‘Big Brother 28’ runner-up Taylor Brown defends her gameplay: ‘I didn’t get this far for no reason’

Alabama Life & CultureTaylor Brown and "Big Brother" host Julie Chen Moonves.CBSTaylor Brown placed second on “Big Brother 28” during the Oct. 1 season finale, losing to Rick Devens in a 6-1 jury vote.Taylor’s last move of the season was convincing Devens to take her to the final two. Devens planned to fulfill his promise to take his friend and longtime ally Drew Campbell, until Taylor convinced him he needed Drew’s jury vote to win the game. The successful argument won Taylor the $75,000 runner-up prize.“I’m happy that I left with something to talk about game-wise, strategic-wise, to show that my wheels turn,” Taylor said of the move. “I know how to make things make sense, and I didn’t get this far for no reason at all.”As Taylor’s ally Yash Patel pointed out during the jury roundtable, Taylor had great reads on the game and was very aware of where each player stood. What she lacked was the power to do anything about her knowledge; she was never part of a majority alliance, and she didn’t win Head of Household until the final four.Taylor knew that most of the jury perceived her as a perpetual pawn who didn’t make big moves. She wanted to use that perception to her advantage in her final speech. “When you live with people, you know how people feel about you. You hear the whispers about you. Because of that, I wanted to kind of hone in on that more in my speech, talk about starting at the bottom [and] being on the block. Like a Taylor story,” she said, referring to season 24 champion Taylor Hale. “She was always on the block, she was resilient, she was left out. The same thing that happened to [Taylor Hale] kind of happened to me,” Taylor said, noting that she often felt on the outs in the game.“I don’t wanna say the word ostracized, but I definitely did feel left out,” she said. “I came into this game face-first, [as a] have-not on the block.”READ MORE: ‘Big Brother 28’ winner Rick Devens’ kids are ‘ticked off’ that he betrayed DrewDuring her final speech, Taylor argued that Devens had certain advantages in the game. Because of his two stints on “Survivor,” Devens had a higher chance of fans voting for him to enter the BB Time Capsule, where he ultimately won a valuable Diamond Power of Veto. He was also one of only three players eligible to compete in the first Head of Household competition, along with “Survivor” champion Dee Valladares and “Big Brother 26” alum Angela Murray. “You have these Icons who are the only ones able to win the first HoH. Nobody talks about that enough,” Taylor said. She argued that Dee’s week one HoH victory gave the reality TV Icons the “pick of the litter” of who to align with. “The game is already set in a place where it’s this big majority alliance. It just made this natural line and I was left out of it,” she said. “The first HoH alone just proved [the Icons had] elitism, power and privilege.” As Taylor struggled to gain her footing in the game, third-place finisher Drew ingratiated himself with the Icons, becoming part of their Crossovers alliance. Taylor and Drew had a complicated dynamic throughout the game. During week seven, they had a heated argument when Drew falsely accused Taylor of plotting against the Icons.Drew Campbell, Julie Chen Moonves, Rick Devens and Taylor Brown.CBSTaylor said Drew’s lies “hurt [her] feelings” because she truly cared about him. When Drew was on the block during week four, Taylor gave him a pep talk about how much potential he had in the game. “I was pouring into him, because I truly saw it. And I loved him,” she said. “I proved to people time and time again that I could be a good ally, I could be somebody to strategize with, I could be somebody you could play with, and I just continuously got slapped in the face.” Despite her rocky road to finale night, Taylor was in high spirits celebrating her second-place prize. She’s looking forward to reuniting with her students in Deerfield Beach, Florida, where she works as an elementary school counselor.“I know they’re proud of me, I know they miss me,” she said of her students. “I know they’re gonna have 100 questions, and I’m gonna answer every single one of them.” “Big Brother” is available to stream on Paramount+.These 9 TV shows were just canceled — here’s why‘Survivor 51’ contestant suffers grisly injury while using macheteJury makes decision in ‘American Idol’ alum’s shocking murder trial ‘Dancing With the Stars’ fans ‘devastated’ by surprising elimination: ‘I’m in genuine shock’Sara Donnellan is a trending entertainment news writer. She worked as a TV news reporter for NJ.com, covering scripted and reality television and other viral TV moments, answering viewers’ burning questions and...