Big Brother 28 Power Rankings: Fallout after Episode 1

Reality icons. Time travel. The Chenbot. Velociraptors. Big Brother is back and, true to its motto of “expect the unexpected,” Thursday’s Season 28 premiere had a little bit of everything.

But the real question is: Who is positioned to spend the summer in the house making friends and enemies, befriending and backstabbing, bringing people together and blindsiding? Well, good news, I’m here to share my Big Brother power rankings every Friday throughout the season. So without further ado, let’s get to it.

Big Brother 28 Power Rankings

• 1. LaTrice
• 2. Jason
• 3. Devens
• 4. Chuk
• 5. Rome
• 6. Angela
• 7. Lyric
• 8. Mallory
• 9. Kamu
• 10. Melody
• 11. Haley
• 12. Taylor
• 13. Barrett
• 14. Ashley
• 15. Drew
• 16. Yash

NOT RANKED

• Mystery Reality Icon – To be revealed on Big Brother: Unlocked on Friday
• Rachel Reilly – Eliminated (Death by velociraptor)

• Biggest Risers

  LaTrice

  Let me be clear — I love LaTrice. She looked like the breakout star of the season in the Big Brother Brovealopens in a new tab. Great energy, funny, athletic, strong Big Brother knowledge — LaTrice looks like a five-tool player. I loved her and I think the audience and houseguests are going to love her, too.

  If there is a concern, it is something she said which already might be coming into play. In her Broveal interview, LaTrice said she sees herself as a hero, but has claws, too. And we saw that she may already be courting trouble, noting that she may want to target Angela because there’s only room for one over 50 woman in the house (also, how is LaTrice 57?!?! She looks at least 20 years younger than that). Come at Angela at your own peril, LaTrice. I only want what’s best for you.

  But, I think if there was a clear favorite heading into the season, it would have been LaTrice. If she wants to talk about her past in entertainment, I think she’ll have entertaining stories and I could easily see some of the younger cast members going to her for sage advice. Frankly, I would be shocked if LaTrice doesn’t have an extended stay in the Big Brother House.

  Jason

  Jason is another houseguest I had high hopes for going into the season. I think his reality TV experience on RuPaul’s Drag Race will be an asset, as will his knowledge as Big Brother superfan. I also think it’s clear that he’s going to excel at building alliances, as we already saw him and Lyric seemingly become friends both before and after their time travel challenge.

  Similar to LaTrice, I am slightly concerned that he seems eager to step up and take a shot at a returning reality icon in Devens. I thought, like many others, that perhaps he, Devens and Angela could form a power alliance given their reality TV backgrounds. However, it seems like Jason wants Devens out quick, which could be a mistake if Devens is able to rally people who are fans or at least familiar with him from Survivor. I am also interested to see if Jason’s plan to hide his Drag Race history from the house is successful, as someone in there could have easily seen the show. Could attempting to hide that key bit of his history come back and bite Jason in terms of trust? Only time will tell. But I have a good feeling about Jason in this game.

  Chuk

  I went on a roller coaster ride with Chuk. Going into the season premiere, I had him in the middle of the pack. Then his immediate talk of a showmance once he got into the house had him falling fast in my rankings, as I worried he was going to get very distracted very quickly. But then came the time travel challenge, and I saw his true potential.

  I liked Chuk’s energy in the Big Brother Broveal, even as I was a little worried about his strategy and the fact he said his biggest weakness is that he shows his emotions. One thing that was never in doubt, however, is that Chuk is athletic and should do well in comps. And sure enough, he had no problem getting across the river with just two planks in the Survivor-themed challenge that brought Devens into the game. If he can be social, but not derailed by a showmance, Chuk could be a sleeper this season.

  Rome

  I’m going to be totally honest — in my preseason rankings I had Rome dead last. That was mostly based on the fact that he was a walking red flag in his preseason interview and I quickly found myself rooting for him to have his ego bubble burst early on. Seriously, his talk of alphas, betas and submissives was SO off-putting. Rome, like Sincere on Love Island USA, seems like he loves to hear himself talk and views himself as the hero when the outside world is likely to view him as a villain. His explanation that he has a loud mouth and won’t back down from anyone also seemed not great.

