Emily Flippen Talks Big Brother 28

[00:00:08] Hey everybody, what's going on? Rob Sestradino back here. We've got a fun podcast for you here today because we are talking with one of the stars of Survivor 45, Survivor 50 here with us. And I think maybe the link when you talk about Dee Valladares and Rick Devins, it's Emily Flippen. Emily, how are you?

[00:00:33] Hey, good. You know, the funny thing is I think you can find people who both know Dee and Rick a lot better than I do. But is there somebody who has played with both of them as much as I have? And I don't know if there's the right answer for that. I think you're the missing link. Well, I guess Angela now? Angela now. Is Angela, I had this thought earlier, is Angela the new you? I'm very deeply afraid of that, Rob. I will say I do. I like to think that I have trained both Rick and Dee pretty well to handle Angela.

[00:01:01] But Angela, you know, she's on another level. So I think she's going to give us a run for our money this summer. Okay. Give us your Big Brother background, Emily, because I had thought that maybe you were a person who was not a Big Brother because you do not give Big Brother super fan really at all. And I messaged Brandon and he's like, no, no, Emily deeply enjoys Big Brother.

[00:01:25] Yeah. You know, look, I watch a lot of reality TV. Out of all the silly reality TV shows I watch, I probably know Big Brother the best. I don't know if that's concerning or not. I will say my mom started watching Big Brother for the first time this year because Dee and Devons were on it and she became a fan after Survivor. And she was horrified after the first episode and was like, are you really sure you're consuming this content? And I started to get embarrassed a little for myself. But no, I love Big Brother. I think it's a great show.

[00:01:50] Was there anything in particular from the first episode that really concerned your mom? You know, it might have been the velociraptor, although I will say I think she needs to tune into the live feeds because she texted me afterwards and said, you know, I think there's more action happening in my house. And my house only has a couple of retired 60 year olds in it. And I was like, you know, maybe that's the show. The show and the live feeds, I guess, are very different. But as somebody who really only consumes the show, because who has time for the live feeds? I mean, goodness gracious, I will say I enjoy it.

[00:02:19] Yeah. So your mom's complaint about episode one was there wasn't enough action. I think it was a combination between it moved from campy to cheesy, I think is part of the problem. And it's just a scripted diary room sessions. Oh, I hate it. You know, I will say I think I think Rick and D are doing a great job at the diary rooms relative to, you know, I guess people who have less media training. But that kills me. Why do we need everything explained 15 times? Don't treat your audience like idiots, although I guess we're watching Big Brother. Maybe you should.

[00:02:49] I think that Rick is really going to dominate the diary room this season. I think that based off of Sunday night's episode. Yeah, I really think that he's in his element. Yeah, look, Rick, he is both in his element and in person and in the diary rooms. He's funny. He's quick witted. But getting him alone, too, like he is deceptively a pretty witty dude. So I actually think now, granted, I probably need to tune the live feeds to verify this. Probably funnier off the diary rooms than in.

[00:03:16] Yeah. So I'd love to know more about your relationship with both Rick and D. I thought it was an interesting fit for you and Rick in season 50, but you met him on the beach and you seem to take to him instantly. Yeah, look, neither of them told me they were going on Big Brother this season. I can't imagine why I'm such a trustworthy person to talk to him. I was shocked.

[00:03:42] No, it's actually this is this is the experience that I think everybody is going to have with both D and Devins. And I'm saying this because it was purely my experience and it's the only thing I have to go off of. But I think it's true. I think it's true for everyone, which is you think you're going to dislike Devins. You know, there's a lot of people who watch him on the show and they think to themselves, oh, man, hanging around this guy, especially 24 seven must be exhausting. He is a blast. And when you are being slowly tortured and if you're being slowly tortured on Survivor, I can only imagine how bad the torture is when you're in the Big Brother house.

[00:04:09] You need the fun. You need the entertainment. You need the excitement. And he is so just like such a chill, fun dude to hang around. He doesn't take anything too seriously. He's not going to get his feelings heard. If you do something, you know, like walk away from him when you're trying to tell him his name, you know, that sort of thing, then you're going to have a great time with Devins. And D, I mean, God, you see it already. I almost feel like it's a moot point to come in here and repeat this. But people make judgment calls off people based off what they look like.

[00:04:37] And I think there's a lot of people who are going to make judgment calls based off of D. But D is so, so smart and strategic. And if she's smart about like balancing that threat level, she will just be a killer in this game. We're already seeing it happening. I'm a little bit worried that she's first head of household because, you know, she didn't have a choice. I understand that. But if she can balance her threat level, I see her winning this. Can you talk a little bit about the dynamic between the two of them and how you think it will go long term as somebody who knows them both so well?

[00:05:08] Both of these people, I think out of everybody I played Sapphire with, two of the most loyal people to play with. And I think they're locked in with each other. If you get locked in, if you're one of their people, if you're one of D or Devins people, they're not going to turn against you. And that has been my experience. I don't think we have any reason to believe that's going to be different. So I see them, too. I think they're locked in automatically together. But, I mean, if, you know, excuse my French here, but if everybody else doesn't have their head up their ass, they know that, too. Right? And so they're smart to kind of downplay it to the extent that they can.

