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- [00:00]
Taryn Armstrong
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- [00:32]
Chelsea Bayham
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- [01:27]
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- [02:12]
Taryn Armstrong
Hello everyone and welcome back to Rob as a podcast for the Big Brother S season. I'm your host Taron Armstrong and I'm here today with with with a nice little series. Hopefully that will be a good time for you Big Brother listeners and also perhaps anybody playing the game this summer. I want listen what happened is big brother 27 happened. People on the cast were like, yeah. I asked Chat GPT how to play the game and I was like, surely there are better people to explain how to play Big Brother than Chad GPT. So I have taken it upon myself to grab some experts to, to help explain how to play Big Brother. Some tips, some tricks, some, some advice. And with me today is winner of Big Brother 26, Chelsea. How you doing, Chelsea?
- [03:12]
Chelsea Bayham
I'm doing so good, Taryn. How are you? We can't. We gotta stop going a whole year and then talking to each other. I missed it too much.
- [03:21]
Taryn Armstrong
You know, a lot of people listen. I really like, I, I am like, I hibernate, I do the season and then I, I go and I become a person who has healthy habits and then I age 10 years again.
- [03:36]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you've been healthy and I'm so sorry for what this next season is going to do to you.
- [03:42]
Taryn Armstrong
We will see. Indeed it might, it might depend on us right now. Chelsea, can we drill it into the new players minds? How to not make mistakes that will make me tear my hair out? So, so let's, let's get into this. Obviously Big Brother's been on for over 25 years now. There's a lot of history if, if a new player is recruited or even if they're a fan of the show, you know, relatively fan, like a relatively big fan of the show, they probably haven't seen everything. But I think the main part to realize is that you don't need to have watched every season of the show because the game has changed so dramatically from when it started to where it is now. And that's part of why I wanted some, some recent players to be able to talk through like what is the current state of the game? How should you be looking at it? Because sometimes, sometimes there are fans of the show have seen the early seasons but not the recent seasons and they have completely wrong ideas about how things work because you know, the competitions are a lot more physical now and you know, there's the, the blockbuster and you know, all kinds of stuff. So Chelsea, you were somebody who dominated your season of the show. So if you had to, if there was like, what's. Let's just, let's get the first big piece of advice. What is the biggest thing that any new player coming into the show needs to know about Big Brother?
- [05:12]
Chelsea Bayham
I think the biggest thing is that this is a social game. At the end of the day you can find yourself in on the block facing eviction. But if you have people that got your back and that like you, you can save yourself week after week. So yes, people want to win competitions and do all of the things, but, but at the end of the day, you need to make sure that you are protected in the event you find yourself on the block. So when you go into that house, do not forget this is a social game. I never understand why people try to come in the game and bulldoze over people like, this is not. That's not the way you play Big Brother. So remember, go in there, don't start talking too much. Don't try to be the center of attention. I'm not saying float, but set yourself up socially so that in the event that. Here's the thing, Big Brother is getting way more unpredictable as the seasons go on, as the blockbuster has been added. You see week by week, so many things can happen where you don't have control over your game. But what you can have control over is your social game. So if you have that in lock, you can be set up to protect yourself throughout this. This game.
- [06:23]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. And, you know, I think something that I'm reminded of on your season was that in the early portion of your season, you were very, well, socially connected. Like you. You had your own secret alliances. You had little subgroups within the secret alliances, but you also. You weren't. You weren't happy with just, like, leaving it there. You also made connections, and they ended up being very vital ones with players like Mackenzie. And. And if anything, I think that when we talked through your game, one of the things that, like, nearly cost you was, like, not locking in with Mackenzie early enough that, like, you had that connection, but. But you didn't use it as much as maybe you could have. And then there was this whole thing that happened where you needed their votes and they went and voted somewhere else. And so I think this is a very good point because once you did sort of like, recognize, wait, this is. I have this connection. This is a really valuable player. And you were able to lock her in. Yeah, Mackenzie just kind of dominated the rest of the game.
- [07:29]
Chelsea Bayham
The rest of the game. And here's the thing, Taryn. That quality that I displayed, I think most winners, if you look at their game, you can see adaptability is the. Is the primary thing. You can go into Big Brother and have this plan. I'm gonna have a final five alliance, the Pentagon. We're gonna ride or die. But that could blow up. It's a bad analogy. Depending on the alliance could just, you know, not work out. And you have to make a decision. If you're going to be a player that plays this game well, how. How well can you adapt if your alliance does. Does tend to blow up? If you lost somebody's trust, if you're not good at competitions and you thought you were going to be. How can you adapt in this game? And so I realized halfway through the game I wasn't planning on playing with MacKenzie, but she could be a vital piece, let me change my gameplay. So come in with the strategy, but also be willing to adapt in the event your strategy doesn't work out.
- [08:23]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. And so, you know, tell me what you think about this, because I feel like this is an issue that I see a lot of players have, even really talented ones sometimes. And I think a little bit about like, like T core here where like T core had such a strong group of people around her that loved her so much, but didn't in my mind branch out enough to other players to. To talk to them more and talked a bit too much with only her people. And so, you know, you see that a lot with people who are maybe a little more introverted. They have a little more trouble like branching out and having those conversations. And in my mind, you don't have to be an extrovert. You can have and almost it's better to have like, kind of like private one on ones. Just try to establish early relationships with as many people as possible. Individual relationships, alliances, whatever you want. But of course, you do have to be careful of like being too obviously playing with the entire house. Right. Yeah. So how would, how do you manage that distinction? Because I think again, in my mind it's kind of like you kind of want to establish early on that you talk to everyone. So it's not weird when you start talking to people. Yeah.
- [09:39]
Chelsea Bayham
Because we could tell. It's like, okay, now you need votes. Like you really.
- [09:44]
Taryn Armstrong
Right.
- [09:44]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah. So I, I think early on making sure that you do have at least one conversation with everybody in the house because there might be somebody you look at and initially you don't want to work with them. And as you talk to them, you can see they have qualities that can be beneficial to your game. So I think beyond trying to establish a great social network in the beginning you could find alliances that really do work out for you. I'd say in the beginning it's fine to have a tight knit group, group of people, but as you go on and the numbers start to dwindle, it does simply become a number game. And the very first thing people look at is who is the biggest group that is rocking with each other. And are there any showmances? I'll also throw this in there. We like watching showmances. I mean, maybe not the, the, the crazy showmance between Vincent Morgan that made you Almost pull your hair out. But we like the drama. But if you really want to win this, win this game. It never works. It just doesn't. Now, I'm not saying don't get into showmance because I like seeing it, but I'm saying if you trying to win, like just hide the showmance or something, just be smart with it. So I'd say yeah, develop social networks early on. Having a tight knit group is fine, but also kind of like the cookout did. They had their primary alliance, but they all also made sure that they branched out to make sure their bases are covered.
- [11:06]
Taryn Armstrong
I agree. I mean, I'll push back on this. There have been plenty of showmance winners, but recent. That is true. Recently it has been a lot fewer winners from showmances, which is, which is worth pointing out. I think that's a good, a good rebuttal to me. Yeah. Thinking, thinking through this. I think the last time a person in a showmance won, was it 18? Was it Nicole at 18?
- [11:33]
Chelsea Bayham
I think it was Nicole. We haven't had a showman since a person that's been in the showmance. That's one. And it's been like they've actually been targeted in the last couple seasons. And that's maybe that's because they've been targeted.
- [11:47]
Taryn Armstrong
Well, yeah, so maybe the other side of this advice is make sure you target showmances so that they don't start rising to power again.
- [11:54]
Chelsea Bayham
Yes, yes, I will, I will say
- [11:57]
Taryn Armstrong
this, I will say this about, in talking about showmances because, because let's face it, you know, whatever you want to call Vincent Morgan, they very nearly were first and second place. Right? Like very nearly. And so one thing I think that every, every player going into this house needs to drill into their brains is you cannot ever believe a showmance when they tell you that they're going to turn on each other. If they're like, oh, don't worry, I know I can't beat them, I'm going to turn on them. Like, if you see them flirting, canoodling, whatever, it's done, it's over.
- [12:36]
Chelsea Bayham
Rubbing backs like, what are we doing here? Yeah, they're not turning on each other. Stop playing. And that's the other thing. Like going to the house, think like, it's hard to say that, but think like just a normal person. If we were on the outside. You really think people who are cut up and all that going turn on each other? No. So stop thinking. In a game where you're playing for $750,000 that all of a sudden people are going to change up how they do relationships. They're not.
- [13:04]
Taryn Armstrong
So, Chelsea, this one is different. This person has a boyfriend or girlfriend at home.
- [13:09]
Chelsea Bayham
You should be different, Taryn. But let's not get into that because
- [13:12]
Taryn Armstrong
it might not be different. So here's.
- [13:15]
Chelsea Bayham
Here's what I will say about Vincent Morgan. They nearly made it a first and second because they also were competition beast.
- [13:22]
Taryn Armstrong
Yes.
- [13:22]
Chelsea Bayham
Most. A lot of people who might get in showmances might not be able to win competitions to get themselves to first and second. So I always say, as a player, you don't want to bank on having to win a competition to stay safe, because some might be mental, some might be physical. I don't know what people's strengths are, but, yeah, if Vincent Morgan weren't like competition beasts, they would have been out that house a long time ago.
- [13:45]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. And, I mean, I think that brings us to the next point, and I think it kind of stems off of, like, maybe make sure you're looking at showmances and understanding that they will always choose one another. And any time that they don't is a massive, massive mistake for them most of the time. So, like, you know, you can't. You can't bank on that. But they're especially dangerous if they're both very good at competitions. And in general, people who are very good at competitions are going to be big threats. This is something that I've talked about a lot. It's especially true for recent seasons. In the last decade or so, the competitions have become, I call them, more physical. It's kind of a generalization. The reality is that athletic people or athletes are winning the competitions at a much, much higher rate than they used to in the decade before. So the amount of wins that each competitor gets is being concentrated more and more into a select few group of people. Especially once you get down to the end game, once you get down to, like, Final Eight, Final Seven, there's basically like two people that are going to win the rest of the competitions. You and Mackenzie, Vince and Morgan, you know, like it. Jag and Matt, like, it basically just happens that way.
