BB27 Why Rachel Lost Week 9

Summary

RHAP: We Know Big Brother

Episode Summary – "BB27 Why Rachel Lost Week 9"

Date: September 11, 2025
Hosts: David Bloomberg & Chantelle Francis

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Overview

This special episode of "Why [Blank] Lost," with David Bloomberg and guest Chantelle Francis, analyzes the unprecedented and controversial elimination (not eviction) of Big Brother legend Rachel Reilly during Week 9 of BB27. The episode scrutinizes the role of production in her exit via a game-altering twist, evaluates Rachel’s gameplay under Bloomberg’s classic BB rules, dissects the gameplay and social dynamics that led up to her loss, and reflects on the reactions from the Big Brother community and fandom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Production’s Twist and Its Fallout

[03:32 – 19:14]

• Main Question: How can we do a "Why Rachel Lost" when production was the reason?
• The twist discarded the traditional BB structure (nomination, veto, votes). Instead, players were thrown into a chain-competition with little time to strategize.
• Chantelle: “It’s not really ‘expect the unexpected’ anymore…it’s just like, oh, you might just get a whole new game that you’re not prepared for at all and it might send you home… That’s why it irritates us so much.” (05:18)
• Universal backlash from both fans and former players – even those not typically aligned on BB issues.
• Both hosts agree: Rachel was robbed of a fair shot, and the twist undermined the core of Big Brother gameplay.

2. Was There Any Strategic Element to Rachel’s Elimination?

[09:47 – 19:14]

• Discussion about whether Rachel could have done more to manipulate the outcome of the elimination comp.
• David: “Dropping them into a completely unknown situation, giving Ava 10 minutes to figure it out… This is not just a big hill to climb. This is a cliff.” (10:36)
• Ava, the player whose decision essentially sealed Rachel’s fate, was not inclined/able to think strategically, exacerbating Rachel’s vulnerability.
• Attempts to frame the twist as a “test of social game” are criticized as revisionist and not fitting BB traditions.

3. Rachel’s Strategic Game Pre-Twist

[19:51 – 36:44]

• Rachel successfully maneuvered through the game as the only returning player and previous winner, shifting early targets.
• Built multiple alliances (Jimmy, Mickey, Morgan, Ashley, etc.), turned enemies into allies.
• Chantelle: “If I were playing with a returning player, I’d keep my eye on them… but I’d probably want to play with them, learn from them, and then cut them near the end…” (20:53)
• Rachel’s growth: She exhibited more patience, listened to others, and adjusted her tactics compared to her fiery earlier seasons.

4. Rachel’s Social Game & Emotional Growth

[39:49 – 54:14]

• Rachel focused on forming genuine relationships, often helping or supporting even those not in her alliance.
• Bloomberg: “This has undoubtedly been Rachel’s best season in terms of her social game.” (45:48)
• Hostile perceptions of her being a “bully” were attributed to misinterpretations or misleading narration/editing.
• Recognized for cleaning, cooking, and caring for others (Ashley, Keanu, Kelly) even while being wrongly maligned.
• Rachel herself said: “I needed to go in day one and form these relationships. And I worked really hard with asking people very personal questions and really digging deep…” (52:19)

5. Weaknesses: Emotional Outbursts and Trust Issues

[39:49 – 64:33]

• Rachel occasionally let her emotions show, e.g. “winegate/hammockgate” with Kelly, blowing up at Morgan, dragging Ava for last-minute strategy (the "too much scheming" critique).
• At times, she trusted unreliable houseguests (notably Keanu and Kelly), leading to information leaks or strategic setbacks.
• Chantelle: “She definitely was playing with some people that aren’t really good at being social and kind. So she did a good job, I thought.” (49:42)

6. Rachel’s Threat Level Management

[57:16 – 61:58]

• Despite being a clear threat as a winner and strategic player, she deftly mitigated her target status.
• She asserted, “I’ll be the best person to take to final two because no one will give me the win,” knowing full well this could lower her threat level.

7. Was Rachel at Fault? Final Reflections

[64:41 – end]

• Both hosts overwhelmingly agree production, not player error, cost Rachel the game.
• Chantelle: “Why did Rachel lose? Production was the [reason]. That really is the answer here.” (64:41)
• Rachel demonstrated major growth, played her best social/strategic game, and would have been a force had the season played out naturally.
• Bloomberg: “Rachel was eliminated, not evicted, because of a BS change to the entire underlying structure of the Big Brother game. The fact that it happened at all was terrible. The fact that it happened specifically to her makes it even worse.” (68:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the twist:
  Chantelle: “It was slightly exciting as a television product…but when you’re looking at, from a perspective of somebody that really wanted to be there… it just got snatched away from her for a gimmick. It’s really frustrating to watch.” (06:57)

• On Ava’s decision-making:
  David: “Why is Ava willing to piss off her allies but not her enemies? And that really sums it up.” (15:05)

• On Rachel’s evolution:
  Chantelle: “She’s not the bad guy… She’s got two months in without even being nominated, which is wild when you know her previous history…” (25:52)

• On social strategy:
  Rachel Reilly, via Mike Bloom interview: “I needed to go in day one and form these relationships. …digging deep on getting to know people and not just talking to them in a surface way…” (52:19, cited by David)

• On production’s role:
  Chantelle: “Why did Rachel lose? Production was the [reason]. That really is the answer here.” (64:41) David: “Rachel was eliminated, not evicted, because of a BS change to the entire underlying structure of the Big Brother game.” (68:58)

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Important Timestamps

• [03:32] – Opening question: How to do a "why lost" for a non-vote elimination?
• [05:18] – Chantelle on BB27’s twist being “not Big Brother."
• [15:05] – On Ava’s choice dynamics and house paranoia.
• [19:51] – Begin assessment of Rachel’s pre-twist gameplay.
• [29:06] – Rachel’s masterful handling of the Riley nomination situation.
• [43:13] – Breakdown of “winegate/hammockgate/triplegate.”
• [45:48] – Debate over Rachel as “bully” vs. “social player.”
• [52:19] – Rachel’s conscious social game strategy (cited).
• [57:16] – Rachel’s management of threat level.
• [64:41] – Final verdict: It was production’s fault.
• [66:34] – David and Chantelle’s closing thoughts and Rachel’s own words.

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Tone & Language

Throughout, both hosts use the direct, thoughtful, and occasionally humorous tone familiar to BB superfan recaps. They’re candid about frustrations, sympathetic towards Rachel, and quick to call out production and flawed narratives from both inside and outside the show.

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Bottom Line

"Why Rachel Lost Week 9" serves as both a post-mortem of Rachel Reilly’s game and an indictment of production’s interruption of fair play. The episode convincingly argues that Rachel’s elimination was the product of a flawed twist, not a gameplay failure, while also providing a detailed tribute to her evolution as a competitor and her impact on BB27. For fans seeking to understand not just what happened, but why it mattered, this is an essential recap.

Transcript

[David Bloomberg]

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[David Bloomberg]

This episode is brought to you by FXX and Hulu. An all new season of Futurama is back. Blending heartfelt moments with razor sharp humor while accidentally saving the day, the Planet Express crew is defying gravity and common sense. From the creator of The Simpsons comes 10 new episodes where the romance is hotter, the threats are bigger and the action hits harder. Don't miss the all new season of Futurama. Watch it Mondays on FXX or stream it on Hulu. Welcome to a special edition of why Blank Lost. I'm David Bloomberg and we are unfortunately here today to discuss Rachel Riley's elimination, not eviction. As those of you watching the video can see, OVI Kabir is not here with me today because unfortunately CBS didn't notify us about what was happening in enough time for him to alter his schedule. But instead joining me five years after her first appearance. Also, I think her last appearance on the podcast is special guest Chantelle Francis.

[Chantelle Francis]

Well, hello. Has it been exactly five years? Pretty close, right?

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, yeah, it was in October. Okay. So we're like four years, 11 months, I believe. Wow.

