Big Brother featured Tucker Des Lauriers winning the Power of Veto -- again -- and Quinn Martin naming Tucker's ally and crush Rubina Bernabe as the replacement nominee during the Season 26 episode that aired Wednesday night on CBS.
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Tucker, a 30-year-old marketing and sales executive from Boston, MA who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, won the Power of Veto and used its golden power to take himself off the chopping block.
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Utilizing his "Deepfake HoH" power, Quinn, a 25-year-old nurse recruiter from Lawton, OK, who currently resides in Omaha, NE, got to name the replacement nominee instead of the real Head of Household, Angela Murray, a 50-year-old real estate agent from Long Beach, CA who currently resides in Syracuse, UT.
Quinn decided to put Rubina, a 35-year-old event bartender from Los Angeles, CA, on the chopping block next to the other nominees, Cedric Hodges, a 21-year-old former Marine from Running Springs, CA who currently resides in Boise, ID, and Makensy Manbeck, a 22-year-old construction project manager from Houston, TX.
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The Big Brother broadcast began on Day 25 following the use of Quinn's "Deepfake HoH" power upgrade. Quinn had overthrown Angela's nominations and named Tucker, Cedric and Makensy the week's nominees.
"Tucker is absolutely my target. He's like a wild wolverine and you've just got to hope that he loses the competition," Quinn explained.
"Makensy is a great competitor and isn't super aligned with me, and Cedric is my secret agent. These are self-interested players who will win the Power of Veto and keep Tucker on the block."
Angela didn't really care who was on the chopping block because she was still safe and could play in the Power of Veto. She was also glad to not get any blood on her hands this week of the Big Brother game.
Tucker believed he was going to win the Power of Veto competition again. Rubina was upset to see her crush on the block, especially because he was a shield for her, but she had high hopes he could win the Power of Veto.
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Quinn didn't get to automatically play in the PoV competition like the HoH usually gets to, and so he hoped to be picked by random draw. Regardless, Quinn would be able to name the replacement nominee if the Veto got used.
Meanwhile, Leah Peters was taking the Miami "chill" approach to the game by essentially sitting back and not doing anything. She had no problem with flying under the radar and not making big Big Brother moves.
Joseph Rodriguez still had "The Collective" alliance going, but he had swapped out Angela with Brooklyn Rivera.
This alliance was also comprised of Cedric, Quinn, Chelsie Baham, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Kimo Apaka and T'kor Clottey. This group was a collection that included all of Quinn's allies, including "The Pentagon" and "The Visionaries."
Quinn said he needed the numbers to take out Tucker but he had no plans of "riding into the sunset" with the Big Brother house majority.
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Brooklyn suggested that if Cedric won the Power of Veto, Quinn should put up Rubina in his place.
Brooklyn thought if Rubina was sitting next to him on eviction night, Tucker may throw the AI Arena competition or at least not try as hard to win. Quinn called this plan "genius," and Brooklyn gave herself a pat on the back.
"We're going to tug at his heartstrings... It is certifiably diabolical, and I am considering doing it!" Quinn said.
There were many athletes in the house, and Tucker was one of them, so he decided to ask Joseph to be in a Final 2 alliance with him since they're complete opposites and none of the Big Brother houseguests would suspect they're working together.
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Joseph said he was onboard, and he liked the idea because Tucker was a beast in competitions, but Joseph was also a member of "The Collective," who wanted Tucker's head on a silver platter.
Joseph therefore wasn't ready to stick his neck out for Tucker in the Big Brother game just yet.
It then became time to pick players for the Power of Veto competition.
In addition to the HoH, Angela, and the three nominees — Tucker, Cedric and Makensy — Tucker was picked by random draw, and so he selected Joseph to play.
Joseph didn't want to win the Big Brother competition because he'd have to show his cards and choose between Tucker or the house majority.
Cedric was also picked to play, and so he chose Brooklyn to jump in and compete.
Brooklyn said if she won the Veto, she'd activate her plan to put Rubina on the chopping block next to Tucker.
Quinn therefore had to rely on allies to win this one for him.
The Power of Veto competition dubbed "Binary Bridge" required the participating houseguests to cross the binary bridge. They had to navigate the bridge by stepping on only the green tiles.
Each step along the way had one green and one red tile, but they didn't know which was which until they chose one to step on. If a Big Brother player stepped on a green tile, he or she could continue down the path.
If a person stepped on a red tile, he or she would have to go back to the beginning and start again. The matchups were selected by random draw.
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"The player with the fastest time in the first three matchups will get a buy in Round 2, automatically advancing to the final round.
The two winners with slower times in Round 1 would go head to head to see who would also advance to Round 3.
The winner of the final round would win Big Brother's golden Power of Veto.
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In Round 1, Cedric defeated Brooklyn, Makensy beat Angela, and then Tucker bested Joseph.
Tucker finished with the fastest time, so he got to automatically advance to the final round. Makensy and Cedric therefore faced off in Round 2, and Cedric won it.
In the final round of the Big Brother competition, "the two titans of the game" went head to head, and Quinn pointed out how Cedric had to win on his behalf for the weekend to go as planned.
The only people who wanted Tucker to win this one were Rubina, Angela and Leah, who liked having a big target in the house while she slips by.
In the end, Tucker won the golden Power of Veto, and he was ecstatic because Cedric was the one person whom he wanted to show up and beat.
Quinn was completely disappointed and vented in the Diary Room how he seemed to have the toughest path in this game. He essentially felt like he was competing against someone who was superhuman.
After the Big Brother competition, Tucker considered using the Veto on someone else and staying on the block so he could beat Cedric in the AI Arena.
Angela begged Tucker not to put himself in harm's way like that, but Tucker felt like he had something to prove. He also thought it would be a resume boost for his own game.
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Tucker admitted to Quinn and Cam that his goal was to knock Cedric out of the game.
"I came here for the experience, and if I go home, whatever," Tucker shared, adding how he wanted to finish what he started on Big Brother.
In that case, Cedric said he was looking forward to getting his rematch with Tucker in the AI Arena.
Quinn thought Tucker's proposed move was really stupid, and Angela agreed that if Tucker chose not to save himself, he'd be handing over the $750,000 prize to the rest of the house.
However, Tucker ultimately chose to use the Power of Veto on himself.
"Someone here can't handle being called names yet will call me over 15 names to the entire world. So I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you out of this house, Quinn. I am sticking around for another week," Tucker announced.
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Quinn named Rubina the replacement nominee as a result, and Tucker didn't seem to care as much as Brooklyn thought he would.
"It sucks to see Rubina on the block, but I came here with one goal in mind -- and that's winning this Big Brother game," Tucker noted in the Big Brother Diary Room.
Tucker claimed he was always going to save himself but he liked to keep his fellow houseguests guessing.
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"The Collective" was still gunning for Tucker, and Quinn hoped he'd win HoH next week to push that plan forward.
Rubina knew she was in this position because she was close to Tucker, but she boasted to the Big Brother cameras about being "small and mighty" and how she's going "to crush" the AI Arena competition.