Summary

Quiet players T’Kor and Kimo strategize behind the scenes, making them active floaters.
T’Kor and Kimo’s shocking voting tactic shifts power, forms a new alliance, and takes control.
T’Kor quietly controls votes and wins competitions like Derrick, positioning herself well in the game.

The 26th season of Big Brother has brought a level of excitement back into the game that hasn’t been seen in a while. Tucker is a fan-favorite player thanks to his ego, which he backs up with winning competitions and his desire to cause chaos, though in a way that actually makes sense. All his moves have worked up to this point, but that’s largely because of others who have helped along the way.

Quiet players are scheming in the background who houseguests and fans toss aside as “floaters.” This name is given to players who sit idly by the background and “float” all the way to the end. But some of this season’s “floaters” are strategizing behind the scenes in a way that makes them far more active than others in past seasons.

T’Kor and Kimo’s Game in Big Brother 26

T’Kor and Kimo formed an instant bond when they entered the house and immediately made a final two deal. They were instantly deemed floaters compared to the more aggressive, vocal players. These people, like Quinn, Tucker, Brooklyn, and Chelsie, called them into their alliances for no other reason than to have numbers. But Quinn, who had initially seemed like a top dog player, made the fatal error of communicating to T’Kor and Kimo that there was another alliance that included everyone in that group minus them. This alerted the duo that they were on the bottom of that totem pole.

The typical strategy for someone who figures this out is to continue floating along. Even if the person is at the bottom, they’re still part of the conversation anyway, right? Some have also flipped to the other side of the house, angrily making a stand only to be on the bottom of another alliance. Usually, the dominant side of the house continues winning anyway, and they become collateral damage in the process.

This wasn’t the case with T’Kor and Kimo. They secretly decided not to officially join another side of the house (at least not right away) but to make their positions known in a shocking way by voting against an alliance member. They first made sure the numbers were there, then stunned the houseguests when the vote count was read, and Cedric was sent home. Houseguests like Brooklyn, who were cocky ahead of time, believing they were telling Kimo and T’Kor like it was and not the other way around, quickly realized they didn’t possess the power they thought they did. Kimo and T’Kor were not going to do their bidding for them.

This move proved that the duo had the guts to go against an alliance of dominant, popular players. It made these players part of the minority in a complete flip of power. They couldn’t rally and regroup because the person winning all the competitions, Tucker, wasn’t on their side. All it took was a little friendly conversation with T’Kor and Kimo, and a new alliance had been formed that included the underdogs like T’Kor, Kimo, Rubina, and Joseph and the fiercest competitor in the house, Tucker. Kimo and T’Kor may be made fun of because they sleep and lounge around a lot. But they are a tight duo that seems to be skating by without anyone realizing how dangerous they are. That’s especially because they’re both so likable, arguably playing the best social games in the house.

Kimo’s Game Is Similar to Season 15’s Andy Herren

Kimo’s crush on Tucker leads him to divulge information that fuels Tucker’s fire and almost ends Quinn’s game, which happens to be Kimo’s close ally. Whether intentional or not, this worked in Kimo’s favor from a personal game standpoint. Now, the best competitor in the house is forever in Kimo’s debt for telling him the truth about not one but multiple alliances. Further, Tucker used that information to get people he wanted nominated and ultimately evicted and to blow up all the alliances in the house. No one ever suspected that Kimo was the one who told Tucker. Instead, it placed a target on Quinn, who shifted to the bottom of many of his alliances. It was a brilliant plan, even if it wasn’t part of what Kimo was trying to do.

Even when host Julie Chen revealed to Brooklyn during her exit interview that Kimo was the one who spilled the beans, Brooklyn didn’t seem surprised. But she also didn’t seem angry nor threatened, despite Kimo effectively being responsible for blowing up her entire game. If Kimo’s game can be likened to anyone’s, it’s Season 15 winner Andy Herren. Many people felt he didn’t deserve the win because he was floating in the background the entire summer. But he made big moves in the end, planted seeds, and flipped sides, playing a subtle yet effective game.