[Chantelle Francis]

And who do we talk about again? Tyler.

[David Bloomberg]

It was Tyler. So actually it's a weird full circle moment that we talked about Tyler.

[Chantelle Francis]

Actually, you know, we're seeing him again on our screen. I know he's obviously done other shows, but seeing him back on Big Brother for this, I guess it was meant to be.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. Yeah. So, yes, you know, welcome back. Even though this is an extremely annoying moment in Big Brother and I know some people may be asking, so let's address this right off the top. How can we do a why Rachel lost when production was the reason she lost. And indeed, I have been asked that question many times since it happened. But we have done why blank loss podcasts on players who have been eliminated by means other than votes before, notably, for example, medevax on Survivor. So we will talk some about what actually happened in the elimination, but we'll also talk more about her overall game and what she did right and yes, what she did wrong as well. Even under these circumstances, we will still follow the usual path of comparing how she played to a set of guiding rules. I originally wrote back in 2004 and have modified ever since. We'll, we'll look at her actions on tv, live feeds, interviews and other information. And anyone who wants to look at the most recently published version, you can find that on. Rob has a website.com bigbrother rules. So we know about Tyler because of course he was there and he can't really say too much because he was, you know, paid to be there. He was part of production. But it is interesting that so many, not quite all, but so many Big Brother alumni have come out strongly against this so called twist. Even those who are, shall we say, not generally known to have the best takes.

[Chantelle Francis]

They'Re coming out there and like, I, I do like, I really appreciate the support from a majority of the fandom of previous players because it really shows that there was something that was wrong. Obviously there's the naysayers that are like, oh, you know, she had, should have had enough time. She should have done better in this competition. It's like, okay, sure, great, but not for what Big Brother is, right? Big Brother is. You could flip with the format a little bit but it's like maybe a competition of some sort to determine power. Then they do some nominating of some sort, and then there's going to be potentially a veto to save themselves and then a vote out. Like, that's like the basic structure that we're expecting to follow in Big Brother. You can move it around, you can make it faster. You could do two of them in one night. But it's usually the same structure. And so when you take that structure completely out of there and throw in something completely different, it's not really expect the unexpected anymore. It's just like, oh, you might just get a whole new game that you're not prepared for at all and it might send you home. And so I'm happy that Big Brother fans and purists are just like, this isn't Big Brother. That's why it irritates us so much.

[David Bloomberg]

Right? Yeah. I mean, this is literally Reindeer Games, you know, and there were people saying at the time, oh, is Nicole a two time winner? No, Reindeer Games was a completely different game. And this highlights that fact.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, it definitely highlights the fact. And like, like just getting eliminated from a challenge of some sort, like, and it's like a dumb challenge. Even the one that determined the order of the state that Ava won, a shuffleboard thing.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah.

[Chantelle Francis]

Completely determines who's going to be going home. Like, that's also wild. So I do think that, yes, this could have been. It was slightly exciting as like a television product of what went down, but when you're looking at, from a perspective of somebody that really wanted to be there, was doing so well, and it just got snatched away from her for a gimmick. It's really frustrating to watch. And that's why we're kind of up in arms. It's not because she, she didn't do well on the, on the maze. And we're like, oh, she should have gotten something easier. No, it shouldn't have been part of this season in this capacity.

[David Bloomberg]

Right, right. And for anyone who's wondering, I am dressed in black for this. This hat was the closest thing I had because usually when I'm wearing a bear's hat, I' watching them and I'm. I'm crying. As I mentioned rhap Ode to Rachel podcast that was done a few days ago. And of course I'm here in the have not room because we have not Rachel anymore.

[Chantelle Francis]

And I guess I went with a little bit of my white locust kind of attire. Maybe people don't want to see me in that because it's a sore spot.

[David Bloomberg]

But you're doing a celebration of Rachel's life and I'm doing the morning part. You know, the flip sides here. So for this episode, we're going to skip most of the preliminary stuff we usually do and head straight to the rules. You know, I'm not going to talk about other things that happen during the week. We'll catch that tomorrow when we do why blank lost whoever loses Thursday night. But I did have to laugh when Mike Bloom went through the list of players and asked Rachel for her rapid fire thoughts, as he does in the interviews. And she tried so hard to be as nice as possible. And when she got to Kelly, the best she could do was, I don't think Kelly has a strong social game. I mean, that's way better than I would have done. But considering how nice she was to everybody else, I just think that's hilarious. It's really a huge slam in comparison to everyone else and I just had to laugh at that.

[Chantelle Francis]

Well, also, just to echo the laughter here, you hear her and Lauren talking about how she might be an audience favorite. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Definitely have a misconception of, like, how she's being perceived by everybody outside. So Rachel is a little bit more in line with how we're feeling about her.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, I mean, to be fair, I think Kelly has a misconception about everything. I mean, literally everything. So, yeah, as much as, you know, Keanu is delusional in the game, I think Kelly is delusional in everything. So.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah.

[David Bloomberg]

So. All right. Well, Rachel came into the game and should possibly or probably have been targeted and voted out as soon as possible since she was a previous two time player and winner. Instead, she worked hard to get herself into a good position, winning over most of those who opposed her and setting herself up for a great finish that was snatched away by a horrible production decision to upend the rules of the game. But how did she manage to stay around as long as she did? What did she change from her previous games? And what about those who claim, as Big Brother itself tried to on the show, that her limit elimination involved social elements at rhap, we know Big Brother and we know why Rachel lost. So the first and most important rule is to scheme and plot. Now, this applies throughout the game and there was also a tiny element of it in the twist that knocked her out. I know some people have said that she should have been able to convince Ava to pick her first and, you know, that showed that that was a strategic failure on her Part. And so that makes it okay. These people are stretching. They're grasping at straws here because dropping them into a completely unknown situation, giving Ava 10 minutes to figure it out. Especially when Ava does not think strategically pretty much ever. This is not just a big hill to climb. This is a cliff. And it's a part of the problem with the twist. It did not give players a true chance to play the game. Even in a double eviction. People understand what's happening. The things you said, the nomination, the veto, the possible renomination, etc. Here it's just, wham, you're in a new situation. Figure it out.

[Chantelle Francis]

Definitely the most frustrating part about it all is that it was, like, super speedy 10 minutes to make this decision, Especially with someone like Ava, who doesn't like thinking strategically, doesn't like being touched and. And is willing to spite someone without thinking strategically about all the ramifications that would be following. And so how do you play a strategic social game with someone that's not so strategic? And that's where she kind of. She had the. She wasn't able to scheme and plot with. With Ava because Ava doesn't scheme and plot. And so it was basically a big barrier for her to be able to facilitate that whole, you know, chain.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, I mean, Ava was flustered. So she went the usual route of players this season and asked for volunteers. You know, Rachel tried to get her to understand. As she told Mike Bloom, I felt the urgency to pull her and talk to her and discuss the strategy of this game and this competition. Turns out pulling her was the wrong thing to do because how dare you touch Ava's arm? You know, I mean, frankly, I think there was.

[Chantelle Francis]

Frankly.

[David Bloomberg]

Frankly, I wish she would stop saying flankly. It's not cute. It's annoying, and she just needs to. Especially when she says it related to stuff like this, which, you know, was. There's. There's a lot of post hoc rationalization going on there because her saying that is one of the dumbest reasons I've ever heard for making or not making. Making a choice. It's not like she objected. It's not like Rachel grabbed her and she immediately stopped, like she did with Keanu and said, don't you do that to me. She went along with her.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, she's like, whoa. Yeah, yeah, she went along.

[David Bloomberg]

She. You know, as far as we saw, she said nothing about it until afterwards when she was trying to come up with an excuse. And. And Rachel was just trying to talk strategy quickly. She knows how quickly everything moves. And they had a final two alliance. But again, that's just not the way Ava's brain works. She said it herself about two weeks ago. I don't have a brain that was made for Big Brother. I'm being serious. I don't think my brain works the same way as some of these people's brains work. And she definitely demonstrated that here.

