Big Brother 26, Week 4 Review- Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

This week of Big Brother will go down in the history books. It portrayed every great thing we've come to expect from the game. There was strong gameplay, exciting competitions, and an Eviction Night that no one knew the outcome of before it began. From the onset of the week, plans were thrown into disarray. It only got worse from there. The true winners are the fans because we got to sit back and go along for the wild ride.

The Recap of the First Three Weeks

The only non-game thing to talk about this week was the surprise Tuesday night episode where former winners Cody, Taylor, and Jag came together to break down the big moments of the first three weeks. It absolutely felt like a filler episode with the Olympics finally ending. Everyone whose attention was on the events in Paris got to catch up on what they'd missed. It didn't provide much for those who had been following along, giving us very little new information. The big tease was the revelation of the next twist. Foolishly, we all expected Ainsley to reveal all of the information, only for the episode to end with them telling us to watch Thursday's episode. It was a waste of an hour, though it is always great to see Taylor on television.

Quinn's HOH Week

When Quinn won the Deepfake HOH during the two-part premiere four weeks ago, it felt like his power was going to be very overpowering. Four weeks later, I'm confident that this might've been one of the worst weeks for the player in charge in a very long time. First, his initial target (Angela) wins the HOH Competition, forcing Quinn to use his power and overtake her HOH reign. Then, after putting up two threats (MJ and Tucker) and a pawn in his alliance (Cedric), Tucker wins the veto competition and opts to save himself despite concerns that he might not. He puts Rubina up as the replacement nominee, but it's his alliance member who finds himself in the most trouble.

The AI Arena

This proved to be the most consequential AI Arena competition of the season. Cedric, MJ, and Rubina battled in a bocce ball-type hybrid that saw them land balls in the center of a board before knocking them all down and hitting their buzzer. It started slowly, with none of them finding their stride, but MJ and Rubina eventually from their stride. For a while, it looked like Rubina was going to win. She was the first to get her five balls in the middle and the camera angle made it seem like she had won it. It turns out that MJ made a comeback to beat Rubina, to the shock of most people watching. It locked in the matchup on the block that the house didn't want. MJ was walking out if she lost this competition. Instead, she earned her safety and forcing others to show their cards and draw lines in the sand.

Eviction Thoughts

I didn't know that the Week 4 Cedric vs. Rubina eviction was going to be the most heartbreaking eviction of the season. Rubina was extremely dejected during her final speech, thinking she was going to be evicted. Cedric was fighting back tears as he talked with the rest of the house. Ultimately, this vote came down to whether or not the flip was going to happen. T'kor and Kimo were pushing to flip the vote to Cedric, needing Leah and MJ to lock in their votes to send Cedric home. 

The flip actually happened, with Chelsie, Cam, and Brooklyn all voting to keep Cedric while the remaining six voters sent him packing. Cedric claimed to be fine and that it was "all love," but there were shades of saltiness in his voice as he walked out of the house. Rubina was shocked to still be in the game. It was the culmination of two days of constant campaigning to send Cedric out the door. I hated to see Cedric walk out, but this was his own doing. He volunteered to go on the block to take out Tucker, only to be beaten in the final round of the veto competition by him. He failed to find his groove in the AI Arena and it proved to be his undoing. 

Week 5 Preview (WITH HOH SPOILERS)

The wall competition is one of the most highly anticipated HOH competitions of the summer. In classic BB fashion, the wall came down to two of the biggest rivals in the house. Tucker and Quinn withstood the slime and rain to be the final two houseguests standing. Quinn refused Tucker's peace offer, only to fall seconds later and allow Tucker to win the HOH competition. While Quinn was visibly upset afterward, Tucker made it clear that Quinn wasn't his primary or secondary target, though he would be going on the block during the initial nominations. Brooklyn has found herself in Tucker's crosshairs and is his target, with Cam sitting as the backup. I'm a little surprised by these choices, given how much Tucker and Quinn have gone at it in recent weeks, but leave it to Tucker to surprise me.