Who are the ‘Big Brother’ houseguests? Get to know the cast for Season 26

Big Brother returns for another season and on Wednesday night, we learned a little more about the 16 houseguests and what will be in store for them in the House this summer. The show hits the screen with some intriguing new features with Artificial Intelligence at the fore.

Futuristic Big Brother coming your way

As host Julie Chen Moonves explained, “I call it Artificial Intelligence Big Brother style. That is the theme. You walk in and it looks like, ‘Ooh, this is a very chic, contemporary house’. But then you look closer, you’re like, ‘Is that bedroom AI generated? It feels very futuristic’. So there are futuristic elements, there are fantasy elements. The HOH room looks like a safe haven, you can’t touch it. The beds in the Have-Not room this year look more like coffins. There are no mattresses, it’s basically sleeping on a box.

“This year, we are cranking it up. For the first time ever, these 16 strangers are going to have the power to decide if they should allow a 17th houseguest in”, BB26 host Julie Chen Moonves added.

As for the ones we already know about, as always there is a diverse cast of different ages, backgrounds and professions. All of them with their eyes on taking home the $750,00 cash prize when the series ends in October.

BB26 houseguests give their profiles

We heard from the cast and learned about their personal history, their hopes and ambitions during their stay in the Big Brother house. Joseph Rodriguez, a 30-year-old Video Store clerk from Tampa, Florida has been a fan from the start: “I wanna compete on Big Brother because I have consumed a disgusting amount of reality TV over 30 years of life. I love this genre, I love Big Brother so much. I’m also just a competitor in my daily life, playing poker and things like that. And this is the most high-stakes poker tournament you can be in. The pressure’s on, there’s a lot of money on the line and I love that feeling,” he explained.

The oldest guest entering the house is Boston resident Kenney Kelley, a 52-year-old former undercover cop. He has his own personal reasons for being in BB26. “Competing on Big Brother started off with Derrick [Levasseur]. I watched Derrick, I think it was season 16, a police officer from the New England area. He went in there, he was able to hide his identity and become a big winner,” he said.

“At the end of the day, my wife was super involved with Big Brother with all her friends, and that’s how I kinda got into Big Brother - because I wanted to have conversations with her. And I did win her over eventually, now I’m married, I got two kids. But what better way to impress my wife, who was probably the biggest Big Brother fan of all times, is to come home with the 750,000 dollars”.

“Big Brother needs me!”

Event bartender Rubina Bernabe from Los Angles admits she has never been a big follower of the show but after watching it, she realized they were made for each other. “I’m not exactly a superfan but what I’ve watched, I belong on this show,” she enthused. “I really feel like everything in my life, that I’ve gone through - which I call character development, which has been trials and tribulations, has prepared me to be able to be amazing on this show. I really feel that Big Brother needs me and I need it!”

BB26 will also feature the first native Hawaiian to appear on the show, Kimo Apaka, and celebrity chef Lisa Weintraub from Los Angeles.

“I love all the houseguests,” Julie Chen Moonves concluded. “I say that every year and I mean it. I love watching the transformation of personalities. The highs and the lows, the love and the fights, the tears and the laughter... that’s what Big Brother, to me, is all about”.

The second episode of a special two-night premiere to kickstart season 26 will air tonight Thursday 18 July from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

Further episodes will air at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, featuring live evictions, according to the network. At the end of each week, one of the contestants will be voted out of the house, with the last remaining guest to pick up a $750,000 cash prize when the series concludes with a final 90-minute episode on Sunday 13 October.