- [15:08]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [15:09]
Taryn Armstrong
And so you need to make sure that in the configuration that you're trying to get to in that, in that end game, you need to make somebody right. Like, either you and your allies, the people that are going to win, that you're the one of the two people that are going to win all the competitions. Or, like, you'd better be sure you can manipulate the people or person. That is.
- [15:29]
Chelsea Bayham
That is good. That is such a good point. Like Mackenzie and I, for example, she was great at physical competitions. I was great at mental competitions. So there was no whatever game you threw at us, one of us were going to win. So I think, yeah, again, evaluate your alliance. What are you good at? What are you bad at? Do you have all of your bases covered? And if not, go, you better go cuddle up with whoever is winning all these competitions. That's just. For me, that's just one plus one equals two. That's just basic knowledge. But I'm learning. People are chat gpting how to play this game and not really like looking at human connection. So just that's on a basic level. Evaluate, read the room, who's good, who's not, and who are you partnered up with and will it set you up for success in the future when it comes to these competitions?
- [16:19]
Taryn Armstrong
100%, I think, especially as you get to the end game. The end game basically just always going to be decided based on who's winning the competitions.
- [16:27]
Chelsea Bayham
Yes.
- [16:28]
Taryn Armstrong
That doesn't mean that the person winning is definitely going to win the game, but it means that, like, they are going to shape what that looks like. And so, yeah, like I said, you need to either be shaping them or just pray.
- [16:43]
Chelsea Bayham
You know what I mean? Yes. That's hilarious. You're 100% right.
- [16:49]
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- [17:20]
Taryn Armstrong
I think a big thing to think about here, Chelsea, you had the. The first experience with what was then called the AI Arena. I think they're now calling the blockbuster. I think we can assume it's returning.
- [17:34]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [17:34]
Taryn Armstrong
So who knows? This is a very new concept, very new game mechanic for the show and I think players are still learning, like, how to adapt to it. So what is your. Like, how do you read this? How do you play with the blockbuster competition
- [17:55]
Chelsea Bayham
from a household perspective, head of household perspective or somebody who's playing.
- [17:59]
Taryn Armstrong
That's a good point. And let me also. Let me just give a quick explanation of what it is in case.
- [18:04]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [18:05]
Taryn Armstrong
People don't know, basically the, The. The. The basic functions, of course, how the game works. Somebody wins out of household, they nominate two players. There's a veto competition where one of them save themselves, and then you vote out one of those two players. However, the blockbuster competition has changed things. So now the head of household is nominating three people. You then also have a veto competition where one of them can win or somebody can outside of them can win and save them. And then three people head into a competition on eviction night right before the vote, and one of them, whoever wins that blockbuster competition, pulls themselves off the block, and then the remaining two people are being voted for for one of them to leave. So what this does, of course, is it provides even more opportunities for people you nominate as head of household to save themselves, and it introduces a lot of uncertainty for who's even going to be available to vote for when you're planning out. Who am I voting for? Well, I'm voting for, you know, this guy in. In one circumstance, but if this guy wins and I got to vote for this other person. And so there's a lot of chaos, a lot of complicated sort of plans to think through. I guess the first way to look at this is, you know, a lot of people have thought like, does this make HoH less powerful? And I think to some degree, yes.
- [19:31]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [19:32]
Taryn Armstrong
Though it is still very, very powerful. So, Chelsea, how do you handle this as an hoh?
- [19:37]
Chelsea Bayham
This, I'm sure, like, I. I got my first gray hair in the big brother house, and I'm pretty sure was because of this blockbuster arena. It I. It stressed me out. So just be aware, like, if you are going to strive to become hoh, it is a lot of pressure because the three times. The first three times I was hoh, I nominated three people, and then one person always took themselves off the block. So you're nominating four people, which is like a quarter of the house. So I nominated, I think, like, 16 people while I was in there, which really could put a damper in your social game if that isn't. If that's not your vibe, if you are not strong in the social component, I would say, like, HOHs are going to be very difficult for you to manage. But at the end of the day, put up the three people who you think the whole house would be in agreement with. And at the end of the day, you're not Voting the house is. So I do think it provides some safety because, yeah, you put them up, but the other people voted. Put three people up. But also it. You do as lose. You do lose some power. Just be aware of that. If you become hoh, you do not fully have the reins. If you have somebody in mind that you want them to leave, there's a huge chance that they might take themselves off the block. So I would say biggest thing for HOH with a blockbuster, do not put up an ally. Do not put up one of your alliance members. I don't know why people think that's ever a good idea. That happened on my season, I forgot who put Cedric up, and he ended up going home and the whole Quinn. Oh, gee. Well, Quinn was never really down with the alliance anyways.
- [21:15]
Taryn Armstrong
And then Joseph again.
- [21:17]
Chelsea Bayham
Yes, yes. Oh, yes. And Quinn put up Joseph thinking that he would be protected in some way. So just know you might have to end up nominating four people. And don't put an alliance member up there. Just don't do that. But it is stressful. So if you don't have the strength of being a good social player, I would. I would hold off on becoming hoh because you do. You are in a position where you have to manage relationships even more.
- [21:45]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. The flip side of that, I think, is that it puts you in a position to work those relationships.
- [21:53]
Chelsea Bayham
Yes.
