After auditioning for years, Kenney Kelley received the opportunity to join Big Brother Season 26, and he was thrilled. Unfortunately, being a longtime fan and watching the live feeds with a Paramount+ subscription doesn’t prepare one for the trials and tribulations of actually playing the game. Kenney learned that the hard way, to say the least. On that note, when he spoke with CinemaBlend, he shared some tips for future Houseguests while reflecting on the massive mistakes he wishes he would’ve avoided.
Being the old man of the Big Brother house can be rough. Those contestants, more than other typical Houseguest archetypes, often struggle to find alliances or make basic connections with others in the house. I noticed Kenney dealing with those very hurdles when I was streaming Big Brother myself. Yet, when I asked him about all of that, Kenney said one other element that he found to be even harder than relating to younger Houseguests:
It was kind of difficult lying about my job. [That] really messed me up too because I’m super proud to be a police officer. I really wish I went in there, and I just put it right on the line and told them who I was.
Kenney also revealed to me that he hadn’t realized just how much downtime there is in the Big Brother house. (So I’m guessing he never read my article about what Houseguests do all day.) Most of what Houseguests have to do all week happens between Thursday night and Monday afternoon but, even then, there’s a considerable amount of downtime in between. There’s a lot of sitting around and waiting and not a lot to distract Houseguests from it.
What this meant for Kenney Kelley was that he had a lot of time to talk to other Houseguests and simply couldn’t come up with anything to say. No one wanted to talk game so, when it came to other subjects, he struggled with what to say because he had to maintain a lie rather than talk about his actual life. Had he been able to be himself and talk about being a police officer, Kenney thinks the game could’ve played out differently for him:
That would have made it better because I would have had the ability to have better conversations with people in the house. By saying I ran a food truck I, I didn’t really have a lot of good conversations to bring up and, when you’re not talking game, you have to talk personal.
The law enforcement official was constantly on the block and up for eviction during his run in Big Brother but did manage to save himself with a veto win in Week 2. While his spirits were up and down throughout the game, Kenney assured CinemaBlend that had he remained in the game after this week, he would’ve continued to fight toward winning.
Ultimately, though, the reason why Kenney went to ask Cedric Hodges to evict him at the start of Week 3 HOH reign came down to a lack of mental preparation. When prompted for advice that he would give other older viewers thinking of applying for the show, Kenney said that brushing up on one’s mental fortitude is just as integral as strength training:
So for the old people in the house, I think I worked out a lot going in there. I wish I did a little more mental [preparation] stuff. I wish I did maybe a little more meditation, things like that. Things to be able to get my mind off of things. I underestimated that portion of it. So I think you have to get your game going mentally at least a month or two in advance if you think that you’re gonna be going in that house as opposed to, you know, working on, you know, staying in shape.
Big Brother is one of the most mentally stressful games on TV. Those who want to win BB often have to be comfortable with lying, and living with unsavory decisions that will be seen by the outside world. On top of that, you have to deal with missing your family and everything else outside of the game that is still going on simultaneously. It’s a wonder we get people who are still willingly signing up for all of this, all things considered. With that in mind, any future contestants would probably be wise to heed Kenney’s advice.
Big Brother airs on CBS on Wednesdays on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET and on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET as part of the 2024 TV schedule.