Pop Crave spoke with the third-place finisher of Big Brother 25, Bowie Jane, following Thursday night’s 2-hour grand finale.
Check out the full exit interview below!
Bowie! Congratulations on third place! You played a phenomenal game. And I have to say, congratulations on breaking a BB record, as you are now the longest-lasting houseguest to remain off the block, surpassing Derrick Levesseur from BB16. How does it feel to break that record and make BB history?
Oh, that is actually amazing to hear. I had no idea, and I’ve just seen my parents tonight; they’ve flown here from Australia. And you know what? They’ve been here since October because they thought I was gonna get evicted in October. So I was like, ‘What do you mean? I wasn’t even on the block. What are you talking about?’ They’re like, ‘Oh, you don’t know what was going on.’ So no, I’m really happy to break that record. That’s amazing! It was a lot of maneuvering and pivots, and when I’d hear my name was going to be used as a pawn, I just pretty much tried to stamp that out straight away.
So, Jag wins 5-2. What do you make of the vote? Did anyone’s vote surprise you?
Cirie and Felicia voted for Matt. Is that right? I’m not surprised by that. I thought maybe a few more people would vote for Matt. I thought, you know, he’s a great person; everyone loved him. I thought Jag had more blood on his hands, but I thought his speech was fantastic where he actually used that as an asset, like, ‘I’ve got so much blood on my hands, and that’s why I should win!’ So yeah, I’m not surprised by Cirie and Felicia’s votes.
What did you think of him sort of playing on the offensive against Matt with his answers to the jury questions? Did that surprise you?
It did surprise me. But I actually thought he did a great job of it. I wouldn’t have been as tough as that. But yeah, he made great points. He owned them. And I don’t know if it changed the vote or not, but yeah, I thought he did a great job in his speech.
You had a final two with Jag for a bit now, and he even contemplated evicting Matt last week. Going into tonight, did you think he would evict you in the event he won the final HoH?
I did. Look, I knew when I was chatting to him in bed […] when going from four to three, I knew it was better for my game for Felicia to stay in. I think I would have been in the final two. But I just couldn’t let Jag do it, and I had to say to him, ‘Just make sure you’re gonna feel good with this decision after the game,’ because they’re buddy, buddy, buddy. Bromance central. And it’s just […] he’s a good person, so I think he would feel bad. And I’m glad he made the right decision and took Matt all the way through it; it was the right thing to do.
One criticism you’ll see from the jury and some viewers is that they felt you were riding Matt and Jag’s coattails, despite you winning three HoHs. What is your response to people who feel that way, and how would you argue against that?
From day one, I wanted to line up with strong competitors because I’m a strong competitor myself. And until I could make sure I had a loyal team around me, I wasn’t comfortable winning HoHs. I threw every single comp. And not that I would necessarily have won them, but the wall in particular, I definitely threw that one; I jumped off. So there’s heaps of comps that I threw, and I didn’t feel comfortable winning anything until I had a solid team that I could trust. I trusted Jag and Matt. And the great thing is, [for] the last six weeks, we just rotated through those HoHs. And that was our plan, and we stuck to it. And I’m really happy playing that game. I really wouldn’t do anything different.
In the jury roundtable, America called you a floater. Would you say that was your gameplay, and if so, was it intentional?
We had a meeting: America, Cory, Jag, Matt, and myself, and they said to me, ‘We want you to be seen as someone who’s in the middle,’ and like, I guess, floating around. I wasn’t down for that. I didn’t want to do that. But it was actually the best way to play. And it was why I never ended up on the block, because people kind of were like, ‘Oh, no, we’ve got her vote. We don’t want to put her up.’ So I didn’t want to be a floater. I didn’t want to be in the middle. I was always in an alliance, but yeah. So I would say that’s not how I played; it was an illusion.
You had told Jag that you were fine with second place and that you didn’t think you would win regardless of who you sat next to. How serious were you in saying that? Did you think you had any chance of swaying the jury?
I know that people probably go into the jury already with their minds made up. I had filtered a few messages through Felicia, and I started telling her about my game. In my message to Cirie, I let her know as a final three that we’ve been working together for six weeks. There were a few things I had filtered out because people thought I had done nothing in the game and that I was playing the middle. I was never playing in the middle.
Week 6 was when things really turned around for you and you fully detached yourself from the Bye Bye Bitches. Why did you feel it was important to take that stance for yourself?
Yeah, that was an amazing moment for me. Obviously, I was devastated. And then the next day I woke up, and it was just a weight off my shoulders, like, I’m free because I always felt excluded from conversations. It wasn’t until I realized there were 4000 alliances—that’s why I was excluded from conversations. But at the time, I didn’t understand what was going on. So when I got to chat with America—it started off with—and Cory, and then we were working together with Matt and Jag, it was just great because we were like, ‘Prepare to make big moves,’ but no one knew we were working together. So yeah, that was a real turning point for me in the game.
With a smaller jury this year, your social connections are more important than ever. Are there any strong personal relationships you’d say you built with the jury?
I had a really strong connection with Cameron, Cory, and, I would say, America. Who am I missing from there? Is that it? Oh, yeah. That’s it, actually. The other people I had strong connections with… The others, obviously Felicia, had been in all the alliances. She couldn’t even remember what alliances she was in. She forgot she was in alliance with me, whatever. And Cirie was obviously playing harder than I realized. And I was never really working with Blue. I don’t know what happened there, but I wasn’t working with Blue. So yeah, Cory, America, Cameron.
Speaking of Cameron, he also won America’s Favorite Player! How excited are you for him?
I think it’s great for him. I really like the guy. It’s sad I had to put him up in my [HoH] week, but it was the right thing to do because he wanted to get rid of Jag and Matt, and I kind of trusted them a little bit more. But yeah, I love Cameron as well. Great player!
What would you say is your biggest takeover after spending 100 days in the Big Brother house?
The biggest takeaway from this experience [was that] it really was life-changing. I think it’s one of the best experiences of my life, even though the first half was really a bit traumatic for me. But I really enjoyed it, and what I didn’t realize was how much I’d enjoy playing the actual competitions. So playing something like The Challenge would be amazing, where it’s just competitions. Or The Amazing Race—I think I’d really love that. And I’ve come out with two really great friends, being Jag and Matt, and a couple of others as well. So I feel good about it.
Speaking of competitions, that reminds me of another Big Brother record you broke! You now have the most single-season HoH tiebreaker wins in history. Where did your mental prowess come from?
I was shocked! Honestly, I was shocked. The first one I won, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I did not want to win that, but okay.’ I think [it’s] my lawyer brain, to be honest. I’m good with words, so I’m good at deciphering a question really quickly and narrowing it down. Like the last [HoH competition] Triple Feature, I just looked at one side of the photo. I didn’t bother memorizing the second side, and that really helped because it was a process of elimination.
The Big Brother Reindeer Games were just announced, and they’re only two weeks long! Would you be open to returning for that, or is it too soon?
Two weeks? Hell yeah! 100 days, it’s a bit fresh. But two weeks? I could do that.
Big Brother returns for its 26th season next summer on CBS.
