Big Brother 26 houseguests who would make good teammates on The Amazing Race

Big Brother 26 was one of the better recent seasons of the show with 16 houseguests who were somewhat entertaining. We also got a winner in Chelsie Banham who won the $750,000 in a unanimous vote and our introduction to Ainsley (Artificial Intelligence Network Self Learning Entity) and Jankie.

What stood out this past season was how many contestants clicked in the game early on, forging alliances and many partners who played together to navigate the lies, deception, and evictions as well as the slop, Team Ants, and Zingbot 9000.

Many past Big Brother contestants have gone on to play on another of CBS’s reality TV triumvirate, The Amazing Race including Rachel and Brendon, Jessica and Cody, and Derek and Claire, the latter two couples actually winning their seasons and the $1,000,000 prize. 

So what duos would be good fits for a future season of The Amazing Race? Let’s look at five twosomes who are perfect fits to be one of the 13 teams that travel around the world and compete in challenges and try to survive and have a chance to ultimately be the first two to cross the finish line in the end.

Rubina Bernabe and Tucker Des Lauriers

Rubina and Tucker became romantically involved on Big Brother 26 and with their unique senses of humor, bonded and forged an alliance, albeit it was a little late in the game for Tucker’s aggressive style. The two are both in their Thirties with Rubina 35 and Tucker 30 when they met on a reality TV show in a parking lot in Studio City, California.

An event bartender from Los Angeles, Rubina would be good on The Amazing Race, as would Tucker, from the other coast (Brooklyn), who is athletic and did very well in the competitions, winning one Head of Household (Week 5), two Arenas (Weeks 2 and 3), and three Powers of Veto (Weeks 3, 4, and 5).

Tucker’s proven ability to survive put a big target on his back—he was nominated four times (Weeks 2, 3, 4, and 6)—and he was ultimately evicted after 45 days (11th place) but still didn’t go home empty-handed, winning $50,000 as the Fan Favorite, winning $20,000 as an AI Instigator, and winning Rubina’s heart.

These two made great TV together and would be naturals for TAR, although Tucker would have to get someone to watch his dog Ziggy.

Makensy Manbeck and Matt Hardeman

He was the first houseguest evicted and she was never evicted and was the runner-up and won $75,000. Makensy and Matt clicked from the beginning, the two tallest people in the house, but when Angela targeted “Crazy Eyes” early on, the 25-year-old Tech sales rep from Roswell, Georgia had no chance and was evicted on Day 10.

Makensy did very well in the competitions, winning Head of Household three times (Weeks 10, 11 and 13), two Arena wins (Weeks 4 and 6), five Powers of Veto (Weeks 1, 8, 10, 11 and 12), and a trip to Hawai’i in her 90 days in the House.

Still, the 22-year-old construction project manager from Houston made one of the worst moves in Big Brother history when she elected to keep Chelsie safe and take her to the Final 2 and evict Cam who would have no chance in the voting with his game resume. Instead of winning $750,000 and the title of winner, Makensy won $75,000.

With Makensy being a volleyball standout and Matt a football star in high school, both would be athletic enough to do well on The Amazing Race, but would they have and could they foster the chemistry needed between teammates to win the show?

Leah Peters and Quinn Martin

This unlikely couple developed an endearing chemistry about halfway through the season. Leah, a 26-year-old VIP cocktail server from Miami and Quinn, a 25-year-old nurse recruiter from Omaha, Nebraska would be a fun duo to see on The Amazing Race.

Quinn was evicted on Day 59 and Leah went two weeks later on Day 73, and although they didn’t win as much as some other Houseguests, their personalities helped make BB26 one of the best seasons in recent memory.

Leah (7th place) ended with one HoH win (Week 9) and two PoV wins (Weeks 7 and 9) while Quinn (9th place) had two HoH wins (Weeks 1 and 7).

Kenney Kelley and Cedric Hodges

The oldest (52) and the youngest (21) players in the house formed a unique bond when they both revealed what they did in their pasts one afternoon. After lying to the house early on and telling them he was in the food truck business selling sweet Italian sausages as “Sweet Kenney K,” Kenney admitted to Cedric that he was once an undercover policeman in Boston.

Cedric told Kenney that he was once in the Marines, and although neither really did much in the game—Kenney was evicted on Day 24 and Cedric a week later on Day 31—they had a unique trust in each other despite the 31-year age gap.

Like these other five pairs, Kenney and Cedric would be a fun watch on The Amazing Race but might not be good enough at the navigation part and would need to evolve more as trusting teammates as they weren’t in the house that long.

Chelsie Baham and Cam Sullivan-Brown

Chelsie won Big Brother 26 after playing a masterful social and psychological game and having the right alliances at the right time, including one (The Final 3) with Makensy and Cam. If they teamed up on The Amazing Race, Chelsie (27) could be the brains and Cam (25) could be the brawn.

Cam, a physical therapist from Bowie, Maryland, played college football at Penn State and Massachusetts and finished in third place last season, but wasn’t that great at competitions, winning just one PoV while Chelsie, a non-profit director from Rancho Cucamonga, won four HoHs (Weeks 2 and 8, Day 73, Week 13) and one Arena (Week 5) en route to making the all-women’s Final 2 and winning by a unanimous 7-0 vote.

These two always had each other’s backs on BB26 and would be fun to watch on TAR although they might be able to travel over 10,000 miles together solving puzzles and not get on each other’s nerves. Chelsie seemed to just tolerate Cam through the game and seemed jealous when he feigned interest in other Houseguests like Leah and Makensy, so they would have to focus on the task(s) at hand and not play TAR like BB.

Although alike in many ways, Big Brother and The Amazing Race are two very different games.