Big Brother 26’s Leah Is Keeping ‘An Open Mind’ About Dating Quinn

Big Brother 26 fans who are rooting for Leah Peters and Quinn Martin to get together may still have hope.

“I’m willing to keep an open mind [and] see where things go,” Leah, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, September 27, when asked whether she and Quinn, 25, might strike up a showmance in the jury house. “But overall, I would like to keep him in my life as long as possible, because he and his relationship mean a lot to me.”

Leah shared that while she “really [has] no idea” whether romance is in the cards for the duo, she knows that they are “always going to be very close.”

“I definitely missed him since he’s been gone,” said Leah, who was evicted from the Big Brother house on Thursday, September 26, two weeks after Quinn became the first member of the jury. “I think that he’s just a phenomenal person.”

Quinn’s feelings for Leah seemed one-sided for much of the season, but that changed when Leah admitted to having “a crush” on him during a September 12 episode.

“Don’t tell anyone,” she joked in the diary room, covering her face with her hands.

The pair were tight all season, and Quinn memorably showered Leah with praise when she won the power of veto earlier this month.

“You are sick nasty. You are incredible. You looked really cool in yellow,” he said in a much-memed speech. “I like your smile; you treat people with kindness; you are really funny; you are really good at cooking. There’s a lot. The word ‘sensational’ comes to mind when I think of you.”

While Quinn will no doubt be glad to reunite with Leah in the jury house, he’ll likely be shocked by how she got there. Makensy “MJ” Manbeck, whom Leah has been close with all season, put her up as a replacement nominee this week after learning that Leah expressed interest in targeting her ally Chelsie Baham. Chelsie, 27, tried all week to get MJ, 22, to nominate Leah, and eventually succeeded.

“I think that MJ nominated me because she let a lot of people get into her ear and talk to her and convince her that I was maybe a threat to her game and that I was considering putting her up, and that was just never the case,” Leah told Us. “I was never considering putting MJ up. I would never have risked our relationship and I honestly wanted to protect her and keep her in the game.”

While targeting Leah wasn’t a great move on MJ’s part, it was a boon for Chelsie, and proved just how much power and influence she has in the house.

“I don’t know why everyone is not targeting Chelsie. I think she is such a threat in the game,” Leah said. “She knows Big Brother like the back of her hand, and I think that whoever isn’t targeting her is playing for second place. I do regret a little bit not targeting her [when I was Head of Household], but at the same time I didn’t feel like it would be the right time. And if she had gotten off the block, I 100 percent know that she would’ve targeted me. … But I do think that people need to keep their eyes open and consider her [as] an option [for eviction] unless they would like to lose the game.”

Big Brother airs on CBS Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.