Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves has admitted she was a "jerk" for being "pissed off" at Survivor alum Rick Devens earlier in the Season 28 game.
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RELATED LINK: 'BIG BROTHER' SHOWMANCES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHICH COUPLES HAVE SPLIT UP?? (PHOTOS)
Julie clearly wasn't a big fan of Devens at the start of the season. When Devens had made a mistake and upset Dee Valladares by sharing with some of their allies that they had joined a fake "Red Corner alliance," Julie said he didn't seem to understand the game.
Julie was critical of Devens' loose lips and his potential to play a good game, and she suggested he never should've left the Survivor island and entered the Big Brother house to begin with.
But now that Devens made the Final 3 and has a chance to win the whole thing, Julie told Entertainment Weekly, "I feel good [about his success]. Because I have acknowledged that I was being a jerk."
Julie confessed she was letting her "own foolish ego get in the way" and cloud her judgment.
"I was like, 'Why are you rooting against this dude?' And it was because... Well, there were a few reasons. Let me dial it back," Julie began.
"When I found out a former local morning news person was entering, I was rooting for him before I knew him, right? Then load-in night, I'm like, 'I like this guy. He's really friendly.'"
But Julie said her mind changed about Devens during the first live eviction show of Big Brother's 28th season.
She recalled, "He goes into the Diary Room with a suit and tie and a Survivor buff. Pissed me off. I was like, 'This here is Big Brother. This is the Big Brother house here, buddy.' So I was kind of like, 'Um, excuse me.'"
Julie said she thought Devins antics were "a little performative" at the time.
"You know, like you had to like pack your tie and your suit. It's not going to serve you in Big Brother," Julie noted.
RELATED LINK: 'BIG BROTHER' SHOWMANCES NOW"And I thought, 'Oh, because he's a morning news anchor. Okay, winking a nod to that.' But I didn't like it because I felt it was performative. And I didn't like how suddenly in the storage room, he was telling Dee that he told others about this lie."
At the time, Dee was frustrated and annoyed with Devens as her ally because he could've put both of their games in jeopardy. She even briefly considered cutting him loose and playing against him rather than with him.
"[Dee] was like, 'What are you doing?' I was like, 'This dude doesn't get the game.' So he pissed me off," Julie recalled.
"Then, well, what do you know? Expect the unexpected. I end up loving the guy. He wins competition after competition. He wins competitions even when he's trying to throw a competition, and he wins competitions on live TV when he doesn't even know his game is on the line."
Julie added, "Like, he knows it, but I don't think he knew [Angela Murray] and Dee were going to cut him loose."
Devens, Dee and Angela had all entered the Big Brother game as veteran reality TV stars called "Icons." But instead of going at each other's throats, they teamed up and formed a strong alliance that lasted for the majority of the game.
Julie said Devens ultimately surprised her and that right when she thought he was "a goner," he lived to see yet another day in the Big Brother house.
"I had my Rick Devens questions ready, you know?" Julie said.
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Although Julie had it out for Devens for a brief period of time, she told EW that she was always rooting for Dee, another Survivor alum.
The difference between Dee and Devens is that Dee actually won her first Survivor season. (They both also competed on Survivor 50, but neither castaway made it to the end of the game).
"Dee, I always found her fascinating, and there was an affinity bias because as a woman, and I thought that would be kind of iconic for her to say, 'Hey, the first time I played Survivor, I won it. The first time I played Big Brother, I won it,'" Julie shared.
The Big Brother host added, "And I liked how cagey she was and how she would flip the house hours before live eviction night because she was bored and because she could. I thought, 'She plays fast and dangerously, but she's smart.' I really like that."
RELATED LINK: 'BIG BROTHER' SHOWMANCES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHICH COUPLES HAVE SPLIT UP?? (PHOTOS)
Devens' first Survivor season was Survivor: Edge of Extinction, and he finished the season in fourth place.
Devens subsequently made history on Survivor 50 by agreeing to a risky coin flip at a Tribal Council that ultimately doubled the cast's prize money to $2 million. Aubry Bracco, however, went on to win the season after Devens was voted out in seventh place.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