[Chantelle Francis]

Definitely. I don't know if you saw Taylor Hale tweeted. I believe it was either tweet or Blue sky about how she didn't mind when Michael was dragging her to different rooms to strategize. I believe it was during the double eviction. And so, like, in those high pressure moments, like dragging your ally to, like, come to a room really quickly because you don't have a lot of time to strategize, it's just not. It's not. It's not abnormal. And I feel. I kind of feel bad for the fact that Rachel, she wasn't trying to be aggressive. She wasn't trying to, you know, harm her or, or, okay, fine, maybe don't touch people.

[David Bloomberg]

Cool.

[Chantelle Francis]

But, like, she does think it's her ally. They only have a short amount of time. Like, just come with me. Like, and she went along with it.

[David Bloomberg]

Right.

[Chantelle Francis]

She's getting, like, you know, yelled at for it.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. And then, I mean, I think we got the real reason that Ava picked Vince, even with all her excuses, which was, you know, she stupidly did it so she wouldn't get any blowback, which is continuing the ridiculously scared way so many of the players have been this season. As a mutual. On Blue sky, her name is Wit said earlier this season, why is Ava willing to piss off her allies but not her enemies? And that really sums it up. Even though this was written a while ago, it. It sums it up because that's the way Ava thinks. Like, oh, I. I don't want, you know, that person who I'm not working with to be upset at me. So instead, I'll make my friend upset at me.

[Chantelle Francis]

Maybe because the friend will forgive, like, maybe. And. And the enemy would put them on the block potentially. I guess.

[David Bloomberg]

I. I guess that's her. Her. The way she's, quote, thinking about it. I just. It. It. You know, they, like I said, they just play so scared. And she continued that. I, I think that the. Because of the quick timing of it, she went into scared mode. And, you know, she. When she was hoh. When Ava was. She was so proud of how well she did until she found out she had been totally manipulated by Mickey and now she's just. Like I said, she's just scared. Oh, well, Vince. Everybody loves Vince, so nobody will be mad that I picked him. Yeah, except you totally screwed up the whole. All the people that you were working with.

[Chantelle Francis]

No matter what, though, I don't like this twist anyway. Like, I really like. I really hate the fact that who knows if. Even if Rachel did go first, if she would have been able to complete it in six and a half minutes is so. I just wish that it wasn't. It just didn't happen at all.

[David Bloomberg]

Yes.

[Chantelle Francis]

If you're going to use this game, use it to determine something. Use it to be the head of household competition or something. Determine who are going to be immediate nominees or something. I feel like the part about Big Brother that I like about it, I think we've talked about it a lot, is the fact that you always have an opportunity to save yourself with what you might be able to say to other people, promise other people you can campaign for yourself to say I. That is probably the worst part about this twist is, like, not getting any competition to be able to maybe save yourself, which is, like, why the veto came into play in the first place because, like, you needed another element to, like, not just, like, go home after one competition. That. That's silly. And. And then after that, you know, oh, I just totally lost my train of thought. But, you know, where I was going with it.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. And I mean, yeah, yeah. Everything you're saying, I, of course, 100% agree with. I'm just trying to, you know, analyze that little bit of strategy that people say was here but really wasn't because, you know, again, okay, once it was in Vince's hands, there wasn't much Rachel could do. He wasn't going to listen to her. Lauren certainly wasn't going to listen to her. And, you know, some people have suggested that she should have, you know. Well, she was asking to go on. So it's her fault. No, you know, the risk was huge at that point. If she said, don't pick me, let's say Morgan had chosen Ashley and Ashley had lost because Ashley hasn't shown herself to be great at comps, necessarily. Well, then Rachel would have lost her closest ally. So it still would have been a huge loss for Rachel. If she'd won, she probably would have put in Keanu next. But if Keanu had made it, he could have easily put in Rachel for a time that nobody on this planet would have been able to make. So, yes, at that point, you still wanted to go early and it was, of course, being described to her by Morgan as, you can do this. You can do this. But again, this is just me analyzing this part and trying to respond to some of the claims I have seen, because the overarching theme is, it never should have happened. Yeah, but don't. You know, people don't come in here and say, oh, well, this was strategy. This was strategy. You know, this was by picking people. It was a type of vote. No, none of that is true. And, you know, Rachel tried to work with what she could in the. In the few minutes she had, but like you said, they never should have been put in this situation. So even if someone wants to blame Rachel for not being able to convince Ava, the point is she shouldn't have needed to, because this is not part of the big brother game.

[Chantelle Francis]

100%. 100% agree. It's not Big Brother, and it's not a show. If it was all competitions like this, it wouldn't be a show that I really watch in this way. Right. They've been talking in the house about it's like the Challenge. It's like the Challenge, and it's actually. The challenge has more strategy in it than. Than this season has had.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah.

[Chantelle Francis]

And even that. That competition that they're complaining about, it's not even really a challenge competition because you still have an opportunity to go down and defend yourself. Like, it's just against another person, but you have a couple of chances for safety.

[David Bloomberg]

It's more like American Ninja Warrior. Like, here you go. Oh, you're out. Bye.

[Chantelle Francis]

You know, so I don't watch that show.

[David Bloomberg]

I don't either. Yeah. So. All right, well, we can move to the rest of her game for this rule. The actual game of Big Brother, Rachel was undoubtedly playing the best she ever had. She had multiple alliances. She had a few final two. She repeatedly got herself out of bad situations. Even coming in as the sole returning player, a winner, no less, was one of those situations she had to maneuver through. Jimmy wanted to lead the charge to get rid of her at the earliest opportunity, and instead, he ended up becoming her tightest ally. He talked about it with Mike Bloom, saying she's always there for the people in their time of need. And I think we've seen she is a solid ride or die, not just as a person, but as a game player. I also think she was an underutilized resource, and he was right on all counts. She was loyal, despite Mickey ignorantly telling everyone she wouldn't be. And she was helpful to players if they would only listen to her.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, they never wanted to listen to her. She was like screaming into the void and they're just like, do do do do do do do, like use me. I've done this before. Like, like, if I were playing with a returning player, I'd keep my eye on them. Obviously I would want to bring them along a little bit just for like, you know, the nostalgia of it all. I don't think getting the, getting them out right away and put it on my resume like super early in the game. I don't think that that's that impressive. I would probably want to play with them, learn from them and then cut them near the end, you know what I mean? I definitely would have used them as a resource because it is really helpful and benef to to work with somebody that's been there before. So it was very surprising that nobody was willing to take her up on her knowledge. And like, I guess it's because they're not. Nobody's strategic at all. But I really wish there was a few more strategic players that really saw this as an opportunity to play some fun Big Brother. Like Big Brother's so fun when you're like, when you're scheming and plotting, when you're figuring things out, when things are going in your favor, when there's an opposition and when you're trying to do things to save yourself, save your allies in the game. And so yeah, it could have been a really fun season if there was some people that were willing to play ball with Rachel.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, if there was right. If there were some people who were clued in.

