because of his competition wins and won despite getting evicted in week 4.
That same year, we saw men talk about keeping women around who cook for them, like Felicia Cannon and Blue Kim. Felicia was the last woman to be evicted and placed fourth. Big Brother 26 is a refreshing and entertaining season for several reasons. But the most important one is that the women get to be messy and dominate players like the men.
A Big Alliance Formed Around The First HoH
The first Head of Household (HoH) is important because it can set the tone of the season in multiple ways. We’ve seen a big alliance form around the first HoH, so they can pick off the other side of the house. Big Brother 22 was the last time this happened. Cody Calafiore won in week one, had The Committee alliance, and won the season with their help. In recent seasons, the first HoH has been a disaster, with Brandon “Frenchie” French, Daniel Durston, and Reilly Smedley. Frenchie and Daniel got too paranoid and ruined their chance at a big alliance. Reilly’s alliance didn’t win the following week and the other side of the house targeted them for excluding them the next week.
Angela Murray joins this list by winning the first HoH and getting paranoid in the same week. She, like Frenchie, was very aware that young men tend to be a magnet for dominating alliances. Therefore, it’s hard to believe, as someone who doesn’t fit into that group, that houseguests genuinely value them in this physical game. Angela blew up on Matt Hardeman after he said he’d compete and go after her if she nominated him.
Angela Murray and Lisa Weintraub set the chaotic tone of ‘Big Brother 26’
Social strategists would have poisoned Matt’s game behind his back by planting seeds for others to target him. Angela targeted him out in the open, yelling at him in front of the cast. Angela made things personal, calling him “crazy eyes” and turned her anger to Quinn Martin and Joseph Rodriguez who offered her an alliance called The Collective. She called them great actors for a terrible movie. She didn’t get offered another alliance and was a pariah in the house for weeks. But all the men she targeted in week one were evicted before her.
Angela is hardly the only woman in the house who made a strong impression in weeks one and two. Lisa Weintraub did the same just by being herself. The cast went around to talk about themselves and Tucker Des Lauriers mentioned he was a chef. Lisa revealed she was too and that rubbed Tucker the wrong way, which led to him targeting her. Lisa and Angela hit it off at first. But after Angela’s blow up, Lisa was honest with her and said she was bad for her game and needed to distance herself from her. Most people wouldn’t be that honest in Big Brother. The bad move led to Angela targeting her. Lastly, the vibe curator brought edible glitter to the house, and she put it on other people’s food. This annoyed them and made her more of a target. She left in week two, but left a big impression as a character and returned to make an appearance for a competition in week 7.
The ‘Big Brother 26’ Women Aren’t Pigeonhold to Showmances
Showmances can be beneficial or hurtful to a man’s and woman’s game. But when a woman gets into a showmance, her diary rooms can be totally focused on her feelings for the man, rather than the other way around. If her male partner is dominating competitions, then she’ll be accused of getting carried to the end of the game. Season 26 started with Angela claiming Matt was going to have women falling for him, and he’d be in a showmance. He started flirting with Makensy Manbeck so Angela claimed Makensy could do better in her tirade. Matt’s eviction hurt Makensy’s game. She claimed they weren’t a showmance, and she wasn’t into Matt with other houseguests. Makensy built a resume with two BB A.I. Arena wins and later made Big Brother history by winning OTEV in one round.
That wasn’t the only showmance talk this season. Rubina Bernabe and Tucker fell for each other. This put Rubina in an interesting position. She has the benefit of being close to the player most likely to win power in the game. Tucker won the Power of Veto three times, A.I. Arena twice, and HoH once. The downside was when Tucker wasn’t available, then they would target Rubina to weaken him. She was nominated for the block three times. But Rubina made it clear she valued the women in the game over Tucker. She was close to T’Kor Clottey, who eventually used Tucker up as a pawn on the week he was evicted. Rubina joined the vote to evict Tucker. After he left, Rubina stayed safe by winning the A.I. Arena. Her main alliance with T’Kor and Kimo Apaka is mostly intact.
Leah Peters’ strategy was to flirt. Cam Sullivan-Brown, Quinn, and Joseph later showed interest in her at points. The next step was to use those connections to better her game. Quinn won HoH in week 6, and she had a lot of influence over him. Leah won Power of Veto and Quinn begged on his hands and knees for her not to use it. She used it anyway on Angela in hopes of getting her jury vote. Quinn replaced her with their ally Joseph. This weakened Leah’s game because that was her other ally, and she gained Angela, who betrayed all her previous allies. This is the messy part of Leah’s game that makes her entertaining. Leah revealed that she had a crush on Quinn in episode 27 when he was evicted. This timing makes her time in the house less focused on a showmance.
T’Kor Clottey and Chelsie Baham Are Quiet ‘Big Brother’ Strategists
We shouldn’t forget about T’Kor and Chelise Baham. Chelsie and Cedric Hodges’s powers were downgraded in the first week. She couldn’t become HoH or win the veto. The HoH could’ve nominated them for the block. Chelsie avoided the block by building connections with the most people in the first week. That led to The Pentagon and once her allies started to lose, they were the first to go out the door instead of Chelsie.
A strategist equal to Chelsie is T’Kor. She’s one of the quietest players and can get lost in the mix. But because she’s a good listener, everyone wants to work for her and protect her. You can’t underestimate the power of making other people feel calm and heard in this game. That’s what kept T’Kor off the block for at least eight weeks. She also flipped the vote on Cedric and got back in Chelsie’s good graces after that.
Chelsie and T’Kor might be making fewer mistakes than the other women, but anything can happen. We’ve seen all of them make mistakes at one point, whether in competitions or socially. But they recovered at points and made moves to build their argument for a jury. The men are also part of this different journey for Big Brother 26’s women. Kenney Kelley hoped to form a men’s alliance with Tucker, which normally happens. But one didn’t stick because multiple men this season took at least one woman into account with their game plans. That respect for their games and not bogging them down with sexist expectations like cooking and cleaning for them to deserve a spot in the house gave us a great season.
The women also didn’t have to form a women’s alliance to accomplish this, although they talked about it. Women continue to be on different sides of the house with two men left in the house, Cam and Kimo, in week 9. Each of them have the best strategists in the game as their closest allies. In other seasons, Cam might’ve been a huge threat to take the $750,000 prize. But this season it’ll be much harder because of the surrounding women.