These are our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings, and before we get started, we need to put one gigantic disclaimer on this thing: we have absolutely no idea what is happening with Sunday’s medieval twist. The Big Brother live feeds are down, which, yes, we’re still not exactly thrilled about. So these rankings are based entirely on where every player stood when the feeds went dark and what we had actually seen up to that point. No guessing about who survives the Big Brother medieval twist. No pretending we somehow know what is happening inside the house while the rest of us are locked out.
This is simply how we rank the final 10 right now based on strategy, competition ability, relationships, threat level and their path to actually winning Big Brother 28. Think of these Big Brother 28 Power Rankings as our Saturday snapshot rather than some collection of secret Big Brother 28 spoilers from inside the house. Real opinions. Real analysis. Zero pretending this is a scientific formula. We’re ranking 10 people trapped in a house while CBS has turned off the feeds and unleashed a medieval twist. Scientific accuracy left the building a long time ago.
And knowing Big Brother, by the time we get through Sunday night’s episode, this entire list may be completely useless. That would be pretty on brand. So before the medieval madness potentially blows everything up, let’s start at the bottom and work our way to the player we think is currently sitting in the best spot.
10. Melody Morris starts our Big Brother 28 Power Rankings
Oh, Melody Morris. We like Melody. She has built real relationships in this house, and if we’re ranking people based entirely on who we’d enjoy hanging around with, she probably isn’t sitting at No. 10. Unfortunately for Melody, this is a Big Brother power ranking, and sooner or later you have to acquire some actual power. She hasn’t won a competition. That’s becoming a pretty big problem.
Melody spent much of last week talking about the Icons, what they were doing and what she wanted to do about them. Then Mallory Aurichio hit the block, went home, and Melody’s frustration with Drew Campbell exploded after the eviction. We understood why she was angry. He had kept things from her, she trusted him, and suddenly one of her closest people was walking out the door. But yelling at Drew in the storage room doesn’t count as an HOH win. Sorry, Melody. If she survives this twist, she needs to turn all of those reads and all of that frustration into something useful. Win power. Build numbers. Change the game. Until then, somebody has to be No. 10. Please don’t yell at us in the storage room.
9. Drew Campbell
This one is complicated because we have to give Drew Campbell credit for something pretty significant: when his game has been on the line, he has delivered. He’s won two BB Blockbusters. Thursday’s was particularly important because there was a very real chance Drew was going home if he stayed on the block. Instead, he won when he absolutely needed to win and saved himself. That’s clutch, and we’re not taking anything away from him. His two Blockbuster victories are part of a competition résumé that separates him from the people who still haven’t won anything.
The problem is everything waiting for him after the competition ended. Drew played too many alliances, shared too much information and tried to maintain relationships on too many sides of the house. Eventually those worlds were going to collide, and last week they finally did. Now Melody doesn’t trust him. The other side understands how closely he has been working with the Icons. Even Drew acknowledged after the eviction that voting out Mallory made him look bad, and he told Barrett Pfeiffer that people on the other side weren’t going to trust him anymore.
He’s still got a path. Absolutely. If one of the enormous targets in front of him disappears during this twist, Drew’s position could improve overnight. But as of Saturday? Too exposed. There are too many burned relationships and too many alliances that eventually started looking like one giant plate of spaghetti. Nice guy. Two huge competition wins. Messy game.
8. Barrett Pfeiffer
Okay, Barrett Pfeiffer. Here we go again. We had no problem with Barrett deciding he needed to turn on the Icons. Actually, we liked that part. If he believed Dee Valladares, Rick Devens and the others were eventually going to cut him, then sitting around smiling while they marched toward the end wouldn’t exactly be brilliant Big Brother strategy. Our issue remains the way he did it.
Barrett basically looked at a comfortable position in the house and said, “You know what would make this more exciting? Telling the HOH directly that I’m not voting the way she wants.” My guy. You have zero competition wins. Barrett told Dee he wasn’t voting Mallory out, then helped organize the attempted flip that would have sent Drew home had the BB Blockbuster gone differently. He also exposed just how entangled he and Drew had been with the Icons. Risky? Very. Stupid? We’re not willing to go that far.
Because there was actually one benefit. After the eviction, Drew told Barrett that people on the other side still viewed Drew as being with the Icons, but apparently didn’t see Barrett the same way because he voted to keep Mallory. So maybe Barrett bought himself some credibility with the people who want the Icons broken up. That’s why we’re putting him slightly above Drew. Still, Barrett, we’re begging you: Win something. Anything. At this point, we’ll accept rock, paper, scissors. And yes, we know how Big Brother works. When a normal HOH finally returns, Barrett will probably win it specifically to make us eat every word we’ve written about him. If that happens, we’ll take the loss.
