Big Brother season 26 players least to most likely to win

At the start of the summer, Big Brother season 26 introduced us to 16 amazing houseguests from all over the world. We saw these numbers dwindle every week, as a houseguest was evicted from the house for one reason or another. Now, we're left with just a handful of players, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

We've had a pretty eventful season with all the huge twists and shocking evictions. It's only right for a season that started so strong to finish just as strongly which is why there are only a select few houseguests that we truly think deserve to be the winner of Big Brother season 26. But, as we know, there are times when the ending doesn't really match the journey, so we can only hope that those who haven't made many game moves thus far don't get a stroke of luck at the last minute.

Only time will tell who will go home victorious. For now, however, here are our predictions surrounding who we think is least to most likely to win Big Brother season 26.

Big Brother season 26 player ranking

Considering competition wins, powerful yet wise game moves, and social strategy, we think Rubina Bernabe and Cam Sullivan-Brown fall short of what we need from a modern-day winner of Big Brother.

Rubina Bernabe

Likelihood of winning: 10%

There's no doubt that Rubina has been a delight to watch, especially during her showmance with Tucker Des Lauriers. Even so, what she made up for in giving fans something to swoon over, she severely lacked in gameplay.

Rubina has been on the block countless times. Sometimes as a pawn and others as a person, the Head of Household wanted out. What's more, she is someone people seldom want to work with for their various reasons. Despite this, she barely took the initiative to branch out from her trio (T'Kor Clottey and Kimo Apaka) to make alliances with people who had more power in the house. Sure, sticking by Tucker's side when he was running the house was a smart move, but once he was prematurely evicted, Rubina should've had a fire lit within her to fix her social game.

At the time of writing, Rubina only has one win (Week 7 BBAI Arena) under her belt. It's better than nothing, yet, we do think that if it was a Head of Household or Veto win, it would've made her resume a bit more impressive.

The current Jury (Quinn Martin, T'Kor Clottey, Leah Peters, and Angela Murray) is aware that Rubina hasn't done much this season. And because Rubina sometimes was their nominee, it's clear to see that Rubina would lose jury votes in every match-up.

Cam Sullivan-Brown

Likelihood of winning: 15%

Admittedly, sometimes we forget that Cam is still in the house because he is so quiet and often stays on the sidelines. He's a super nice man, something that is a breath of fresh air considering some of the men who came before him. But in this game, being kind is a bit of an overrated virtue since, eventually, one has to put away the niceties and do some cutthroat things to make it ahead.

In addition to his kind but passive gameplay, Cam has always found himself on the right side of the vote. Seldom did he think about going against the grain, even when it came to voting out Tucker a.k.a. someone who would've easily taken Cam to the end because of bro code. While Cam's alliance was The Collective, after the deterioration of the major alliance, he never got back to such a socially dominant place. Rather, he faded to the backlines.

So far, Cam has one comp win (Week 6 Power of Veto) in his grasp. His Veto win was monumental, as it led to the eventual eviction of Tucker Des Lauriers, the most powerful player of season 26. Even so, if Cam kept this same energy for the rest of the season, we think he could've been the silent but deadly player instead of just the silent player.

Our current Jury members love Cam as a person, but maybe not so much as a player. Maybe their sweet spot for him will grant him one vote, but in a match-up against everyone but Rubina, we think he loses.

Kimo Apaka

Likelihood of winning: 20%

Kimo was a part of the most dramatic shocking evictions of the season---Cedric Hodges' surprise departure. He (and T'Kor) secretly plotted a way to go against the major alliance by securing the votes to send Cedric home rather than mindlessly go with whatever the major alliance wanted. This upset not only cemented Kimo as a player who is willing to get his hands dirty when it comes down to it but also made him someone that people had to stay on the lookout for which, in this game, means you're playing the game.

Unfortunately, the threat of Kimo possibly turning the game on its head was only very temporary since we never saw this side of Kimo again. Be it because he wanted to lay low after making such a powerful move or because he got stagnant once he entered into a trio alliance with T'Kor and Rubina, Kimo never played the game as aggressively as he did during Cedric's eviction again.

