Heading into the 15th episode of “Big Brother 26,” Tucker Des Lauriers had just won his second Veto competition in a row and, unlike last time, he chose to remove himself from the block. “Deepfake” Head of Household Quinn Martin then nominated Rubina Bernabe for eviction alongside Cedric Hodges and Makensy Manbeck. But with the A.I. Arena comp still on the line, it was anyone’s guess as to who’d be leaving the house on Thursday night.
Below, read our minute-by-minute “Big Brother” Season 26, Episode 15 recap to find out what happened on the night of Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Here are the names of the 13 remaining houseguests: Angela Murray, Brooklyn Rivera, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Cedric Hodges, Chelsie Baham, Joseph Rodriguez, Kimo Apaka, Leah Peters, Makensy Manbeck, Quinn Martin, Rubina Bernabe, T’kor Clottey and Tucker Des Lauriers.
8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘Big Brother’!” In the 14th episode, Quinn finally used his not-so-secret “Deepfake” HOH upgrade, which gave him the power to overthrow Angela’s reign. His three nominees — Tucker, Cedric and Makensy — then battled in the Veto competition, with Tucker eking out a victory over Cedric. He floated the idea of not using the Veto, but ultimately decided to save himself from the block. So who will go home tonight? Let’s find out!
8:04 p.m. – With Tucker now safe from eviction and Rubina on the block in his place, a new line was set to be drawn in the sand to determine where the loyalties of those in the middle truly stand. One one side were solid members of The Collective in support of Cedric staying and on the other side were players on Tucker’s side wanting to keep Rubina safe. Kimo, T’Kor and Quinn expressed a shared point of view that they’re on bottom of The Collective because Quinn shared with the others that there are four members in The Pentagon with him, insulating Quinn and those four and leaving T’Kor and Kimo on the outside. Quinn did what he could to get them to see that turning on The Collective now with Tucker still in the house is dangerous.
8:12 p.m. – Debating about making a big move, T’Kor and Kimo found themselves in a private conversation with Rubina and Tucker to feel out whether they’d enter a new alliance with Brooklyn as a group of five, The Five Pointz. At one point, Angela was listening at the door from the floor while four of them were discussing their alliance and so, wanting to “know where Tucker is at all times,” she entered the room and jarringly begged to “please be a part of this” and offering her loyalty. The group was completely caught off guard, but they reluctantly said that she can be. From Tucker’s perspective, she’s loyal to him and is already a two-time HOH winner that is another number in their favor.
8:16 p.m. – Clearly caught in the middle, T’Kor and Kimo continued to discuss which side of the house they’d side with this week. T’Kor was most worried about Quinn because she thinks that eventually he’ll flip on them. At this point, their worst scenario is that the final two on the block this week is Rubina vs. Cedric because they’d have to make a decision. In another conversation, Brooklyn stressed to Kimo that it’s in their best interest to keep Cedric because they can’t let Tucker know that the house is split and they can’t risk having The Collective members coming after them for flipping.
8:18 p.m. – Separately, Leah was in T’Kor and Kimo’s ears with the opinion that keeping Rubina is more important because the showmance/pair of Rubina and Tucker will remain a target which only pushes the three of them further in the game. Makensy later expressed to Kimo and T’Kor that she’d also be willing to vote Cedric out over Rubina because he’s someone that nominated her for eviction so she has no loyalty to him. With numbers falling on their side, Kimo was feeling strongly about keeping Rubina over Cedric, but T’Kor was still very much 50/50 and anxious about which decision to make.
8:25 p.m. – This week in the A.I. Arena, Cedric, Makensy and Rubina competed in “Upload/Download,” a race to roll balls up a ramp in an attempt to land them safely at the top. To “download” the balls they then needed to roll smaller balls at the larger ones to knock them down the back ramp. As always, first to finish would win and remove themselves from the block.
8:27 p.m. – Right away, Makensy landed three balls on the top while Cedric and Rubina struggled a bit. Then, out of nowhere, Rubina got all five settled at the top and began the process of knocking them down with the smaller balls. But before Rubina could secure her safety by knocking them all off, Makensy came out of nowhere to get all her five in place and then knock them off literally seconds before Rubina knocked her fifth ball off.
8:36 p.m. – As if the editors could predict it, Kimo and T’Kor’s worst nightmare came true with the announcement that Makensy saved herself in the A.I. Arena and they’d have to choose between Rubina and Cedric as the nominees. Unlike other weeks, the reaction was much more tepid and the room seemed nervous about how to proceed. Cedric pulled Angela, Kimo and T’Kor in another room to make his pitch that he “needs you all” to save him tonight. Elsewhere, it looked like Brooklyn was not telling Rubina what she wants to hear. Cedric found what time he could to pull everyone to ask for their vote, including Tucker even if he understands that he’ll want to save Rubina.
8:40 p.m. – Julie called everyone back to the living room and asked Rubina and Cedric to make their last pitch to the house. Rubina got emotional and pleaded that she needs more time to “inspire and empower” people by remaining in the house. Cedric had to fight back tears as he argued that keeping him would keep the rivalry between him and Tucker alive as easy nominees each week instead of any of them.
8:41 p.m. – In the eviction vote, both Angela and Quinn were omitted from casting and so the others entered the diary room to cast their decisions. Tucker voted to evict Cedric, Makensy voted to evict Cedric, Leah voted to evict Cedric…
8:48 p.m. – … Kimo voted to evict Cedric, Chelsie voted to evict Rubina, T’Kor voted to evict Cedric, Brooklyn voted to evict Rubina, Cam voted to evict Rubina, and Joseph voted to evict Cedric.
8:51 p.m. – By a vote of 6 to 3, Cedric was evicted to the shock of Rubina and the three Collective voters that wanted him to stay. Cedric left with a smile on his face, acknowledging that this is what happens when you “volunteer to go up and miss your shot.”
8:53 p.m. – In America’s Vote, there is a choice to pick one houseguest as the A.I. Instigator that will have to start drama in the house via A.I. avatars with a chance to earn an undetermined amount of money as a reward.
8:56 p.m. – Julie asked Cedric who he thinks his three votes were for him, but he was only sure about Brooklyn. He said he knew that T’Kor and Kimo were close with Rubina and he’d be vulnerable because of that. He also said Joseph came up to him and seemed iffy so before the votes were announced he had a feeling that Makensy’s safety meant he’d be going home.
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