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[David Bloomberg]

Speaking of some who weren't, you know, One person that Rachel repeatedly tried to help was Keanu. The problem was that no matter how many times he took the class, he kept getting enough. You know, he just had a complete inability to learn because he has such solid delusions about what's happening in the game.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, he definitely. I've been rooting for Keanu and Rachel just to figure it out. I love the idea of the frenemies alliance. I do like when they were on the same page about things. I really like their dynamic. And I got a little bit teary eyed in the edit when they showed him, like, thinking about Rachel and him wanting to just beat her. And like, I liked all of that. They're dynamic for the most part, and I just wish that he wasn't so set in what he believed to be true. That was like, even if you just entertain what Rachel has to say just to run that scenario, that might help you come to the correct conclusion. But he would never. He would always just disregard whatever she said, decide what his truth is and go with that. And it's put him in a pretty bad situation. Like he could be going home tonight. And so it's very unfortunate that he just didn't listen to Rachel sooner. Too little too late.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. I mean, like you said in that. In that scene of him talking about her and everything else, it looks like she did finally make him an ally. You know, it's interesting because before he had indicated he wanted her to get knocked out by someone else so she would lobby for him and jury. So, I mean, who knows what's really going on inside that head? But she did have this ability to turn enemies into allies. She did it with Jimmy, she did it with Morgan. She did it with Mickey. Of course, then she voted Mickey out. But the point is that Mickey thought she had Rachel on her side by that point. Of course, she thought she had the whole house on her side. Speaking of delusional players, you know, Rachel even sort of did it with Vince in that he was against her. He was against her. And then he kind of got himself dragged into this alliance and he even noted when he was hoh that she had put together quite a crew such that Mickey, Ashley, Will, and Morgan did not want him to put her up. They lobbied on her behalf, as good allies should. They all told him the same thing, that Rachel was not coming for him. And eventually he believed it, at least enough.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, Rachel definitely this season has showed that she's grown, you know, from her previous two seasons, like she definitely is. Yes, she still has that fire. And like, you still. She'll say what she means and call them newbies and tell them to call her queen and, you know, better be wearing a crown. Like all that stuff, all the racialism. Yeah, she still has that, but she definitely is not like, the bad guy that, like. Like up on the block every other week. She's got two months in without even being nominated, which is wild when you know her previous history, how she was kind of like against everybody the whole time. And so it has shown a lot of growth. And, like, I really appreciate that, and I really like the connections that she makes. Like, she's so such good friends with Ashley at this point. I loved her and Jimmy together. I was really upset that Jimmy went out because I thought that. That they had friendship going and building, and I. It would have been nice to see that develop and build for longer. And so the fact that he was taken away from her. I know, like, when she was taken away from Ashley. Now it's really unfortunate because this was the. The most well received by players in the game that she's has had, and then she just gets ripped out without really getting to see how it would actually have played out.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, we got robbed of that for.

[David Bloomberg]

Right. Right now, you talked about her growth in the game and strategically, and one thing I think she did very well in strategic conversations was she let other people talk, which sounds like something obvious, but it is not. She did not succumb to the urge to fill the silence. A lot of people will just stay silent, and you want to fill it, but no. She seems to have learned in her reality TV experience that. That if you just let people talk, they will often say things that they shouldn't. And I know she's involved in casting some shows as well, so it may be a trick she picked up from that. This is something I used at work when we would have tense meetings, tense oppositional meetings. And I know how it can go both ways because I had a lawyer coworker who found it impossible to let the silence sit there, there. So if the silence where she spoke up and we'd be like, be quiet, you know, but you couldn't say that in the meeting. And so she would ruin these opportunities sometimes when you really just want the other side to say something.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, I. I definitely think that she has learned to listen better. It could be because she's a mom, you know, like, she's a different level of patience and. And, you know, listening to her kids, like, what are they trying to say? What are they trying to get across to me. Like, I think that that's probably what's helped her being a little bit in that area, especially since most of the people that she's playing with are a little bit younger than her, so a little bit less life experience. And so her being able to connect with them is probably because she's listening to more to who they are, where they're coming from, what they're talking about, and then, you know, is able to kind of gravitate towards them and build friendships with them. So, yeah, yeah, I think it's probably her getting older, becoming a mom, learning a little bit from her past mistakes as a player and growing.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, yeah. Now, with all this said, there were a couple times I disagreed with the way Rachel handled herself in this rule. When Rachel decided to nominate Riley after Lauren vetoed Vince off the block a few weeks ago, I. At the time, I thought it was a mistake. I did not think she had the votes, but she worked and she worked and she got the votes to make it happen. So I guess I was right at the time, but she was right. Overall.

[Chantelle Francis]

We were all shocked. Of course, I would assume that most people wanted this conclusion. Riley on the buck, it was pretty like, oh, my God, is she gonna do this? She gonna do it, but is it good for her? Game was always like a little aside that we're saying after. So I'm happy that she ended up doing it and that she. She showed that she can get what she wants to happen most a lot of the time. And, yeah, that was a pretty impressive poll.

[David Bloomberg]

It was. I. I will still say, because we strive to be fully objective here. There are. There are parts that she could have handled a little bit better. Like she told Lauren who the new nominee would be, but she should have told Riley himself that he would go up if Lauren used it, make him do the work, you know, because at the time, she. That wasn't what she wanted to happen. It was a threat that.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, I think with that, I think the reason why she did. I don't think she thought that Lauren would actually use it. Right. I think that she thought that she did enough and that she wouldn't have to necessarily burn a bridge with Riley for saying that, like, hey, you're an option here, if he wasn't going to end up going up. And so I think she was just. She just didn't expect to actually Lauren to go follow through with that. And so, yeah, I think that that's why she didn't let Riley know, because she thought it was not going to be needed.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, I could see that. But the problem is she wanted to blame Lauren for it, but nobody blamed Lauren for it. I think if she had told Riley, Riley would have talked to Lauren and said, please don't use it. I know I said to use it earlier, but please don't. And then if she had used it anyway, you know, then the blame would have fallen more on Lauren instead of Rachel, I think.

[Chantelle Francis]

Can we get. Throw some blame on Lauren for not telling Riley? Like, well, Riley, she said that she would put you up if I. If I used it. Like.

[David Bloomberg]

Joking. Sorry, sorry. He was joking. I did a whole video that way. I just. I'll have to do that if. If Lauren doesn't make it to the end and it's the why Lauren lost video, I'll just do the whole thing.

[Chantelle Francis]

Looking off to the side on, like, 05 speed.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. Yeah. The other issue that I saw was that in addition to not telling Riley, she also didn't tell her allies. And admittedly, admittedly, most of her allies are morons. But it's a good thing I said that before you took your trigger. That would have been it. But at least giving them a heads up would have meant they weren't blindsided. However, as you said, all's well that ends well. And since Riley was the one who was evicted, it ended really.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, it was. It was a nice ending. Definitely. I definitely agree also that she should have let her allies know because you want people to be supporting your decision or even bouncing back and forth. Like you do sometimes need other people's opinion or perspectives. Like, maybe you're not seeing a situation clearly. Like, maybe if she talked to her allies, you'd be like, no, she's going to use it something. It might have just made her have some other considerations. Maybe then she would have been like, hey, Riley, I don't want to put you up, but I don't really have any choice. So if she uses it, like, you're gonna have to be the person I put up. And like, maybe if she had had more communication with her allies, that that situation might have happened. So I agree with you. She did not communicate enough with her people.

[David Bloomberg]

All right, well, we can move on to the second rule, which says not to scheme and plot too much and to keep your scheming secret. I think Rachel generally did well here, and I don't have much to say other than a few examples where she kind of let things get away from her. Now, most of these situations could have fallen into the fourth rule because her emotions were what got away when she revealed this information that she shouldn't have that I'm about to talk about. But failing to keep her scheming secret was the outcome. So that's why I'm mentioning it now. And the prime example of the situation that I'm talking about is when Rachel confronted Keanu with what she had heard from Vince during Vince's HOH when Keanu was trying to get her nominated. Now, look, I totally understand. She wanted to basically smack him upside the head. Maybe that's why they were doing it in the boxing ring gym. But. But she also should have known that whatever she said to him would immediately be run right back to Vince, and Vince had not made his renomination yet. And I also wasn't the only one wondering this. Morgan said she didn't know why the f she would open her mouth. Vince himself didn't know why Rachel would confront Keanu with the information that he gave her. This was probably the closest she came to getting herself nominated, though she did manage to avoid it through her allies that we talked about earlier and by monopolizing Vince's time until the veto meeting.

