Big Brother 26 Is Headed Into Week 6, And I'm Shocked By Two Big Things

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Big Brother Season 26 episode that aired on Thursday, August 22nd. Watch the live feeds with a Paramount+ subscription or on Pluto TV, and read at your own risk!

Tucker Des Lauriers Week 5 Head of Household week is at a close, and he got his target in the end. As expected, Brooklyn Rivera was sent out the door, and Big Brother 26 is rolling along into Week 6. Julie Chen Moonves made a few announcements as usual to give viewers an idea of what's ahead, and I'm surprised by one thing she did say and something she didn't say.

As we stream Big Brother 's live feeds and watch Week 6 go forward, we have an idea of what to expect. Suffice it to say, this week is a bit different than what we've seen in past seasons, and I can't help but speculate on some of the reasons for that.

The A.I. Arena Will Continue Into Week 6

While there's never a consistent time to end a major twist that kicks off a season, there seemed to be a lot of people online, myself included, that believed the A.I. Arena would expire after this week. I personally just assumed with the A.I. Instigator twist starting, we'd see the previous twist expire, but that's clearly not the case.

I'm not necessarily mad about this, as there have been worse twists in Big Brother , and the A.I. Arena has done a lot to improve the game. That said, I do feel a bit suspicious about the timing considering Tucker is unable to play for the Head of Household this week. Keeping the A.I. Arena just one more week than expected gives him another fighting chance to stay in the game. I'm not saying the production did that because he's at risk at being backdoored this week, but I can't rule it out as a possibility. I will say that if this twist goes too much further into the season, they might as well hand him the prize money now.

We Still Have No Idea When The Double Eviction Is Happening

Typically, Big Brother has done a double eviction, or at least signaled plans for one, by Week 6. It's possible the A.I. Arena makes it hard to do that since it adds an additional competition on top of the usual programming. If that's the case, we may be seeing one happen later in the season once the twist is finally over.

For now, I'm ok with that. Big Brother is thriving right now with this cast, so we don't have to rush anyone out of the house just yet to move the game along. Season 26 is making up for a lot of worse moments from previous seasons I'd rather forget , and I genuinely hope it signals the start of a new era in the game. If late double evictions are a natural casualty of that, so be it.

Big Brother returns with a new episode on Sunday, August 25th at 9:00 p.m. ET. Tune in to see who won the A.I. Instigator and Week 6 HOH, or stop by CinemaBlend before then, as we'll have a spoiler post ready for those who just can't wait. Also, be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule , as it's loaded with shows premiering over the next few weeks.