Right now, Kimo has two wins under his belt (Week 1 BBAI Arena and Week 10 Power of Veto) had he not won either of those competitions, we'd argue he would be long gone, so we are impressed by his ability to win when he absolutely really needs. In the same breath though, he wouldn't have to worry about being sent home or nominated almost every week if he spread his wings and talk game with others around the house.

As for the Jury, Angela expressed her love for Kimo, meaning, if he makes it to the end, he would have her votes. He would also likely beat Rubina and Cam if we were going off of resumes. Sadly, he doesn't hold a candle to the two most deserving winners of this season.

Makensy Manbeck

Likelihood of winning: 27.5%

Makensy went from almost being sent home pre-jury because of her alliance with Matt Hardeman to positioning herself to potentially be the next winner of Big Brother. She did this by playing the game very slowly and steadily. She didn't swear her allegiance to anyone or overpromise to anyone. She simply took things week by week and let those with the bigger personalities or messier gameplays blow up their games by having all the attention on them.

When it was finally time for Makensy to show her cards, she ensured she still didn't show any one side that she was 100% loyal to them. Instead, she heard each person out and acted accordingly. This was a great tactic on her part because if everyone always feels like they could approach her with a different perspective that means her social game is very fluid and easygoing rather than being one that is too stiff to be convinced.

With a whopping eight wins under her belt (so much so that we can't even put them all here), Makensy is no doubt a competition goddess. Additionally, the timing of her wins is impeccable because she always either wins when she's in trouble or when it's time for her to send a threat home. Simply put, her resume is very impressive.

The only place where we worry about Makensy is when it comes to Jury.

Makensy voted out T'Kor, a houseguest that she deeply regrets sending home when she did because T'Kor could've been a better number to have in Makensy's corner than Chelsie or Cam. Leah, being her strongest ally since the early game, was backstabbed by Makensy for no reason other than Chelsie's manipulation. Quinn and Angela may throw Makensy a vote, but it depends too heavily on who is sitting next to Makensy in the Final Two.

Makensy's Jury Management is certainly questionable. If she wants to have a good chance at winning, she needs to send home the only other person who has the best chance of beating her.

Chelsie Baham

Likelihood of winning: 27.5%

Chelsie is one of the most intelligent players we've had in a long time simply because of her ability to observe while also having incredible takes on the game. However, her main strength is the fact that she always positioned herself back in good graces in the house whenever she was on the block. Case in point, when the Pentagon's reckoning was coming and somehow Chelsie walked out unscathed through it all.

Once The Pentagon fell, Chelsie was in a tough spot. With Tucker around, no one trusted her enough to work with her. Rather than lay down and die, though, Chelsie waited for the perfect opportunity to flip the house against Tucker and send him out. This not only enabled her to walk without fear of being sent home but also set everyone else up for success since a huge threat was finally out, a move that Chelsie could proudly take credit for.

Today, Chelsie has four wins under her belt. Some weren't the best displays of her power, as she got out easy targets that the house wanted out. Nonetheless, a win is a win. We trust that Chelsie has what it takes to win the last few competitions left in this season. Only time will tell if she clutches up at the last second and becomes the final Head of Household this season.

Chelsie's Jury management can go either way. On one hand, Chelsie is someone who the Jury members would be able to say that she played very well to be able to come out on top every time. On the other hand, apparently, Chelsie can be considered a bit mean to some players. And since we can never cut out the chances of a bitter Jury, we're not sure if she'll get every vote she deserves for being a good player.

Quinn may be the only person that we truly don't think will vote for Chelsie if she's up against anyone else but Rubina. After all, Quinn was sent home as Chelsie's Head of Household, but by then Quinn had done irreparable damage to Chelsie's game. Perhaps he'll realize that and throw her a vote.

The only thing Chelsie can do to ensure she wins it all is not to take Makensy to the end. For anyone else, Chelsie's resume speaks for itself. But against Makensy, it may come to small things that go beyond the game and, if it does, Chelsie may be in danger.

Although we have our own beliefs about who is most deserving of winning Big Brother season 26, we must always expect the unexpected! It's anyone's game!