As hard as it may be to believe, Big Brother 26 is nearly over. Before a winner is crowned on Sunday, however, fans must make an important decision. They must decide who is getting one of the largest paydays out of Houseguests beyond the winner and runner-up: the $50,000 prize known as America’s Favorite Houseguest. Everyone wants it, but who will America select?
CinemaBlend has been streaming Big Brother live feeds and scanning the internet all season, and we think we have narrowed it down to the three most likely winners this season. Of course, we’ve all been surprised before, but I’d be shocked if anyone outside of these three wins AFH in Season 26.
Tucker Des Lauriers
Tucker Des Lauriers was such a popular part of Big Brother that even the other Houseguests continued to talk about him for a couple of weeks after he was evicted. Between his showmance capturing the hearts of viewers to big-name veterans of the game shouting him out, I think he has this win in the bag.
At the same time, a non-juror has never won the honor since it was introduced, though Tucker did get evicted 11th like Cody Nickson, who won it in Season 19 and became the first person on that season’s jury. I still think Tucker is most likely to win, but considering he hasn’t been in the game for a month and a half, he could’ve lost some of his massive popularity.
Makensy “MJ” Manbeck
Big Brother fans have watched Makensy “MJ” Manbeck have the wool pulled over her eyes by Chelsie Baham again and again. Every time MJ has won a key competition and put herself in a position to take over the game, she’s self-sabotaged by letting Chelsie in her ear to influence her into making moves that aren’t great for her game.
It’s part of why we believe Chelsie is the most deserving winner of Big Brother 26 and why I think MJ is a strong contender to win America’s Favorite Houseguest. I can see her getting a ton of sympathy votes from viewers who liked how she played the game and also feel sorry that she was played like a fiddle should she lose. From a competitive standpoint, she has played a good game, so I would be happy to see her win.
Angela Murray
Many people absolutely love Big Brother Season 26, and I think by now we all know Angela Murray is a big reason why. I say this as a former Angela hater who became a fan: this season would not have played out the way it did had she not set the tone with her wild blow-up on Matt Hardeman in Week 1.
While Angela isn’t popular in all online circles where the Big Brother fandom hangs out, there’s a chance that now that she can’t win Season 26, people might feel gracious enough to gift her the AFH prize money. That said, I think there’s a wide gap between the odds of her winning it compared to MJ and Tucker, and being in third place for it only puts her slightly above the rest of the pack in winning.
Ultimately, this is all speculation, and we won’t know who wins until we all tune in for the Big Brother Season 26 finale on CBS on Sunday, October 13th, starting at 9:00 p.m. ET. Tune in to see who wins the grand prize, and the bigger winner who is crowned America’s Favorite Houseguest.