[00:05:36] But they are, they will ride to the end together. I have no doubt. You know, it's interesting just as a concept, loyalty. And we saw that Rick Devins really had that a lot in season 50. Very loyal to both you and Christian and would not be somebody to ever turn on them. To a fault. And, I mean, who's to say? But in the new era, it's really, that has not been the story of Survivor in the new era.

[00:06:01] And also, you know, D, who has been by many called the most dominant winner in the new era, also played a game which was pretty loyal to a certain group. So that is an uncommon trait for modern-day Survivors to have so much. Yeah, I mean, emphasis on certain group, though, I guess. And it's the thing about playing with both D and Devins is you have a hard time telling whether or not you're in their group.

[00:06:25] And in Big Brother, where you have to spend so much time being conscious about even just who you sit around and chat to, you probably left wondering if you're one of the other players. You know, is this a fake alliance or is this a real alliance? And we already saw some of that happening, you know, we're only three episodes in and we already see that D and Devins kind of have two alliances. One's real, one's fake. And I have to say, if I'm in that house and I'm in either of those, I'm thinking that alliance is real, probably. And there's no reason that, you know, that, what is it, the Red Corner Alliance doesn't think that their ride or dies with both D and Devins. But they're obviously not.

[00:06:55] Rick has talked about how that during Survivor 50, Sari said constantly she did not have a good Big Brother experience. She would not want to play Big Brother. Were you around for any of those conversations of Sari talking about Big Brother? I don't think there's anything else I heard come out of that woman's mouth. I wish I could say that I am surprised to see either of these people on Big Brother, even after the numerous warnings that everybody gave them. But, you know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

[00:07:25] And in this case, I think, you know, they might be better equipped for this type of game in terms of tolerating the silliness and the shenanigans that inevitably happen in Big Brother in a way that I think Sari maybe just didn't have the tolerance for in the same way. But here's my concern with both of them versus the game that is Survivor. It's the speed. And you already see it. I see it happening a bit with Devins where you play hard and fast. And maybe, look, he's here for a good time, not a long time, more power to him. But this is like a 100-plus day game, right?

[00:07:55] So you have to be thinking to yourselves, how is this going to impact my game? Not, you know, days from now, the way you are in Survivor, but months from now. And that is just such a big shift. I wish Sari spent more time talking about managing threat level over the course of months as opposed to telling us how miserable it is to be living in a house with a bunch of 20-somethings. Because I think we can all imagine it's not fun. Emily, if The Powers That Be reached out to you and asked you if you wanted to play on Big Brother 28, what would you have said? No, no.

[00:08:25] And, you know, I said this about Survivor, so everyone's like, you're full of shit. Grain of salt. But, look, I'm such a big fan of Survivor or Big Brother. I love watching it. I don't want to ruin it for myself. And, look, it's so long to be away. The constantly being videotaped and recorded, I had no idea there was a whole group of people that had devoted literally their entire summer to watching these people, like, sleep on live cameras. So, no, there's other ways that I can choose to embarrass myself. This is not it. Well, how about you?

[00:08:52] Now, you said that you're surprised that people are watching so much of the live feeds. But now you have two close friends who are playing in the house. Have you yourself turned on the live feeds yet? Yes, of course. Of course. I'm getting some great timing, I will say. You know, I'm plugging in here and there when I'm over the course of, like, my work. I work from home, obviously. And it's great to be able to just plug them where I want to. And I've gotten some great D confessionals. You know, I don't – I never watched live feeds prior to this season, actually, or at least not in any regular basis.

[00:09:19] I didn't realize that people were narrating to the cameras as much as they are. Here's my concern with this, though, okay? D, great commentary. I love getting insight into the game that she's playing. That girl is loud. She doesn't realize how loud she talks sometimes. In the back of my head, I'm sitting here thinking, I hope nobody's on the other side of that door because, girl, they can hear you. You can whisper. You know, if you whisper, they still hear you, right? So that takeaway that D is loud, is that from watching her on the live feeds or that's your lived experience with her? That is my lived experience.

[00:09:49] There's been a couple of times where I've overheard D say stuff, and I'll leave it at that, that, you know, us and the rest of the people surrounding us probably shouldn't have been able to hear. But she's great, and she knows she's great. So, you know, she wants to make sure the cameras pick it up. Yeah. No, the live feeds can be very addicting, though. I have one friend that he's not even a live feed person, and he told me he was up until 4 o'clock in the morning last night just watching the live feeds. He couldn't turn it off. So what you're telling me is I need to get my mom into the live feeds? I'll be like, no, just trust me. You know, turn on the live feeds.

[00:10:18] Here's my Paramount login. Well, I'm a little worried that if your mom says there's not enough action on the show, you know, sometimes you get, like, maybe, you know, everybody's eating dinner for two hours and maybe not that much is going on. Yeah, it's more Emily content than mom content, I guess. Yeah.

[00:10:33] Okay, so I'm so interested to hear your thoughts on the new players also because, you know, I think back to you as a new player, and you famously did not like that there was a returning player who was there with you in season 45. And you actually were quite demonstrative that you did not think it was right that Bruce was coming back. And now here's Jason, who's very also anti-returning vet.

