'Big Brother 24' Winner Taylor Hale Talks Her Emotional Journey and Historical Victory
The 27-year-old personal designer gets into her surprise of winning 8-1 after her passion-filled speech to the jury, becoming the first Black woman to win the game.
Big Brother's house is open once more! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will be bringing you interviews with this season's houseguests as they get evicted from the game.
"As someone who has sat on this eviction block six times on eviction night, I have bled out the most in this game, but I have bandaged myself together every single time and gotten up and continued to fight. Because, like so many other women in the world, that is what we have to do to get to the end. I have overcome so much in this game, and I've come to understand that I am not a shield; I am a sword. I am not a victim. I am a victor. And if there is one word that is going to describe the entire season, it is resiliency. And if you are to ask yourself the most resilient person of this season has been, it is me."
It only seems fitting to introduce our interview with Taylor Hale by quoting some of the last words she said on the season. It's just a snatch of the inspiring and emotional argument she made to the jury, clad in an outfit she was mocked for having back in the first week. But her wardrobe matched her words perfectly, a representation of a story for the ages, someone who went from an immediate pariah, the recipient of targeted verbal abuse and harassment from nearly everyone in the house, to outlast them all. It was a powerful and emotionally harrowing journey, and it paid off handsomely, with Taylor winning the game near-unanimously, as well as the title of America's Favorite Houseguest.
It's astounding to think back at the beginning of July that Taylor would have made it to finale night, let alone past the first eviction. That's because she started the game as the name in everyone's mouths, an early source of discussion led by Paloma Aguilar for her pageant background and not being a "girl's girl." After a week of observations and perceptions of her spinning out of control, she was granted a reprieve with Paloma's sudden departure. Unfortunately for Taylor, she was far off of anyone's radar. But the salted earth from that first week soon began to grow relationships, especially once she was brought into the new "Leftovers" alliance. Though she now had people in her corner, she still had to endure being a smokescreen and a pariah to some houseguests. Most notably, she was at the receiving end of verbal abuse from both Daniel Durston and Nicole Layog, leading to an all-time low moment for her in the game.
But the "Taylor karma" was not only real, it was spectacular. The Leftovers cleaned house to get rid of some of Taylor's worst enemies, many of whom were thinking quite differently about her on their way out than that first week in the house. She was able to build tight bonds, particularly a "fauxmance" with Joseph Abdin. She even got into a showmance with Monte Taylor, though the "heat of the bear" quickly cooled mere days into their relationship. All of that left Taylor with one of the best stories going into Day 82. Monte won the last HoH and, feeling she was the easier beat, took her to the Final Two chairs. And it was a $675,000 mistake, as Taylor won over the hearts, minds, and votes of the jury, eating them up like a hearty bag of Lays.
Hours after the finale, Taylor talks with Parade.com about how much the season's final outcome surprised her, the inspiration behind her passionate speech to the jury, and becoming the first Black woman to win a civilian season of Big Brother.
Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 24 (Including Who's Been Evicted)
First, I have to ask: How are you doing? I feel like I already know the answer.
I'm on cloud nine. I got $800,000. Tonight I'm chilling.
And a cruise, and 100,000 Instagram followers, and an E! award, and a shoutout from Lays!
Okay, wait. I got a little hint of the social media award. It was from E?
Yep! You won the TV News Scoop Award for Best Reality Star, beating out Kim Kardashian and Crishell Stause.
Wait, Chrishell?! That's the furthest thing I expected getting into this game. That is insane.
Listen, I've been doing this for a long time. And I don't think I have seen such a united front of love and support from all corners of the Big Brother internet. In a very fractured world, Taylor, support for you seemed to be what everyone had in common. I imagine it's an incredibly overwhelming feeling. And you're going to find out once you talk to more people. But I want you to know how loved you were, especially through some of those low moments in the house.
Wow. You can see the moments where I felt at my rock bottom in this house. So to know that there was support, and to know that people saw not just my side but my entire energy and the truth, that means the world. Because it's very easy to see it from everyone else's perspective, as the rest of the house did.
