Every Big Brother season, in the days leading up to the finale, fans debate which of the three remaining houseguests deserves to win the most.
They tally competition wins, game moves, and social capital to crown one person the winner over the other two, while fans on the other side argue for someone else.
Virtually no one is ever crowned the overall consensus winner in the eyes of the public, and that’s exactly how it should be, because there is no single blueprint for winning Big Brother.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)When a winner is decided on finale night, Julie doesn’t bring the jurors a clipboard with sheets of paper they can check off all the Big Brother winner must-haves so they can then all unanimously pick the winner.
The beauty of Big Brother winners has also lain in the fact that so many have played different games to win.
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We’ve seen people comp beast their way to the end and win, while we’ve seen others ride an alliance to the end, or even get there by riding the middle as long as possible.
In Big Brother 28, three houseguests enter finale night who have played extremely different games.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)Devens basically walked in with a built-in alliance with Dee and Angela, and he parlayed that into a bigger alliance, making connections throughout the season that kept him safe for major portions of it.
You couple that with the early advantage from America, which let him save his number one ally when they were on the block, plus competition wins down the line, and Devens has a strong case with the jury.
Drew, meanwhile, has pretty much been the icon’s lackey all season.
He’s done whatever they needed him to do, and while he has won competitions, his biggest game move may have been convincing Yash to give him the veto during week 10, when he had a very high likelihood of being evicted.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)Then you have Taylor. If you watched the feeds, you’ll know that at various points in the season, Taylor tried to form alliances with other houseguests, including Devens, but her efforts were always rebuffed.
It’s very difficult to play Big Brother alone, but if no one wants to play with you, then you’re kind of at a loss.
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Get More of Our Coverage!Taylor had LaLa and Yash as allies, but she was never insulated the way Devens and Drew were in larger groups at any point in the game. And with her lack of early competition wins, she wasn’t viewed as a threat, so she found herself on the block in the first week and many times thereafter.
Now, I’m not someone who thinks not seeing the block is inherently more impressive than surviving it multiple times.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)I think the pressure of being on the block can break you, expose your game, and put you in a position where one bad conversation or wrong move can send you out the door.
Surviving the block many times is an accomplishment.
Not being seen as a threat, or someone who can be easily disposed of at another time, can be a strategy in and of itself.
And if you luck into that position in the house? Well, that’s even better sometimes.
(CBS/Screenshot)Other houseguests complained about Taylor sleeping in her pod all the time and not “playing the game,” but most of them never wanted to play the game with her.
Houseguests often accuse others of not playing when sometimes the answer is much simpler: maybe they aren’t playing the game with YOU.
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Have you ever thought of that?
Taylor had heavy hands in both LaLa’s and Yash’s HOH‘s, with Yash, arguably one of the best overall players of the season, also at various points praising her game reads and advice about how to approach certain scenarios.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)Taylor has always been playing, but just because it doesn’t look the way others deem a superior Big Brother game should look doesn’t make it any less valid.
And let’s talk about competition wins.
Devens and Drew have won many competitions, and that’s commendable. But Big Brother is not truly a competition-based game, and it never has been.
This is where I bring up Dr. Will Kirby, probably the best winner of all time, and talk about how he famously won his season without any competition wins. But you likely know that already, and you know he won because of his social skills and ability to manipulate people at every turn.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)And you know that’s so impressive because typically, at certain points in the season, you do need competition wins to save yourself.
The houseguests underestimated Taylor and assumed she’d be an easy out whenever they decided, and that was their fault.
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Floater this, floater that. If you leave a “floater” around long enough and they steal your life jacket, whose fault is that?
Taylor winning that final four HOH, when she was the number one target, was one of the season’s most notable victories.
(CBS/Screenshot)If Drew gets to wax poetic about the vetoes that saved his game, then Taylor gets to boast about her essential HOH win as well.
Following up by winning the first part of the final HOH and putting herself one step away from being the final HOH of the season makes the idea of her being an unworthy winner, if she gets there, lose all its steam.
If Taylor is sitting in those final chairs on finale night, especially by earning her place, she’s every bit a deserving winner. If Devens or Drew gets the win, then so be it, but completely discrediting the game she played (and she DID play) is just fundamentally incorrect.
You may not like the game she played, but she played a game.
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)She has an uphill battle against both men at the end of the day, but she will be there on finale night, and she will have accomplished something so many other players could not.
No one can take that away from her.
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How are you feeling heading into the finale?
Who do you think has the best chance of winning right now?
(CBS ©2026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)If Taylor wins the final HOH, who should she take?
I’m sure you guys will have lots of thoughts about this one, so please let me know in the comments!
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.
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