Izzy Gleicher of “Big Brother” says 'I hope I never see Cameron again'
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When Izzy Gleicher saw Survivor legend Cirie Fields in the Big Brother house along with her son, she was excited to play with the pair. Maybe too excited.
Izzy formed an immediate alliance with the duo, but often seemed to sublimate her own game to further her idol's — even offering at one point to not use a Veto on herself (should she win it) so Cirie wouldn't be put up for eviction instead.
But she didn't win that veto, and once America and Cory decided to flip the vote it was time for the professional flutist's swan song. Izzy was voted out 8-1 by her peers on Thursday's live eviction episode. Does she regret aligning too closely with a mother and son that were likely never going to take her to the end? Why did she blame Cory for her ouster? And why did she refuse Cameron's hug? We asked Izzy all that and more the morning after her eviction, and you can now watch the interview above or read it below.
CBS Izzy Gleicher on 'Big Brother' season 25
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You said you blamed Cory for your ouster. Why is that?
IZZY GLEICHER: Because he outed everything. He betrayed me. I thought he was my number one away from Cirie and Jared, and that wasn't the case. I thought: Yeah, good move. I mean, you should have gotten me out of the house. I was absolutely running things in the house. But [it was a] sloppy and amateur way to do it, I think. And he also made himself a target, so that's why I told him I would be seeing him soon. I'm sure he won't last very much longer.
What can you say about that last day and the fireworks going on between Cory and Jared? Were you siting there wondering: How much is this helping or hurting me?
Oh, I wasn't wondering at all. I knew I was walking out the door for sure. But given mine and Jared's relationship, my heart was full knowing he was fighting so hard for me — not in the smartest way, but I appreciated the effort.
What about Cameron? It looked like you refused his hug as you were walking out.
Oh yeah. I mean, why would anyone hug Cameron ever? Yeah, I didn't need to hug him, so I hope I never see Cameron again.
CBS Izzy Gleicher on 'Big Brother' season 25
What was it like then having to do that Piggy Pals task with him? That looked pretty brutal.
I would never have made Cirie do that. That was the most grueling, awful thing I've maybe ever done. And I wanted Cameron to be in it with me. He gave me the punishment, he put me on the block, he targeted me forever, even though I was honest about wanting to put our feelings aside and work together until I had an opportune moment to maybe take him out. But no, I wanted retaliation. I wanted to force him to do something he didn't want to do. I was having the time of my life in some ways doing that with him.
Were you worried at all that he might sabotage your chances at playing in the next Veto?
Listen, I wasn't winning comps, so I wasn't banking on that kind of thing, and the Veto's a crapshoot anyway. I didn't think he was going to do that because I don't think he thought that was my threat level. And so that wouldn't have looked good on him in the house, and he was already in a precarious situation. So I wasn't concerned about that. But if the rule was that he wasn't allowed to play in Veto, my plan was to sabotage the punishment.
So much of your game was wrapped up with Cirie and there's a lot to get into there. Let's start right at the beginning. You tell Jared and Cirie right off the bat you know their secret. Were you ever worried that they might want to get you out? They know that if something goes wrong, you could expose them.
I will say that when I look back on the way that I told Jared right off the bat: sloppy. First mistake in the house. But I don't regret it at all. I thought about that maybe only in the first couple days, but, honestly, I knew that we had already really connected and I think they could feel that I wasn't going to expose the secret, that I felt like we were tighter together than apart. And it wouldn't have been good for any of our games to do that.
CBS Izzy Gleicher on 'Big Brother' season 25
As someone that's watched a fair amount of reality TV, when I see that happen, of course the question is: Why get in an alliance with two people you know will never take you to the end with them? What was your plan for dealing with that?
I struggled with that quite a bit, but I beg to differ. I definitely think if we had lasted, if I was still in the house, we would've continued on to get to the final three. I have no questions about that. I know without any doubt that they would've taken me to three and I'll keep what our plan for two was to myself.
Why?
Out of respect. But I definitely was not out of final two.
Let's just say that you had won at the final three. I know you said you weren't exactly a comp beast in the house, but let's just say you win and you have to pick between the two of them. Which way are you going?
My heart would've wanted to pick Cirie, but Cirie would want me to pick Jared. I would've picked Jared and I would've beaten Jared.
CBS Cirie Fields and Izzy Gleicher on 'Big Brother' season 25
Yeah, I think you're right. Listen, there are so many complicating factors when you're playing with someone like Cirie. You've watched Survivor, and I don't know if you watched The Traitors, but Cirie has no problem being your best friend and then slitting your throat down the line. Now I want to be clear: She didn't want to slit your throat, but that would've made me nervous had I been in your shoes, knowing her past. How nervous did that make you?
I think week one and the beginning of week two, some of that, I would go to sleep at night thinking, God dammit, am I getting Ciried? Don't be an idiot. I wondered if the public was viewing me as an idiot or a hero. That was this debate that I was having a little bit with myself.
But the connection we had was real, and I'll share this: Starting at the end of week one, every night the lights would go off in our comic room, she would roll over and tap me and squeeze my hand. And I knew it was real. I had no doubt I was her person in the house. I am missing her already and I am really hoping that she's okay right now.
Another shocking thing I remember watching is when you guys were talking about the Veto and you said that if you won it, that you would not use it on yourself. Just walk me through that.
Listen, that was a gut instinctual reaction, right? My whole thing was I didn't want to let Cameron play mind games with me. I wanted to assert my power over him in as many ways as possible. And yes, I felt responsible for Cirie and Jared. I felt protective over Cirie and I knew that my game was so intertwined with her that if she was gone, I was going to be next. And I think Cirie is going to be close to walking out the door after my eviction as well as Jared.
I was feeling so good. I know that's the kiss of death, but Cory made me feel very comfortable. I think he was dumb for cutting me. I was going to keep him. I was defending him to Cirie and Jared. So my first reaction was, Well that's kind of a flex. No one ever does it, but that's a flex that doesn't give Cameron any power and it will stop Cirie from getting backdoored.
At that point, up until 14 hours before my eviction, I really thought I was going to stay in the house [being] next to Felicia. Things change really quickly. One conversation changes everything. And actually, my idiot self even blabbing that out to Cory one moment in retrospect is like… he knew. He knew that Cirie was my person. So even though I went back on that in my conversation with him very quickly, you can't take anything back in the Big Brother house. I should have recognized that, but I truly trusted him. So that's my mistake.
Sonja Flemming/CBS Izzy Gleicher from 'Big Brother 25'
You've only been out of the house for like 12 hours. I'm sure it's a whirlwind. But as you're cataloging stuff, what would you say were your highest and lowest moments in the house?
That's a hard question. The last 14 hours in the house are all that's replaying in my mind in some ways. Picking Cameron to play Piggy Pals with me was a high for sure. Actually, doing the Piggy Pals punishment was a low. That was extremely difficult. I think meeting Cirie was a high. That's what I got right now for that.
I've saved the most important question for last: Do you say flutist or flautist?
I say flutist. I think flautist sounds pretentious. And also, it's derived from the Italian word for flute, which is flauto. And we speak English here. So technically, I do think it is flutist, not flautist, but that's the number one most-asked question, Dalton. So come up with another one next time.
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