7. Haley Thogmartin keeps surviving in our BB28 Power Rankings
Haley Thogmartin, Haley, Haley. We haven’t exactly been founding members of the Haley fan club when it comes to her gameplay. Her social game can be messy. Some of the mean-girl behavior has gotten old. Her HOH ended with Lyric going home after the vote moved away from what Haley initially wanted. There have been plenty of moments where we’ve wondered just how long this game could possibly keep working. And yet… she’s still there. At some point, that matters.
Haley has also won an HOH and a BB Blockbuster, so unlike several people below her on this list, she has demonstrated that she can grab power or save herself when necessary. Even more interesting, right before the Big Brother live feeds went dark, Haley was telling Dee and Angela Murray that they were the two people she could see herself being friends with outside the house. Whatever you think of Haley’s game, she is still maintaining connections with people sitting in the most powerful structure in the house. Could we see her winning the whole thing right now? No. Could Haley hang around considerably longer than we expected a few weeks ago? Absolutely. And if she does, we’re going to have to keep giving her credit whether we like it or not. How annoying.
6. LaTrice “LaLa” Verrett
We need to give LaTrice “LaLa” Verrett her flowers here. Is her game always smooth? No. Does she hide every emotion beautifully? Absolutely not. Are there moments where it feels like we’re watching somebody learn how different it is to play Big Brother instead of watching it from the couch? Definitely. But LaLa has done something plenty of younger players couldn’t do.
She won the Wall. At 58 years old, LaLa became the oldest winner of the Wall competition in Big Brother history. Then last week, sitting on the block during Dee’s HOH, she went out and won the Power of Veto and took herself right back off. That’s not nothing. Actually, that’s pretty damn impressive. Do we see a clear path for LaLa to win the entire game yet? Not really. She still has relationships to navigate and strategic decisions that could get messy fast. But being the oldest person in the house, reaching this point in the game and winning two major competitions along the way deserves respect. Credit where credit is due. LaLa earned No. 6 in our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings.
5. Angela Murray
Here’s the funny thing about Angela Murray. For somebody who has been part of this supposedly giant, terrifying Icons structure, she has spent surprisingly little time in serious danger. Angela has touched the block, but when she needed safety during Yash Patel’s HOH, she won the BB Blockbuster and took care of business herself. More importantly, she wasn’t even the main target heading into that week. That’s a good place to be.
She’s protected by Dee and Devens, she doesn’t currently carry the same enormous strategic threat level as those two, and she hasn’t established herself as such a competition monster that everybody automatically has to get her out. And we’ll say it: Angela is playing a much better game than she played during her first Big Brother season. Does that mean we think she’s going to win? Not yet. Something is still missing for us. Right now, her path feels heavily connected to the protection surrounding her rather than a game she is personally controlling. But there’s also value in being protected without becoming the person everybody desperately wants gone. If Angela keeps letting bigger targets stand in front of her, maybe we’re underrating her. Wouldn’t be the first time.
4. Yash Patel climbs our Big Brother 28 Power Rankings
We have somehow become fascinated by Yash Patel’s game. Not because it’s beautiful. Good grief, no. It’s chaotic. It’s occasionally confusing. His HOH got completely blown apart by Rick Devens’ Diamond Veto. He nominated Dee and Angela, watched Devens save Dee, and suddenly Kamu was sitting on the block and headed out the door. That’s not exactly the HOH week you put on your résumé with a gold star next to it.
But here’s the thing about Yash: He’s still there. Then came the BB Bribe. Dee offered him $5,000 in exchange for protection, and this time Yash took it. His agreement restricts who he can nominate the next time he becomes HOH, giving protection to Dee, Devens and Angela. We can debate whether that eventually becomes a problem. For now? It helped him survive.
And that has become the defining feature of Yash’s Big Brother 28 gameplay for us. Things go wrong, plans explode, alliances change, and somehow he keeps finding another road. He may get considerably farther than we thought he would a few weeks ago. If the Big Brother medieval twist somehow removes one of the people his deal protects before he ever wins another HOH, the whole thing could get even funnier. Chaos has been Yash’s constant companion. Apparently he’s decided to ride with it, and that’s why he’s climbed this high in our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings.
