'Big Brother' recap: Cedric Hodges wins HoH, nominates three houseguests for eviction

Big Brother featured Cedric Hodges winning Head of Household and nominating three houseguests for eviction during the Season 26 episode that aired Sunday night on CBS.


Cedric, a 21-year-old former Marine from Running Springs, CA who currently resides in Boise, ID, was crowned Head of Household and decided to nominate the following three players for eviction: Angela Murray, a 50-year-old real estate agent from Long Beach, CA who currently resides in Syracuse, UT; Kenney Kelley, a 52-year-old former undercover cop from Boston, MA; and Tucker Des Lauriers, a 30-year-old marketing and sales executive from Boston, MA who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

The Big Brother broadcast began following Lisa Weintraub's eviction in a nearly-unanimous vote on Day 17.

Chelsie Baham the outgoing HoH, was proud to have eliminated a social and physical threat in the game.

While Quinn Martin had wanted Angela gone since Angela knew about his "Deepfake HoH" power, he decided to side with the house majority and send Lisa packing in the second blindside of the season.


Angela, who survived the block, broke down into tears and thanked her fellow houseguests for keeping her dream alive by allowing her to stay on Big Brother another week. It was not exactly an emotional or sweet moment, however, because the houseguests seemed unfazed and unaffected by Angela's speech.

"Angela, you might be a little wrong here. The plan all along was to get rid of Lisa, who was the stronger competitor, but I don't think you're off the hook yet, sorry," Tucker said in the Big Brother Diary Room.

Kenney then admitted to Angela he had cast the only vote for her eviction, but she seemed okay with it. Angela, who was not shocked by the news, said Kenney was simply not "in touch" with what was happening in the game and he was essentially on an island by himself.

Cedric, meanwhile, was wondering who had the superpowers in the game given neither of the two powers had been used yet.

The next Head of Household competition "in Ainsley Land" then commenced, and Chelsie, as the outgoing HoH, was deemed ineligible to compete.


Chelsie was hoping someone from her "The Pentagon" alliance -- which included Cedric, Quinn, Brooklyn Rivera and Cam Sullivan-Brown -- was going to win HoH.

But Makensy Manbeck was hoping she or Leah Peters would take the crown, and Leah admitted she was tired of taking second place in competitions.

The rest of the Big Brother players became lifesize pieces on a game board, which resembled that of Candy Land.

One at a time, the participating houseguests had 45 seconds to race around the gameboard, hitting as many buttons as possible to increase their score. There were different paths featuring different buttons worth different values.

If a player lost his or her balance and fell off the path, their score would become a zero and they'd have to start over, losing valuable time.


Once a button was hit, it could not be pressed again until every button on the board was pushed.

The Big Brother houseguest who accumulated the most points in the fastest time would become the new Head of Household.

Quinn earned the score to beat, which was 18. Makensy accumulated a score of 21, but then she tripped over her own shoe and fell.

Once everyone had their turn and the competition concluded, Cedric became the new HoH with a high score of 27.

"I am really, really sad I didn't win the HoH competition. I'm at a pretty low point in the game right now, and I could really use some motivation to keep me going," Kenney lamented in the Big Brother Diary Room.


Angela said she needed this win to secure her spot in the house, and so she was also feeling pretty down.

Cedric confirmed everyone in his "Pentagon" alliance was going to be safe and his plan was to set himself up nicely for the next couple of weeks.

Cedric boasted about how the Day 1 mascots had won back-to-back Head of Household competitions, but Chelsie didn't appreciate him calling that out and potentially putting a target on their backs.

In order to build trust, Kenney confessed to Cedric that he was a detective, not a food truck driver, and Cedric revealed, in turn, how he was an intelligence analyst in the Marine Corps.

Kenney got emotional and admitted to Cedric that he was missing his family and having a difficult time in the house. He basically volunteered himself to go on the chopping block.


Cedric therefore had Kenney and Angela as easy -- and obvious -- nominees, but he needed to choose a third nominee, which appeared to be a challenge for him.

Makensy told Cedric that Angela was her main target, with Kenney being her second. Makensy also warned Cedric that she had a special "America's Veto" power that wouldn't change anything for him.

However, Makensy pointed out how the power would enable herself to come off the chopping block. Makensy tried to convince Cedric that he wouldn't want to make an enemy out of her going forward, and Cedric agreed.

Cedric then told Chelsie that his third nominee was probably going to be Leah. Chelsie informed Cedric that Leah had brought up his name during her previous HoH reign. Chelsie knew that both Leah and Makensy had thrown his name out there.

"When I hear that my name was in Makensy and Leah's mouth, this is making me rethink everything. I need to start considering all my options," Cedric explained to the Big Brother cameras.

Cedric proceeded to ask Leah if she'd be willing to go on the block as a pawn, but she voiced how she'd rather not. Cedric had a similar conversation with Rubina Bernabe right afterwards.


"Maybe this pawn thing isn't going to be as easy as I thought!" Cedric admitted to the Big Brother cameras.

Cedric also woke Joseph Rodriguez up in the middle of the night and asked if he'd be a pawn for him, but Joseph made it known that he wouldn't be okay with that. No one was volunteering, and so Cedric didn't know what to do.

Chelsie later admitted that she had a crush on Cam; however, Cam only had eyes for Leah. Quinn was also apparently attracted to Leah, who tended to flirt right back with him.

While a couple of guys were drawn to Leah, Leah confessed in the Diary Room that she liked Tucker, whom she called a "charismatic" and funny "manly-man."

Tucker, on the other hand, was in love with the fish in the Big Brother house's tank, joked Chelsie.

Tucker, who was Cedric's ally, eventually volunteered to go on the chopping block as a pawn, but Cedric didn't jump on that opportunity. Cedric's main target was Angela, and he didn't want to risk losing someone like Tucker.


Cedric was also still contemplating flushing Makensy's superpower. Kenney had noticed that the women were sticking together and may be in an alliance.

Kenney advised Cedric to play the girls before they got a chance to play him, and Tucker agreed that it would be good for everyone's game to get Makensy's power out of play.

But nominating Makensy could result in all the women going after Cedric next.

"I get that Cedric doesn't want to get his hands dirty, but that's the name of the game. It's Week 3, let's go!" Tucker vented to the Big Brother cameras.

At the Nomination Ceremony, Cedric announced he had decided to nominate Angela, Kenney and Tucker for eviction.

Cedric told Angela that he loved her and wanted her to compete in the AI Arena, and he assured Kenney that he understood there are things in life that "are more important than the game."


Cedric also confirmed that Tucker wasn't his target.

Tucker was thinking about the longevity of his game and how he didn't want to have enemies when he couldn't compete for HoH.

Angela was disappointed Cedric wasn't going after a bigger threat in the house, and she pointed out how it was anybody's game. Kenney, meanwhile, was really missing his kids, but he still said he was going to "go all out" and try to win the Power of Veto.

Tucker was also let down that Cedric wasn't up for making a big move, but he was excited to fight in the AI Arena for safety once again.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski