'Big Brother 26' Winner Chelsie Baham Says She Was 'Shocked' By Her Unanimous Victory

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"I was strategic, I was social, I was skillful. I won when I wanted to, not when I had to. If you look at my game, it's not one-sided, it's a diamond. If you look at it from multiple perspectives, you can say, 'That is beautiful.'"

Those are just snatches of Chelsie Baham's powerhouse speech that she delivered en route to her unanimous victory in Big Brother 26 . The nonprofit director was certainly not immune from the chaos that infested the past 90 days, and was the victim of a devastating power shift that lost her two closest allies. But, as they say, diamonds are made under pressure. She turned things around for herself, joining up with Makensy Manbeck and dominating the second half of the season in all facets. It was an absolute gem of a game, one that was valued by the jury at $750,000.

Chelsie's first month in the house went about as perfectly as it possibly could. She set up an perfectly nestled structure, with her "C-worthy" trio in Cam Sullivan-Brown and Cedric Hodges inside of the five-person "Pentagon" inside of the eight-person "Collective." In most other seasons, this majority would be shored up to round the game down the end. But Big Brother 26 wasn't like most seasons. Quinn's decision to out the Pentagon blew up the house's status quo. Suddenly Chelsie was sent toppling from the top to the bottom of the pecking order, as two of her closest allies in Cedric and Brooklyn Rivera were sent out. Chelsie even hit the block at one point, as Tucker Des Lauriers backdoored her, calling her one of the puppet masters of the house.

Losing her biggest ride-or-dies, Chelsie created a new one in Makensy. Following Brooklyn's elimination, Chelsie was the force behind every single eviction that followed. She architectured the second major vote flip inside the house to close out the prejury phase. She was behind arguably the move of the season, convincing Makensy to nominate one of her most loyal allies in Leah Peters . And she was able to successfully deflect attention away from the trio of herself, Cam, and Makensy. Even when the other players became wary of Chelsie's growing grasp on the game, she also accumulated a significant streak of wins, including tying the Big Brother HoH record.

As we found out after the fact, once Chelsie had reached the jury, she had basically won the game. As she had been doing the six weeks prior, she handpicked the series of events so, no matter who won, she would be the ultimate victor. And even though Makensy won the final HoH, as seemed to be Chelsie's MO for most of the season, all went according to plan. Tucker's words the only time Chelsie was nominated proved to be a prophecy of her incredible game, as she became the first civilian woman to win a Big Brother season unanimously.

Hours after the Big Brother 26 finale, Chelsie talks with Parade.com about how confident she was at her win (and reaction to the unanimous jury vote), who she would have taken to the end if she won the final HoH, and how the various records she set put her in the pantheon of Big Brother winners.

Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 26

How are you doing right now? I'm sure it's indescribable, but what's going on with you?
I am winning right now in so many ways. Not only have I won Big Brother , I get to see other people! I am winning right now. This has been a dream of mine. And to not only be on the show, but to make it all the way and play a really great game, I'm just proud, and I'm shocked just as much as anybody else.

Well, you say you're "shocked." Talk to me about your reaction to Makensy choosing to take you to the end. Was that something you expected?
We had really developed a deep friendship over the past couple weeks, where I was going to protect her, she was going to protect me. And when push come to shove, last night, we knew that one of us could pull a fast one and evict each other last minute. But we decided we want to see two women at the end. We ran this season after day 45, and we believe if one person won number one, the other person completely deserved number two. So there's an ounce of doubt during her speech. I was like, "Oh, is she about to flip on me?!" But we've had too much time and too many hours and heart-to-heart conversations. I knew she was going to take me, and I would have taken her.

How surprised were you by the unanimous vote? Was there anyone in particular you were surprised voted for you instead of Makensy?
Yeah, I was not at all expecting a unanimous vote. The people that I was most worried about were Angela, Leah, and Quinn. Angela and Leah were very, very close to Makensy throughout this game, and I was a huge reason that both of them were in jury. And Quinn, I felt like, was going to vote for the comp beast. I mean, her record was absolutely crazy. However, when I look at the cast, when I look at how we've voted the whole season, it was a very emotional jury, very emotional. And I knew that I had deep connections with all of them, and if I played a well-rounded game in my speech, that I could pull some. But last night, I thought it was going to be four to three Makensy if I did make it to the end. So, am I shocked about the unanimous vote? Absolutely.

Let's say Makensy does pull that fast one and evict you. You mention this season having an emotional jury. Would you join them and vote for Cam instead?
No, I would have voted for Makensy. That would have been something I wouldn't have even had to think about. This girl has fought so hard, and my back hurts from carrying Cam the last couple weeks. So I would have been happy if I made number two. But, if I didn't win, she deserved to be number one as well. So that would have been an easy vote for me.

