The “Big Brother” season 25 jury speaks!
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Felicia, Cirie, America, Blue, Cory, and Cameron spill in this exclusive interview heading into tonight's season finale.
They had visions of $750,000 dancing in their heads. Those dreams, however, were cruelly dashed one by one as players were evicted from the Big Brother house. But for the six most recent contestants that were ousted, they merely moved from one house to another.
Cameron Hardin, Cory Wurtenberger, Blue Kim, America Lopez, Cirie Fields, and Felicia Cannon comprise the first six members of the Big Brother season 25 jury. They will be joined by one more member — either Matt Klotz, Jag Bains, or Bowie Jane — who will be eliminated on Thursday's two-hour, live season finale.
Before these jury members pepper the final two with questions that will help guide their vote for the winner of Big Brother, we thought we would throw a few questions at them to gauge what life is like while they wait to do their reality TV duty. What is the best thing about being in the jury house? What is the worst thing? Which pre-jury member do they wish were in there with them? Whom would they choose as a permanent roommate? And, most telling of all, which juror do they feel played the best game?
We hit the first six jurors up on all of that — although Felicia was unable to answer the first two questions because she had not yet reached the jury house — and you may be surprised by some of the answers. Read on to see what the Big Brother season 25 jury had to say, and also make sure to see how host Julie Chen Moonves sized up finale night and the chances of the final three.
What is the best thing about being in the Big Brother jury house?
CAMERON HARDIN: The best thing about being in the Big Brother jury house, I'd have to say — it's like a mini-vacation. I get to catch up on little rests, there's a nice pool, hot tub, plenty of food. There's a home theater. I mean, this place is just terrible. It's the worst place there is to hang out and rest. So yeah, the best thing about hanging out in the jury house is definitely the rest and relaxation.
CORY WURTENBERGER: For me, it's definitely the no cameras. I mean, I'm a person who really appreciates my privacy and wants to have time alone. And in the Big Brother house, even when you do have time alone, that time alone is shared with the thousands watching live feeds from the cameras. So not having that, I feel like I can finally take a breath, and I just can't overstate how amazing that's been.
BLUE KIM: I personally love being in the jury house. I feel like I'm on a vacation. I can say whatever I want. There are no cameras. Me and the other jury members can actually talk the talk now — no game talk, no paranoia. So I personally love that aspect that I could be my true authentic self in here without any of the strategy.
AMERICA LOPEZ: The best thing about being in the Big Brother jury house is definitely Cory. I missed him a lot that week that we were apart. We've been inseparable ever since I got here. It's been so much fun getting to spend time with him alone, away from the cameras, away from all the pressure of the game. It's definitely my favorite part. I love being here with him. I love spending every second with him and just relaxing.
CIRIE FIELDS: The pressure of being in the house is over.
What is the worst thing about being in the Big Brother jury house?
CAMERON HARDIN: The worst thing about being in the Big Brother jury house is the fact that I'm this close to being home. I miss my Stevie Rae so much, so I can almost taste the finish line. So the worst part about being here is being so close to home, but not actually being home yet.
CORY WURTENBERGER: The worst part is you don't have much to do. You have TV, and you have music, and you have books and everything, but all I'm doing here is sitting alone thinking about the game. And I want to not think about the game, but that's just not how my brain works. So you kind of have a lot of time with your own thoughts and after an experience like Big Brother, you have so many thoughts. So even when I should be resting or taking a nap, it's just hard to turn it off. But it's gotten easier, especially since America's been here.
BLUE KIM: I think the worst thing about being in the jury house is the fact that we are so close with being done with the game. I'm not actually even in the game anymore other than another vote close to the finish line. I want to see my family, I want to see my friends, I want to see my kitty, girl. So that is the worst thing about being in the jury house. It's the fact that you're almost there and you can tell that you're almost there.