[00:11:02] Yeah, like, if I was on this season as a new player, I would be Jason. That would be my exact reaction. I would see any returning players, but especially people like Dee, Devens, and Angela coming in and thinking to myself, well, this is easy, right? We're all in a consensus about this. Nobody wants the returning players around. It's really ignorant, in my opinion, to believe that any returning players are coming in without, A, an advantage having been through the reality TV sphere, even if it's not specifically Big Brother before.

[00:11:29] You have an awareness about how things like production work, how social strategy games work, especially when they're being recorded. But also, as three people that come in with bigger targets, since they're known prior to the show, right? Everybody has an impression of these three people. They're obviously going to be working together. Obviously. Even if they otherwise wouldn't touch each other with a 10-foot pole, which might have been the case with Angela, if Angela wasn't a returning player. Then these people are working together, and you're coming in. And if you were in a showmance, people always say, that puts a big target on your back. You're a voting block of two. Right now, we have a voting block of three.

[00:11:59] And I think Jason is entirely right to be drawing attention to that. I selfishly loving Rick and, indeed, don't want him to be right and don't want that attention there. But I think that it's fair. The problem is that, and we all learn this if you've been on reality TV before, as I did on my season, coming in and saying, calling out a returning player immediately, not a great way to build your longevity in the game.

[00:12:22] And unless something crazy happens, like somebody quits instead of you going home, then I think all Jason is doing is repeating something that everybody already knows and drawing a target on himself. But it did work for you in season 45. And I know you're talking about that maybe Hannah quitting ended up maybe saving you in the very early days. But then people did warm up to you. Is it something that he could potentially, okay, maybe he ends up endearing himself to those people then?

[00:12:52] Like, it took a lot of groveling, right? Where's Caleb when you need Caleb? So Jason, I think, needs a Caleb, needs somebody to hold out a helping hand here, and then also needs to go on the apology tour. And right now, granted, I don't have all the information. I don't see that happening for Jason. I'm not even sure if Jason is aware that his comments may have rubbed people the wrong way because so much of the House right now believes that they're aligned with HOHD and her vet allies here.

[00:13:17] That it's almost easier to just turn around a narc on Jason than it is to say, oh, I'm going to hand out a helping hand here and help turn it around. And I think it all comes down to, you know, obviously who goes home this week, but also who wins HOH next week as to where that social capital goes. I know you're a big fan of the show. I'm sure you must have watched Angela's first season. And so do you have any feelings about Angela as a returning player? Oh, I don't even know where to begin. So I watch a lot of reality TV.

[00:13:47] Basically all reality TV, unfortunately. My husband hates it. Now, that season of Big Brother, Angela's season, which I believe is BB26, if I'm not mistaken. Yes. BB26. Eric watched all the way, my husband Eric, watched all of that through up until Angela went home, specifically because he was so entertained by the shenanigans and the antics. And I feel like as a result, I owe Angela like a great deal of debt for getting Eric into Big Brother to some extent.

[00:14:13] But on the same, I'm just like actually a little flabbergasted. I shouldn't be surprised that the vets are working together. But I just think after Dee's experience working with me, she should be aware of the type of player that Angela is. And I think it's very clear that Angela and I have a lot in common in our levels of impulsivity. And it doesn't necessarily mean that Angela's heart's not in the right space, but she takes things very personally sometimes.

[00:14:36] And I think she's an incredibly impulsive player, which inevitably comes back usually to reflect poorly on the people who are allied with them. So my hope is, is that at some point Dee or Devens realizes, hey, you know, Angela's a bit of a loose cannon. We need to cut her here. And I say that with the utmost love as somebody who is, I view myself a bit of an Angela in this situation, but it takes one to know one. Yeah, that's so interesting that you describe yourself as an Angela. And I definitely could see some of what you're talking about.

[00:15:04] But I also, you seem to me like you're also such a strategist also, which I don't know necessarily if that is also part of Angela's game. It's so funny that people have that impression of me as a strategist. And I can't tell if it's just the way I talk, if it's my job title, if it's the way I look. I don't know what it is. I like to think at no point have I given anybody any evidence to believe that I am a good strategist, especially in games like Survivor or in this case, a game like Big Brother. I'm much more an entertainment connoisseur of sorts.

[00:15:34] But that's all going back to how people perceive you, right? So people do not perceive Angela as a strategic threat. If the extent that she's able to pull some strategy into her game there, that can work to her benefit. The same thing is true with Dee. I think Dee is really playing up, being ignorant about the Big Brother sphere, so to speak, to downplay her experience on reality shows in the past when she obviously has a clue what she's doing. So it's all about managing perception. And unfortunately, I have this perception that I'm a strategist when I'm really not. I promise I'm just here for entertainment value. Okay. All right.

[00:16:02] So of these two people, Rick and Dee, who do you think is the person who has UC working better with Angela over the course of the season? Oh, Devin's for sure. I think Dee will speak very clearly and very directly to Angela, and she will tell Angela to her face when Angela is doing something that bothers her. Now, I don't know Angela personally. I would imagine that one or two times of doing that, maybe Angela takes it well.

[00:16:30] But after a month of hearing from Dee about how Angela is messing up her game, I can't help but wonder if Angela starts to get irritated after a while. And that comes back to blowback on Dee. And I think Devin's, because he is perceived more as like this fun, chill dude, the feedback that he gives to Angela, if he even gives her feedback at all, he might just roll with whatever craziness she has, which is way more in his style. I think it's more likely that she will bond closer with him over a course of weeks and months.

