Big Brother 28 opened with a promise: time travel, history rewritten, the most ambitious theme in franchise history. What it delivered in week one was a house full of people you're not sure you can name yet, three returning reality stars who immediately took over like they own the place — because they do — a Drag Race alum doing something interesting, a showmance that materialized at approximately the speed of light, and the unanimous eviction of a woman so invisible in her one week of airtime that she is already fading from memory like a dream you had about a bartender. Welcome to BB28. The time machine is running. Let's catch up.

The Premiere: Time Machines, BB-tonium, and the Murder of Rachel Reilly

The season's theme is Big Brother: Time Trip — a world where the house is built around a Dining Table Time Machine, rooms are styled after different eras, and competitions send houseguests back through history to compete for safety. CBS is leaning hard into the gimmick: 94 HD cameras, 113 microphones, and a milestone attached, because Season 28 includes the franchise's 1,000th original episode. They have clearly decided that if you're going to hit a thousand episodes, you might as well arrive in a DeLorean.

The premiere introduced 14 new houseguests who immediately searched the house for vials of "BB-tonium" — power reactors hidden throughout the set. Twelve of the 14 found them and activated the Time Machine. The two who didn't — Ashley Trail and one other — were locked out of competing for safety that week. Which, for Ashley, turned out to be the beginning of the end, though she didn't know it yet. Then came the twist: three era-themed safety competitions, each won by a different houseguest, each win granting safety and the right to recruit a returning reality star into the game. Rome Seymour won his heat and brought in Angela Murray from BB26. Chuk Anyanwu won his and brought in Rick Devens from Survivor 50. Jason De Puy — aka Salina EsTitties from RuPaul's Drag Race, and the most interesting person in the cast on paper — won his and brought in Rachel Reilly, BB13 winner and one of the most chaotic presences in the franchise's history.

And then a velociraptor appeared. And led Rachel to a volcano. And she was eliminated before she could compete in anything. CBS teased her return for weeks, built a cliffhanger around it, and then had a dinosaur kill her in the first episode. Let's sit with that for a moment. Rachel Reilly won Big Brother 13. She survived two full seasons, survived Jeff and Jordan, survived Daniele Donato, survived an entire house that wanted her gone every single week and could never quite manage it. She did all of that with her lungs, her chaos, and a competitive instinct that borders on the supernatural. And CBS's grand offer for her triumphant return to the franchise was: a dinosaur costume that looked like it came from a Party City clearance rack, a styrofoam volcano, and a stage exit so cheap you'd be embarrassed to see it in a middle school production. A little dignity, CBS. She earned it. The crowd reaction — equal parts baffled and insulted — was the correct one. Rachel's replacement was revealed as Dee Valladares, Survivor legend, who stepped in and immediately won the first Head of Household competition of the season. The vets arrived in the house like they owned it. Because structurally, at least in week one, they did.

The New Cast: What We Know So Far, Which Is Not Much

Fourteen new houseguests is a lot of people to absorb in a premiere, and Big Brother doesn't slow down for introductions. Here's the field as week one established it — subject to revision as you actually get to know them over the coming weeks.

Rome Seymour — won the first safety competition, recruited Angela, immediately positioned himself as an "alpha" presence in the house. Already lecturing his showmance partner about her game. It's week one.

Lyric — attorney and hula dancer from Honolulu, which is the most specific combination of professions this show has seen in a while. Currently in the Rome showmance. Already aware the showmance is painting a target on her back. Said so out loud. Has not stopped the showmance.

Mallory Aurichio — rocket scientist from New Jersey, which the show mentioned approximately forty times. Was the initial main target of Dee's HOH. Won the Power of Veto in a competition featuring Dr. Will Kirby and Howie Gordon walking into the house. Saved herself immediately. Has the distinction of being the houseguest Dee most wanted out who is still in the game. Watch this space.

Jason De Puy / Salina EsTitties — the Drag Race alum, won a safety comp, recruited Rachel (RIP). Already reportedly involved in an unseen pronoun fight with Devens and Kamu that didn't make the CBS edit. Interesting.

LaTrice Verrett — 57 years old, boutique salesperson from New Jersey. The oldest person in the house by a significant margin, which BB historically treats as either a superpower or a liability depending on the season. To be determined.

Ashley Trail — bartender from Chicago. More on her below, though there is not much more to say.

The rest — Haley, Taylor, Melody, Barrett, Drew, Kamu, Yash — are present. They exist. Week one did not give us enough to say more than that, which is normal. The game takes time to reveal people. [→ À TOI : ajoute ici tes premières impressions de qui tu as aimé, qui t'a irritée, qui t'a surpris]

The Icons: Drunk With Power, Justifiably

Angela Murray, Rick Devens, and Dee Valladares — CBS's so-called Icons this season — arrived in a house full of people who have watched them on television. That is an asymmetry of information and social currency that is very difficult to overcome in a game built on relationships and perceived threat levels. Dee won HOH in the first week. The "Crossovers" alliance — Dee, Drew, Angela, Rick, Barrett — formed immediately and quietly, with the Icons at the center. Jerry O'Connell, co-host of BB: Unlocked, described them as "drunk with power" going into week two. He meant it as commentary. It also just sounds accurate.

The BB Time Capsule is this season's fan-voted twist — tied to the time travel theme, it allows viewers to vote houseguests into a capsule where they can receive powers or punishments from previous seasons. Once a houseguest has entered the capsule, they're locked out for the rest of the twist. Timing your vote matters. The first round opened after the premiere. Results are rolling out through the season.

The Eviction: Ashley Trail, 14-0, Gone

Ashley Trail spent her one week in the Big Brother house being, by most accounts, extremely quiet. She lost the BB-tonium competition on night one, which locked her out of competing for safety. She wasn't on Dee's initial nomination radar — Dee put up Taylor, Yash, and Mallory, one from each time-traveling group, keeping it "fair." Ashley, having stayed in the present timeline, was exempt from the block. She was fine. She was safe. She had a week to build relationships.

She did not build relationships. She existed. And when Mallory won the veto and came off the block, Dee needed a replacement nominee. The criteria was simple: who has no connections, no allies, no real reason to keep around? Ashley Trail. She went up as the renom alongside Taylor and Yash.

Here is where it gets interesting, if briefly. Word got back to Ashley that the house was leaning toward evicting Taylor. Some members of the Crossovers apparently coached her to "stir the pot" — make people paranoid, shift the target. Ashley took this advice and ran with it at full speed directly off a cliff. She named names. She told people who had been planning to keep her exactly which people were going to keep her. The information got back to those people. The plan collapsed. Ashley went from "safe but boring" to "active liability" in approximately 48 hours. The house turned on her unanimously.

Fourteen to zero. Not one sympathy vote. Not one person who decided to make a point. The most decisive possible verdict on a week one game. In her exit interview, Ashley said she was "just following the advice of the people who wanted to keep her." Which is the truest and most heartbreaking thing anyone has said in a BB exit interview in a while — because it means she was doing exactly what she was told, by people whose interests were not entirely aligned with hers, and it still ended in a 14-0 eviction. The game is a cruel teacher. She learned the whole curriculum in one week.