AMERICA LOPEZ: The worst thing about being in the Big Brother jury house is not being in the game. It sucks, and I'm still beating myself up for it. I really, really wanted to win this. I really wanted to get further than sixth place, so it just sucks that I'm not there. I'm still thinking about the game, and it still lingers, and all these regrets and stuff are still in the back of my head.
So yeah, I guess that would be the worst part. But other than that, it's great. Here we got Netflix, we got Spotify, we got cards, and we got unlimited outdoor time, which is great. You don't realize how much you miss being out in the sun until you're restricted from it five days out of the week. So I love it here.
CIRIE FIELDS: Being in the house is over.
Which person that was voted out pre-jury do you wish were in the house with you all and why?
CAMERON HARDIN: The person that was voted out pre-jury that I wish was in the house hanging out with me would probably be my buddy Red. He definitely would give me a pretty smooth running for my money on the pool table that we play on. He's a good pool shooter, and we would just kick it. We come from the same type of woods, so I'd like reminiscing and going over a bunch of old country songs with him. Nobody in the house really likes my kind of music much.
CORY WURTENBERGER: It's tough because most of the people who were voted out pre-jury, they were voted out pre-jury for a reason. They weren't exactly the most pleasant to spend time with. Reilly was chill. Me and Jared got along. I'll say Jared. I bonded really well with Jared. Obviously, it'd be nice for Blue to have Jared in the house. We'd have this nice little double date couples retreat… plus Cameron? This sounds like a great time.
BLUE KIM: Okay, let's be so for real: If I could choose one person pre-jury to be in the house, it would be my one and only boo-thang Pooh, or Jared. I would love to have him in the jury house. I would love to chill by the pool, jacuzzi it up, maybe a glass of wine. But obviously he would be my number one pick for pre-jury house member.
AMERICA LOPEZ: Honestly, okay… So, I don't miss anybody that went out pre-jury. Not even going to lie. I didn't get close to any of them, and I guess that was for the best. That was for a reason. Whatever — they went out pre-jury, I don't miss them. It's going to be fun to see them all finale night and see everybody's faces. I mean, they've been watching the show, I'm sure, so it'll be interesting to see how they feel now after they've seen the show and been away from everything for so long. But yeah, I don't miss them. I don't care for them. Sorry.
CIRIE FIELDS: Surely, you jest. Of course, my boy Jared. Because I love him. I'm his mama.
FELICIA CANNON: I wish Mimi would've been in the jury house. Mimi is the one person I grew to totally, totally trust in the house, and I hope I wasn't wrong in that. I heard a couple of things, but I enjoyed Mimi. Mimi kept her cards close. She didn't do a whole lot of repeating like I did, but she really was genuinely a wonderful young lady, and so I would've loved to have been with Mimi in the jury house.
If you had to be permanent roommates with one of your fellow jurors, who would it be and why?
CAMERON HARDIN: I would probably choose Blue. Blue and I just have this pretty cool, just fun connection. We basically sit and read books in the same room as each other, which is pretty cool. She's a hell of a good cook, and I'd love to hang out with her in the kitchen and help her cook. And I'm her sous-chef. So outside of that, we probably have differences in a couple of shows that we watch, but we watch kind of the same kind stuff too. So I'd love to hang out with Blue.
CORY WURTENBERGER: Yeah, this is a tricky one. So right now I'm kind of between Blue and Cirie, but you got to weigh the pros and cons of both of them. I would hate to pick one over the other, so it would have to be one of the two of them.
BLUE KIM: If someone had to be my potential roommate… surprise, surprise. I'm actually going to choose Cory. I think he and I — hobby-wise as well as interests — align really well. We watch a lot of the same shows. We love cartoons, animation. We have a lot of the same hobbies. So even though we didn't really get along too well in the BB house, as a potential roommate, Cory Wurtenberger has the deal on it. But his food preferences, that's kind of where I draw the line.
AMERICA LOPEZ: So this might come as a surprise, but I would love to room with Cory. He's my boo, and I think we make a good pair. We got along really well in the Big Brother house bedroom we shared, and here in the jury house we share a bedroom and we're doing great. If I could room with him for longer than this next week, I would love to.
