Big Brother 26 took an interesting turn during the Wednesday, August 7, episode and viewers now have a chance to vote for this week’s replacement nominee.
The drama began when Tucker Des Lauriers won the power of veto competition and came up with a plan to backdoor Quinn Martin (or as close as you can get to a backdoor in a season where an extra BB AI arena competition makes them virtually impossible). Rather than using the veto to save himself, Tucker, 30, took Angela Murray off the block instead, shocking his fellow houseguests.
Although Tucker and Head of Household Cedric Hodges discussed the possibility of Tucker saving Angela, 50, and facing off against Quinn, 25, and the third nominee, Kenney Kelley, in the BB AI arena, Cedric, 21, ultimately decided it was too risky and that they didn’t have the votes to send Quinn home. Cedric warned Tucker to use the veto on himself, but Tucker refused, and Cedric ultimately selected Makensy Manbeck as the replacement nominee instead of Quinn.
“This veto meeting is adjourned,” Tucker said after Cedric announced his decision.
“Actually, it’s not,” Makensy, 22, replied, before activating the America’s Veto upgrade she received during week 1 of the game. Makensy was then able to take herself off the block, and this time, the replacement nominee won’t be Cedric’s decision.
Instead, America will vote to determine who will compete live against Tucker and Kenney, 52, in the BB AI arena on Thursday, August 8. The winner will be safe, while the two remaining nominees will be at risk of eviction during Thursday’s live vote.
To vote for the America’s Veto nominee, visit CBS.com/BBvote and select one of the eligible houseguests. The possible nominees are Quinn, Brooklyn Rivera, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Chelsie Baham, Joseph Rodriguez, Kimo Apaka, Leah Peters, Rubina Bernabe and T’kor Clottey. Votes will be accepted until 12 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Voting is open to all U.S. residents who are at least 18 years of age. A maximum of 10 votes can be cast from a single email address.
Similar to a live double eviction, America’s Veto nominee won’t have much time to campaign for votes. The nominee who receives the most votes from viewers will learn their fate live on Thursday shortly before competing in the BB AI arena. If they can’t pull out a victory, America’s Veto nominee will be up against either Tucker or Kenney for elimination.
No matter what happens with America’s Veto vote, this week’s chaotic veto meeting has shaken up the house. Tucker claimed that Cedric didn’t tell him not to use the veto on himself, which Cedric denied, and vowed to target Cedric moving forward. The entire house also now knows about Quinn’s secret Deepfake HOH power, which allows him to secretly control nominations for a week. That means that anyone not aligned with Quinn has a strong incentive to vote him out should he find himself on the block come Thursday.
Big Brother airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays on CBS and Paramount+ at 8 p.m. ET.