- [21:54]
Taryn Armstrong
And so if you can handle it well, and this is the big thing about HOH is that, like, if you can handle it well, it'll dramatically improve your standing because you'll be able to make deals. It gives you an excuse to talk to more people, to get a chance of seeing where their head is at getting more information, gathering more information. But of course, it does mean that you have to actually kind of tip your hand a little bit and. And nominate some people. And that's, I think, where a lot of the HOHs, they think, I'm gonna have my cake and eat it too. I'll nominate some allies who are gonna, like, volunteer or be okay with it, and then I won't have to show my hand. And then you get, you know, either a Quinn situation where he two HOHs takes out two of his own allies.
- [22:47]
Chelsea Bayham
Come on. You have to show your hand. You have to show your hand and risk it.
- [22:53]
Taryn Armstrong
You may also get like. Like a Vince situation where even if it does end up working out, he's not getting a lot of jury votes in the end, because nobody really respects that kind of game most of the time, especially if you can't Even be upfront about it. And so I, yeah, I really do think that, like, 99% of the time you have to. You should only be nominating people you're okay with seeing leave or you're okay
- [23:19]
Chelsea Bayham
with managing that relationship in the event that they stay. So it's like you just have to hold your hoh very loosely. There could be a twist that comes or that person takes themselves. You got to hold yourself loosely. And also when you do put these people up for eviction, they didn't show this on my season, but I put Angela, Kenny, and Lisa up for eviction and I did my speech. Everybody started clapping afterwards, including the people I put on the block because. And I was like, I've never seen. I've never seen this be done before. I'm like, evicting. I'm nominating you for eviction and you're clapping. But at the end of the day, when they came off the block, I still had a level of relationship with them that was solid. So an example of, like, hoh being managed really terribly is Angela's week one. Like, it just. She did not handle that well, and it blew up her entire game. So you have to know yourself. The hard part of Big Brother is you don't know how you're going to really act into your put in that position. So, but, yeah, manage your relationships. I don't know how many times I got to say that. It's a social game, like, play like it.
- [24:25]
Taryn Armstrong
I think Angela is an interesting example. Angela, very famously in the first week of your season was getting all kinds of offers for, like, let's make a big alliance. Let's work together and do these moves and then kind of like goes rogue and does her own thing. And. And I think there's an interesting balance here. I always talk Memphis in Big brother All Stars 22, who also was in a big secret alliance, but kind of went against their wishes to some degree to do his own thing, but not in a way that. That made him get kicked out of the alliance. And I think there's. There's a crucial balance here of make sure that you're including other people in your decision making and building consensus with it amongst your allies while also sticking to what you think is best for you and not letting your allies use your hoh for their own benefit. And so, like, walking that tightrope, I think is important. And that's, again, something that. That Quinn, interestingly enough, kind of like, struggled with at times because his allies like Tikor often felt like he wasn't including them in the conversations about his decision making. And, you know, could Tikor have talked to Quinn more? Sure. But if you're Quinn, you know, it doesn't really matter whose fault it is. You've got to deal with the repercussions. So 100. Make sure you're talking to your allies more.
- [25:54]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [25:56]
Taryn Armstrong
And in terms of nominating your allies, something I like to say a lot is, like, how it usually happens is that players will be like, well, I can't nominate this person because then, you know, their. Their allies will be pissed off. Like, I can't nominate, like, Cam because then Chelsea will be pissed off. Or like, I can't nominate Mackenzie because then Leo will be pissed off. And. But if I nominate my ally Joseph,
- [26:21]
Chelsea Bayham
nobody will be mad.
- [26:22]
Taryn Armstrong
Nobody will be pissed off. And here's this. This is the problem. If nobody's pissed off, it's probably because you're the person that should be pissed off as the way you are the one. You are pissing yourself off at the. Like, you're at the expense of yourself. You're making everyone else happy.
- [26:39]
Chelsea Bayham
And I. The question I asked myself in the Big Brother house often when I was in that position was like, if the roles were reversed, if that other person had power, would they go to the extent to save me if they. And so I. What I did often in the house is I looked at every single person that was remaining and I said, what is their ally list look like? Who are their ones, twos, threes? Where do I stand on their list? And I make my decisions from there. And that's why when I put up Quinn my season, even though he had saved me the week before, I knew if he gets this opportunity to have power, I am not his number one. I am not his number two or three. So at this, at the end of the day is an individual game, so you have to play as a team. But at a certain point, you start. You have to start making decisions that are best for you. And will it piss people off? Yeah. So welcome to Big Brother. Whenever we had a season where people weren't pissed. Come on, just get used to people not liking you, especially.
- [27:39]
Taryn Armstrong
And here's the thing, too, right? Like, I think. And I think this ties into the next topic I wanted to talk about, which is the idea of being upon yourself, which is like, you often think that you're doing people a favor when you're hoh. But you. You really. And this is something that you can't really know if you've only watched the show and you haven't watched the live feeds, but the HOH wins on Thursday night. Sometimes Friday morning or whatever. They make their nominations Friday during the day. Like it happens very quickly. That's, that's the point at which you're making those decisions. There is a renomination after the veto sometimes, but for the most part that big decision happens on a Friday and then the next HOH isn't crowned the eviction and the next HOH until the following Thursday night, which means there's six whole days in between the nominations and the eviction. So you might think, oh, I'm doing a person a favor by not nominating them or by nominating this other person instead or whatever the case is. But by the time the next HOH comes around, it's kind of ancient history. Like the, the, the most recent thing is what happened with the vote. Were you in alignment with them on who where the vote was going to go? Did they want to take out somebody who you didn't want to take out then? Now you're enemies again. And so you haven't gotten much from that situation. And the reverse of that is if there is somebody that you might need to piss off, get it out of the way on the Friday and spend the next six days being like, listen, I'm in your corner. Let's, let's make this right. Like, you have a bunch of time to try to recoup that relationship, massage that relationship.
