Jackie Ibarra (left) and Julie Chen CBS
After surprise nominations in Thursday night's double eviction, THR talks to this season's second juror.
She started out on Big Brother's sister show The Amazing Race, she caught on to Vanessa's manipulation and she rocked a punishment like no other houseguest before her, but unfortunately, Las Vegas dancer Jackie was sent packing in the latest episode of CBS' summer reality mainstay.
It was an anticlimactic double eviction episode, with Steve and John not taking full advantage of their power. With great power comes great responsibility, and that responsibility was to make a big move. But Steve was too busy talking to himself and got caught in a web that ultimately made him fear taking the right shot at the right houseguest in order to further his game.
Here, the victim of Steve's awkwardness talks to The Hollywood Reporter about what went wrong in this season's first double eviction.
(Disclosure: Because the nine-person jury is underway, houseguests will now answer questions via email from THR. It's stipulated that questions cannot in any way be a potential interference to the game and are required to be approved by production before given to the houseguests.)
It seems like after Jeff left you started to play the game. Do you think if he stayed it would have helped you or hurt you?
After Jeff left it lit a fire in me to come out and really start playing the game. My personal strategy was to lay low and get to know everyone when first entering the house — which I did — but once Jeff left, I felt all eyes were on me, so that really gave me the drive to really play. A lot of the houseguests believe that my game was better off without him in the house. I really don’t know if it would have been or not, but everything happens for a reason.
Were you jealous of Jeff's relationship with Meg and Liz in the house?
No. Jeff had admitted to me that his strategy was to flirt with the girls in the house. Jeff and I are just friends, but at the end of the day we had each other’s backs.
How shocked were you by Steve's nominations?
I was extremely shocked by his nominations. We had recently become a lot closer in the house to the point where we were discussing game plans, and it seemed like we were looking out for each other and had each other’s backs. Steve was not a target for me going into the double eviction.
Out of the remaining houseguests, if they were to make it to the finale, who will you for sure not vote for to win?
I feel right now it is too early in the game to tell. Hopefully after getting more info and looking at the bigger picture, I can make the executive decision.
What do you think Becky, Meg and James' best shot at staying in the game will be?
I think their best shot would be to stick together, and I feel they were in good graces with Steve and John, but after the last eviction I am not sure how their relationship will be, and I know there will be a lot of questions to be asked. Hopefully they will be strong enough to make it to the end.
Do you regret evicting Shelli and keeping Vanessa? How do you think it would be different if Vanessa went home?
I don’t regret evicting Shelli; I feel my eviction would have still stood the same either way.
You received a punishment with the Knight in Shining Armor outfit. If you could make another houseguest wear a ridiculous costume, what would the costume be and who would you make wear it?
I would make Meg wear an old lady grandma costume. It’s been an ongoing joke about nicknaming her "grandma." I don’t know where it came from but it caused a lot of jokes in the house, and it would be all in fun. I love her to death.
How shocked were you by Steve's nominations? Do you think Jackie should regret evicting Shelli? What do you think about Meg wearing a grandma costume? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned to The Live Feed for all things Big Brother.
Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on CBS.
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