CIRIE FIELDS: I would have to say Cory, and the only reason is I think Cory is smart enough to know to leave me alone when I'm tired of his ass.
FELICIA CANNON: It would be Cirie. I would be roommates with Cirie. She and I actually really got along.
Who among all the jurors played the best game and why?
CAMERON HARDIN: Oooooh… who amongst the jurors played the best game? I would have to currently give my vote to Cory. Please don't tell him I said that. He'll get a big head. I think that he played a pretty solid mental game. He has the mental fortitude for this game, whereas a lot of us kind of struggled in some aspects. I know I did myself. He had a lot of this stuff figured out to a T. If he only had a little bit more of a physical competitive component to his gameplay, I think that he would've been a bit more of a problem. So I think that he probably played the best mental game of the house.
CORY WURTENBERGER: I'm going to exclude myself from the answer. I just want to be very clear: I do believe it's me, but I'm a horribly arrogant person and not the most self-aware. Sometimes I think it probably was Cirie or America. I mean, the truth is, I think Cirie is probably a stronger player than both America and Blue, but America and Blue were in a position to win the game at least. They could have won some competitions and brought this thing home, where Cirie really had no chance.
So I'm just going to say America, because she got to the final six. If she wins that HOH, she actually has a pretty good shot. Cirie, it was never really a world where she could win this thing based on who was left. So I'll say myself, obviously, then probably America.
BLUE KIM: I think the person who played the best game has to be Miss Newcomer herself, Miss Cirie. Obviously, she was there the longest compared to any of us, but I have to say, just from a strategic standpoint, she played the best game. And the fact that she didn't even have to win competitions to be where she is now, I think that is a testament to how well she played the game.
AMERICA LOPEZ: Oh my God, I'm such a girlfriend. I think that Cory played the best game for sure. Honestly, I'm still beating up myself for talking to Blue and being the reason that we got backdoored together. But I think up until that point, Cory had been playing the best game. He was very methodical, very strategic with every single move, and I do think he was playing the best game. He was on the block day one, and he maneuvered his way out of that. He was in danger week two during Hisam's HOH. He made alliances, he made deals, broke promises, lied — all this stuff that is just classic Big Brother.
I think, as a viewer, he would be my favorite by far. He played the best game and he played his heart out up until that last day. We were up on the block next to each other and he had a great campaign. It was so great that I was even hoping that it would work a little bit. Honestly, he was coming up with all these lies to tell Bowie Jane to try to get her to flip her vote. I think that's just classic Big Brother. I think that's great gameplay and I think he's the best player here.
CIRIE FIELDS: Again, I'm going to have to say Cory, because Cory was able to manipulate a bunch of the houseguests to get his targets out of the house — multiple targets that he wanted out.
FELICIA CANNON: I think I played the best game of all the jurors that are sitting in that house. And here's why I say that: Because I think I really did try to play an honest game. I tried to genuinely be me through the whole game. I never played a role. It wasn't like when you get out the house, now you're going to see the real Felicia. I was the real Felicia for 96 days. I trusted in God to carry me, and I showed that I wasn't afraid to show that I had a faith higher than the game. And that resonated with people, and I think it might've even got some more people thinking more about a higher power. And that meant something to me.
I built good relationships because I didn't talk to people just when they were in power or if they were in power. Every day, I made a point to try to hold conversations with everybody based on who they were, their personalities, and whether they were on the block, not on the block, HOH, or just sitting downstairs with the rest of us.
I felt like you've got to treat people the way you want to be treated. And there were a lot of those guys in the house that dealt with you based on when you were in power, when you were HOH, whether they thought you were going home — all of that kind of stuff. And they were always being more conniving. Now, again, I'm not saying that's wrong, that was their game, but I think that's why they left the house before I did. So I think I played the best game out of the jurors that are sitting there.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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