- [29:19]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah. And six days in the big brother house feels like 60. So, yeah, you really, I'd say, yeah, piss them off early so that you have time to recover. And also, yeah, that Friday is a big day and then Saturday you're playing in the veto and everything can change for you. So, like, just if you're, if you're going to be a position of power, you're going to have to show your hand and get blood on your hands. At the end of the day, I don't know why people play HOH and think they could come out of it clean. You never will. And if you're trying to, you're going to screw up your game. So if you're going to strive for that position of power, just know that it does come. It comes with a cost. Yeah.
- [29:59]
Taryn Armstrong
So the other side of this, of course, is there will probably be a time when a player is confronted with would you be willing to be a pawn? Is, is I was thinking maybe I need to put you up because, you know, I can't put this other person. I really have no choice. And so the fact Is that you? I think. I really think you're going to win the blockbuster. So I really need a competitor up there. Chelsea, like, what do you think?
- [30:29]
Chelsea Bayham
I think you know what I think. Look, it never works. Even if you are a competition beast, like a Tucker who can often put himself in positions to get off the block, to protect his alliance, to be a good pawn, at the end of the day, it will run out. There will come a point where you cannot rely on competitions. You will come to a point where you're bad at it or somebody else is better. It happens every single season. It happened with Keanu last season. It happens to Tucker in my season. So never volunteer or if you want to win, never volunteer or accept to be a pawn. If you want to get by another week, fine. But if we're talking about how to win this game, don't. If somebody comes at you with that mess, walk out the room. What are we talking about? Oh, that bothers me when people are, yeah, no, no. Sorry to yell at you, but it pisses me off.
- [31:26]
Taryn Armstrong
I'm with you. And listen, it's the same thing I was just talking about. You can think, oh, I'm going to win favor with the HOH or the house by volunteering on Friday. You then spend six days on the block potentially as long as you if you don't win the veto. And that means that you've the last six days before the next set of HOH decisions has been you begging for their vote. They're now doing you a favor by keeping you in the house. That's how they feel. They don't feel like, oh, thank God this person volunteered. They think, well, they should be grateful
- [31:57]
Chelsea Bayham
I didn't vote them out 100%. You reverse who has the power in the situation. And also when there's six days to go on this game and people start marinating on conversations, people's minds change. They do. I've seen that happen season after season where what the plan was in the beginning shifted toward when it came for eviction night because something happened. Somebody said something, somebody interprets something wrong. So many things that are out of your control. So even, like, we haven't got to this, but if you win a power in there that has the potential to save you, use it like, you have to play this game for yourself. Stop making decisions that are good and the best for other people thinking that that's going to keep you in this game. So stupid. I, oh, my God. It should be it again this season. Watch.
- [32:46]
Taryn Armstrong
It should be a given in any alliance or relationship that like, you're not going to make obvious dumb decisions that put you in danger. You're not going to not use a power to save yourself. You're not going to volunteer for the block. Those should just be baseline. Anybody that wants you to do those things is not a good ally.
- [33:05]
Chelsea Bayham
It's basically, it's a basic foundation and way to play big brother. Don't volunteer to go on the block. Don't be a pawn and. And use your power like that's just very at the base. If you don't do anything else, do that, please. But watch. I'm going to have a conversation with you. Mid season Taryn. We're both going to be pulling our hair out because somebody is going to not going to volunteer. Watch.
- [33:28]
Taryn Armstrong
And I think. I think you make a very good point as well. Thinking about like the last six, seven, eight winners, I don't think any of you ever volunteered except for Jack. Well, but. But he got evicted when that happened, so that doesn't really count.
- [33:44]
Chelsea Bayham
Opportunity to come back and play the game after you.
- [33:46]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. Were unanimously evicted other than Jack, I don't think any winner in the last like near decade has ever like volunteered to be upon. It just doesn't happen. And be. And it's again, it's like even if you do somehow make it through, it makes it easier for somebody to put you up again in the future because you've been put up before and this is. This is so crucial. Like when you're hoh you often think like who is going to be the most mad at me? And a very easy way to do this is, well, Chelsea was on the block last week. She volunteered. She was kind of okay with it. If I put up Chelsea, then she can be mad at two different people who put her up on the block. Whereas if I nominate somebody else by nominate Quinn. Nobody's put Quinn on the block. I'm the only person that's done that to him. So, you know, it's like that is a thought process that a lot of people go through and it's not. It's not a bad. Even though it kind of sucks for the people who've been nominated, it's not a bad one to think.
