Who took home the $750,000 prize?

“Big Brother” 26 crowned its winner, ending one of the CBS competition series’ most unpredictable seasons yet.

After 90 days of 24-hour monitoring that included fierce competition, betrayal and numerous AI-themed twists, the jury of this season's HouseGuests chose the winner from the top three players of Season 26, with all the action taking place during the two-hour The final event took place on Sunday evening. In the end, Chelsie Baham was crowned the winner of Big Brother 26 and received $750,000 in prize money.

Viewers also had their say in the season finale, as America voted for its favorite houseguest and named Tucker Des Lauriers, a 30-year-old marketing and sales executive. He received a cash prize of $50,000.

Chelsie, a 27-year-old nonprofit leader, was among the final three houseguests, which also included Makensy Manbeck, a 22-year-old construction project manager, and Cam Sullivan-Brown, a 25-year-old physical therapist. The jury voted unanimously for Chelsie. Makensy, who placed second, earned $75,000.

Before the judges' vote, Big Brother season 24 winner Taylor Hale returned to host the finale's judges' roundtable and represented season two winner Dr. in an appearance during the lookback episode on Friday to prepare the final BB AI variant of the finale.

The 26th season of “Big Brother” kicked off with a two-day event on July 17 and 18, where 16 houseguests moved into a house equipped with more than 90 cameras and 100 microphones and watched their every move 24 hours a day recorded. Each week someone from the House of Representatives was elected, with the last remaining House member receiving the grand prize of $750,000.

As the season progressed, viewers praised its unpredictability – with many fans calling it one of the best seasons of the CBS show in years. It also marked some historic firsts for the show, including host Julie Chen Moonves having to forego hosting a live eviction episode for the first time in the show's history after testing positive for COVID. “The Talk” co-host Jerry O'Connell stepped in for the last-minute substitution.

Other cast members this season included Angela Murray, a 50-year-old real estate agent; Brooklyn Rivera, a 34-year-old business major; Cedric Hodges, a 21-year-old former Marine; Joseph Rodriguez, a 30-year-old video store employee; Kenney Kelley, a 52-year-old former undercover police officer; Kimo Apaka, 35-year-old mattress salesman; Leah Peters, a 26-year-old VIP cocktail waitress; Lisa Weintraub, a 33-year-old celebrity chef; Matt Hardeman, a 25-year-old technology sales representative; Quinn Martin, a 25-year-old nurse recruiter; Rubina Bernabe, a 35-year-old event bartender, and T'kor Clottey, a 23-year-old crochet shop owner.

Big Brother Season 26 is now streaming on Paramount+.

The winner of the 26th season of “Big Brother” has been determined: who took home the $750,000 prize? appeared first on TheWrap.