Big Brother 26, or should I say BBAI, kicked off Wednesday night as eight new houseguests moved into the Big Brother house and already faced a major twist. If you’re reading this and didn’t tune in, the other eight move in tomorrow night.
And like every season, it’s time for me to share my first impressions of the new season. But first, some housekeeping, or a disclaimer, if you will… If you know me and have read my stuff, then you know I have a love-hate relationship with this show, as MANY fans do. But I try to speak as honestly as I can, and while I do end up with favorites, and strong opinions, I try my best to remain open-minded and objective when it comes to actual gameplay. I will call out bad and annoying behavior but I give credit or take it away where it’s due when it comes to gameplay.
OK, let’s get to it.
The Cast
So far we’ve only met eight houseguests. I think that eight was a nice mix of personalities and reality competition archetypes. As a whole, I think they lacked heart, but a few people did stand out to me. I really liked Tucker’s energy and his authentic talking heads/aka Diary Room sessions. His type is usually just super annoying right out of the gate, but he seems to have some entertaining qualities. I also liked Makensy’s energy. I could do without the showmance talk, but it’s BB, you’re going to have that. I was also impressed with Cam’s impressions and how he plans to play the game. That will probably change, but I respect what I saw from him so far.
I will give my thoughts on the other eight after tomorrow’s episode, but for now I will say I am somewhat pleased with the cast, and somewhat bored. We’ll see how that changes over the coming weeks.
The Twist
I almost never like a Big Brother twist and I sure don’t like this one. AI seems like an easy way for production to interfere with the game under the guise of a “twist.” And it was all very silly. I liked that they used an actress to pretend to be AI, but when she morphed into that really cheesy Canva-design AI bot I felt my face redden. So silly. This is why I don’t invite my friends to watch this show any longer.
The part I did like from the premiere, though was that the players were tested with the vote. They were never going to really pay that TikTok actress to play the game as AI all summer. Even if the players voted yes, they would have revealed that it was only a test and a way to introduce the BBAI twist.
The House
I think the house this season is very bright, but it looks very cramped. I think they’re outgrowing that old house, but it was nice to see they replaced the moldy ceiling tiles in the Head of Household room.
Overall Impression
There’s still one more night to weigh in as my overall impression, but so far I can say that it all just lacked heart. And the non-live TV episodes have never really been my favorite anyway. The Live Feeds are where the action lives, and we don’t get those tonight because of the two-night pre-taped move-in. So I was never going to come in here all super happy. I don’t like when the HGs move in and we don’t get to see them adjusting right away. Remember when BB21 started and all hell had already broken loose? And we missed it all. That set a really bad tone for what ended up being, in my opinion, one of the worst seasons ever. So give us the show’s heart back. Or at the very least give us the Live Feeds night one no matter what.
What did you think of the Big Brother 26 season premiere? Be sure to come back tomorrow night as we do this all over again. Literally, all over again as the other eight move in, face the BBAI twist and, I assume, play the same two competitions.