- [34:42]
Chelsea Bayham
It's not. Because as soon as people get a vision of you on that block, it. It does become wash, rinse and repeat. Because early on in this game you are trying to manage these relationships as best as you can and not piss people off. So least amount of blood. Let's put familiar faces up here because Everybody's in agreement with this. So, yeah, I do think avoid the block at all cost. That was my main thing. Like, let me make sure nobody sees a picture of me up on this block and they get comfortable with it. And if they do, I'm taking myself off.
- [35:15]
Taryn Armstrong
So.
- [35:16]
Chelsea Bayham
So, yeah, you gotta. Again, the word I keep going back to is adaptability. You have to walk a tightrope the whole game. You can't really let off the gas mentally. You. You have to constantly be thinking about these things. I think people get in the game and they get mentally fatigued or they just get so caught up in other people's game that they forget. At the end of the day, you got to do what's best for you and not the whole house. Yeah.
- [35:40]
Taryn Armstrong
Speaking of taking yourself off the block, I know we were talking about competitions earlier, but you, of course, were a bit of a competition beast. What's your advice on how to win competitions? Like, what is. You know, theoretically, if somebody's about to go into the house and they're not watching this from the future, and it's like, you've got a year away. You've got, like, a couple of weeks to, like, prep, to train, to think about it, and then in the house, you've got time to study, like, all that kind of stuff.
- [36:08]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [36:09]
Taryn Armstrong
What are your tips?
- [36:10]
Chelsea Bayham
My tips? The first one, which I didn't even listen to this advice, is like, listen to the directions of the game. I got so excited my very first competition that I forgot a very crucial piece of the game, which was to plug in a frigging plug, and it jacked me up. There's been several players that did not listen to the directions carefully. The game instructions, how Tucker finally fell. Yes. Because he didn't sit. And it's hard because when you are sitting in the game, commercial break happens, and they are reading those rules to you. You do feel all of these emotions. You're nervous, you're scared, which is like. It's just human nature. As best as you can when you get into that arena or you're ready to start a hoh competition or veto, it's very basic. Like, take a breath. Listen to what they're asking of you. If it's. If it's a mental. And there's a lot of mental competition. So pay attention to what's happening in the house. Try to find moments to get away, to study. Don't share your notes with everybody. I don't know why people do that like you. You're playing against each other. So.
- [37:20]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah.
- [37:20]
Chelsea Bayham
If there's things that you remember, keep it to yourself. Try not to really study with. With people. Okay. But really, it's just take a deep breath. You will get very scared going into those competitions. But take a second and remember, it's just a game. Okay? You're on, Big Brother. Take a second. Chill. But the biggest piece of advice is listen to the instructions, because a lot of people get screwed over for not simply paying attention to the rules.
- [37:47]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah, I think that's a great one because I think, you know, and I'm thinking of myself, like, if I went into a competition and I was like, oh, I kind of. I get this. I get the gist of this. Or even, like, I've seen this before, I might start, I might think, oh, I don't need to fully pay. I'm going to think about what my strategy is going to be. I'm going to think about, like, getting ready. Like, am I going to run over here first? And then, yeah, I might miss a crucial detail. And then just like that. That could be it. That could be all. Yeah. Listen to.
- [38:15]
Chelsea Bayham
I'd also say if you are, like, playing a competition where you're able to see the strategy of people, like, kind of take a second to. If something's not working for you, take a second and see how it's working for somebody else. Use some context clues around you to figure out how to play these competitions best. But. But, yeah, don't get so caught up in. In those moments. What is my strategy? This or coming in? Overconfident. So many people go into these situations overconfident. I got this. This is my game, and they don't got it. So. And also watch one of the last two seasons. They've been repeating a lot of the competition. So just. I say watch. Watch a season or two to see what competitions you may be facing.
- [39:01]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah, I mean, I think in general, it probably goes without saying, but we should probably say it. You should try to watch as many recent seasons as you can because you'll get an idea for the format and the way that people play. You miss out a lot not seeing the live feeds, but there's nothing you can really do about that at this point. Yeah, and. And, yeah, just get it. And then especially, like, study the competitions. How. What did the people who did better at the competition do that the other people didn't? Something that I see a lot is that, like, especially like on individually timed competitions, some people just don't hustle. Like, I don't think it crosses their mind because they're alone, they don't see anybody else. They're kind of like, oh yeah, I'm just kind of like going to walk. And then other people are racing back and forth and they're saving a bunch of time by just going faster.
- [39:47]
Chelsea Bayham
It's like, yeah, you're sitting. Yeah, you gotta get what competition time comes, act like your ass is on the line. Like play, play the game. And there's very few people who are willing to keanu a game and sit and stare and be able to win the competition. That's very rare. So don't, I don't use that strategy. Go in there and try to finish it as fast as you can. And yeah, I just study the competitions because they have been repeating them. You will always see a BB Comet competition happen. You will always see certain competitions and so you can have some of an idea of what a strategy could be before you enter the game. So watch, watch the show. And that's so sad that we have to say that, Taren, because some people don't watch the show and they go on thinking, oh, this is summer house. It's not summer house. This is a competition show. So watch some seasons. I don't say like, you don't have to go back to season one. Watch, watch some of the recent seasons and I think you'll be set up
- [40:45]
Taryn Armstrong
for success, especially the last two with the AI arena and Blockbuster. Yeah, Very, very crucial. And for competitions too. I honestly. Cardio, right. Like just work on your cardio. Work on it now. Work on it when you're in the house, like jump on your workout or whatever they've got.
