Big Brother 28 July 12, 2026 finally started feeling like an actual season of Big Brother tonight.
After Thursday’s chaotic, overproduced time-travel premiere and Friday’s Big Brother: Unlocked reveal, tonight’s 90-minute episode delivered the first Head of Household competition, the season’s earliest power structures, some questionable social interactions and the first three nominations of the summer. The game is moving quickly, but CBS created an unnecessary problem by treating Unlocked like required viewing. Dee Valladares was officially revealed as Rachel Reilly’s replacement Friday night, yet tonight’s episode barely reintroduced her or properly recapped how she entered the house. Anyone who skipped the companion show was expected to understand why a former Survivor winner had suddenly appeared and was competing for power. (EW.com)
Once the episode moved past that confusion, it did a much better job establishing the personalities inside the house.
Taylor became emotional after believing Rick Devens had ignored her and failed to give her a hug. It was a small interaction that she turned into something much larger, which could become a recurring problem if she continues assigning strategic meaning to every social slight. Rome and Lyric’s immediate flirtation also received plenty of attention, making it clear that production already sees them as the season’s first potential showmance.
Then there was Jason saying he was “scared of being around so many straight people.” That was wild. It may have been intended as a joke or an exaggerated expression of feeling out of place, but it still landed badly. Reverse the identities in that sentence and nobody would casually brush it aside. Jason can be entertaining without every comment automatically being treated as harmless simply because it comes wrapped in camp.
The first Head of Household competition continued the season’s crossover-heavy opening. Only Angela Murray, Rick Devens and Dee were eligible to become HOH, while the groups of new houseguests who brought them into the game had to stabilize their platforms as they completed the challenge. That decision remains unfair to the 14 original cast members. They entered the house expecting to play Big Brother, only to be told that the season’s first and most valuable HOH would automatically belong to one of three people CBS had already presented as “reality icons.”
Dee ultimately defeated Angela and Devens by completing the puzzle, building her fire and burning through her rope first. Devens and the group supporting him—Chuk, Drew, Haley and Taylor—were consequently made Have-Nots. The challenge itself was visually impressive, and watching the two Survivor players deal with fire while Angela tried to survive the physical chaos gave the competition some natural comedy. Still, Dee winning was the most important possible result because it immediately placed one of the season’s most experienced strategic players in control. (Big Brother Network)
Dee did not waste that power.
Rather than locking herself into one obvious group, she helped construct multiple layers of protection. The real power structure is the Crossovers alliance consisting of Dee, Devens, Angela, Barrett and Drew. On paper, that is an extremely dangerous five. It combines the three experienced television personalities with two younger players who appear socially connected and physically capable.
The problem is that Barrett already has reasons to question where he truly stands.
At the same time, Dee and Devens allowed Kamu, Haley and Chuk to believe the Red Corner was a legitimate structure with the two veterans attached. In reality, the Red Corner appears to be a secondary arrangement that Dee can use for information and numbers while keeping her actual loyalty with the Crossovers. That is smart positioning by Dee because she has placed herself near the center of both groups without publicly appearing tied to one dominant alliance. (Big Brother Junkies)
Kamu proved during his conversation with Dee that he is thinking strategically. His argument for breaking up a perceived group and considering Barrett as a nominee made sense from his perspective. Barrett is socially capable, physically imposing and connected enough to become dangerous if allowed to settle into the game.
However, Dee inviting Barrett into the HOH room while Kamu was in the middle of pitching Barrett for the block was unbelievably sloppy.
Kamu is part of the Red Corner structure that Dee is trying to maintain, while Barrett is inside her real Crossovers alliance. Bringing Barrett into that room risked exposing the difference between Dee’s genuine relationships and the people she is merely allowing to feel protected. Even if Barrett did not hear the entire pitch, there was no strategic benefit to creating that awkward situation. Dee has shown that she can manage several conversations at once, but managing multiple alliances means keeping the right people separated at the right times.
Devens created an even larger information-management problem.
He told Angela about the Red Corner arrangement because he feared she would eventually discover it and feel excluded. That portion of the decision was understandable. Angela is part of the Crossovers, and withholding a secondary alliance from her could have produced a much larger explosion later.
Telling Drew after he walked into the conversation was far more questionable.
Devens turned information that could have been carefully shared into something that was suddenly circulating throughout nearly the entire Crossovers alliance—except Barrett. That is the worst possible person to leave out because Barrett already has reason to wonder whether he is fifth in a five-person group. Dee was right to be frustrated. Devens made a unilateral decision that affected her HOH, her fake alliance and her relationship with Barrett without consulting her first.
It was not catastrophic, but it was messy.
The situation also strengthened the feeling that CBS may end up sacrificing Devens first among its three crossover additions. Dee is already constructing several layers of protection, and Angela handled the new information far more calmly than anyone familiar with her previous season might have expected. Devens, meanwhile, is already spilling information and placing himself between competing interests. He is entertaining, but entertainment and long-term positioning are not the same thing.
The nomination process reinforced Dee’s diplomatic approach. She selected one person from each of the three groups that participated in the HOH competition: Mallory Aurichio, Taylor Brown and Yash Patel.
Mallory did herself no favors during her conversation with Dee. Rather than determining what Dee needed, offering something useful or creating a clear strategic connection, she rambled through personal information without providing a compelling reason to keep her safe. It felt more like an uncomfortable introductory conversation than a serious meeting with the first HOH.
Taylor’s nomination could be explained through Dee’s one-person-per-group reasoning, but the edit needed to give Yash’s placement more attention. Yash was part of the team that directly helped Dee win. Jason later indicated that Dee had suggested their group would be protected, making Yash’s nomination particularly questionable. Spreading the nominations across the three groups gave Dee a clean public explanation, but nominating someone who helped deliver her power could make future players less willing to trust her promises. (Big Brother Network)
The episode ended with Mallory, Taylor and Yash officially on the block, but the larger story was everything developing around them. Dee may be the first HOH, yet she is not playing a simple opening week. She is maintaining a real alliance, managing a fake alliance, protecting several dangerous players and attempting to conceal which relationships matter most to her.
That ambition could make her the season’s dominant strategist—or cause her entire structure to collapse once people compare information.
Tonight’s episode was considerably stronger than the premiere because it finally allowed strategy and personalities to drive the show instead of forcing everything through a bloated time-travel storyline. The introduction of another America’s Vote twist could become excessive, especially with three recognizable players already holding an enormous advantage, but the cast itself is producing enough tension that the season does not need constant production interference.
Dee emerged as the clear central player, Kamu showed legitimate strategic instincts, Angela demonstrated surprising restraint and Devens provided the first meaningful crack inside the Crossovers. The gameplay was imperfect, occasionally sloppy and already complicated.
In other words, Big Brother 28 has officially begun.
Overall Grade: B+
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