Not to be dramatic, but the group of houseguests remaining on Big Brother 26 might just be the biggest bunch of birdbrains the hit CBS competition show has ever seen. With the exception of Makensy Manbeck, that is.
On the Sept. 11 episode of season 26, houseguests were tasked with one of the biggest and most iconic Big Brother competitions of all time: OTEV. For those who are unfamiliar, OTEV occurs in a series of rounds and requires houseguests to listen to riddles about their fellow houseguests and then search for the correct answer in a giant heap of “trash.” In a Musical Chairs-style elimination, the last person to return in any given round ⏤ OR the houseguest(s) who gets the question wrong ⏤ is eliminated from the competition, with the last one standing winning the coveted Power of Veto.
With Head of Household Chelsie, nominees Kimo and Angela, and additional players Makensy, Rubina, and Quinn all competing in the iconic competition, an unexpected and absolutely jaw-dropping moment occurred early on that ended up making Big Brother history ⏤ and not for good reason.
What the actual heck happened during that BB26 OTEV competition?
As the competition kicked off, it appeared that the houseguests were struggling far more than usual in the first round. This made more sense once we learned that Chelsie, Kimo, Angela, Rubina, and Quinn were all seeking the wrong answer to OTEV’s question, with only Makensy seeking the right one.
Trash-talking panda OTEV’s question asked which eliminated houseguest had not been able to compete in the very first Head of Household competition of the season. Most of the players immediately thought that the correct answer was Tucker, but it was actually Cedric. Makensy being the only player to choose the right name meant that she not only instantly won the Golden Power of Veto, but won the entire OTEV competition in just one round. This has never happened in the history of Big Brother, and honestly, it’s pretty embarrassing for all the players who got it wrong.
Before we question how brain-dead some of these dumb-dumbs are, let’s review why everyone but Makensy thought the correct answer was Tucker. The first round of the Head of Household competition in OTEV’s question instructed the houseguests to get into groups of three, but when Tucker and Makensy were unable to find a group, they were eliminated. Makensy is still in the BB house, so because OTEV asked which eliminated houseguest hadn’t been able to compete in that HOH, the players deduced that they needed to find “Tucker” amongst the trash.
Not so fast, idiots. Although Tucker and Makensy were eliminated in the first round, they still got to compete in the first Head of Household competition of Big Brother 26. The houseguests who really weren’t able to compete where the two “downgraded” by Ainsley ⏤ aka the “BBAI” trickster who’s been wreaking havoc all season ⏤ right on day one: Cedric and Chelsie. Because Chelsie is still in the BB house, the OTEV players should have been seeking the name “Cedric” in this POV competition, but because most of these clowns have cotton candy where their hippocampi should be, only Makensy brought back the correct answer.
Naturally, BB superfans had a field day with this, taking to X to poke fun at the BB set designers for building such an elaborate challenge only for it to end in minutes. In a season of unexpected firsts, this one really takes the rainbow cake.
Now that Makensy has the Golden Power of Veto, the question becomes whether or not she’ll use it on Kimo, Angela, or neither. The Wednesday episode, which usually reveals who the final two houseguests on the chopping block are, left us hanging, forcing BB viewers to watch Thursday night’s live episode to see what Makensy decided. To see who becomes the first member of the Big Brother 26 jury, tune into CBS on Thursday night or catch the episode the next day on Paramount Plus. Spoiler alert: things are going to get crazy!