Although we watched the Big Brother 26 finale a few nights after it aired live, it wasn’t because Sid and I were so ho-hum with the season that we didn’t care. Rather, a packed schedule was to blame for our short delay. But no matter if we watched it live or caught ourselves up a few days after the fact, we thoroughly enjoyed watching our 14th season together.

Sidney and I enjoyed watching Big Brother 26…it was the 14th season we watched together.

Well, to be fair, when it comes to #BB26, there was one thing I didn’t particularly enjoy: the theme. Although the AI twist was extremely timely and something that resonated with me as a marketer, the execution of the theme was finicky at best. Ainsley didn’t do it for me and all the deep fake applications with the houseguests came off as hokey.

But aside from a theme that had good intentions but didn’t deliver, I think the season was pretty solid. And that comes from a blogger who had his favorite houseguest voted out pre-jury. I was a BIG Tucker fan and was truly bummed when he was evicted. I admired how he played with reckless abandonment and the uncanny sense of humor he brought to the house. His move to use the Power of Veto on Angela instead of HIMSELF was unprecedented and ballsy, something that was so audacious that I actually respected it.

Oh wait, did I just mention Angela? Let me just address her now. Commonly referred to as a production “plant” by my wife and popular Big Brother blogs, it was interesting that a former “Dr. Phil” guest and “Price Is Right” contestant was thrown into the house. Her antics did entertain me but I would be lying if I said I never questioned her merits for being part of the cast.

On the other side of the coin, the two finalists, Chelsie and Makensy, certainly deserved to be in that house. They played such well-rounded games and earned their way to the final two. However, despite playing such a masterful game, Makensy made two painfully terrible decisions in the final week. My jaw dropped when she chose to bring Cam to finale night over Rubina. Next, she made the even worst decision of evicting Cam so she could have a jury showdown with Chelsie. WTF.

The Big Brother 26 champion was undoubtedly decided at that point. But even with Makensy sealing her fate with that boneheaded move, Chelsie still managed to impress. I expected that the jury would vote 5-2 in Chelsie’s favor, but her answers to the jury and closing statement were so persuasive and well-put together that I think she flipped Andrea and Leah to her side, effectively securing a 7-0 unanimous decision.

Congrats to Chelsie for playing an incredible game.

A few final random notes…

– I was relieved that the season was played with no controversy in terms of what people said in one-off conversations and that no one was kicked off the show for non-gameplay reasons.

– Watching Jerry O’Connell guest host an episode was kind of fun. I think he did a good job except for the eviction interview he gave to Quinn.

– Speaking of Quinn, he was probably my least favorite houseguest but he was a good player.

– Congrats to Tucker winning America’s Favorite Houseguest…he had my vote!

– The reaction when Julie Chen told the houseguests that Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden in the Presidential Election was priceless. It really put into perspective how long the jury/final two houseguests had been in the house.

Thank you CBS for another season of Big Brother and the opportunity for my wife and I to bond in this annual special way. Don’t Blink.