- [41:04]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah, because you, yeah, you need some type of endurance. Maybe hit the gym a couple times, the weights while you're in there, keep up your stamina because especially like you said, as you get to that final eight, final seven, you start to see physicality really play a role in these games. Whether it's strength or endurance. You will run up into one of those two and it shapes the end of the game.
- [41:29]
Taryn Armstrong
Even if you, even if you've never, if you have no cardio, like if you're in the house and you make it two months in, then that's two months of time that you've spent like running longer and longer distances, either on the treadmill or outside or wherever you need to do it. And that could genuinely make the difference between being competitive in one of those end game competitions and being no chance to win. So. Yeah.
- [41:52]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Yep.
- [41:55]
Taryn Armstrong
Okay, Chelsea, what else?
- [41:59]
Chelsea Bayham
Listen, I, I, it's like how much how much of my sauce do I. Do I give away?
- [42:07]
Taryn Armstrong
Well, okay, here's. Here's a. Here's an interesting one, Chelsea, because there are rumors that there might be some returning players.
- [42:14]
Chelsea Bayham
Yes.
- [42:14]
Taryn Armstrong
Now, those are. There are always rumors, but this is a genuine concern. Now, you didn't play with returning players.
- [42:22]
Chelsea Bayham
No.
- [42:24]
Taryn Armstrong
But if you went and played again, you would be one. Yeah. So. So the. You know, there's a bit of bias perhaps in this answer, but how should people. If. If you get onto this season and there's a returning player or there's multiple returning players, how do you play with that?
- [42:41]
Chelsea Bayham
I think you have to be, again, adaptable in playing with the returning players. You have to. If they are a strong player, you want to be tight with them. But at the same time, I don't understand. For example, the last returning player we had was Rachel. I don't. If you know the history of Rachel, she's a. She's a solid player. She's one. So it's like they. They had. She had two seasons on them. So I'm like, they know this. They know this way better than you. Keeping them around for too long is setting yourself up for failure. So when it comes to returners, my biggest thing is, like, what is their history? And half the time people don't know because they don't watch the show, so they don't know how Rachel Riley played. But I'd say try to get returners out as fast as you can, to be honest with you. But at the same time, my strategy has been I'm not going to get the. The people out, but I'm going to have everybody else try to get them out.
- [43:40]
Taryn Armstrong
So that's. That's the thing, right? It's. It's such a catch 22, because returning players are so dangerous, and they very often, in a mixed cast, make it to the end. But the first couple of people voted out on every mixed cast are the people who try to raise the flag
- [43:57]
Chelsea Bayham
against the returning player 100%. They're just too strong socially. And it seems like when people are new in this environment, they start to cling to the returners. Teach me how to play. You know, that you find a level of comfort. But at the end of the day, at some point you're gonna have to say, they know this way better than me, and they are a huge threat. But if you can be close with them by. While also raising flags to other people, I think that's the best bet to keep yourself safe and not allow a returner to Beat you. So stay close to a returner but also be in other people's ears and let them know returning players are a dangerous situation in this game. My big brother. Yeah. But if I ever go on, don't target me.
- [44:45]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. Chelsea's your friend.
- [44:49]
Chelsea Bayham
That would be my advice. Yeah.
- [44:52]
Taryn Armstrong
All right. Anything else that you're thinking of?
- [44:54]
Chelsea Bayham
I think the very last thing I'll share, Taryn, is you can. You can have power without having the power in the house. That's what I recognized a lot. Like, yes, you can have a hoh or a veto, but there could be other people in the house that are way more influential. So try to gain as much influence in every area of the house as you can. There is a lot of situations. I found myself in the big brother house where I didn't necessarily have a hoh power or a veto, but I had the social power to be able to influence and shape what the house has done. So again, weighing do I. Do I need to win a competition now or do I need to win the social prowess of the house? So I'd say continuously, when you go in the house, evaluate where you stand with everybody. Evaluate everybody's list. Who is everybody's 1, 2, and 3 and make your decisions from there. But just know you don't have to strive for a win to have power in this house. We've seen season after season. The last couple ones, the person may have been really bad at a competition, but they were disliked a little bit more when it came to jury. So keep that in mind.
- [46:06]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. And I would say on the back of that, never assume you know everything.
- [46:13]
Chelsea Bayham
Oh, my God. That's such a good one.
- [46:17]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Yes.
- [46:18]
Chelsea Bayham
Why do you say that?
- [46:19]
Taryn Armstrong
Because, as you know, Chelsea, I've talked to pretty much every winner coming off of the season, and I do these. These deep dives. I don't think there's a single winner that's known every single detail about what happened in that house because, like, even the winners are going to come out and they're going to be like, oh, wow, I didn't know that was happening. Oh, wow. I didn't know that secret alliance existed. Oh, wow. I didn't realize that that person was coming for me at that point. There's always going to be stuff that you don't know. So don't assume that you. That you. That everything is perfectly worked out according to your plan and always just be striving to learn more and gather more information, I think. Because the more information you have, the better equipped you are to make Decisions like, maybe I can give the hoh to my friend over there because then I don't have to do it. But if that friend over there has a secret alliance that you don't know they're a part of, that's really bad for you.