Could Kimo become the underdog to win? Fans arguably wouldn’t be excited to see this outcome given that there are more exciting players to consider, like Tucker, Chelsie, Makensy, and Quinn, who overtly deserve it more. However, the fact that Kimo hasn’t had to be in the hot seat to make any moves yet is quietly helping shift votes in the background, and this is not to be discounted.

T’Kor Is a Quiet Assassin Like Derrick

Having proven everyone wrong that she would just float in the background, T’Kor pulled out a Head of Household competition win on the season that seems more focused on quiz-based competitions than ever. As the brains behind the operation between her and Kimo, she is liked by all, many of whom underestimate her. Her social game is great, and she has controlled votes without people realizing it.

It’s almost as though she uses Tucker as her muscle while he feels he’s calling the shots. Sound familiar? This is precisely a strategy used by Derrick, the winner of Season 16, who many consider one of the best, if not the best, players to play the game. He wasn’t making waves, either. He was quietly pulling puppet strings while Cody did all the competition work. While T’Kor couldn’t do what she wanted to do without Tucker winning, she also proved with this win that she could contribute on the competition side, too.

Because no one really knows where T’Kor’s allegiances lie, she has positioned herself even better. Makensy commented after the competition that everyone in the house was following T’Kor around like lost puppies. When a player is deemed a floater and wins, everyone wants to get in their good graces. As one of her true allies, Rubina, told her T’Kor could use this to her advantage by getting them to spill information on her. They would effectively throw one another under the bus while she sat back and crocheted her way to a win.

Why T’Kor chose to put Tucker up for eviction might come down to a discussion between them whereby he, once again, offered him up to play and win. If Tucker goes home, this will backfire, and T’Kor will lose her position of power. But if it works, it was a risk worth taking and something to add to her resume.

Who Is Really Playing the Best Game in Big Brother?

It’s easy to pinpoint Tucker as the player with the best game in the house. He has made bold moves, blown up alliances, and comes across as being unbeatable in competitions. But this also puts a huge target on his back. If he were ever to lose a competition — and it’s difficult to imagine that he would go undefeated through the entire season — it would be too tempting not to vote him out.

His AI Instigator power, awarded by America’s votes, gives Tucker opportunities to shake things up even more. But Tucker has enemies, and even his own allies will be forced to turn against him once it becomes clear that his resume is far too padded to bring him along to the finals. Makensy is a fierce competitor but has no official alliances in the house. As a competitive football player, fans have expected more from Cam, but he hasn’t delivered. His top ally, Chelsie, is arguably the most dangerous player in the game. While playing one of the best games, with her closest ally Brooklyn gone and her alliance crumbling, she would need to claw her way back up with another win.

A finale with Quinn and Tucker would be the best option, bitter rivals from the beginning who have since seemed to squash their beef (though Quinn has made it clear he’s still gunning for Tucker, which would reignite their rivalry should he win HoH down the line). They drive one another in the game, and as long as Quinn can continue reverting to the background for now in hopes that everyone forgets he’s both a mental and physical threat, he could rise back up again.

T’Kor and Kimo, however, sit in the most comfortable position. They don’t have any enemies in the house. No one is targeting them because both sides need their votes, at least for now. They aren’t overtly tied to anyone, and if nothing else, T’Kor’s nomination of Tucker for eviction this week hides the fact that the two are in the FriendZZZ alliance together. Would a final two that includes T’Kor and Kimo, or even either of them, be considered exciting? Probably not. Fans love to see vocal competition beasts and overt strategists win the game.

But T’Kor could be the Derrick to Tucker’s Cody. Would T’Kor get more votes than Tucker if they were the final two? That really depends on what happens between now and then and how bitter the jury is. But if nothing else, fans should consider her as one to watch. Since the Cedric vote, T’Kor and Kimo have effectively been controlling things. Their reign might not last. But for now, they hold all the cards. And if the others don’t watch out, one (or both) of them could go all the way. Watch new episodes of Big Brother on CBS and stream on Paramount+.