The big twist in Big Brother season 26 arrived in the two-night season premiere. It was a big twist to be sure, one that will definitely land in the annals of Big Brother history. It's also exhausting.
The 16 Houseguests were asked whether a 17th Houseguest should be invited into the fold and 24-year-old Ainsley from San Diego pleaded her case, blue hair and all. But after the votes didn't go in her favor, surfer girl Ainsley turned into the stuff of nightmares. Ainsley is really "Artificial Intelligence Network Self-Learning Entity" and she's actually terrifying.
The blue BB AI transformed the game instantly, giving an advantage to those who voted in her favor and putting the Houseguests who weren't so kind in precarious situations on their first night. Losers turned into "BB Ai Mascots" who can't participate in the Head of Household or Power of Veto competitions, nor can they vote in the first eviction ceremony. However, they can be evicted. The two game "upgrades" for those who voted to allow Ainsley to enter the game include the "Deep Fake HoH" and "America's Veto."
As a longtime Big Brother viewer, twists and turns in the game are par for the course. After all, host Julie Chen Moonves' favorite catchphrase (after "but first," of course) is to "expect the unexpected." But there's something weird about Ainsley that is making the show almost hard to watch.
Maybe it's Ainsley's sinister nature. She's not there to help, she's there to throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of the franchise. She's playing right into the stereotype of the evil AI sent to take over the world. That's not an exaggeration, either; the Houseguests are stuck in the Big Brother house for 90 days, so she really is ruling their world, in a strict sense, and it's creepy.
In a not-entirely-ironic-anti-AI way, it would have been more entertaining to have a real human doing the job, one who is able to make decisions about the game without playing it directly. (After all, someone is controlling Ainsley from the outside... right?)
Big Brother season 26 airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on CBS, with new episodes available to stream the following day on Paramount Plus. The 24/7 live feeds are available to watch on Paramount Plus and Pluto TV.
