Big Brother Goes All In on Its Artificial Intelligence Twist in Season 26 Premiere — Read Recap

Emmy nominations and a new season of Big Brother , mere hours apart? We’ve been thoroughly spoiled on this summer day.

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CBS’ reality staple returned for Season 26 on Wednesday, with the first half of its two-night premiere. The downside to the two-part approach, of course, is that Wednesday’s debut really only scratched the surface of this season’s expect-the-unexpected deliciousness; by the time the first episode ended, only eight of this year’s 16 houseguests had entered the game, leaving the other eight to arrive in Thursday’s outing (9/8c).

But, in a plot twist I think we can all get behind, Big Brother decided to forgo a live premiere episode this summer, mercifully sparing us the awkward silences, technical difficulties and half-baked competitions that have defined the show’s past few returns. Instead, the pre-taped hour skipped over many of the initial houseguest pleasantries and got straight to this summer’s first twist: the potential addition of a 17th houseguest.

Upon getting settled in the BB house, the first octet — Tucker, Angela, Kimo, Chelsie, Cam, Rubina, Joseph and Makensy — was introduced via video clip to Ainsley, a chipper, blue-haired young woman who wanted very badly to be voted in as this season’s 17th player and join the fun. After Ainsley’s quick pitch on why she’d like to compete, the eight current houseguests cast private, individual votes as to whether Ainsley should come in or not. Ainsley needed at least five votes to crash the party… but the yeses and nos ultimately tied at four apiece, and Ainsley was denied entry.

Well, let me amend that: Ainsley was denied entry in her human form. But in the spirit of this season’s “BB AI” theme, the houseguests learned that Ainsley was really a human-looking front for an artificial intelligence entity that has been programmed to control the game this summer. Here’s a closer look at her nightmare-fuel visage:

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And when these eight houseguests voted whether or not to let Ainsley into the house, they were really being tested. The four houseguests who voted “yes” to Ainsley’s arrival would thus get to compete for the chance to win an “upgrade” to their BB game, while those that voted “no” would be at risk of getting their game downgraded.

Wednesday’s episode concluded with those “upgrade” and “downgrade” competitions, which were respectively won and lost by Makensy and Chelsie. We weren’t told exactly how Makensy’s and Chelsie’s games will be helped and hurt by the competition results, but surely the specifics of their power/setback will be revealed on Thursday. Also on Thursday, we’ll meet the remaining eight houseguests — T’kor, Matt, Cedric, Kenney, Quinn, Leah, Brooklyn and Lisa — who will get their own introduction to that scamp Ainsley.

With that, I hand it over to you. What did you think of Big Brother ‘s first episode back? Tell us below!

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