Kyland Young won the second Head of Household competition on Big Brother 23, following Travis Long's eviction by a vote of 11-2. Brandon Frenchie's chaotic HOH reign during week 1 of BB23 was, without a doubt, one of the craziest power trips in the history of Big Brother. Frenchie was technically able to leverage his position of power to gain allies and form the Slaughterhouse alliance with Brent Champagne, Christian Birkenberger, Alyssa Lopez, Xavier Prather, Whitney Williams, Derek Frazier, and Kyland Young. Alas, this is a very fragile alliance that is bound to break any minute now, and its existence was already exposed to Sarah Beth Steagall.
Going into the Thursday, July 15 eviction episode, there was little-to-no doubt that Travis Long would be the first evicted houseguest of Big Brother 23. If the players outside the Slaughterhouse had found out about the alliance, there was a chance that they could consolidate to flip the vote to take out Alyssa instead of Travis. However, it wasn't advantageous for Sarah Beth to tell others and flip the vote on Alyssa, who is her Kings teammate. So the house went with the easy option: evicting Travis, who had never even campaigned to survive this block. But when it comes to week 2, the fans were hoping for a non-Slaughterhouse player to become the next Head of Household, which can facilitate a power shift in the house.
Kyland Young is the newest HOH of Big Brother 23. It should be considered that Kyland is in the Slaughterhouse and that the alliance wants to target Derek Xiao next. However, he has already exposed the Slaughterhouse alliance to Sarah Beth, which shows that Kyland doesn't want to play Frenchie and Brent's game. In fact, it was Frenchie who put him on the block, and it was Derek X who saved him from it. Kyland's alliances are more real with the non-Slaughterhouse side of the house, which means that people like Derek X, Tiffany, and Sarah Beth might influence his HOH reign instead of Frenchie and Brent. At this point, Kyland could take the opportunity to leave the Slaughterhouse behind and target Frenchie and Brent. This is also the best moment for a counter alliance to be set up in order to challenge the Slaughterhouse with numbers. Otherwise, Kyland could choose to lay low by targeting people without too many alliances, like Britini D'Angelo and Hannah Chaddha. Overall, the fans hope that Kyland's HOH will start a power struggle between the Slaughterhouse and a counter alliance.
With that said, there are still plenty of opportunities for targeted players on BB23 to compete for immunity and save themselves from the block. For one, there's the Wildcard competition, where a member from each team (Jokers/Aces/Kings/Queens) gets to compete for safety. Last week, this competition saved Christian from being Frenchie's clearest target. Later in the week, there is also the Power of Veto competition, which definitely saved Derek Xiao from going on the block in the first week. Despite all the target possibilities mentioned previously, there are many chances for the houseguests to guarantee their own safety (and possibly the safety of an ally) in this game.
BB23 has been off to a great start so far. The fans are relieved that Frenchie's wild HOH reign is finally over, and are hoping that a new Head of Household can make some damage in the house. Never has it been more true that we can "expect the unexpected" when it comes to this cast of Big Brother.
Big Brother 23 airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.