[Chantelle Francis]

I do, you know, I think that she did kind of do too much. Like, she should have held her tongue. But if this is your final two, you have the frenemies. You kind of have worked through all these things, and you're like, you think that you have a loyal ally that you could scheme and plot with, and you're a confidant, and you don't really expect them to go and run to the enemy in this way. And so she definitely, like. Like, she probably learned her lesson after that one, and she realized that she shouldn't be trusting him that much. But I could totally understand, though, in the moment being like, you're my ally. Like, you're saying this to Vince, and this is proof that Vince is not someone that you could trust and thinking that this would go to his head and he would understand what was happening.

[David Bloomberg]

Now, come on. He should have known by now that nothing was getting through that skull.

[Chantelle Francis]

Come on. But my. My thoughts on, like, this giving potting too much is the whole Ava situation, because if she wasn't so keen on dragging her to talk and scheme and. And figure out what was going on, maybe the. The order would have been decided a little bit differently and somebody else might have gone home. So, like, that could have been another opportunity where, like, if she just maybe took her foot off the gas a little bit, she might have had a different outcome.

[David Bloomberg]

But I I see what you're saying, but if you have 10 minutes, I don't think you can scheme and plot too much in 10 minutes. I. I really don't. Because, you know, using the same thing you just said, she had a final two with Ava. She thought that she could talk to Ava, and if you let Keanu get in there first, I mean, she also knows Ava. Ava is not, as we discussed, she is not a strategic thinker. If Keanu gives her a plan and she's out there asking for volunteers, who knows how it goes? So I. I will, you know, as you granted. Yeah, I will. As you granted her grace on Keanu. I will on Ava. So.

[Chantelle Francis]

Okay, Done.

[David Bloomberg]

All right. Well, the third rule talks about the need to be flexible, and certainly this version of Rachel was much different than the version we saw in her original appearances. What do you think of how she has changed since then? And then also within the season itself, herself, in terms of her flexibility?

[Chantelle Francis]

Well, definitely with who she's working with. You know, she will have kind of an enemy with somebody, and then she's willing to still work with them. We saw a lot of people not willing to work with people. I mean, like, I can never work with them. I don't like them. I'm not voting for them. I won't keep, like. But she was willing to keep people, vote people out, make new alliances. Like, she was really able to morph and shift her gameplay and. And even when, you know, they voted out people that she really wanted to stay in the game being like Amy and Jimmy, like, she was still flexible enough and willing to still work with these people. That really screwed her over in the game. So I think that she became a lot more flexible and tolerant with the people that she was working with, especially because they playing so terribly. And she's still kind of willing to go back and try it again.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, I agree. It's like you were reading off of my notes there, you know, I mean, you can look at how other players are acting and compare it to her. Now we'll look at the exact opposite Kelly. Now we'll talk about her relationship with Rachel Moore when we get to the fifth and the seventh rules. But she had some imagined slight from Rachel early in the game. And I mean, also I think she had some imagined slight from just about everyone else, and she never lets in it go, no matter what it could be, you know, eight weeks into the game, and she's like, I don't like this person because I'm day two. You know, they asked me if I wanted salt on my food, whatever. And similarly we've, you know, we're seeing how Morgan and Lauren can't get past whatever happened in their own history to work together despite both of them being tight allies with Vince. And meanwhile, like you said, Rachel literally turned Mickey and Morgan into allies while they were still nominees who she had put on the block. How do you do that? I don't know how you do that. And you know, she convinced Vince to join an alliance with her and she kept bringing Keanu back to her and yeah, just all these examples.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, she definitely has learned that you have to adapt, you have to shift your gameplay, you have to work with your enemies and yeah, I definitely would say that she was quite flexible this time around.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. All right, well, the fourth rule says players should not let their emotions control them. I mentioned earlier, and you also mentioned how Rachel did let her emotions run away a few times on the strategic side and I can think of a few others in the non strategic situations. But what do you think of how she did overall here for this?

[Chantelle Francis]

Overall better than in the past. But I would say like even if I just look at the hamster wheel, like combination competition that got her eliminated, she allowed her emotions to get the best of her. She wanted so badly to do well. She panicked and she wasn't able to get into that competition beast mode that we, we know her to be of. And I think she allowed her herself to kind of psych her own self out, which was letting her emotions get the best of her. And that's why she did not complete that, that basic maze. And so that's just like a kind of a blatant most recent example of her emotions getting the best of her and obviously getting in fights with anybody, like even would say in the beginning, yes, it's good tv. Yes, I find it funny sometimes. But like, having people have reasons to not like you is just never a good thing. Having an enemy sometimes can be an OK hate thing because then you have someone to nominate and like having somebody specific that you could be saying, like, I'm going for this person, it might let you breathe with other people. So I get it in that strategic sense, but it's not really the best look to be getting in fights with people, especially at the beginning of the game where people are deciding whether or not they like you.

[David Bloomberg]

So yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaking of the wheel, this is one thing I had wanted to mention was, you know, we said, and other people have said, oh, she could have had 20 minutes to do it and it wouldn't have worked. I think a lot of it was if she had gone first. First, yes. People could say, well, she hadn't even moved at all. Well, like you said, I, I think she. She kind of psyched herself out a little bit thinking she didn't have enough time, which helped cause her to not have enough time, where if she had gone first, she would have been thinking, well, obviously I have enough time because this is the most time you're going to give a person, so we'll never know. But there's one thing I wanted to mention. And. Yeah. Other than that, I, I do think, you know, and of course, course, you know, just for anyone who wants to, you know, quote us out of context here, this all comes with the caveat that. That never should have happened.

[Chantelle Francis]

Always.

[David Bloomberg]

Always.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yes. Should be running ticker.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. But, you know, in. In the game itself, there were definitely a few times where we saw hints of the old Rachel. I think the most obvious was the winegate hug gate, hammock gate, triple gate situation. You know, most listeners probably know the story by now, but briefly, they got alcohol for Lauren's birthday. There was an interaction where Rachel got annoyed with this fake compliment game that was going on and made a comment, I need another drink. Which led Kelly to comment in an exaggerated way about that to Vince. And indeed, Rachel did actually take a white claw because she was admittedly being petty and didn't want Kelly to have. Have it. But then when the whole thing blew up and Rachel learned about this, Kelly came out to the backyard and Rachel was there and kind of ran ahead of her to get to the hammock and said, oh, there's no room on the hammock. And then Kelly was like, well, I'm not really sitting on the hammock. I'm saying good night. And then Rachel wouldn't give her a good night hug, which Kelly turned into a whole big thing. Yeah. So that was a situation where I. I do think her emotions got the better of her there.

[Chantelle Francis]

I totally agree. And I, I definitely. That was the one time because, like, a lot of people are calling Rachel a mean girl and this and that. That's the only time that I could really remember from this season that it was. It was a little bit unkind with her being like, oh, there's you. There's nowhere for you to sit here.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah.

[Chantelle Francis]

Like, and everybody else is there hanging out, and somebody's coming into that situation and saying that it is a little me girl, girl. So that was one situation. I was like, I know you don't like her. Rachel, but, like, you kind of have to, like, pretend that you do a little bit. You don't have to hug her. She didn't have to hug her.

[David Bloomberg]

Right.

[Chantelle Francis]

But the comment about the, the hammock. No space wasn't the, the kindest. And it was obviously because she was irritated and she allowed her emotions to kind of get the better of her there. Agree.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. I mean, I can't imagine what it must be like to live in the house with Kelly, you know, but she also needed to recognize that this is what Kelly does. She instigate things and plays the victim and causes problems. It. It just wasn't worth the potential damage to her game. But, you know, again, I say that as a person who, thankfully has never had to live with Kelly.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah. I don't, I don't know if I'd be able to be better because. Right. People annoy me. I, I, it's pretty clear. And, yeah, she might be doing better than we could, either of us could ever do.

[David Bloomberg]

Right.

[Chantelle Francis]

But we're looking in terms of rul. Yes, her emotions got the best.

