When we last left the Big Brother (BB) house after the premiere on Thursday night, BB legend Rachel Reilly fell to her demise via a dinosaur, and BB Host Julie Chen Moonves said she would find a replacement for Reilly, with the date of Dec. 20, 2023, showing up on the timeline in the dining room. On the premiere episode of Big Brother: Unlocked on Friday, we saw Survivor 45 winner Dee enter the BB world and begin competing alongside her fellow Survivor 50 castmate Devens and Big Brother 26 competitor Angela for the first head of household (HOH) of the season. 

To win the HOH, the three reality TV legends would need to build a puzzle on a platform, with four other houseguests in each group holding the platform. The person with the least amount of pieces built would be the first have-not’s of the season.

Dee secures the victory and starts planning her actions as the first HOH, something that is typically a curse in BB, but under these circumstances, it may not be. We see a diary room (DR) from Devens, who explains that he doesn’t know if Dee wants him as an ally or the first out since he did blindside her on Survivor 50. Turns out, the former is true, as Dee wants the other two reality players as her core alliance, with options branching in both directions as well. The three first bring in a trio of Kamu, Haley, and Chux, three strong competitors who think they’re in charge of the house. They form an alliance – the Red Corner – , which was named by Kamu, who is also a UFC fighter. For those that don’t know, the red corner is the corner a UFC champion fights out of.

But that alliance is not even close to being real, as the reality legends bring in Drew and Barrett to form a real alliance, the Crossovers, named due to the Survivor and BB legends working together. 

It does seem like Devens might have made a mistake, though, as he told Angela and Drew about the Red Corner alliance, something Ms. HOH did not want to happen, and she reams her alliance member about it in the storage room. We see another DR from Devens, who is nervous he just broke Dee’s trust, but in reality, I don’t think it’s going to hurt the core alliance for now.

As nominations are trying to be figured out, we get a glimpse of the have-not room this season, which features a wood table bed that spins. Plus, we get our first public showmance of the season, as Lyric and Rome kissed on day two, setting off alarms to all houseguests. It also looks like Mallory, Melody, and Lyric are a girls trio.

Dee is locked in on nominating one houseguest from each of the HOH groups, something Kamu doesn’t want, but in the end, Dee makes the decision to nominate Mallory (Angela’s group), Taylor (Devens’ group), and Yash (Dee’s group). 

On Wednesday, we will get to see the veto competition. If you are a feeds watcher, you already know the outcome and the possibility of a re-nomination. 

I figure the best way to close out these recaps is to give some non-spoiler thoughts on the episode, as a lot happens on BB that’s not as finality as say Tribal Council in a Survivor episode.

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Non-spoiler thoughts

  • The Crossovers should run this game for as long as they stay together. Dee, Devens, and Angela could be a legit final three if they play their cards right, and Barrett is a superfan of both shows. I don’t see him blowing up the alliance. It also seems like Drew and Devens are tight.
  • The only way the Crossovers falls apart is if one of Kanu, Haley, and Chux win HOH and take a shot. The Red Corner will not last long. If you’re a feed watcher, you know the legends cannot stand Haley and Kanu right now.
  • Lyric and Rome put too much of a target on their back quickly. I don’t see both of them lasting in the house long, with Lyric more likely to go due to her connections with Melody and Mallory.