Jason De Puy became the third houseguest evicted from Big Brother 28 in a unanimous 12-0 vote after being targeted by Head of Household Kamu Kirk.
Jason De Puy, 35, the West Hollywood drag queen known from two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Kamu Kirk, 32, an MMA fighter from Phoenix, had a public clash over what De Puy says felt personal rather than strategic.
When asked if Kamu’s targeting was strategic or personal, Jason said, “I think, in a way, it stemmed from personal. If it wasn’t personal, it wouldn’t have been so isolating, so pointed — it was me specifically he was targeting, no one else, no other group.”
Jason explained his perspective: “I think Kamu was very threatened by my authenticity and my drag queenness. It was very clear, even with Drew [Campbell] and Barrett [Pfeiffer] running around in dresses, that he was not down with that, and there was a part of me that realized that, and I could tell he was uncomfortable, so I wasn’t going to make it uncomfortable for him, but the minute he decided to target me, it was time to make him feel uncomfortable, just as he made me feel uncomfortable.”
Jason told Us that Kamu, 32, made it clear the drag concept made him uncomfortable.
“For me personally, I could tell that the drag really made him uncomfortable,”
Jason said of his rival.
But Jason acknowledged it wasn’t entirely about him personally. “And a lot of the times, it wasn’t even because of me. It was Drew [Campbell] parading around the house, holding a pillow, being naked and, like, messing with him.”
The house-wide “tea party” turned into a full interrogation over rumors Jason had been gunning for the “Icon” players—Dee Valladares, Rick Devens and Angela Murray. Kamu grilled him for close to an hour yet refused to name names in a planned confrontation that didn’t go as smoothly as the MMA fighter planned.
After learning he was Kirk’s target, Jason marched through the house banging a kettle with a wooden spoon.
“My queen!” Jason yells as he bangs the kettle down the hallway. “That’s my girl right there! That’s my girl! That’s the queen of the house! Ms. Kamu, I got you, girl.”
Jason later revealed: “So, that’s why the teapot, and I don’t know if they aired it, but we had a whole conversation about gender, about pronouns. When I was banging that teapot, I kept calling him a ‘queen.’ I kept calling him ‘Queen Kamu, queen of the Tea Party,’ and he, of course, was seething.”
Rick Devens interjected by saying, “Hey, Jason, you probably want to get his right pronouns.” Jason responded: “Oh, I’m sorry. Your behavior at the tea party was very drag queen, very Housewife, very she/her. What are your pronouns? I’d hate to offend you.” So, I was really leaning into this idea of like, “If you’re gonna make me feel uncomfortable in front of the whole house in America, I’m gonna make you feel uncomfortable.”
“I kept calling him ‘she/her,'” Jason explained to Gold Derby about Kamu. “I kept calling him the queen of the tea party, and I could tell I was getting under his skin.” Jason continues: “Devens spoke up and said, ‘Hey, maybe you want to get his pronouns right.’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. You’re just acting like a drag queen. You’re acting like a Housewife, very she/her energy.’ And he was like, ‘Well, it’s he/him.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, great. Alpha male. Mr. King. Father God.'”
“It did feel personal, and I made it personal against Kamu in the house with that pot and some conversations we had that I felt very proud of,” Jason told Men’s Journal. “I was happy to give him a taste of his own medicine.”
Despite there being three other reality show icons on the season, Jason decided not to reveal that he was also on a reality show before Big Brother: two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
When asked if he regretted keeping his Drag Race identity secret, Jason said, “None of the people in the house knew me from Drag Race, which tells me they didn’t really know Drag Race. So I think coming out as a Drag Race reality TV icon to them would have been — I would have been looked at even weirder.”
“Angela’s from Big Brother, Devens and Dee are from Survivor — these strategic gameplay shows that everyone in the house watched or is familiar with. We’re in the game that Angela played; no one understands drag.”
While fans on social media took issue with several anti-gay and anti-drag comments made by Kamu, Jason confirms the MMA fighter “never said anything that made it personal” within the game. He knows Kamu was “uncomfortable with the drag queen stuff,” but it never rose to the level of bullying.
“You’re not going to sit here and bully me when I can bully back if I need to,” Jason explained.
Julie Chen Moonves complimented Jason for “having a good handle” on what was happening in the house, but called him out for being too loose-lipped.
Believing that America must have hated him, Julie gave him rewarding information that he was actually in the top three of both BB Time Capsule votes.
Jason told Variety the morning after being voted out, “I was in acceptance in that house. Even with my words, I thought I was fairly respectful, even though my words could be sassy and cunning. I hope my example of what a drag queen looked like in the house can show America that we’re nothing to be afraid of.”
In the viral moment during week two, an explosive nomination ceremony saw Angela Murray call Jason out for throwing his friends’ names under the bus, making him the house’s target. When week three came and Kamu Kirk became the new HOH, he had his sights set on backdooring Jason.
During Monday afternoon’s week three Veto meeting, the Arizona MMA fighter pulled the trigger on his backdoor plan, officially naming Jason as his replacement nominee.
Mallory won the Blockbuster, leaving Jason on the block against LaTrice. He was evicted in a 12 to zero vote.
Big Brother airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 8/7c on CBS with new episodes streaming the next day on Paramount+.