Big Brother Blowout: JANKIE Twist Traps Houseguests in Backyard, First-Time HOH Shakes Things Up

A new JANKIE AI takes over 'Big Brother' for the week, trapping Houseguests in carnival-themed backyard for the week ahead of a nearly ten-hour endurance competition that crowns a first-time Head of Household.

Making up for their poor performances on The Wall and OTEV, the Big Brother 26 Houseguests certainly pulled off an overnight marathon in Jankie World this week, as Ainsley's replacement AI wreaks havoc on the game.

Teased at the end of Thursday's live eviction episode, Ainsley's vacation left a Junior Artificial Neuro-Kinetic Intelligence Entity in charge. That acronym is JANKIE and that's just what the digital tot seemed to promise.

Basically, everything was just what a kid might want: an eternal carnival with pizza parties and ice cream parties and singing and dancing. But all of it is mandatory and outside in the heat and lasts all week long.

"It's almost like being held hostage by a toddler from hell," said T'kor after barely a day in the brightly-decorated backyard.

"This is giving Dyre Fest 2.0 vibes," added Chelsie, referencing the Season 24 twist that trapped Houseguests in the backyard for a weeklong music festival disaster (think the real Fyre Fest).

But as much as the conditions were dire (or is that "Dyre"?), there was still a lot of game to be played, and some major concerns for many of the people in the House.

While taking Quinn out last week might have seemed the right move for Chelsie and her allies, it did still leave that power trio of T'kor, Kimo, and Rubina intact and in the House. Now, with just eight people left, a voting block of three is basically the majority, when it comes down to it.

And Chelsie can't play. Honestly, eliminating Quinn may not have been the best move in the long-term. The only way to potentially weaken the trio is to not let any of them win Head of Household, because you do not want a tight three at seven players.

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Head of House-Hold On!

As part of his party good-timing ways, JANKIE's Head of Household competition was S'more-tastic. Just hold your skewer against a marshmallow pressed against a plate/fire while standing on a platform for as long as you can go.

The advantage the rest of the House has against the trio is that they've notoriously not been fantastic at competitions, with each of them having won only before. Cam and Leah have also only won one, but Leah is basically unaligned while Cam is arguably part of another trio (but really a duo with a working arrangement with Makensy for now).

The trio needed to step up like they never have before and they ... absolutely did not. T'kor was out within the first half hour, with Kimo falling out right behind her at one hour, 10 minutes. Makensy's back issues knocked her out next, at 2:28.

That's when things got really impressive, as everyone else was locked and loaded. JANKIE was trying to distract them with terrible jokes and his awful theme song, but it turns out your friends might just be your worst enemies.

At the five hour mark, T'kor asked Filipina Rubina, "How do I say five hours in Tagalog?" After fumbling the start of her answer, Rubina giggled a bit, shaking her shoulders ... and her marshmallow.

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She never quite recovered, dropping her marshmallow and ending any hope of the trio taking victory. And before that, she was looking rock solid, so huge props to T'kor for providing the distraction that may have just jeopardized her game, or at least her power structure in the House.

With only Angela, Cam, and Leah left in the game, Angela started wheeling and dealing. For all the critics of her game, she's proving very effective in her strategy of annoy, disrupt, spread paranoia, and mix it with (fake) tears, emotion and overt expressions of love.

She kept the not-tears away this time. At first, she'd been just lobbying for safety for herself (and Cam, for some reason), but with just the three of them left, she publicly lobbied for them to all agree they wouldn't put the other two up.

Considering this came at about eight hours into the competition, and no one had come close to enduring as much as they had, it wasn't an unreasonable -- or unprecedented in BB history -- type of request. And the others took it. Again, this was done publicly in a game where your word is just about all you have.

After securing her safety, she hung in there another hour and then declared that as she had already won two HOH's and neither Cam nor Leah had won one at all yet, she'd rather they get the letters from home and care basket. And so she dropped.

Here, Cam decided he was tired of competing and challenged Leah to finish the competition on one leg, as it was looking like it could go on for hours yet. Leah agreed, much to Chelsie's disappointment. Her jealousy and concern that Cam would choose Leah over her flared up again with him making the game harder on himself in this moment.

And it also proved his undoing, as Cam was the first to lose his balance, leaving Leah victorious at 9:55 with a nearly 10-hour Herculean effort from both of them. It was a victory well-earned, and an endurance competition worthy of any season of Big Brother. They can compete!

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

What's particularly fun about Leah winning is not just because it's her first win. It's because she floated through the first half of the game with no one working with her. Then, the two closest allies she developed have been voted out in the past two weeks in Joseph and Quinn.

At this point, still no one is working with her ... and she's got the power to start nominating people. On the one hand, with no strong allies, she's got way more choices. But she did choose to honor Angela's deal, knocking those choices down to five.

It's an interesting position to be in because Leah is vulnerable next week. If she targets the trio, she had better make sure she gets one of them out, because they'll definitely come after her next week. If she targets the other side of the House, they might come after her next week, but the trio would be even more powerful at that point.

Honestly, the trio should have been targeted during Chelsie's HOH reign last week, but she's playing a very careful game and didn't want the blood on her hands. She gambled that none of those three would win HOH and that whoever did would do the dirty work for her.

But it's not even for her, per se, as much as it just needs to be done or the trio will run to the end. Hilariously, they seem pretty obtuse about the fact they're an enormous threat at this point and poised to take control of the game just with numbers.

Leah did her meetings with everyone in the House, which included talking perhaps for the first time ever game with the likes of Chelsie and Rubina. Luckily for her, she knows where the real threat for the game lies.

Unfortunately for Leah, no matter what she does, she's still not in a great spot in the game because everyone else is working with people, and she's only really got Angela and halfway Makensy -- who helped vote Quinn out last week. The way Angela's game is going, though, that might even be enough.

In the end, she opted to make the easiest trio choices by nominating Rubina and Kimo. T'kor has more love and support in the House, so it might be easier to deal with her after her allies are picked off. At the same time, this also creates a backdoor opportunity -- though Chelsie would likely not vote T'kor out based on their previous conversations, so it might be best for nominations to stay the same post-Veto.

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Houseguest Report Cards

Makensy Manbeck (22, construction pm) was surprised to be in Leah's good graces still, with Leah noting she wants to keep working with her. Chelsie's side also wants to work with her and the trio looks poised to get broken up one way or another, leaving Makensy in a very good position for the endgame (not to mention her competition prowess). [Grade: B-]

Chelsie Baham (27, nonprofit dir) lucked out with Leah's HOH victory and decision to target the trio Chelsie shoudl have targeted last week. She's got to be careful with her emotions when it comes to Cam and Leah, but she looks well-positioned to survive another week and come out in a better overall position. [Grade: B-]

T'kor Clottey (23, crochet business) is in an interesting position because it seems the House wants to weaken the trio she's a part of, but not necessarily by taking her out. Instead, they want to take away her existing support structure so maybe they'll work with her. That's some powerful social prowess, my friend! [Grade: C+]

Leah Peters (26, VIP cocktail) took control of her own fate and made the smartest move for the whole House. The danger that she's facing is that she's not really aligned with either side. But she does have a working relationship with Angela, who seems unstoppable in many ways, and Makensy. If played right, they could easily decide to pick off duos like whoever remains of the trio and Chelsie/Cam. [Grade: C]

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Cam Sullivan-Brown (25, physical therapist) is technically a floater in this game, very ineffective overall. But he and the House still think of him as this competition threat. He's got support with Chelsie, but that may not be enough if the House decides he needs to go. His performance in this HOH competition is just a reminder of how dangerous he could be. [Grade: C]

Angela Murray (50, real estate agent) won't even see the Block this week, more than likely, allowing her to continue solidifying a strategic endgame, which she's doing very well. Angela is a lone wolf and can easily convince the House no one would give her the top prize, making her a tempting person to carry along. Her semi-alliance with Leah is pretty powerful at this stage, too. But there are many left who also don't want to see her make it to the end, so that could bite her at any moment. [Grade: C-]

Kimo Apaka (35, mattress sales) somehow slides by, just as Angela did. He's a very clever player and likable in the House, but no one seems ready to make that kill shot. We suspect he'll somehow survive again, as most of the House seems to think the best move would be to get Rubina out to break up the trio (leaving the original duo of Kimo and T'kor intact). [Grade: D+]

Rubina Bernabe (35, event bartender) might just be the sacrificial lamb the power duo of Kimo and T'kor allow to get evicted to keep themselves and their season-long Final 2 going. And once they're not a trio, their threat level plummets, so they might strategically not fight that hard to keep her. And the House seems to think Rubina is the most expendable. Your girl might need to win Veto herself if she wants any chance of staying. [Grade: D]

House Chatter

(Asides and comments -- not necessarily strategic, but entertaining and sometimes revealing)

• "What sort of game play is it to go up to people and say y'all are a threat?" --T'kor (to Rubina about Angela)
• "I'm taking over the 'Big Brother' game and I want it to be F-U-N fun." --JANKIE
• "Are we about to have a wonderful night at a Big Brother carnival?" --Kimo
• "The door to the Big Brother House is now locked and the fun at Jankie World is open." --JANKIE
• "That's not gonna stop." --Cam (about the Jankie World theme song)
• "We're all Have-Nots." --Leah
• "This is my fault for requesting S'mores." --Leah (during HOH competition)
• "Yup, if I gotta pee, I'm just gonna pee." --Angela (during HOH competition)
• "Oh my gosh." --Makensy

Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays on CBS.