[00:16:56] Yeah, that's really interesting because we saw where Dee and Rick had a conversation in the episode we saw on Sunday night where Rick was telling people about the crossover alliance that they made. And then Dee found out about that, and she's like, oh, Rick, you shouldn't have done that. And she said it to him like four or five times of you shouldn't have done that. Had that been Angela instead of Rick? I don't know if Angela takes that with the same grace that Rick took it. Yeah, that's a really good point.

[00:17:24] I felt for Rick in that moment because I was like, oh, been there, done that, Rick. I've been on the other side of that equation. And yeah, Rick does have it going for him, but I think he takes feedback very well. Again, he does not take things personally. I can't speak for Angela on a personal level, but I get the impression. If I was Angela and I was coming back into the house, what I probably would have done was – it sounds crazy. I don't know. Maybe it is. I maybe would have apologized. I would have said, hey, guys, I'm so honored to be here again.

[00:17:49] I recognize that a lot of you have perspectives or opinions about me after likely watching on BB26. I made a lot of mistakes there. I'm looking to come back and try to improve my game, and I have so much to learn from all of you. And she – not that we saw, at least, didn't really approach it that way. Now, that being said, she did approach Dee, and we saw them have a conversation in the HOH room where she was kind of giving Dee tips because she recognized that when she was head of household for her first season, she made a lot of mistakes in that first HOH.

[00:18:18] And she didn't want Dee to make the same errors. So at least there's some part of her that is recognizing, hey, I made mistakes in the past season, and I don't want that to impact and make the same mistakes moving forward. But still, even within that context, she wasn't kind of self-reflecting there and trying to improve her own game. She was still giving Dee advice. And I think it's that dynamic that's going to be really interesting to watch and see how it evolves over time. I just – we haven't seen enough of Angela this season to see how she's changed in the couple of years since we've not seen her on TV.

[00:18:44] It's such an interesting dynamic between those three because you have Rick and Dee who are really very celebrated in terms of their Survivor success with Dee as being such a dominant winner and Rick being such a fun character who's coming off of such a fun ride in Survivor 50. But they are both native to a different show. And here's Angela, who is the person who has actually played Big Brother before, who is the returning player for this specific show. And she's kind of the afterthought in this group of three.

[00:19:13] It's actually – it's casting genius because I do think that the three of them, they bring such different personas and, like, vibes to the cast that you could almost – you can much more easily separate them in your head. You cast three strategists or three Devons or three Angelas, right, just chaotic, crazy players, then you're going to have a problem on your hands. And I love this combination of the three. But I wouldn't say just yet that Angela – we haven't seen it in the edit as much. But I have to imagine that the new players probably are most familiar with Angela and her game.

[00:19:43] And I can't say that I can speak for myself and I watch a lot of reality TV again and I forget most of it. I haven't forgotten a lot of the more controversial, crazy stuff that Angela did on her season. I haven't forgotten how that impacted her allies. I can't imagine that other people haven't forgotten that either. And if I'm sitting in an alliance with Dee, Devons, and Angela and X number of other new players, I'm probably thinking to myself, who is the loosest cannon in this group? It's Angela. It's always going to be Angela.

[00:20:10] I'd love to talk about some of the new players also and get your perspective on them. And I had been thinking of you because here is Yash, who is a social media financial consultant analyst. Yeah, and I'm sure his job is a lot more legitimate than my job is. But man, do I feel bad for Yash because talk about getting put up by the first HOH. We didn't even get to see any conversations that Yash had with Dee.

[00:20:38] We haven't seen much of his relationships forming in the house. And then most importantly, he was on Dee's HOH team or the team that helped her win head of household. And maybe we'll get some of that when we get our next episode. But very little commentary here. And it almost seems like he's this sad afterthought. And I can't tell if that's just because he's not this big personality that we have elsewhere. Maybe he just needs to step up a bit or if it's just because nobody really cares about him. And he's just somebody you can throw up as a pawn on the block.

[00:21:06] But as we know, pawns go home and it does make me concerned for Yash. But if I'm the only retaining financial analyst here, then, you know, no harm, no foul. Yeah, reality TV's reigning financial analyst. There you go. Yeah. I don't know about that. Maybe give Yash a second chance. Well, maybe you could take Yash under your wing if he comes out of the house. Yeah, I'll tell him that what he really should do when he's up there on the block is freak out a little bit. Make a scene at tribal council. I mean, when, you know, whatever the BB equivalent to tribal council is, what do we call that? I don't think it has a name. The Circle?

[00:21:36] The nomination ceremony? The nomination ceremony. Yeah, these are ceremonies. Because it's also the living room. It hasn't worked out for me in the past, but maybe it'll work for him. Yeah. How about some of these other new players? Is there anybody else that has really given you some fun thoughts? Oh, gosh. Well, it's even hard to know where to begin. Yeah. Obviously, the showmance is at day two.

[00:22:03] I think a hilarious disaster just waiting to happen. Early showmances, especially when they're not slow burns, so to speak, but it happened immediately are just great distractions from everybody else. But to be completely honest with you, I find both Rome and Lyric to be mildly grating. And maybe that's just because the only thing we have is them kind of loudly making out while everybody else is trying to sleep. And I'm putting myself in that position where I'm like, man, you only have a certain number of hours. I know. Seri told us a certain number of hours that you're able to sleep in the BB house.

