‘I literally gasped’: A ‘Big Brother 26’ houseguest’s unexpected blind-side induces sobs and shatters hearts

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Big Brother 26. Please proceed with caution if you do not watch the live feeds.

You know what they say: pawns almost always go home on Big Brother, and it looks like Big Brother 26 houseguest Cedric Hodges let his confidence in his alliances get the best of him.

Cedric was seemingly in a good place at the time of his eviction, having a solid spot in the “Collective” alliance alongside Kimo Apaka, T’kor Clottey, Joseph Rodriguez, Brooklyn Rivera, Chelsie Baham, Cam Sullivan-Brown, and Quinn Martin. He also had a solid spot within the “Pentagon” alliance. “The Pentagon” is (well, I guess I should day was) essentially a sub-alliance within “The Collective,” consisting of Brooklyn, Chelsie, Cam, Quinn, and Cedric and excluded Kimo, T’kor, and Joseph. Naturally, when the three blind mice realized that they were left out of the loop, they took a shot at evicting one of the key members of “The Pentagon,” ultimately prevailing with Cedric’s untimely exit.

Although evicting Cedric is what was in the best interest of a majority of the BB 26 houseguests, each and every person grew to love the 21-year-old and consequently left gut-wrenching goodbye messages for him to listen to in his exit interview with host Julie Chen Moonves. The feeling was clearly mutual, as Cedric broke down in tears while hearing said messages, furthermore showing viewers that Big Brother is so much more than just a game, but an actual social experiment.

Cedric was not the only one left in shambles, though. While houseguests like Joseph and Kimo shed some tears while casting their votes to evict him, BB fans were equally as heartbroken, taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express just how sad they really were to see Cedric leave the house once and for all.

While Cedric’s eviction was certainly a sad one, things are quickly starting to turn around on Big Brother 26, with fan-favorite Tucker Des Lauriers winning the infamous Big Brother wall competition just hours after the live eviction, ultimately securing his first Head of Household victory. With none of Ainsley‘s AI powers in play, Tucker will have complete control over the nominations ⏤ unlike token BB disaster Angela Murray, who was hijacked by Quinn and his “Deepfake HOH” power — and with “The Pentagon” having fallen apart after Cedric’s eviction, it looks like some powerful players could be put on the block.

Will this be the time that Tucker finally evicts his arch-rival, Quinn? To see for yourself, catch brand new episodes of everyone’s favorite competition show every Sunday at 9pm ET/PT, as well as every Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.