Former Big Brother winner Rachel Reilly’s run on Season 27 came to a shocking end after a twist sent her out of the house on Tuesday, September 9 instead of a traditional vote. And while fans have been vocal about the controversial elimination, the veteran herself isn’t holding back about who she blames.
“I feel that going out through a twist the way that I left was way harder than being voted out by the house because I kind of only have myself to blame,” Rachel exclusively tells Men’s Journal. “I kind of had a shot and a half to have safety for the week, or I guess for this twist. And yeah, I think if I had the opportunity to work my magic and throw the Rachel Reilly charm out there, that I probably would’ve been able to stay in any other situation. But because of the way that the twist and the White Locust evolved throughout the evening, I think that I only have myself to blame for not being able to pull out that comp win when I really needed to.”
Still, the three-time player made it clear she holds one houseguest most responsible: her ally Ava Pearl. “Unfortunately, I hold Ava most responsible for my eviction,” Rachel says. “I really thought she and I had a great relationship and I had worked really hard to form this bond with her all season where we had this final two. We were friends, we had this great working relationship and I thought that Ava would have listened to me, especially in such a clutch moment when it was like a do-or-die situation, and this is such a strategic twist, and Ava’s a fan of the show as well.”
Ava’s decision to choose Vince Panaro first for the maze competition set off a chain reaction. “I do feel that Ava should have picked me first, or she could have picked Will [Williams] first or Ashley [Hollis], but it was just fact of her picking Vince as the first person to go into that maze really was the downfall of the rest of the evening,” she explains. “And I don’t know how we could have overcome that, especially with the fact that Vince picked Lauren [Domingue]. And I just think that picking Vince first was such a bad strategic game move.”
Rachel adds that Ava – and a lot of her fellow houseguests – relied too much on gut feelings instead of logic. “You can’t go off of vibes and you can’t go off of feelings in this show,” she tells MJ. “And that is what a lot of people did. They went off of vibes and they went off of feelings and they didn’t think strategically. And when you’re playing a game like this, you have to be extremely strategic and extremely logical or you’re just not going to be able to have the outcome that you want.”
In fact, she compares this season’s gameplay to her own earlier days. “I feel the caliber of players this season was what you would expect from a bunch of newbies,” the mom of two says. “They didn’t really understand the game and there were a lot of people who didn’t want to take advice from myself. They didn’t want to understand the strategy behind some of the decisions that needed to be made or the logic behind keeping certain players in the game longer and working to get out other players. So I think that I would expect this type of gameplay from new players because I think probably I played like that when I played Big Brother 12.”
Had she survived the twist, Rachel says she had her sights set on making a big move. “If I had another week in the Big Brother house, I was hoping I would’ve been HOH and I would’ve put Kelley [Jorgensen] and Keanu [Soto] right on that block. I would have happily tried to get them out of the house if I could have. If I wasn’t HOH, I would have worked with whomever the HOH was to work toward especially getting a player like Keanu out of the house because at this point in the game, he’s way too good at these competitions to keep in the game much longer.”
Even though her game was cut short, Rachel remains invested in how things play out. “I would love more than anything to see Ashley in the final two chairs,” she says. “And I would love more than anything to vote for Ashley to win Big Brother 27. But I need to see her work on her competitive wins and take initiative to play this game and not just passively play the game. I want her to actively play the game. I want her to win an HOH and get blood on her hands. I want her to be a person that is winning more vetoes and making more decisions and taking the game into her control.”
For now, Rachel becomes the first member of the jury, which will crown the winner on Sunday, September 28.
Big Brother airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET. You can also catch the 24/7 live feeds on on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