[00:22:32] And the idea that I have to listen to any portion of that with other people who have known each other for two days macking ahead of me, I mean, it would just drive me completely up a wall. Yeah. So, all right. Roman Lyric, we're not so high on. What about Barrett, who is somebody who has been working very closely with Dee and even Devins? You know, I was a fan of Barrett when I saw his initial casting. Watching him on the show, I am concerned. And it's not because I don't like Barrett as a player.

[00:23:01] It's not that I don't like him as a person. I don't like his alliance with Dee and Devins. Oh. And I know, and this is maybe a hot take. Maybe I'm projecting here on some point. I didn't quite understand why that group got together, right? I think it was Drew, Barrett, Dee, Devins, and Angela. Yeah, the crossovers. And that's, yes, the crossovers. So, the crossovers. And it seems like that's the alliance that Dee and Devins are wanting to run most closely with, which more power to them. They're in the house.

[00:23:30] They can kind of send out where their closest connections are. But I think Barrett is, again, just making judgment calls based on what people look like. So, maybe he's not a great strategist, but he gives, you know, kind of nerdy guy vibes, strategist vibes. He's somebody who's probably aware of what a big threat the vets are. You want to be, in the interim, aligned with a three-person voting block. And the veterans are obviously a good distraction from any new players.

[00:23:54] They're always going to be people that you probably want to get rid of ahead of, you know, potentially just, oh, little Barrett sitting in the corner. So, I just think that Barrett is kind of aware of that dynamic and is maybe more willing to throw that alliance under the bus faster than Dee and Devins are. Basically, I'm just not getting the sense that he's going to ride as hard for them as they might ride for him. And we saw that when Dee didn't put Barrett up for nomination, even though I think Kamu made a really, really good argument for why she should. Yeah. A really good argument.

[00:24:24] And Dee, instead of doing what I think would have been the maybe most logical thing in splitting up the nominations, chose to nominate somebody from her own HOH group instead, which I think kind of exposes that alliance a bit, exposes that she's willing to do something that's less ideal for her game to protect the crossovers in the interim. I just don't know if Barrett is HOH, if he's going to be making that same decision to protect Dee. Or Devins.

[00:24:44] Yeah, Barrett and Drew are both in the same position of that they are the real super fans who are there in the house playing with people that they've enjoyed watching on television. Do you feel like is there a danger there for the returning players in feeling like, okay, these people have our best interests and then eventually that they want to be ultimately the reality TV legends themselves?

[00:25:10] Yeah, I always hate it when people come on TV and think to themselves, how am I going to get the most screen time? And I need to either align or vote off people who are based off screen time or align with people based off screen time so that I get a good edit. I hate all that stuff. And to be honest, I'm clearly not great about sussing that out myself. So maybe I'm not the best person to ask there. But in the case of the super fans, I will say, I think Dee, you ride that for as long as you can.

[00:25:35] I don't think anybody is such a big super fan that they're willing to at least consciously hurt their own game in the Big Brother house. Now, whether or not they do that subconsciously, a different decision. I remember what Dee was like on 45 where she had very genuine close alliances with people who are willing to ride or die for her. And when push came to shove, she was willing to make cuts when needed to advance her own game. And I just hope that, you know, her and Rick, you know, learning from Dee in this context are willing to make those decisions if time comes where they need to start cutting some of the super fans.

[00:26:05] Because I promise you, they're not going to be such big super fans that they will die on their sword for you. So back in season 45, it seemed to me as a viewer that Dee's most loyal ally was ultimately Julie. And we have Angela here who is also like a maternal figure, but I also feel like that Julie and Angela are probably not super similar. The Julie slander, yeah. Yeah, I know. But I feel like I don't know a lot about Julie.

[00:26:34] Yeah, this is fair. They're obviously, I think, very, very different people. And I think the alliance that was built out between Dee and Julie, I mean, that was a genuine connection that two people had and grew over a period of obviously days and weeks. Lots of times of working together and putting their money where their mouth is. And maybe the same thing can be true for Angela. But I think in Angela's case, this is much more an alliance out of convenience from the fact that you're veterans.

[00:27:01] You could replace Angela with literally any other big brother returning player for the most part. And the same exact dynamic would have happened, right, where Dee and Devens would have aligned together. So I don't think Dee is looking at Angela and thinking to herself, oh, I've worked with somebody like this before. I can figure, you know, like this is an alliance that makes sense for me independently of the situation of both of us being returning players. I think it's purely we're returning players. We're all shields for each other. At least in the interim, we have to work together. And it does seem like a genuine alliance from everybody's perspectives right now.

[00:27:30] But it's been like a week, right? Like how much context do we actually have to where their thought processes are? And Angela, again, sometimes it takes a couple weeks for people to start to slip. And I think it's hard to keep up. I'm not saying Angela's putting on a facade, but like acting your best behavior when it comes to the game and strategy. There's going to be cracks. And when those cracks start to show, I just wonder how that relationship evolves between Angela and Dee. Rick and Dee talked about how they did not have the best relationship during Survivor 50.