Well, let's get into how this night concluded. When Monte took you to the Final 2, what did you think your chances were of winning?
Oh, I think it's 5-4 Monte. I think for Monte, I am positive that the people on this jury are going to feel like my speech is going to be a guilt trip for them. I'm positive that the people on this jury are going to look specifically at statistics, because you have a lot of hardcore Big Brother fans that are on that jury, and they want a good strong solid winner. I just didn't think that a story, a journey, was going to be anything worth overcoming or pitching to a jury. Big Brother fans and players really like to stick to what they believe is the trueness of the game, which is competence and strategy. And I had no strategy! And I had very little competence compared to Monte and Turner. So yeah, Monte played a very true, honest game, and I thought that'd be more respected than "I was bullied," with myself telling that to my bullies.
Was there a particular moment when you began to realize that the tide was turning in your favor?
So Indy says, "I'm voting for my favorite person." And I literally pat Monte on the back. I'm like, "That's yours." I knew Turner would vote for Monte. And quite frankly, if I were in Turner's position, I would have voted for Turner. I think he's played a phenomenal game. And he saved me, so I appreciate that. But then there were people like Terrance and Kyle that voted for me.
Monte has very, very strong personal connections with this jury. It looked like it was his jury up and down. And for him to have the confidence that he had and to make the choices and decisions that he had, it just made sense from what I've seen in the past trying to prepare for this game that he would be the winner of this game. And to pull out this win just by telling the truth of my experience in the house, to fulfill the mission that I came into this house to even do, it just...it felt right. But I didn't know if it would resonate.
It really did, not only with the jury, but with the fanbase at large. Some are calling it the best jury speech they've ever heard. Was that something you planned to say for a long time, or did it come with the passion and fire of the moment?
I definitely practiced it. But it is fire and passion in the moment. It's the fire and passion of the 82 days I was in the Big Brother house. I have won competitions. I lost nine vetoes, but I have won competitions that were crucial to my staying in the game. I won the HoH that secured my safety in the Final Three after my best friend and ally turned her vote against me. I have had moments when it comes to the mechanics of the game that makes sense. But when you're comparing that to Turner or Monte, given the game decisions they made in evictions, I just don't add up.
But when it comes to my experience in the house, when it comes to the relationships that I had to take a very long time to form, I didn't even see it as a social strategy. I saw it as personal. I just want people to understand I'm a human being. I remember even having a conversation with Brittany, talking about how I felt like I had to join the Breakfast Burrito club with Monte and Turner in exchange for Turner to keep me in the house. I remember Brittany saying, "It's a really good social move." And I just felt like that's not a social move! I just had to do something to stay in the house. So at this point, I feel like I'm still learning the game. I didn't acknowledge my own risks and strategies that I had, because I just was trying to be a human being amongst all these people. So for the speech to resonate so deeply, and for the speech to apparently light up the internet, I'm very happy, because all it was was the truth.
Twenty years ago tonight, Danielle Reyes made the Final Two of Big Brother 3. And she's the last Black woman to make the Final Two until you tonight, where you become the first Black woman to win the civilian version of the show. Given that representation, and the tumultuous journey you took to get here, what do you want people to take away from your Big Brother story the most?
Perseverance and resiliency is also a way to win this game. It doesn't have to be the biggest move that's visible and tangible. It doesn't have to be the biggest betrayal that happens in the game. Good TV, good gameplay, can also just exist as a full-fledged human being. And as a Black woman who has seen countless Black women play this game and get disrespected up and down the wall, I was willing to carry that burden and be that person. Because I just proved everything that I knew would be the case as a Black woman coming into this game, and I still persevered. I forgave more than I probably should have. (Laughs.) I was resilient, and it paid off in the end. I was willing to carry that bag so that in the future, women like me won't have to do that. And I want that to be the case for Black women, for women of all different ethnicities. But specifically, it was very important for me to carry out and carry the baton from Danielle,
Next, check out our interview with Brittany Hoopes, who was evicted in Big Brother 24 Week 11.