[David Bloomberg]

Now, another example that's undoubtedly familiar to listeners is when Rachel kept hearing about Mickey and Morgan wanting her and the jury, and she finally told Morgan exactly what she thought of it. Now, of course, we have already discussed how Rachel eventually turned that around and, you know, brought them on board, but at the time, it sent Morgan spiraling. Not that it takes much to send Morgan spiraling. Say, Morgan, you're a snake. That'll be it for weeks. But, you know, Rachel even said to her, the fire hasn't even come out. I'm tired of the disrespect. You can tell your friends that. And Morgan kept repeating this story, emphasizing, she said, friends with an S. She put way more thought into it than I'm sure Rachel did. And, you know, but. And yet, don't get me wrong, it was fun for us to see Rachel blow up on Morgan about all of that take her to the jury nonsense, because we've been talking about it out here. But again, probably shouldn't have done it, even though she ended up, you know, wrangling them back in.

[Chantelle Francis]

For sure. Yeah. I definitely was cringing a little bit when she's having this conversation with Morgan. That's like, sometimes you need a little bit of humility. Right. Because especially with this group of newbies, they don't seem to. They don't respect people that have played the game before because they haven't watched the show before. For her to be, like, offended by the disrespect and why are you putting me in the jury? Why aren't you using me as a resource? Like that was her ego kind of getting the best of her and like an emotional response to like not feeling like, you know, the queen that she is and she should have maybe reframed that moment because it definitely didn't, wasn't, didn't work out positively for a while.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, so there were a few other examples, but we don't need to give everyone so. And we can move on to the fifth rule which says players, as you said earlier, need to pretend to be nice and of course also play the social game. Now, back when I interviewed Rachel after her big brother 12 loss, she told me, I'm not scared to say what I feel and to fight hard and to piss people off. Obviously that does not go along with this rule, but Rachel over the years has realized that herself as well. And sure, as I mentioned earlier, we saw some flashes of the old Rachel, such as what you brought up when Zay came after her. But also Zay was not the brightest bulb when it came to Big Brother. And you know, this has undoubtedly been Rachel's best season in terms of her social game. And yes, you have already mentioned this as well. There are a lot of, I'll call them casuals who claim Rachel is a bully and nobody likes like sir, but there's no way to say this except bluntly, they're wrong. Rachel has gone out of her way this season to be nice to so many players, often getting stabbed in the back in return. We can look at how she tried to help Keanu, Kelly, Riley, Catherine, etc. She hasn't just done this as a game move, but to truly help them feel better about being in the house and even to suggest ways to help once they're out of the house house. And yet in every one of those cases I just mentioned, the person was horrible to her either within the game or personally or both. And going back to Kelly, she's a perfect example. Rachel tried to help her by giving her tips on how to be more likable, which Kelly reinterpreted and spread around the house as Rachel, saying she has no friends and nobody likes her. Which isn't what Rachel said said, though it was essentially true at the time. Rachel tried to let Kelly know she wanted to work with her, but Kelly didn't believe her because of, I don't know, voices in her head. I really don't know. But there were several discussions through the season of Rachel trying To clear things up. And Kelly would either say things that never happened or would pretend everything was fine and then run to tell other people how horrible Rachel was to. To her. Like, while Keanu was hoh. A couple weeks ago, Rachel even apologized to Kelly because Kelly is Keanu's friend. And so she told Keanu, well, I want to do this for you to make things easier for you, which was partially BS but that's part of pretending to be nice, you know? And in that discussion, she found out that they had had more misunderstandings than she realized in her words, and triggered more things than she knew do. Now, of course, the reason that there were more of these things was because many of those things only happened in Kelly's head. Now, mind you, Rachel didn't have to do any of this, but she was trying to make things better. I mean, how do you make things better? When Kelly got mad at her for not nominating her when she was hoh.

[Chantelle Francis]

I. I don't know how. Like, I think Rachel did a pretty good job with the people that she was playing with. She. I think she had a pretty good social game. I. That she was, like, nice to some of these players, but really, I don't know if I'd be able to be nice to all of them. Like, she was like, Kelly would really, really, really trouble living in the house because, you know, I don't really like people that are fake. If you don't like me, then I would just let you be, like, a little bit open and honest about it. Or like. Or like, if we're having a discussion and we're really trying to come to terms and come to understanding each other, it to be a truthful moment and not one that you're just, like, extracting information, run and tattle to somebody else. So she definitely was playing with some people that aren't really good at being social and, like, kind. So she did a good job, I thought.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. And then, you know, I mean, I. Another couple examples, of course, we saw her trying to help Keanu, trying to tell him how to play, how to deal with people, how to form relationships, and mostly he didn't listen. But she kept plugging away, even though she might have had more success talking to a wall, you know, Another example was her comforting Catherine when Catherine was crying, giving Catherine advice about continuing without her showmance partner. She didn't have to do that. She was the one who took Riley out. But that was her own humanity at work there. Her social game.

[Chantelle Francis]

And even it's. It's maybe a Little bit calculated, but it still was part of her social game. Buttering Keanu up with, like, making him his favorite foods and stuff like that. Like, yes, it might have strategic element behind it, but it's still doing something nice for somebody else. And maybe she wanted a certain result or a certain rapport with him for doing these nice things, but she still thought to do them. And not everybody's thinking to do nice things for people in that house.

[David Bloomberg]

Right, Right. I mean, she cooked. Like you just said. She cleaned. We literally saw her on her hands and knees scrubbing the shower. She wasn't doing this for game purposes, but it was the right thing to do. Although, like you said, I think some of it was. Like, some of the dusting she did was probably for game purposes because it gave her an excuse to walk into rooms where other people were talking. Oh, I'm just here to dust. But, you know, this rule is about the social game, so props for that. But my point here is that despite what some people out here are yelling like, oh, she's a bully. She's terrible. No. You know, and I know that some of these people are like, well, she was mean to Kelly. Yeah, Kelly brought that on herself. I'm sorry. Kelly did things and then played the victim. And, you know, people who are saying that you fell for it, congratulations. Because people in general liked Rachel in the game. Even weeks ago, when Mickey and Zach were complaining about her, their main complaint was that everyone liked her and it didn't make sense to. To them. You know, I think it goes to something she told Mike Bloom. She said, when I came into Big Brother 27, I did a lot of personal inner reflection. And I said, if I'm going to play this game, I need to actively play. And by doing that, I needed to go in day one and form these relationships. And I worked really hard with asking people very personal questions and really digging deep on getting to know people and not just talking to them in a surface way where you typically do on Big Brother or in any of these games, shows. And, yeah, she did it. I mean, like Morgan, as one example, said she felt good with Rachel because Rachel knew so much more about her on a personal level than other people.

[Chantelle Francis]

Like Mickey, she. She did a really, really good job. And I'm happy that that's the way that she wanted to go in the season, because we know her first two seasons, she wasn't really great with connecting with people. She had Brendan. It was her and Brendan against the world, and that's completely. That she's played this time around, it could be because she didn't have Brandon there, Brendan there, so she had to kind of do it all alone and make these relationships and connections and have people want her to stay in the game. But she just, like, she actively decided to do that. And I think it was really effective for the fact that she did not touch the block for two months. Like, as a returning player, never touching the block ever. Like, your whole time that you're there. That's a feat in itself. And so, and I think it's about her pretty great social game.

[David Bloomberg]

Like I said, she did it all on purpose. It wasn't just being nice, which she did, but also playing the social game. As she also told Mike Bloom, I use that strategy to make sure that I form these relationships where people didn't want to nominate me and people didn't want to see me go home because they saw me as a valuable player. They saw me as a valuable member to their game, but also as a valuable asset to the Big Brother season as a whole. Which is what makes it even more infuriating that not only did Big Brother throw in this random comp. Bs, but they tried to cover themselves by blatantly adding in voiceovers suggesting that the social game played a role. They put in one by the mastermind early on, and then they added one by Tyler also. And I have no doubt at all that what happened was they saw the backlash online. They knew they had to try to make themselves look not as bad. And the sad thing is that some people bought it, and they are arguing with me online saying, oh, see, she failed in the social game because she couldn't get Ava to picker. No, we, you know, we discussed part of that already in rule one, but you don't play a social game in 10 fre. You know, 10 freaking minutes of hectic activity. The social game is what you play through a whole week, a whole season of Big Brother. And yes, we heard Ava spouting some copium on live feeds afterwards, trying to blame Rachel, but she said a lot of nonsensical BS as she was trying to avoid blaming herself, including throwing a lot of nasty insults at Rachel that had nothing to do with anything and she wouldn't have been saying otherwise.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, it definitely is infuriating that people were buying the. The. The edit and the voiceovers that were kind of leaning into why this was like a strategic. And it was. It was still Big Brother. It was. No matter what, she would. Might not have had enough time at six and minutes. And if that's going to be a determining thing to get you out of the game. That has nothing to do with social game. It was about the maze and completing the maze. And she may not have completed the maze even if she would gone first. See what I mean? So you can't know that. Oh, if she went first and if she. Oh, it didn't pull Ava when she did, if that would have changed the outcome. No, I don't think it would have. And it shouldn't have existed in the first place. People just forget that. They want to. They want us to be able to blame Rachel and say that it is her fault. And like, why are people up in arms about her? And it's. She shouldn't have been playing the game anyways, and she's the only returnee and she got what she deserves. They're saying all this nonsense and really she was just done dirty by a twist and. And nobody wants to blame themselves for it, so they're just gonna blame Rachel.

[David Bloomberg]

Right? Right. All right. The sixth rule warns against being too much of a threat. Now, Rachel should have been seen as the biggest threat in the game. There was talk about getting rid of her right away, but then even the person doing the most to spread that idea, Jimmy, became her tight ally. As we mentioned earlier, people kept talking about her as a threat, but then never actually wanted to do anything about it because she was more useful as an ally or even an op in the game or just because they were scared of her like they were little children and she was the monster under the bed. But the. The fact is that Rachel was simultaneously able to talk about having won the game before and therefore having good advice to give while also not being targeted for having won the game before.

[Chantelle Francis]

I think it could be she's aged a little bit, so it's like about 15 years since she last played. She's not the comp beast that she was before. Like, and no shade that the competitions are different. They are. They're a little bit more physical and she hasn't gotten maybe the hang of like these competitions. Um, but she definitely definitely lowered her threat level even with talking about, hey, like, if you sit next to me, like, none of you guys are going to vote for me to win. Kind of just like taking the. She's going to win no matter what if she gets to the end, or, like, taking that away from the players as a reason to put her up and vote her out. And so I definitely think that she mitigated her threat level in many ways, and she's not the Same competitor as she was back then. And, and also the players don't respect, like, anybody that previously played anyways, so that was able to. She had to work with that to her favor.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah, I, I, I did like that. She kept repeating the mantra, I will be the best person to take the final two because nobody would give me the win. Now, personally, I think if she did make it to final two, she would have won. Who would be able to deny her after being seen as the biggest threat and making it that far? And other players, I were starting to see that as well. Vince, for example, told Mickey that he knew of at least three people who said it, and yet they kept her around all this time, and now we'll never know what would happen later. You know, this took all of that away. Could they have finally mounted an attack on her? Maybe. But this group often talked about doing things they never actually did, so who knows? Knows we can't know because of this stupid game change.

[Chantelle Francis]

I've played some, like, online reality games before, and one of them, I got taken out by a wheel. And I was just like, how unsatisfying is that? I was taking it, like, not like a wheel maze, but a little, like, spin the wheel and landed on my name, and I, I'm out. I was like, I would have won if, like, I didn't get taken out by a wheel, which we could potentially be saying that about Rachel as well. She got taken out by the wheel.

[David Bloomberg]

I played in one where someone had been mounting an attack on me, and I got into the room, literally, you know, switching the rooms online as they were talking about me, and caught them in the act, and then they left embarrassed, and I flipped everyone against them, this person. And then the twist of, of that round. Oh, was they can drag someone out with them.

[Chantelle Francis]

Brutal.

[David Bloomberg]

So of course they dragged me out with them. And it's like, I did this great move, if I do say so myself, to, to flip people from trying to come after me to working with me, and then, boom, it's gone. So, yeah, I mean, but that's an online reality game. This is Big Brother.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah. It's for a lot of money.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah.

[Chantelle Francis]

For you to be messing with people's game for three quarters of a million dollars, but they're taken out by a wheel or, like a maze. Like, it's just like those games that they're playing is just not worth 750. I do think the social strategy of Big Brother is worth it because, like, there's a lot of psychological torture that you're experiencing Going through. Like, there might be manipulation. Like, they might be feeling bad about lying to. Like, there is a lot of stuff that you might be putting yourself through with the social aspect of the game. And so. And I do think that that is valued and warranted of such a large prize fund. But, like, sliding a thing down the shuffleboard and doing a male. A wheel maze is just, to me, is not valued at $750,000.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. All right, well, we could go to the seventh rule, which says to trust almost nobody. And unfortunately, Rachel had several instances where she trust. And as I mentioned earlier, they stabbed her in the back. Time after time, she offered Keanu her trust, and time after time, he lied to her. She kept trying to help Kelly, and Kelly would immediately, like I said before, run to other people and talk about her even saying nasty things about her behind her back for literally no reason. She really had no idea how much Kelly said about her. Even after Hugate had hammock. Yay. Even after she talked to Kelly to try to make peace. She will not know till she's out of the house and Brandon brings her up to speed. So you're not going to be happy. I. I think Melissa said it best on the round table a few weeks back, saying Rachel was thinking logically about it, that it would be good for Kelly's game to work with her. But Kelly never thinks logically about anything.

[Chantelle Francis]

Yeah, definitely. Kelly does not think logically about anything. And I do think think like I. Rachel. She definitely trusts the wrong people most of the time. Was Keanu, though. That. That's glaring for me about, like, how many times she put her trust in Keanu. And I get it. I get it. You don't think that somebody is going to betray you in the way that he is. Like, they're saying that they're your final two. You got this thing going. Your frenemies, like, okay, pinky swear packed. Like, she's doing all the things.

[David Bloomberg]

Things.

[Chantelle Francis]

And it would be good for his game to keep her in there because she does need to have another threat in front of her. And if he's winning competition and they're working together, like, this is good for his game. So why would he try to get her out? It just logically, I get why she wouldn't think that that would be the case. But she definitely trusts Keanu a bunch of times. Told him things to him that could have gotten her at least nominated if not eventually evicted. It's just. Yeah. Trusting the wrong people about being ko. Trusting him a few too many times.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. I. I think overall she was a little too trusting and forgiving. I suspect part of it was game because she knew that even if someone went against her, there was always the possibility of turning them around. As we talked about that, she did. And part of it was Rachel the human, the mom, the experienced player who saw the cluelessness of most of these younger newbies.

[Chantelle Francis]

Cluelessness is clueless. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't trust any of them.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah. All right, well, it is about time to wrap things up here. What are your final thoughts about Rachel?

[Chantelle Francis]

My final thoughts are like, I think somebody on Blue Sky, I think they're like, why. Why did Rachel lose, like, production was the. That really is the answer here. I know we kind of played through, like, what she did well and what she could have maybe worked on and if she was evicted, like, it would have. It was. Would have been a little bit more cathartic with. With her game and her coming back. And so I'm sad that we didn't get to see this new version of Rachel play out like the game that she was playing just to see how it would work or if it wouldn't work, maybe she was going to be out next anyways. Like, who knows what would happen? But I am sad that we got robbed just to see how this would have played out naturally. It has been a real pleasure watching her play. For first time she played, I wasn't necessarily the biggest Rachel fan. Like, she definitely was entertaining and she had a lot of sound bites that she came up with. And she definitely was still considered like a legend to me, like, in the game. But I wasn't necessarily like a Rachel Stan, like, you know, coming into the season. But she really turned me around. Like, she really. She was somebody that I was rooting for. She was someone that I was watching to see how she could get herself out of situations. I was watching to see the relationships and the connections that she was making. Her doing this all on her own, being pressed by the fact that she's made it two months in, I was really enjoying my new relationship that I was having with this person, Rachel that I've known in like, my. My life for 15 something years. So I'm really happy that we did get an opportunity to re meet her. I'm saddened, but we didn't get to see this through in a way that would have been cathartic for us. But I'm happy that we got a little bit of time with her because without her this season, I. The season would have been definitely in.

[David Bloomberg]

The gutter yeah yeah yeah. Like you, Rachel changed a lot of viewers minds for the better. In playing big brother 27 she played more strategically and more so socially. Not only did she change how viewers saw her, but even players in the game. As we discussed, Jimmy went from wanting her out immediately to becoming her closest ally. Morgan and Mickey went from being incredibly mad at her and even being nominated by her to becoming allies, at least for a little while. In Mickey's case, Keanu went back and forth with her but was mourning her elimination after she was gone. Sure there are some people who never change their minds both in the game and outside side. There are still plenty of Rachel haters who flood my videos with comments. There are the Kelly's of the outside world who imagine slights and don't understand her game or personality. But we don't talk need to talk about them any further. As I said, Rachel improved her gameplay in every area. Was she perfect? No, nobody is. But she had this bunch of strategic dummies running in circles or just sitting there waiting. We can't know what would have happened if the game would have played out as it should have. Maybe as you said, somebody would have finally decided to take a shot at her. It probably would have been Vince, but who knows if he could have even gotten the votes together. I could easily have seen her making it to the end and potentially even winning again. But as I said, we'll never know and that makes it incredibly unsatisfying. Rachel herself told Dalton Ross it is extremely frustrating to play such a good game all season and I truly feel that I set myself up for this jury. I made the whole jury of people that would have voted for me. I worked really hard socially to become friends with all these people and to form relationships and to strategically play this game and to navigate through the game in a better way that I feel I have I ever played Big Brother before. It was extremely frustrating because I do feel that I set myself up in such a great position for the jury and to sit in those final two chairs. And as I've indicated I agree with everything she said there. Rachel told me in my interview with her back in 2010 that she was a super fan of Big Brother before even going into season 12. That has obviously only grown as she became a winner, met her husband, they had two kids and it led to her further being on other shows and even on the other side working in casting. You cannot separate Rachel Riley from Big Brother and Rachel was a limited eliminated, not evicted because of a BS change to the entire underlying structure of the Big Brother game. The fact that it happened at all was terrible. The fact that it happened specifically to her makes it even worse. Yes, she was unable to complete the comp, but that does not make it her fault. She never should have been put in that position to begin with. And that is why Rachel and all of Big Brother as a whole lost.

[Chantelle Francis]

Agreed, Agreed. Agreed with you. That is why Rachel lost. We all lost actually.

[David Bloomberg]

Yes, exactly. Exactly. All right. Well we will have predictions, believe it or not in a moment here after a few other pieces of information and in addition, if you want our full thoughts about everything, we are all over social media where we discuss Big Brother and many other topics. Chantelle, where can people people find you?

[Chantelle Francis]

Definitely on Instagram at Shanfriend Fran or reality realness with 3s's my YouTube channel is reality realness with 3s as well where I've been talking about the challenge. We usually go live after each episode and Love Island Games is coming on. So I'll be covering Love Island Games after every episode as well over on my YouTube channel.

[David Bloomberg]

All right, great. Well I am all over the place. You can find my various accounts through my link tree at linktree David Bloomberg or you can find me directly on Blue sky as at David Bloomberg. And ever since Big Brother began I've been posting at least three or four, sometimes even six videos on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram where I am @David Blumberg TV. It's a combination of thoughts from the episodes and and live feeds and and things like that. I also did Australian Survivor Australia versus the World Mini Y Blank loss and of course A y Blank Blank 1 and other videos there. I have mentioned here on the podcast. I recently went over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube. I'm approaching 13000 on tick tock. So thank you to everyone who has subscribed there. In addition I will be or I am once again helping to cover a Traders season this time the Traders Ireland on the Tradar podcast podcast. I co hosted episode three and we'll be back for episode six this week so watch for those I did want to say also I just wanted to show this here. I I did get to meet Rachel and Brendan. Whoops we gotta remove that there at the Los Angeles RHAP 10th anniversary. So I talked to Brendan a bit. I didn't really talk to Rach was she was talking to other people and he tapped her on the shoulder and said take this picture. But so, so there was that but that. You know like I said we didn't really talk much. It was just fun, Fun to meet them both there.

[Chantelle Francis]

Where, where, what state are they living in? I'm just wondering if they're. Alabama. Okay. I was gonna, are they gonna be at any of the live shows this winter?

[David Bloomberg]

But maybe not that I don't know. All right, well, based on the time we're recording this podcast, you know, we're doing predictions now, and people will probably know if these predictions are right or wrong almost as soon as the podcast is published. But hey, you know, we'll give it a shot. There isn't a whole lot to predict, as much as I would like to think Ashley or Will can win Blockbuster and send Keanu home. And I believe. Did we see the preview of the blockbuster? Is it the rope? I think it's the rope one where you have to untangle yourself.

[Chantelle Francis]

Oh. And then right out to get the.

[David Bloomberg]

Yeah.

[Chantelle Francis]

So that gives Ashley a little bit of, of hope here because if it's knots, like untying knots is something that smaller fingers might be able to do. He might have too big of a hands. Canu.

[David Bloomberg]

So that's, yeah, I, I mean, Will isn't winning, especially with his knee injury, but I, I, I still think that, you know, Keanu is going to win. I, I, I, he'll find a way to win. And I, I think that Will will limp to the jury.

[Chantelle Francis]

I, I, okay, I'm gonna, I'll just take the other stance just because I haven't seen the, the challenge. But if it is a rope one, it might be a little bit of an upset. And we'll see. We'll see Ashley maybe win this Blockbuster and oh, in that case, maybe Keanu might be leaving and going to see Rachel in the jury. So if that's that outcome, because, like, I know that there was a little bit of a push to have like, Keanu maybe stay, but I don't think that they'll have enough votes for him to stay and will be able to to beat him in in that vote. So, yeah, I'm gonna say Keanu and Ashley wins the Blockbuster.

[David Bloomberg]

All right. All right. Well, we will find out very soon as, as we wrap up. I want to encourage people to check out the rhap patron program at Rob has a website.com patron Rob has several patron only podcasts for Big Brother, plus other perks like the Facebook groups and Discord. You can help support shows like ours and everything on the network by becoming a patron@rob has a website.com patron. Also, make sure you're subscribed to all the Big Brother RHAP podcasts by going to the link that's shown on the bottom of our screen here. If you're watching, which is weknowbigbrother.com you can also go to weknowrealitytv.com if you want more than just Big Brother, including a bunch of other shows. So you can select your service of choice and sign up get everything. So subscribe. For example, they can get live feed updates on either one of those. And that was you this morning.

[Chantelle Francis]

Love updates.

[David Bloomberg]

We would like to thank Scott St. Pierre, Jessica Sterling, the whole RHAP and reality TVups behind the scenes team for all the work they do, editing and posting and creating the images and everything else. And and of course, thank you, Chantel, for jumping in, joining me on this special episode on very short notice. And so yes, again, thank you for that.

[Chantelle Francis]

My pleasure. It's happy to be here. I was actually just thinking just a couple days before you'd asked me, I was like, I wouldn't mind doing a why blank loss. So maybe I put it out into the universe and the universe answered pretty good. Quickly.

[David Bloomberg]

All right, well, I will be back with OV in just one day to discuss what should be a normal eviction and probably will be either Will or Keanu. We will find out. Until then, like we said, find us on social media and see you soon. Bye.

[Chantelle Francis]

This is why, baby. This is wildlife.