[00:27:56] And I think some of that might have just been hyping it up for the television show in the diary room. There was the one vote where they were not on the same page. And then you all voted out Dee at the merge. But prior to that, at the Charlie vote, and I know you weren't there for that. But coming into the merge, did it seem like that there was any animosity between Rick and Dee? Yes, 100%. I remember one of the first conversations I had with Rick was he told me he wanted Dee out.

[00:28:25] And this was before I even had the chance to talk with Dee at that point. And I remember just being heartbroken because my closest alliance was with Rick and Christian and Sari at that point. My closest alliance included him. And I remember thinking to myself, darn it. I was really hoping to hit the merge and have the ability to combine whatever relationship I have with Dee prior to this with my existing alliance and have us move together. But that was a no-go zone kind of for both of them, although I talked with it a lot more about Rick. But I know this about both Dee and Devins. Neither of them are grudge holders.

[00:28:54] And I think both of them have managed to reconcile any bad blood about either Dee's vote out or the blind side against Charlie on Season 50. All of that, I think, is water that is so far under the bridge that it's almost not even worth bringing up. So I wouldn't be surprised. We might not see, depending on how the live feeders see, we might not see a lot of conversations happening directly between Dee and Devins. I think if we don't, that's strategic on their part for making it seem like they're not as close as they are. But both these people have played Survivors together. The devil you know is much better than the devil you don't.

[00:29:23] I think they're both aware of that and they're massive targets. So it makes all the sense in the world for them to be biggest thieves. Yeah, I think that also Rick's loyalty mindset has really infiltrated the house. And we know in Survivor 50 where you and Rick had your back up against the wall at the power broker tribal council. You stuck together. You could have tried to throw each other under the bus. And that was a really nice moment between the two of you. In the house, I think that this may be getting a little ahead of where the episodes are,

[00:29:53] where Melody did not want to stick with Mallory once she got up on the block. And it was something that's been noticed by Rick. And I think that other people have also said this, like, wow, that's not a loyal person. That's not somebody who's sticking by their friend. That's not the type of person that I would want to work for. And I think that it may be in other Big Brother houses that would not have been looked down upon as much. Yeah, I think that's a really interesting dynamic.

[00:30:21] And as you mentioned, Rick obviously has a lot of data to back this up. He's such a bro, for lack of a better word. And I mean that with the most love, not in a bro sense, but in the sense that he will ride with you once you're one of his people. And he puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to voting and aligning. That being said, and I understand why, you have nothing else going on in the house. You only see what you see. And so it's a talking point. You see somebody who's maybe not acting the most loyal, and you draw that as a character trait.

[00:30:47] So I don't fault Rick or others for feeling that way about Melody. Excuse me. Gosh, those names are going to kill me. About Melody. But here's what I will say in defense of Melody. This is the first nomination, the first head of household competition. You have known these people for just a handful of days. And people are already looping. I believe it was her, Mallory, and Lyric up together in a three because, God forbid, people work out together, right?

[00:31:13] So I would kind of be in the same mentality where if I see what is perceived to be one of my closest allies that I probably barely know at this point going up on the block and everyone being like, well, that's your person. Like, whoa, wait a minute. When does this my person? I'm still a free agent. I still want to go out there and chat. But here's what I will say. I would have saved those conversations. Well, I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt here. Ideally, you save those conversations for, like, after the veto ceremony or after at least the first vote off.

[00:31:38] And then you can go back and just kind of clarify to people that while you really liked Mallory, you are still somebody who is looking to find a home and maybe somebody will take you in. But I kind of sympathize with her because I think she saw that ship sinking and was like, I don't want to sink with it. But it's not like you are – at that point that Devin's, for instance, on season 50 went to bat with me at that tribal council for Sari. Our fates, I think, from both of our perspectives were kind of written in the sand at that point, right?

[00:32:07] We were social outcasts in the sense that people wanted us out. We had been working together since day one. We'd been through a lot together. So it made sense to ride or die. I think expecting Melody to ride or die with Mallory after just a few days, I mean, it's hard to rake somebody over the coals for that. Is there anybody else that you think from Survivor 50 would have been a good fit here on Big Brother 28? A good fit.

[00:32:30] I mean, like this is so selfish of me, so incredibly selfish of me because, of course, I want to have all the people that I'm aligned with and I know well in the Big Brother house. I would love to have seen Christian, of course. Now, I know Christian will probably never do it because he's probably like, I have a life. And, you know, not to say that Rick or Dee don't have lives. Yeah. That sounded bad. A different life. I have a different life. I have different priorities right now. Maybe, maybe as time passes. But you know who I actually would love to see? Joe. Joe. And I know that's a controversial opinion.

[00:32:58] But Joe, I just think he's like people. He really does force people to play around him. And Joe on the live feeds. Oh, oh, it would be magic. It would be magic. He's going under the radar here. Come on, CBS. OK, so I was going to say Joe as a joke that he would not enjoy it. But I know that you were very fond of him. And I know from when I did my postgame interviews with Joe that he talked about that you and him had a special relationship.