- [47:10]
Chelsea Bayham
That's a great point. Don't assume you know everything. And always, I'd say don't let off the gas when it comes to your relationships. Those who win have, have been consistent for those 90, 100 days. So don't ever. If the moment you feel comfortable, you are in danger, you should always be on your toes at any point of this game because there will be elements that you simply cannot control in this game that you will have to adapt. So stay on your toes. It is exhausting. But if you want to win this game, you can rest after three months, play the game for 90 days, and enjoy it after you win.
- [47:47]
Taryn Armstrong
Yeah. Okay, a couple of quick things. Chelsea, how do you feel about shout outs when people vote?
- [47:54]
Chelsea Bayham
Okay. Personally, I like them. I know this is like, you know, a hot take because Brittany Haynes will say differently. She hates. She hates them. I love her so much. Make it quick. Was that mom, dad, whatever. Make it quick and make it as you're walking out the door because here's the thing, you miss your family and friends. You're gone for a long time. You want them to feel seen and loved, but do it fast. If you have a Rolodex, if you have a CVS receipt of names, you're shouting out, we're getting annoyed. So say it as you walking out the door. Keep it to three to four names, and I think nobody will be annoyed.
- [48:31]
Taryn Armstrong
Here's, here's how I think you can, you can avoid most of Brittany Haynes desire. Even if you do, even if you do have to do a shout out, make it consistent with the tone in which you're voting somebody out. So if you're gonna be like, I sadly vote to evict Chelsea, shout out my mom and everyone that I love. Like, no, none of that. And, and shout out to my mom. Yeah, you know, like, like, keep it, keep it consistent.
- [48:56]
Chelsea Bayham
You're right.
- [48:57]
Taryn Armstrong
Or be like, I happily vote to a big Chelsea, shout out.
- [49:00]
Chelsea Bayham
Mom, listen, I love that. Taren, keep the tone consistent, make it quick and fast and get out of that room. And I think majority of the people will rock with you.
- [49:12]
Taryn Armstrong
You also did talk to cameras occasionally.
- [49:16]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Yes.
- [49:18]
Taryn Armstrong
Now I think, I think it's. We feeders love it when you talk to the cameras.
- [49:22]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [49:23]
Taryn Armstrong
But that doesn't mean that they will love you 100%. So if they already don't like you. Talking to cameras isn't exactly going to help your case necessarily. But in general, we like it when you talk to the cameras. Just don't get caught.
- [49:38]
Chelsea Bayham
Don't get caught. And because I got caught a couple of times, so I made it like a jokey type of thing. But, yeah, interact with. Know that you're being watched 24 7. So interact with the feeds if you can. Get in a corner and explain what you're thinking about. I think us live feeders love seeing what is in your mind. So get what's in your mind out, but don't do it when there's people in the room. I just don't understand that. So. But talk to the feeders. We want to hear what you're thinking.
- [50:07]
Taryn Armstrong
Yes. All right. Well, Chelsea, thank you so much for all of your incredibly valuable advice. Hopefully people will watch this before they go.
- [50:17]
Chelsea Bayham
We'll see.
- [50:19]
Taryn Armstrong
We will see. You know, they'll. They'll be like, yeah, I asked Chat GPT, and ChatGPT was like, Volunteer for the block is a thing that some people do. Pawns don't go home. I don't know. Maybe it's better now.
- [50:35]
Chelsea Bayham
I will do a video where I'm physically pulling out my gray hair. If. If I hear that in their preseason interviews, I'll go crazy. Yeah.
- [50:43]
Taryn Armstrong
Well, make sure you share this video as as much as possible to get this to the people that need to it. But even if you're not going to play the game, I think it's fun to kind of like, think about what are the lessons that can be learned and little tips for how to play from the experts themselves. So thank you all for joining us. Chelsea, what are you up to this summer?
- [51:06]
Chelsea Bayham
I will be doing exactly what you're doing. Obsessing over Big Brother. I'll be watching the live feeds. I'll be heavily involved with this season, so. So, yeah, I'm in it with all y'. All. I will be getting no sleep, and I will be living my best life all summer.
- [51:22]
Taryn Armstrong
Sounds good.
- [51:23]
Chelsea Bayham
Yeah.
- [51:24]
Taryn Armstrong
Where can people find you if they want to hear your thoughts?
- [51:26]
Chelsea Bayham
Find me at Chelsea Bayham. Primarily on Instagram threads. Tick tock. I'll be all on there, sharing probably every single thought that I think about this season. Hot takes all the things I will be involved with this season.
- [51:41]
Taryn Armstrong
There you go. You can, of course, find our coverage here at Rob as a podcast. I'll be doing live feed updates every day and episode recaps. And roundtables and all kinds of stuff. And by the way, I have a book out about this show. It's called behind the Mirror and it's not going to teach you how to play, but it will teach you more about the history of the show. So you know, if you're interested, you can check that out as well. Thank you all so much for joining us here today and see all of
- [52:15]
Chelsea Bayham
you next time this month.
- [52:23]
Taryn Armstrong
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Chelsea Bayham
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