Chelsie Baham makes no apologies for the speech that led to her “Big Brother” victory.
The 27-year-old nonprofit director won the show’s 26th season and the $750,000 grand prize Sunday night after her argument against runner-up Makensy Manbeck, 22, earned her all seven jury votes.
Baham exclusively told The Post how Manbeck felt about her speech, the jury votes she was surprised to receive, the future of her relationship with Cam Sullivan-Brown and more.
Chelsie Baham. CBSNew York Post: How are you feeling about your big win?
Chelsie Baham: I’m just grateful. Watching this show for so many years and not only playing it, but winning it is a dream come true. So I’m just grateful. That is the primary feeling right now.
Chelsie Baham in her interview with The Post. NY PostIn your speech, you contrasted your game to Makensy’s by taking credit for moves like Leah’s eviction. How did Makensy feel about that?
She did feel a type of way. Prior to that, she was kind of relaxed with her speech and what she was going to say. She really felt that she was going to have it. And I knew all along the game that I was going to play. I don’t think she expected me to be that direct, let alone take the ownership of it and use that as part of my speech.
Makensy Manbeck and Chelsie Baham. CBS
Makensy Manbeck and Chelsie Baham. CBSSo I think she was thrown off, but at the end of the day she knows that I made a lot of those decisions for her. We’ve been hanging out all night so we got over it. We’re really tight. But in the moment she was like, ‘Chelsie, what in the world?’ Sorry!
You got all seven jury votes. Who did you not expect to end up getting?
I didn’t expect to get Leah, Angela or Quinn. And Rubina I was iffy about because during her speech while she was about to get evicted she basically publicly praised Makensy’s game. And I thought, ‘Well, there’s one vote.’ And so I was kind of iffy about where the jury would stand, to be honest. I did not expect a unanimous vote. I was just as shocked as Makensy was.
If you had the decision to bring Makensy or Cam to the end, would you have taken Makensy?
Yes, I was going to bring Makensy. I wanted to make a decision at the end that I was proud of. And I knew No. 2 also leaves with a grand prize and the clout of No. 2. And if there’s anybody that played a crazy good game, everybody can say Makensy did. So I would have definitely brought her to the final two and risk losing next to a competitor like her. It would be worth it.
Cam Sullivan-Brown, Chelsie Baham and Makensy Manbeck. CBSDid you tell Cam you weren’t going to take him?
I kind of alluded to it a little bit the night before and the day of. He was like, ‘thank you, thank you. I hope you win this game.’ And he was like, ‘I won’t hold any bad blood against you for your decision.’ I said, ‘Thank you.’ So he was aware we were going to have each other’s back.
Cam Sullivan-Brown and Chelsie Baham. CBSYou and Cam had an up-and-down relationship, but youguys really were loyal to each other until the end.What comes next for you guys? Relationship? Friendship?
While everybody’s celebrating finale night, he and I are at Denny’s hanging out, talking trash to each other, catching up. So we’re literally like the good friends who clown on each other. Will something come about it? I don’t know. But he and I are both in a position in our life where we want to enjoy what’s in front of us and get to know each other as people outside of a game. So we’ll see. I don’t know. It’s up to him to get his stuff together. But if he asks me out on a date, I won’t say no.






