A Big Brother season filled with artificial intelligence hijinks, Veto renominations, and calls of “CRAZY EYES!” finally came to end on Sunday night as the winner of season 26 was crowned during the live two-hour finale.

Chelsie Baham, Makensy Manbek, and Cam Sullivan-Brown made it all the way to finale night in the hopes (and in Cam’s case, dreams) of winning the final Head of Household, putting the winner in the final two and allowing them to choose whom to sit next to at the end, with the final two then facing off against the jury — a jury that answered burning questions of their own to EW just before the finale.

CBS

As always, the final competition involved a three-part contest, with the winners of part one and part two facing off at the end. The first part was called “Sever the Source” and involved the players hanging in the air on a “Assault Block” for as long as possible while green goo dripped all over them. In the end, Chelsie outlasted Can and Makensy to win the first part (destroying BB AI Ainsley’s power source in the process) and advance directly to part three.

Makensy and Cam then competed in the second part of the competition, titled “Cerebral Shutdown” — one with rules there are way too confusing to get into here, yet had directions delivered by a flying raven. Cam continued his season-long competition struggles as Makensy ran away with the victory, destroying Ainsley’s brain in the process and wiping her from the planet. (Unless a Time Laser can somehow bring her back.)

CBS

That set up a part three showdown between Chelsie and Makensy, and the dilemma for the winner as to if they would take each other, or bring Cam, who would be easier to beat in the end. Both players got the first five questions correct in the part three “Data Destruction” contest, but Chelsie faltered on the final question, giving Makensy the final HOH victory and setting up the most important question of the season: Would she bring Cam to the end, all but guaranteeing her victory and the $750,000 prize, or would she choose Chelsie, setting up a fight to the finish?

In an expect the unexpected twist worthy of the franchise catchphrase, Makensy did the latter, passing up the easy win for an opportunity to beat the best at the end. But would she?

Makensy’s risky decision would come down to whether  the jury valued her 10 competition wins more, or respected Chelsie’s strategic chops and ability to manipulate others (like Makensy) into doing her bidding.

CBS

Makensy’s risky decision would come down to whether the jury valued her 10 competition wins more, or respected Chelsie’s strategic chops and ability to manipulate others (like Makensy) into doing her bidding. That answer was given when Makensy was told by the jury that they believed Chelsie influenced her strategic decisions, like when Leah was voted out. Makensy insisted that was all her doing, telling them, “Making that move was only done by me. Nobody can influence me. I made decisions for myself.” But Chelsie then followed that up by taking credit for the move (along with others), and the jury appeared to agree with her.

Chelsie also nailed her final speech — even pointing out that she had a better competition winning percentage than Makensy because she took part in seven less contests — sealing the deal on her victory, which became official when host Julie Chen Moonves read the votes and announced Chelsie as the winner of Big Brother season 26. And not just a winner, but a unanimous winner, taking all seven jury votes.

So, in the end, Makensy's decision to bring Chelsie to the end cost the runner-up $675,000. However, as a result, viewers were treated to a triple threat champion who excelled competitively (tying the record with four Head of Household wins), strategically (convincing Makensy to get rid of ally Leah), and socially (never being at any true risk of going home). And there was nothing even Ainsley could do to stop her.

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