Taylor Brown is not holding back on how she really feels about Drew Campbell’s “Big Brother 28” downfall.
The runner-up, 28, said exclusively that Campbell’s eviction by his closest ally Rick Devens during Thursday’s live finale only confirmed what she believed all season. “It just proved that Drew is nothing but a lapdog to the ‘Icons,’ like he’s been for 87 days and like he will continue to be,” she said.
Brown, an elementary school counselor, described the “Icons” — Devens, “Survivor 45” winner Dee Valladares and “Big Brother 26” alum Angela Murray — as running Campbell on a tight leash. “They literally had [Campbell] on a leash, and if they asked him to bark, he would ask how loud,” she added.
The surgical dental assistant, 22, had stuck with the returning players rather than the season’s newbies, a choice that ended with Devens, 42, cutting him at the final three. Campbell left the house in tears, though he still joined five other jurors in voting for Devens to win the $750,000 grand prize. Brown received only LaTrice Verrett’s vote and settled for second place and $75,000.
Brown also stood by her jury argument that the “Icons” entered with built-in advantages that skewed the competition. “They came into this house with people in awe of them,” she explained. “They came in with a fan base, which means they were more likely to be voted to get these powers.”
She pressed the point further, calling it systemic inequity baked into the format. “And because of that, that is the definition of elitism, power and privilege,” she added.
The six-time nominee believed jurors misread her quieter strategy as weakness rather than survival. “I think maybe if they watch the show back, if they see a little bit of the live feeds, that they would definitely see that I was in a position where I couldn’t win,” she said. “I couldn’t get in on any alliances. I couldn’t form bonds that I can trust and continue to move forward with.”
Brown’s self-described “pod thing” — removing her microphone to process strategy aloud — became her refuge when direct confrontation backfired. “It felt like my game just constantly fell apart every time I tried to be more aggressive, more vocal, more active,” she continued. “So that’s why I did my pod thing and it worked for me. I was able not to wear a mic and I could kind of talk things out and process things out.”
Her blunt assessment of Campbell’s loyalty drew a sharp contrast with how the finale actually played out: Devens chose Brown for the final two, yet Campbell still rewarded him with the winning vote.
