Big Brother 26 winner Cheslie Baham expertly controlled the game throughout the season, but she chose not to fully admit it to the jury, and she had her reasons.
“I downplayed it one hundred percent for two reasons,” Cheslie, 27, shared on Monday, October 14, following the Big Brother 26 finale.
“First, I didn’t want to gloat too much next to my friend Makensy [Manbeck]. I didn’t want to do that, especially since she took me to the final two.”
Cheslie explained that she decided to give the jury a simplified version of her game strategy, offering them only “general notes” to provide “the gist” of her approach.
“I didn’t want to come across as overly cocky because that might have influenced them to vote a certain way,” she explained. “So I laid out the facts but did it gently. I could’ve gone much harder, but I held back.”
Before addressing the jury, viewers saw a conversation between Cheslie and Makensy, 22, as they discussed what they would say to the former houseguests.
Makensy, who chose to evict Cam Sullivan-Brown and take Cheslie to the final two after winning the last competition, admitted she wasn’t sure what she would say.
On camera, Cheslie also claimed she didn’t have any final remarks prepared. However, Cheslie later revealed to that this was one of her “last strategic moves” of the game.
“This girl knew I was really good with my words, and I worried that if I told her I was fully prepared, she might second-guess taking me to the final two,” she admitted.
“So I played it like, ‘Oh, no big deal. I don’t know what I’m gonna say.’ But I knew exactly what I was going to say.”
Cheslie believes her decision to downplay her explanation to the jury ultimately worked in her favor, as she was unanimously voted the winner.
“I think some of the jury members already had preconceived notions about how we played the game,” she explained.
“But when I laid out the stats of my strategy and showed I knew what I was talking about, I think that sealed the deal for them. Some might have been on the fence, but after hearing me, they saw I was hard to beat.”
Although many fans saw Cheslie as the frontrunner, she confessed she was “very shocked” to win over the entire jury, including Angela Murray and Leah Peters.
“It completely caught me off guard. I thought Angela’s jury question and the fact that I was responsible for Leah’s eviction during Makensy’s HOH would mean both of them would vote for Makensy,” Cheslie shared.
“So when I saw their keys with my name, I thought, ‘If I’ve got those two, I’ve got the rest of the house.’”
