Big Brother 26 brought back a familiar Big Brother twist with the “America’s Veto” Upgrade Power, a nod to earlier seasons’ “America’s Player.” Big Brother first premiered in July 2000, and ever since, CBS has pushed to keep Big Brother as entertaining as possible with bigger twists and more surprising gameplay.
Big Brother’s slogan is “expect the unexpected,” and it’s safe to say that many fans never expected the reality competition show to bring back a twist viewers haven’t seen in over a decade. Whenever viewers have the chance to influence the game instead of just watching it unfold, it adds an extra layer of excitement to Big Brother. With America’s Player and now America’s Veto, fans are thrilled to have a direct impact on the outcome of Big Brother.
Big Brother’s America’s Veto Isn’t The First Time America Has Controlled Players In The Game
Big Brother season 26 introduced two Upgrade Powers at the beginning of the season. Houseguests competed before the first official Head of Household competition to determine who would receive a special power that would positively affect their personal game in the house. Twenty-two-year-oldMakensy Manbeck won the “America’s Veto” power, which could protect her or a houseguest of her choice if they were put on the block.
In a shocking Veto ceremony during BB26 Week 3, Makensy was thrown on the block as a replacement nominee after Veto-winner, Tucker Des Lauriers, used the Veto, not on himself, but on controversial houseguest Angela Murray. Tucker’s ultimate plan was for HOH Cedric Hodges to place Quinn Martin (the other Upgrade Power holder) in Angela’s seat, which would have been an overall big game move.
However, this plan did not materialize, and Makensy was forced to use her “America’s Veto” Upgrade Power. While the houseguests knew this power meant safety for Makensy, they were stunned when Big Brother’s AI, Ainsley, revealed that the HOH would not be naming a replacement nominee.
“Instead, America would vote on who would sit on the block come Eviction Night.”
Ainsley also shared that the houseguests wouldn’t know who America chose until moments before the AI Arena competition on Eviction Night.
This exciting BB26 twist allowed America’s viewers to influence the game by nominating a replacement nominee that the HOH likely wouldn’t have put on the block.
How America’s Player Shaped Big Brother Season 8
Similar to America’s Veto from BB26, America’s Player was an interactive Big Brother twist. America’s Player gave viewers more control over the game than America’s Veto though.
During Season 8, houseguest Eric Stein was put in the game as America’s Player and his every move was dictated by America’s vote for the whole season. The viewers decided who Eric would vote out on eviction nights, they decided who his target for nominations would be, and several other tasks that dealt with Eric’s relationships in the Big Brother 8 game.
For every five tasks Eric completed as America’s Player, he was awarded $10,000. By the end of season 8, Eric had completed 20 of the 28 tasks given to him, earning $40,000. While Eric was voted out at the end of Week 9, placing 5th in the season. And since Eric made it to the Jury House, America got to vote for who Eric would campaign to win season 8 and America chose Eric’s jury vote for the winner, making it “America’s Winner.”
America’s Player reappeared again in Season 10, but only for one week.BB10 winner, Dan Gheesling, was voted by viewers to become America’s Player during week 4, where if he completed all three tasks successfully, Dan was awarded $20,000. He accepted the honor and targeted and voted out America’s choice houseguest.
Overall, Big Brother fans love the America’s Player twist and any variant of it. However, some viewers have noted that it could hurt a houseguests’ game if America votes for them to target another houseguest they might have been working with or wanting to form an alliance with. While fans are in agreement that the twist likely helped Dan’s game, it probably didn’t do any good for Eric’s game, with some fans saying that it “trashed Eric’s overall game.”
Eric was pre-selected by production to become America’s Player, while Dan was voted to be America’s Player. The only way Eric could join BB8 was as America’s player, too, because if he turned down the role, he could not be in that season due to knowing the twist already.
Other Ways America Has Influenced Big Brother Over The Years
Viewers of Big Brother have been allowed to vote for gameplay in other ways than America’s Player and America’s Veto throughout the seasons. When Big Brother first began with season 1, houseguests were evicted by America’s vote every week, and America voted for the final winner of the season. The Big Brother jury was introduced in season 2 and houseguests determined who would be evicted each week and who would be named the winner.
During earlier seasons of Have-Nots, Big Brother viewers got to vote for which additiona
l food the have-nots could eat, in addition to slop. The chosen food was usually something also not appetizing.
Big Brother returned to season 1’s format of America voting for their online season Big Brother: Over the Top. During Big Brother: Over the Top, CBS All-Access viewers voted for who would be have-nots, they voted for a third nominee to put on the block, they voted for which houseguest would be evicted (which counted as one vote in the tally with houseguests’ votes), and the CBS All-Access viewers voted for the winner of the season during the finale.
During season 15, Big Brother debuted the Most Valuable Player twist. America voted for a houseguest to become MVP, the MVP got to nominate a third houseguest for elimination each week. After the first three weeks, America became MVP and got to vote for the third nominated houseguest. After week six, the twist came to an end and only two houseguests were nominated each week by the Head of Household.
America’s Favorite Houseguest was first introduced in BB7, as America’s Choice Jury Prize, where viewers voted on a favorite from the Jury to win $25,000. Since season 11, all houseguests became eligible to win America’s Favorite Houseguest and beginning with BB23 the prize increased to $50,000.