[00:33:25] So what is it about Joe that was your experience that maybe the people at home don't necessarily get from the TV show? I maintain that for the most part what you see on TV, I think, is fair and representative of how people are perceived and views by those around them. I think that's true for myself. I think it was true for most people on season 50. I definitely think it was true for Joe. That being said, Joe is obviously, and I don't think anybody will fight me on this, a lovely, wonderful person.

[00:33:52] But Joe, I think, struggles the bit of cognitive dissonance is maybe the word that I would use. And I sympathize a lot because I feel that way about myself to an extent, which is maybe why I want to see him because I think it'd be great TV. But I think that forces people to kind of change how they interact with him as a result. You never quite understand where his head is. And we saw that a lot in season 50 where he would say one thing but do another and then struggle with himself in that decision making because it went against whatever his perceived values were. That is such an interesting dynamic.

[00:34:22] And when you have a lot more time on a show like Big Brother as well as like Food and Water, obviously, to sit and think about your decisions and you're having to play around a larger group of people. It's like the merge all over again. Huge number of people that all have their own ambitions. I just think watching him navigate that and watching other people navigate around Joe's cognitive dissonance would just be so interesting. And what's great about him is that Big Brother casts a lot of these really big personalities. And that's fine. It fits the Big Brother campiness and stuff. But like he's not that.

[00:34:52] He's not that. So he would offer a nice balance to like the Latrice's of the world, I guess. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I talked a lot about this during Survivor 50 of the similarities or differences between Joe and Devin's. And I think that at their center, in addition to being incredible dads, they both have a really strong moral code of like these are the lines I'm not willing to cross. And I think that Rick ends up taking some enjoyment out of that.

[00:35:20] And I think that Joe ends up feeling like a burden due to the moral code that he has. And sometimes and many times during the season, he was like, hey, this is not what I want to do. But I feel like I'm having to do it out of obligation where I think Rick enjoys, hey, you want me to do this and I'm not going to.

[00:35:39] There's actually a lot of really interesting psychological studies, I think, to back this up where we tend to use values and morals to back up decisions that we've already made as opposed to making decisions based off of our values and our morals. And I think the difference between Joe and Rick is that Rick is maybe aware of this dynamic, a little more self-aware of this dynamic than Joe is. And when Joe makes decisions and then isn't able to back it up with his perceived values and morals, that's what creates that challenge, I guess, that's happening in his head.

[00:36:07] And whereas Rick, I think, makes a decision, for instance, by spilling the beans about his alliances and maybe sharing more than he will. And that's logically goes against what he wants, which is to be tight lipped or loyal to D and is able to reconcile those two things in his head as, yeah, silliness of himself as a human nature, as opposed to feeling really, really challenged in his humanity by that decision making.

[00:36:31] And that does tend to go over a lot better for reality TV than taking things a little too seriously. Yeah. There is a power that America can send to one of the house guests. Who do you think is more likely to get the power here in week one? Do you think it'll be D or Rick? Okay, here's my question for you before I answer that. Sure. Have you voted? I did not. Have you voted yet? I also didn't. And I finished the episode and I was, which by the way, it was off of Paramount Plus for a little while. Now it's back on. Yeah, I got taken down and it got put back up.

[00:37:01] I went to Reddit and I confirmed it. So it wasn't me. It wasn't my issue. But I did manage to finish the episode. And afterwards, I didn't cast a vote because the interesting dynamic there was only each person can only win at once. Yeah. And ideally, your favorite person is sticking around long enough to really need it. So I think what's probably going on. But they don't need it now. They don't need it now. Exactly. My hope is that this doesn't end up, although the general populace, we're stupid. We're stupid. Groups of people are stupid.

[00:37:30] So maybe I'm giving the general populace too much. My hope is that what the votes end up shaking out, it's not a fan favorite ranking where the first person to get it is the person that everybody likes most that week. And then it just continues down the list. But rather a perception of balance between who you like and who you actually believe needs it, who is in danger. And maybe I'm underestimating the Big Brother fan base and their ability to vote accordingly. My fear is that one of the three returning players is going to get it. I really hope that's not the case. If their target was not already big enough, they obviously do not need it.

[00:37:59] It'll make everyone in the house pretty resentful of them. I would have to imagine. And refresh the target. So when I'm thinking, you know, I'm trying to think about somebody. I haven't still been cast my vote myself, so I don't know where it's going. But I fear that it's going in a fan favorite direction. Yeah. I think it'll be either D or Rick. And it'll be interesting because we don't know if they will tell the house that somebody is getting a power every single week. And it might be something where they just sort of keep it under wraps. And then people after a couple of weeks might start comparing notes.

[00:38:27] Or we might find out that they're going to announce what they're going to end up doing. Emily, did you see the news that Survivor 50 is going to be re-airing this summer? Yeah. Couldn't they just spare us? They had to, like, re-air all the embarrassment. Like, it was just dying down to the point where I could, like, go to the grocery store and have to dinner. Yeah. Nope. Nope. Now it's back. Now it's back. You know, hopefully we'll skip over some episodes in the process. But I'll tell you what. I won't be watching it. Okay. I'll be watching Big Brother. Why? Was it painful for you to watch Survivor 50?

