Big Brother 26 (American season)

Big Brother 26 is the twenty-sixth season of the American reality television program Big Brother. The program is an adaptation of the franchise created in 1999 by John de Mol. The season is set to feature an artificial intelligence theme. It premiered on CBS on July 17, 2024, with filming beginning a day prior and running for 90 days, concluding on October 13.

Format
Big Brother follows a group of contestants, known as HouseGuests, who live inside a custom-built house outfitted with cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day. The HouseGuests are sequestered with no contact with the outside world. During their stay, the HouseGuests share their thoughts on their day-to-day lives inside the house in a private room known as the Diary Room. Each week, the HouseGuests compete in competitions in order to win power and safety inside the house. At the start of each week, the HouseGuests compete in a Head of Household (abbreviated as "HOH") competition. The winner of the HoH competition is immune from eviction and selects two HouseGuests to be nominated for eviction. Six HouseGuests are then selected to compete in the Power of Veto (abbreviated as "PoV") competition: the reigning HoH, the nominees, and three other HouseGuests chosen by random draw. The winner of the PoV competition has the right to either revoke the nomination of one of the nominated HouseGuests or leave them as is. If the veto winner uses this power, the HoH must immediately nominate another HouseGuest for eviction. The PoV winner is also immune from being named as the replacement nominee. On eviction night, all HouseGuests vote to evict one of the nominees, though the Head of Household and the nominees are not allowed to vote. This vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household casts the tie-breaking vote. The nominee with the most votes is evicted from the house. The last nine evicted HouseGuests comprise the Jury and are sequestered in a separate location following their eviction and ultimately decide the winner of the season. The Jury is only allowed to see the competitions and ceremonies that include all of the remaining HouseGuests; they are not shown any interviews or other footage that might include strategy or details regarding nominations. The viewing public is able to award an additional prize by choosing "America's Favorite HouseGuest." All evicted HouseGuests are eligible to win this award except for those who either voluntarily leave or are forcibly removed for rule violations.

Changes and additions
The primary theme for Big Brother 26 is based around artificial intelligence (AI) and is dubbed "BBAI".

17th HouseGuest
On Day 1, the HouseGuests believed they were given the option to vote in a 17th HouseGuest; in reality, their votes determined the competition that they would play. Those who voted "Yes" competed for an advantage, while those who voted "No" competed to avoid a disadvantage. The Houseguests did this in two groups of 8. Makensy and Quinn won an advantage for being first in their respective "Upgrade" competitions, while Cedric and Chelsie earned a disadvantage by placing last in their respective "Downgrade" competitions.

BB Upgrade

 * Deepfake HoH: Quinn will strip the HoH of all of their power, secretly controlling their nominations. Ainsley will create a deepfake avatar of the HoH that will look and sound identical to the real HoH but it will be Quinn who controls what it says. Quinn can use that to spread misinformation and rumours. The power can be used once in the next four weeks. The HoH will remain safe.
 * America's Veto: At the end of the veto ceremony, Makensy can use America's Veto just like a normal veto. America, not the HoH, will name the replacement nominee. The player America chooses will find out their fate live on eviction night. Makensy has four weeks to use the power.

BB Downgrade

 * BB Mascot: The losers of the Downgrade Competition, Cedric and Chelsie, were demoted from houseguests to mascots, meaning that they were ineligible to compete in the HOH or POV competitions for the week, nor were they eligible to cast an eviction vote. However, they were still eligible to be nominated and evicted.

AI Arena Competition
Each week, the Head of Household will have to make three nominations for eviction, as opposed to two. Prior to the live eviction, the nominees would compete in the new AI Arena Competition, where the winner would earn safety, while the two losers would face the vote.

HouseGuests
The HouseGuests for the twenty-sixth season were revealed on July 15, 2024. It was also revealed that the houseguests would have the power to vote in a seventeenth houseguest by a majority vote.

Voting history
Color key: • {{legend|#73FB76|Winner}}

• {{legend|#D1E8EF|Runner-up}}

• {{legend|#CCFFCC|Head of Household}}

• {{legend|#959FFD|Nominated for eviction}}

• {{legend|#FBF373|Immune from eviction}}

• {{legend|#CCCCCC|Not eligible to vote}}

• {{legend|salmon|Evicted}}

• {{legend|#4DC8C3|Jury}}

Development
Big Brother 26 was officially confirmed by CBS on May 7, 2024.

Casting
Online applications for the season were underway by January 2024 while in-person casting sessions occurred in March. The cast was revealed on July 15, 2024.

Filming
Filming began on July 16, 2024, and is expected to run for 90 days.

Production design
Similar to the season's overall theme, the Big Brother house was designed with an artificial intelligence theme. Bedrooms in the house were designed using AI prompts. The have-not room is described as "only a wireframe skeleton bedroom" because the AI crashed after given the prompt.

Broadcast
The season premiered on CBS over two nights on July 17 and 18, 2024. New episodes will then air on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. It is set to conclude with a live finale on October 13, 2024.

Streaming
Following its broadcast, new episodes will stream on Paramount+ and CBS On Demand. As with previous seasons, Paramount+ is also providing access to 24/7 live feeds. The live feeds also stream on Pluto TV in a free advertisement-supported format. In a change from previous seasons, those watching the live feeds will no longer be able to pause or rewind the video.

Reception
During the first week, Angela verbally berated fellow HouseGuest Matt, referring to his appearance and personality. While many viewers appreciated the drama it added to the show, others felt that Angela went too far, resorting to personal attacks rather than gameplay.