The first Big Brother 26 Eviction Ceremony took place Thursday night.
It was a long first week for the BB26 cast, especially after entering a day before the premiere episode.
Sixteen new folks are competing for $750,000 this summer and have to deal with an Artificial Intelligence twist.
Angela Murray took the power for Week 1, and she got to set targets and the tone.
The early tone was marred when Angela went after Matt Hardeman on the live feeds. It split the cast and the fans at home.
Angela nominated Kenney Kelley, Lisa Weintraub, and Kimo Apaka.
Lisa won the Power of Veto and saved herself, so Angela named Matt the replacement nominee.
Kenney, Matt, and Kimo were at risk when the July 25 episode began (Big Brother 26, Episode 5).
Who won the AI Arena Challenge?
The three nominees were placed in a room with video screens depicting images of houseguests. The challenge was to figure out who was pictured the most within that room.
The first person to guess the correct houseguest would win safety. The two losers would remain on the block.
Kimo won the competition and was off the block.
Matt and Kenney were left on the block as the final nominees for the week.
Who got evicted from Big Brother 26 in Week 1?
When host Julie Chen Moonves announced the winner, many houseguests cheered loudly for Kimo.
Julie told Kenney and Matt they had time to pull people aside and campaign. They declined to do so, which is an odd decision that people should not repeat in the coming weeks.
Julie then announced it was time for the first eviction vote of the summer. She also told Cedric Hodges and Chelsie Baham that their week as mascots had ended. They couldn’t vote but were back to being players for Week 2.
Kenney and Matt each said a few words about why they should stay in the game.
With 11 voting houseguests, six votes would send someone packing.
Below are how the votes broke down at the Eviction Ceremony:
- Matt Hardeman: Kimo, T’Kor, Brooklyn, Rubina, Quinn, Cam, Tucker, and Joseph.
- Kenney Kelley: Lisa, Makensy, Leah,
By a vote of 8-3, Matt was the first person evicted on Big Brother 26.
More from Big Brother 26
Matt revealed on the feeds what he plans to do after BB26.
CBS also released the BB26 cast swimsuit photos.
Previous Big Brother episodes are streaming on Paramount+. Live feeds are available through Paramount+ (subscription) and Pluto TV (free).
Big Brother 26 airs on Sunday at 9/8c, Wednesday at 8/7c, and Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.
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