[00:38:57] No, it was a lot of fun. What are you talking about? Of course it was painful, Rob. Of course it was painful. It was like the Emily Embarrassment show. I had a – painful within context. Obviously, I have a lot of regrets about how I acted. It was a lot of fun. I will say watching TV shows with people that you are genuinely friendly with and know on a personal level, it is a lot of fun. And it was a lot of fun to text message, you know, Rick and Christian when stuff was happening and have a good laugh about it. But it's even more fun to be watching them in Big Brother right now.

[00:39:27] So, yeah, I'm enjoying that. That is where my time energy is going. Emily, if you had to pick a player to win the season that was not one of the returnees, okay? I'm going to take all three of the returnees off the board. Who do you think has the best chance to win? Oh, that's a really good question. The best chance to win right now. I'm sorry. I'm looking off on here. I have them all listed. I genuinely think it might be Kamu.

[00:39:56] Okay. I think – and I understand that is maybe – I think people feel – based off the few comments I read online, people aren't a big fan of the Red Corner Alliance, which is fair enough. But I think what's dragging that down is other people who are part of that alliance, not necessarily Kamu himself. And I actually thought what game we've seen Kamu play in the world he's operating in has been very strong. He thinks that he is tightly aligned with like Dee and Devons and them.

[00:40:25] And in that world, if that were true, I understand that that's not necessarily the case from their perspectives. But from Kamu's perspective, he is playing really well within that world. And I think what is probably going to happen is once the awareness spread that that alliance is dead, it was never going to be honored by Dee and Devons. And people start to target the Red Corner Alliance. They probably go for people like Haley or Chuck before they go for Kamu. I think Kamu, we've seen him have more strategic conversations with more people. I think he's integrating himself more in the house.

[00:40:55] And then once your core alliance gets kind of decimated, even if it is pre-jury, that makes you a bit of that floater, that free agent that maybe allows him to plug in more. And we've already seen that. I think he has some of the strategic chops to get there. He's also, I think, a physical, I don't know, MMA seems like a physical thing, probably a physical threat for some comps. So maybe he can win some too. I think it's a really smart take because I think that people are looking at it like, oh, well, that he's not in the real power core. And so that he's just- You probably don't want to be in the real power core this early.

[00:41:23] Well, I think that there's going to be a cause and effect of that. At some point, I think the jig is going to be up. Kamu's going to realize that he's not in with Dee. And I think that there's a whole side of the house that's thinking like, oh, Dee is just in with like the real people who are running the house are Kamu and Chuck and the other one, Haley. And that they're really running things. The girl, the girl they felt the need to have to have in this red corner alliance.

[00:41:53] Oh, my God. But I think that at the point where that those guys realize like, hey, we got hosed. I think that they're going to link up with that other side of the house. And instead of going after each other, I think there's certainly a scenario. It's like, hey, the returnees duped us that we weren't in charge. They were. And so I think that there is like a world where the two sides of the house that aren't the returnees could potentially link up.

[00:42:19] Yeah, I am hopeful here that we'll see the returnees make a deep run because I love Dee and Devin. I would be ecstatic. I'm so incredibly biased in this podcast, obviously, because I have a personal relationship with them and I'm rooting for them. If I was a fan who was not emotionally invested, I would probably be rooting against them, to be completely frank with you. I'm also rooting for Angela because she makes great TV and I love great TV. And I'll probably get Eric to watch more of the season just because Angela's on it.

[00:42:44] That being said, I don't see any of these returning players making it deep into the jury phase. I just just the nature of and they have to know that they have to have the awareness. Maybe that's why they're playing hard and early. Unless something crazy happens. I just, you know, I see it. I see it happening with the Sari level and Sari is probably the best they do. Yeah. OK, Emily, I know you said you watch a lot of reality TV. Is there anything else you're watching besides Big Brother? Well, Love Island's over now. Oh, you were watching? My hole in my heart, of course, is empty now. Yes, I loved it so much.

[00:43:14] This was my first Love Island season and I was so into it. You know, I will say it was not my favorite season for obvious reasons. There have been better seasons of reality TV, but I think it was, gosh, the Leah season, the Rob season. I cannot remember the names of other people who were on that season. But Leah and Rob, that season was probably the best season of reality TV I have ever seen. That and the very first season of Temptation Island, not the one that's on Netflix.

[00:43:40] It was pre-Netflix buying Temptation Island, the very first season of Temptation Island that came out in like 2018 or something. That was some great reality TV. Should they have sent anybody from season 50? Oh, there's no synergy now. They could have sent them to Love Island, but now it's not on CBS anymore. Can you imagine? Actually make them compete their way back in. Send them on Survivor. I don't know if anybody's single in the whole cast. There's 24 people. I don't think, you know, I'm not sure there's one single person. Okay. Emily, thank you so much for coming on and talking some BB28.

[00:44:10] This was so fun. Yeah. Thanks for having me. It was a blast. Yeah. Anything you want people to check out on your end? Oh, no. I have nothing to plug. I apologize. I'll plug this. Go watch the live feeds on Big Brother. Apparently they're better. Okay. All right. And then check out maybe when Yash becomes Emily's new financial intern. Oh, there we go. I think Yash can do better than that, but we'll see. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. We've got so much more Big Brother coming up.

[00:44:38] I'll be doing the slop over on the patron feed with Chappelle. We'll have another Wednesday night recap, plus everything else going on and a few other surprises too. So thank you for joining us, everybody. Take care. Have a good one. Bye.