3. Taylor Brown
Everybody remain calm. Yes. We have Taylor Brown at No. 3. We know some people are going to think that’s way too high, and that’s fine. These are our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings. Remember the scientific formula? There isn’t one.
We’ve been high on Taylor’s game instincts for a while because she has repeatedly shown an ability to question what the people in power are telling her. She doesn’t just accept the house narrative because somebody announces it confidently. Taylor thinks. She pushes back. And she looks for what isn’t being said. And yes, sometimes that same personality gets her into trouble. Taylor’s biggest obstacle isn’t whether she understands the game. We think she does. It’s whether she can manage the people around her well enough to actually use that understanding.
Her emotions show. Her frustration shows. Some of her relationships need serious repair. Being right about somebody doesn’t matter nearly as much if you can’t gather enough people to do anything about it. That’s why our message to Taylor is simple: Win HOH. If Taylor survives this twist and eventually gets real power, we don’t think she’s going to be intimidated into making somebody else’s nominations. She’ll make the move she thinks helps Taylor Brown. That’s exactly why we have her this high.
But winning power is only half of it. She also needs people around her. If Taylor can lower her threat level, mend some relationships and keep the emotional explosions from becoming the story of her game, we think there’s a legitimate dark horse sitting here. She already has a Veto win. Give her an HOH and let’s see what happens. Go ahead. Tell us No. 3 is crazy. We’ve been called worse.
2. Dee Valladares
You could flip Nos. 1 and 2 and we wouldn’t put up much of an argument. That’s how close we think this is. Dee Valladares has already won two HOHs, helped build the power structure currently driving much of the game and managed to survive a week where she finally hit the block and appeared vulnerable. When Yash nominated her, Devens pulled out the Diamond Veto, saved her and changed the entire week. Then Dee got power again.
Her second HOH wasn’t exactly quiet. Actually, quiet and Dee don’t appear to have met. She made things more complicated than they needed to be, upset people, put alliance relationships under pressure and ultimately sent Mallory home. But here’s why she’s still sitting at No. 2: She got her target out. She also turned the BB Bribe into something strategically useful. The $5,000 deal with Yash created protection for herself, Devens and Angela if Yash becomes HOH again. That’s smart.
Our concern with Dee is that she occasionally creates damage she then has to spend time repairing. You absolutely deserve credit for putting out the fire. We’d just occasionally like to know who gave you the matches. Still, look at the house. Right now, everybody else’s Big Brother strategy seems to revolve in some way around what they’re going to do about the Icons, and particularly what they’re going to do about Dee and Devens. When everybody is trying to figure out how to defeat you, you’re probably doing something right. That’s why Dee sits this high in our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings.
1. Rick Devens tops our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings
For our Big Brother 28 Saturday Power Rankings, we’re giving the top spot to Rick Devens. Barely. Devens has played aggressively, strategically and, for the most part, successfully. He won HOH early. He won Veto during that same week. Then America handed him one of the biggest weapons of the season with the Diamond Power of Veto, and when the moment came to use it, Devens didn’t exactly tiptoe into the ceremony.
He blew the week up. Yash had nominated Angela, Dee and Haley. Yash won the regular Veto and left his nominations intact. Then Devens used the Diamond Veto to pull Dee down and put Kamu up, completely changing the direction of the eviction. Kamu eventually went home. Was that move subtle? No. Was it necessarily good for keeping Devens’ threat level low? Also no. But that’s Big Brother. You get power, you decide whether the moment is worth using it, and then you live with what happens next.
The biggest weakness in Devens’ game might simply be that people aren’t stupid forever. At some point, everybody else has to look around and realize this guy has won competitions, demonstrated strategic ability, survived the chaos and sits beside another enormous threat in Dee. That’s dangerous. And yet having Dee beside him is also part of why he’s No. 1. As long as the two remain together, each gives the other somebody enormous to hide behind. If you’re taking a shot, which one do you hit first?
Right now, we’re giving Devens the slightest edge because his overall game has felt a little more controlled than Dee’s. But ask us again Sunday night. Actually, don’t. There is a very good chance CBS is currently doing something inside that house that makes half of this article look completely ridiculous.
And you know what? That’s fine. These are our Saturday power rankings. They represent the game we actually got to watch before the Big Brother live feeds disappeared, not whatever medieval madness has happened since. Devens is No. 1. Dee is right behind him. We’re planting our flag on Taylor at No. 3. And Barrett, wherever you are in that house right now, please win something so we’ll finally stop picking on you.
By Sunday night, we may regret all of this. See you then.
You May Also Like:
