Big Brother 26: Episode 1 — First group of houseguests

Big Brother is a reality TV series wherein a bunch of people live in a house they can’t leave for 90-100 days; the houseguests have zero contact with the outside world.

In case you’re wondering: The title of the show is from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four novel.

Also: The “house” is inside a soundstage on a CBS lot. The backyard is actually outside somewhat, though.

There are 113 microphones and 94 cameras capturing every move and word…even their time in the game.

I watched last year for the first time in about nine years. This show has been going on since I was a kid; my parents used to watch it.

Julie Chen Moonves hosts Big Brother, so there are loads of references to her.

While there are live feeds, I’m not sure if I will be following them this season; the feeds require a huge commitment. Watching the feeds and the show is an entirely different experience, because producers use feed footage to create the narrative they air on TV.

Why I watch Big Brother

As an autistic person, Big Brother has always fascinated me. Seeing how other seemingly “normal” people interact in the house is educational.

It also helps me clearly identify differences in my own behavior and understand what neurotypical — or at least allistic — people may perceive negatively in me.

Houseguests

Big Brother houseguests are always extroverted, or extroverted enough to not be reticent, shy or avoiding people. The show demands people to be extroverted, since talking to each other and stirring up drama is literally the show. 🤷‍♀️

While contestants introduce themselves starting out, I find taking their introductions to heart futile unless someone has a secret. 💁‍♀️ Because they’re usually completely different while inside the house.

The youngest houseguest this season is 21 — this is the youngest age allowed, if I recall correctly, since they’re allowed alcohol in the house sometimes — while the oldest is 52. Last year, the oldest houseguest was 63.

Using other people is pretty common. Sometimes in their introductions, they’ll say they aren’t against using people. “Showmances”, where they get romantically involved for the show, are hit-or-miss.

Like, I want to say that the ones adamant about using other people are the ones houseguests usually clock and evict first. 🧐 Maybe because they’re so eager?

The ones who identify as Christians or Jesus followers are the ones who double-cross first. Sometimes, they say they’ll separate their morals/who they are from who they are in the house while trying to win…I think that’s in vain. 🤷‍♀️

Entering the house

Angela, Chelsie, Kimo and Tucker entered and explored the house first. Angela was extremely excited and loud about seeing the house because it seemed like a dream. 🤷‍♀️

Cam, Makensy, Joseph and Rubina went into the house next.

Makensy (6’2″) finds all the guys so far handsome — ha, at least one is gay — but they’re all shorter than her, and apparently that’s a problem? So she’s looking for a guy who’s taller than her when she’s in heels (6’5″), which I’m taking to mean she’s superficial…

I love how they’re so quick to ask who cooks 🤣 there’s almost always a dedicated cook, and I think they solidify their status in the house by becoming the cook. Makensy seems to be the cook of the house so far.

Voting for 17th houseguest

“Expect the unexpected” is fundamental to Big Brother, because anything can happen at any time.

Julie gives the houseguests the chance to vote on whether a 17th houseguest, Ainsley, can enter the house.

She introduces herself, saying that letting her in can help their game. Ainsley needs at least five votes to enter.

The houseguests consider whether to allow her into the house, despite the goal being to evict people instead of bringing new ones in.

Angela, Joseph, Makensy and Rubina vote yes; Cam, Chelsie, Kimo and Tucker vote no.

Ainsley reveals she’s an AI who will affect the game. The video of Ainsley gave the impression that she is a real person, but that was internet personality Cosette Rinab.

Her name’s a backronym for Artificial Intelligence Network Self-Learning Entity. Ainsley was always going to enter the game, but the goal was to see what kind of people the houseguests are.

So the houseguests who voted yes compete to win an upgrade for their game, whilst the ones who voted no compete to not receive a downgrade to their game.

Competitions

The houseguests who voted to allow Ainsley to enter the game play the upgrade game, “Color Calibration”.

The houseguests who voted not to let Ainsley into the game play “Fear Facer”, the downgrade game.

No one will know who had what time or right answers, because these are individually timed memory games.

Color Calibration (upgrade)

Ainsley can only see in black and white and needs houseguests to activate her color sensors via a spinning chair so she learns red, green, yellow and blue.

They have 30 seconds to replicate the right color sequence. The player with the longest correct sequence is rewarded with the upgrade.

Angela goes first. The chair really spins; I couldn’t watch the color sequence well. She was out after the second color in the sequence.

Joseph goes next. He’s a video store clerk (VHS), and I think he games, too. He gives that vibe. He tries memorizing the sequence by using letters. I think he got at least 4 colors right. 🤷‍♀️

Rubina gets 4 colors.

Makensy’s from an athletic family, so she’s super competitive. She gets 4 colors in 19 seconds and finishes first place.

Fear Facer (downgrade)

Houseguests get to teach Ainsley about human emotions by sticking their heads into four fear boxes:

1. Cockroaches
2. Snakes
3. Spiders
4. Scorpions

And see letters of a scrambled word in each, on the glass, that matches an emotion tile inside the room. They exit the box once they recognize the scrambled word, then label the box with the correct emotion and move to the next.

They have 90 seconds to finish. The person in last place will have their game seriously downgraded.

Tucker does the comp first, and we see houseguests will be protected — they’re not directly exposed to the fear things, so I suppose it’s not so bad. 🤷‍♀️ Such big deals are always made of these things?? when they’re literally protected.

Kimo goes next and nearly cries on the first go, but he’s fast about choosing emotions to pair with the head boxes.

(Side note: These head boxes remind me of The Sims 4 “Set as Head” setting.)

Cam gets all correct in 45 seconds.

This competition felt much easier than the color sequence one, so I’m guessing it’s more about figuring out the loser who used the most time.

Chelsie completed the competition in 56 seconds, but failed to put the plug in the socket before confirming her answers and didn’t realize this until it was too late. 🥴 She is thus last place.

My thoughts on this episode

I absolutely loathe fake choices. I would never pass the physical required to partake in Big Brother because of chronic illnesses, nor would I audition — but even if I could, the fake choices would tick me off so much. 😒

I dislike the fake impression of autonomy. “Vote to have a new houseguest who you’re going to have anyways.”

Big Brother season themes typically revolve around what is trendy from the previous year — or heading out-ish on trends. Season 25 was about the BB Multiverse.

This year, it’s BB Artificial Intelligence. The house looks futuristic and tech-inspired. The room themes and furniture choices are interesting. Some of it looks and feels really cheap, though that’s exactly how AI graphics come across — cheap. 💁‍♀️

I’m not looking forward to the AI aspect. 🥴 Last year, the BB Multiverse puns were overdone to where I got annoyed watching it.

I usually feel some kind of attachment to players, but this is feeling overwhelmingly hetero despite having some gay dudes. 😅 The women thus far feel hetero AF.