Big Brother 26 winner Chelsie Baham has established herself as a reality television series legend because of her phenomenal gameplay. Chelsie won Big Brother 26 after Makensy Manbeck became the last Head of Household (HOH) and took her to the endgame with her instead of Cam Sullivan-Brown. Chelsie won Part 1 of the final HOH competition, while Makensy won Part 2. The two women then faced off in Part 3, which Makensy won.
All over Big Brother 26Chelsie navigated the game very well. From winning competitions to social gaming, she’s proven she’s a novice Big Brother legend. See why Chelsie will go down in history as one of the best players and winners in the show’s history.
Chelsie Baham was HOH four times on Big Brother 26
Chelsie has won the power more times than any other Big Brother 26 houseguest
Chelsie was the Big Brother 26 HOH four timeswhich tied the single-season record held by several legends. They include winners Drew Daniel, Hayden Moss, Rachel Reilly, Ian Terry, Derrick Levasseur and Steve Moses, as well as guests Janelle Pierzina, Aaryn Gries, Caleb Reynolds, Frankie Grande and Vanessa Rousso.
After starting Big Brother 26 as BB’s mascot in week 1, who could not compete for HOH, the Power of Veto, or vote, but could be nominated and evicted, Chelsie became HOH in week 2. She went from being completely powerless to having all the power. During Chelsie’s first reign on HOH, she successfully evicted Lisa Weintraub, who was considered a beast of the competition.
Chelsie won HOH again in Week 8, during which play threat Quinn Martin was evicted. During week 10, she won HOH again in the second half of the double eviction, finally ousting Angela Murray. In week 12, Chelsie’s HOH reign resulted in a victory for Power of Veto winner Makensy, eliminating Rubina Bernabe to create the Final 3 of Chelsie, Makensy, and Cam. Over the course of her HOH reigns, she eliminated Lisa, Quinn, Angela and Rubina, all strong competitors this could have won the game if Chelsie hadn’t targeted them.
Chelsie controlled Makensy’s HOH reigns
Chelsie managed to do what she wanted without getting blood on her hands
In addition to Chelsie’s achievements during her own Big Brother 26 HOH reigns, she also controlled her ally Makensy’s HOHseven convincing her to expel her own ally, Leah Peters, catching her by surprise by nominating her as a replacement candidate using the power of veto, which Makensy had overruled. Chelsie also convinced Makensy to target Kimo, leaving Rubina in the game. The following week, when Makensy had to choose to save Cam or Rubina, Makensy took Cam to the end with her.
This was a decision that benefited Chelsie greatly because she and Cam were in alliances from the beginning. It was highly unlikely that Cam would have taken Makensy to Final 2 with him, but Rubina could have. Makensy essentially brought a duo to the Final 3 with her, at Chelsie’s request. As Chelsie said in one of her responses to the jury: she was responsible for the evictions of many houseguests, whether she was HOH or not.
Chelsie performed well under pressure
Chelsie won the BB AI Arena competition when her back was against the wall
Chelsie began the season in a majority alliance called The Collective, and also in a smaller alliance within the Collective called The Pentagon. However, when alliances exploded, Chelsie had to regroup and find new allies. She performed well under this pressure, keeping her cool and remaining loyal to Cam no matter what happened during the game.
When HOH Tucker Des Lauriers nominated Chelsie as a replacement candidate after saving Quinn with the power of veto, she was forced into the BB AI Arena. She knew she could be at risk of being evicted, so she fought hard and won. This was the only time Chelsie was at risk all season, and she proved she could win when her back was against the wall. However, as she said in her eviction speech, she didn’t need to win competitions because of her incredible social game.
Chelsie was guaranteed a spot on Big Brother 26 Final 2 no matter what
Chelsie had Makensy and Cam’s loyalty
Chelsie decided that no matter who won the final HOH competition, she would be in the final 2 seats. Obviously, she would be there if she won, but she also made sure Makensy and Cam were loyal to her and not each other. She did this by being friends with them and also making moves in the game that seemed to benefit them all. Chelsie was very smart to do this because she knew she could beat any of them.
Chelsie’s Big Brother 26 final speeches were flawless
Chelsie pleads her case so well
Chelsie gave an incredible final speech to the jury, but her shining moment came before that, when she contradicted Makensy’s claim that taking Leah out of the game was her best move and that no one influenced her to do so. Immediately thereafter, Chelsie took credit for the change in a much more convincing way. The jurors who witnessed the change also knew the truth. Furthermore, Chelsie gave one of the greatest final speeches of Big Brother historyand it was a truly spectacular moment.
Chelsie won Big Brother 26 with unanimous vote
Chelsie played a perfect game
Chelsie is a new Big Brother legend because she is only the fourth champion to win with a unanimous vote and the first woman to do so. The others are Dan Gheesling (Big Brother 10), Cody Calafiore (Big Brother 22) and Xavier Prather (Big Brother 23). Chelsie also played a perfect gamemeaning she never had an eviction vote against her and won the game unanimously. She was also never at risk during the live eviction.
Although Makensy has won eleven competitions and has a very strong CV, the jury saw that Chelsie was the brains behind the second half of the game. They respected her gameplay and voted accordingly. It was surprising that Makensy didn’t receive a single vote from the jury, but it also made sense considering that the jury seemed to realize that Makensy’s game moves were orchestrated by Chelsie.
In her final speech, Chelsie said she was a diamond because, “You can look at me from multiple perspectives, zoom out and say, ‘That was beautiful.'” She’s absolutely right about that. Chelsie had six competition wins in total, smart strategies, and a social game that earned her a spot in the Final 2, regardless of whether she won the final HOH competition or not. As she said in her closing speech, she was intelligent, strategic, sociable and skilled. Chelsie will go down in history as one of the greatest guests to ever play and win Big Brother.
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