  All that said, and putting my own personal feelings aside, there’s no denying that Rome is likely to be a comp beast. As a former high-end tennis player/athlete, Rome is going to have an advantage on every physical challenge. If he can also do well in the less physical challenges, such as Thursday’s balancing rack challenge, then Rome is going to be hard to get out of the house. He’s giving me Keanu vibes from last season, where people may take shots at him every week but he finds a way to stay in the game (which is interesting given Keanu’s reaction to Rome’s aforementioned weird alpha-beta talkopens in a new tab).

  Biggest Fallers

  Drew

  After watching the Big Brother Broveal on Tuesday, I wrote in my notes about Drew that “he’s gonna annoy the heck out of people in the house.” Sure enough, within minutes of Drew entering the house, Melody had a confessional talking about how Drew never stops talking. She already knows that his frat boy energy is going to annoy her, and it won’t be long before it annoys the rest of the house as well.

  To make matters worse, Drew struggled BIG TIME in his Survivor-themed time travel challenge. He never really got out of the gates and did not earn safety this week. Point blank: If Drew can’t win comps, he is going to be a target every week. This may show my age as an elder millennial, but Drew’s schtick may work on Beast Games, but I don’t think it’s going to work on Big Brother.

  Yash

  Almost everything Yash said in the Big Brother Broveal rubbed me the wrong way. He kind of came off as having big villain energy, saying that he doesn’t want fair comps and that he’s more than willing to double cross his allies to win the game. Oh, and he loves chaos.

  For some players that all could come together for a winning strategy (not that Yash would tell us, because he says his strategy is top secret. To quote John Oliver … coolopens in a new tab). But for a guy with seemingly a lot of bravado, and who is VERY open to the idea of a showmance, I see trouble ahead for Yash.

  Ashley

  Coming into the season premiere, I was actually quite high on Ashley. She came off as confident, bubbly and friendly on the Big Brother Broveal, not surprising given her job as a bartender. I think it’s fair to assume that her ceiling from a social standpoint should be fairly high. And she’s a Big Brother fan to boot.

  But then she didn’t do great in the premiere. She didn’t seem that into the quest to find BB-tonium to power the dinner table time machine, basically leaving it up to the BB Gods. Thus, she was one of two players who didn’t even get a chance to compete for safety. Moreover, she’s already distracted by Rome, which could be bad from a gameplay standpoint and perhaps a sign of bad judgment (if you couldn’t tell, I really don’t like Rome). I hope I’m wrong, because I think Ashley has a lot of potential, but this wasn’t a great start for a player I came in thinking could be a contender.

  Who earned safety in the Big Brother Season 28 premiere?

  Rome, Chuk and Jason won their respective time challenges, earning safety in the Big Brother Season 28 premiere.

  When will the first Head of Household be determined?

  Angela, Devens and a mystery reality icon will compete for the right to be the season’s first Head of Household in Sunday’s episode.

  Big Brother Season 28 FAQ

  What is the theme for Big Brother Season 28?

  Big Brother Season 28 will feature a “Time Trip” theme, as revealed on July 1. I wrote about this in more detail in my complete Big Brother Season 28 theme and house breakdownopens in a new tab.

  When do new episodes of Big Brother Season 28 drop?

  Big Brother Season 28 will air on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, while companion show Big Brother: Unlocked will air on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET, with actor Jerry O’Connell joining returning hosts and past Big Brother champions Taylor Hale and Derrick Levasseur. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Paramount+.

  Where can I watch the Live Feeds for Big Brother Season 28?

  Big Brother is unique in that it allows you to watch the houseguests at almost all times of the day, except for when they are in active competitions. The Live Feeds will begin on Friday, July 10, at 9 p.m. ET and they can be watched either on Pluto TV or Paramount+. It has also been announced that live feeds will for the first time be available for a limited time after every Big Brother and Big Brother: Unlocked episode on the Big Brother YouTube channelopens in a new tab.

  Who hosts Big Brother?

  Big Brother is hosted by Julie Chen Moonves. She has hosted the show since its inception in 2000.

  What is the grand prize of Big Brother?

  The grand prize for Big Brother is $750,000.

  Who won Big Brother Season 27?

  Ashley Hollis, a 26-year-old attorney, won Big Brother Season 27, defeating unemployed Big Brother superfan Vince Panaro by a 6-1 jury vote.