‘Big Brother’ Alumni Speak Out After Rachel’s Controversial Elimination

Reality TV fans know that it is rare for the entire Big Brother community — including casual viewers, live feed watchers, alumni and even the houseguests still playing the game — to come together and agree on something.

And while there are exceptions to every rule, the reaction to the Big Brother 27 twist that resulted in legend Rachel Reilly’s elimination has been almost universally negative.

It was the first time in the show’s history that a player has been eliminated after the first day of the season by any means other than a house vote or needing to be removed from the house for a non-game reason.

Ashley Hollis, who is still in the game, seemed to echo the show’s alumni and fans on the live feeds.

“The social part is irrelevant [now],” she said. “You can literally not even talk to people, and just compete, and go far in this game. You don’t even have to open your mouth.”

The episode showing Rachel’s elimination aired on Tuesday, September 9. In it, houseguests competed in a “safety chain” competition, where one person had six minutes and 30 seconds to complete a maze before passing the task off to the next person of their choice. That person then had one less minute to finish, with the players after them having one fewer minute than that. The competition went until someone failed to complete it in the allotted time.

It happened to be Rachel, who failed to finish in three minutes and 30 seconds.

Keep scrolling for reactions from the show’s alumni.

Andy Herren

Big Brother 15 winner Andy went on a multi-post rant via X after the episode aired, saying that if twists like this continued, he would “bow out” of watching the show.

“I’m gobsmacked. Rachel came back after 14 years. She was playing the best game she’s ever played,” he wrote. “She made it to jury without ever touching the block. She was the FRONTRUNNER. Gone. … Due to a twist. F*** this awful show.”

He continued, “I can feel something shifting and my love for the show waning. It is no longer the game I deeply respected and won. It is now a carelessly-crafted joke that values comps over strategy. Breaks my heart.”

Dan Gheesling

In a since-deleted post via X, the Big Brother 10 winner shared that what he loves about the game is that players “always having a chance to fight and stay in the game & knowing it’s never over until the final vote is cast is what I’ve always loved about Big Brother.”

Janelle Pierzina

When feeds returned following Rachel’s exit, the two-time Big Brother All-Star shared a screenshot of her canceled Paramount+ subscription, captioning it, “Not worth watching anymore sorry. #BB27.”

She expanded after the episode, writing, “She came back because she loves and respects the game. The game wasn’t broken! Why meddle? So many players this season had three opportunities for safety. HOH, Veto and BlockBuster. Not to mention they get to campaign. Big Brother 27 didn’t deserve Rachel. #BB27.”

Brendon Villegas

Brendon, who is now married to Rachel with two kids, played alongside her in Big Brother 12 and 13. He unloaded on production after watching his wife’s elimination in an appearance on Rob Has A Podcast’s episode recap, not only for taking the social component out of the game, but for how CBS has portrayed her.

“Why does Big Brother really have to always show my wife and try to portray her as a mean girl?” he asked. “That was what really bothered me because, was she fighting in that house? 100 percent. She’s going to fight every moment she was in the house.”

He then compared her portrayal to fellow houseguest Ava Pearl, who Brendon believes was painted as a quirky, fun character, when on the live feeds she has called Rachel a “bitch” and “c***,” talking “nonstop trash” about her.

Cory Wurtenberger

Big Brother 25’s Cory also bemoaned the direction of the show over the past few years as it has shifted its focus more toward competition prowess instead of social strategy. He said Big Brother has gone “so far out of its way every single year to make itself worse and worse. They had such a good season on their hands and just actively decided to play roulette with it.”

Leah Peters

The Big Brother 26 alum added that the twist “defeats the entire premise of the game.”

“It wouldn’t matter who was eliminated,” she continued in a post via X. “I would feel the same level of disgust and frustration that I do for my least favorites as I do for Rachel.”