Let's talk about Cam. The two of you played together for all 90 days, and you had said at one point that you were harboring some feelings towards him. But there were other points of tension, like when you were not happy with him cuddling with Makensy. You had even said at one point that he was "not ready for anybody" and needed a male role model in his life. You also talked about wanting to kiss him at the after party. So what are your feelings on your relationship?
[ Laughs .] Messy! Okay, so Cam was, in my mind, a terrible Big Brother player, but a great person. When you get to pull back the layers of who he is and all that he's gone through, you can't help but admire and really understand why he needed what he needed. It bothered me, because I was working closely with him in this game, and we had seen a showmance get out Day 10. And him cuddling with other girls, personally I got over. But I'm like, "I need you as a number, so be smart, Cam! Stop cuddling with all these women, because I need you to stay in this game and protect me." But it wasn't until I got later down the game that I realized he was not close to ever protecting me in this game; I could do it on my own. So I respect the guy. He made this game rather complicated for me. But he's great to look at. He has perfect teeth, great, great voice, nice smile. I mean, my time with him wasn't too bad. Wrap party, who knows what will happen.

Let's talk about the third part of the trio in Makensy. After Cedric and Brooklyn are evicted, the two of you seem to lock in. Talk to me about how that developed, and did you ever debate getting rid of her closer to the end once she was racking up competition wins?
So Week Two, when Makensy revealed to me that she had the power, in my mindset, either I go against her, or I make her my greatest ally and protect her. And I didn't know that decision in Week Two was going to get me here, and I'm grateful that I did. At some point, I did see how many comps she was racking up, and I saw how much that cast was starting to appreciate her game. At the same time, I live with these people, and I see how they felt personally. And like I said, this cast was an emotional cast. They are. I felt halfway through this game, whatever they choose at the end isn't just going to be somebody who busted through competitions. It's going to be somebody who also had a great social game. So I decided, "Let me keep her around. Because as long as she's here, she will be a bigger target than me. And as long as I develop a deep relationship with her, she will also take me." Once we got towards the end, I really started to love this girl, and it was hard at this point. I was like, "Losing to you, I would be proud of." Because I liked her.

Lisa said at one point in the finale that you were a completely different person in the Diary Room. Did that surprise you to hear?
So none of the houseguests, I think, knew how strategic I was behind the scenes, how hardcore, how direct I was in my decision-making. I think they thought I was just living my life in the Big Brother house. There was not a moment that went by in Big Brother that I was not thinking or strategizing. But I kept that to myself. Lisa, I think she was surprised. Outside with the houseguests, I am calm. I'm laughing, I'm joking. But when I get to the DR, I'm going to work. Y'all thought you were just having a good summer?! I'm trying to win the game! And I don't think anybody saw how much I truly, truly cared about this game and always thought about the game. So yeah, I think everybody will be surprised how every move I made in this game, every decision, every conversation, was calculated. And that, I think, got me this far.

You had mentioned in one of your jury questions that you didn't necessarily deceive or lie, more so choose when to withhold and deploy information. Talk to me more about that.
I did utilize certain points and stretched the truth. There are definitely times that I did that. For the most part, I was very factual with a lot of people. I was just the one to lay out the facts. I was the one to have the hard conversations. I was the one to get people to look at the other side of the coin and make other people be threats. Here's the thing, they were threats. I just didn't reveal that I was a bigger threat than everybody. So was I fully lying? No. But was I fully telling the truth? Nah. I played the middle. Being smart in this game is knowing when to speak and when to just hold information.

To finish, I'll read some stats off to you. You are the fourth person in civilian Big Brother U.S. history to win unanimously, and you're the first woman to do so. You've tied the record for most HoH wins in a season, and you're the first person of color  to reach that feat. You're also the first woman to play a "perfect game," never receiving a vote to evict or a jury vote against you. As a superfan, how do you look back on your game and how it might resonate in Big Brother history?
I came into this show as a microchip because I didn't follow the directions! My goal was to get past Week One. I didn't think that I would win this game and have the statistics that I did. I am grateful. I am shocked hearing those stats. I was just trying to be smart in the game. I didn't even know there were people who kept statistics of Big Brother . But as a fan of this show, as somebody who has respected the game so much,  it is an honor to get this far and not only survive Big Brother , but as you speak and share these stats, I did thrive. And that's pretty cool.

Next, check out our interview with Tucker Des Lauriers, who won Big Brother 26 's "America's Favorite Houseguest" prize .