Big Brother 28 crowns a winner after 87 days of alliances, blindsides, powers, arguments, questionable decisions and more than a few nights when we wondered what in the world these people were doing. Rick is the Big Brother 28 winner, and he didn’t exactly squeak this one out.
Rick defeated Taylor by a 6-1 jury vote, winning the $750,000 grand prize. Then, as if winning Big Brother wasn’t enough for one night, viewers also named him America’s Favorite Player, adding another $50,000 to his winnings. Combined with the additional $10,000 he earned during the season, Rick finished with $810,000 in prize money. Not a bad Thursday night.
But before Rick could get anywhere near that confetti, he had one enormous decision to make. And we’re still a little sad about it.
Big Brother 28 finale: Rick cuts Drew at the finish line
Taylor had already won Part 1 of the Final HOH, while Rick defeated Drew in Part 2. That left Taylor and Rick competing live in Part 3, with the winner guaranteed a seat in the Final 2. Rick won. Then came the decision.
After everything Drew and Rick had been through together, Rick chose to evict Drew and take Taylor to the Final 2. It was an emotional decision, particularly because Rick had previously indicated that he planned to remain loyal to Drew.
Did we like it? NOPE. Do we understand it? Absolutely. That’s Big Brother.
And let’s remember exactly how Drew got Rick there. At the Final 4, Drew held the sole eviction vote and had to choose between Dee and Rick. He chose loyalty to Rick and sent Dee to jury.
Unfortunately for Drew, that loyalty wasn’t returned when the roles were reversed. It sucked watching it happen, especially because we’ve enjoyed Drew this season. But Rick wasn’t playing for a friendship bracelet. He was playing for $750,000 and ultimately had to make the decision he believed gave him the best chance to bring that money home to his family.
Judging by that 6-1 vote, it worked. Still, after Big Brother 28 crowns Rick its winner AND America’s Favorite Player, we hope Rick takes Drew out for one VERY expensive dinner. Come on, Rick. You can afford it now. LOL.
Taylor’s Big Brother 28 Final 2 pitch didn’t always land with us
First, let’s give Taylor credit. It takes a lot to reach the Final 2 of Big Brother. Taylor survived the game, built relationships and won important competitions late in the season. Most importantly, when she needed to convince Rick that taking Drew to the Final 2 could be dangerous, she made the argument she needed to make.
And it appears Rick listened. On the final night of feeds, he told Taylor that evicting Drew seemed like the obvious move, although he wanted to sleep on the decision before making it official. That’s part of the game, and Taylor deserves credit for fighting for her spot until the end.
But we also watched Taylor spend significant stretches of the season outside the center of the action. She was surprised by where votes were going more than once and didn’t always appear to have an accurate read on what was happening around her. There’s nothing inherently wrong with playing a quieter game. Plenty of people have reached the end that way, and sometimes it works.
That’s why portions of Taylor’s Final 2 pitch didn’t entirely land with us. Instead of simply owning the game she played and explaining why it deserved $750,000, Taylor at times seemed more interested in diminishing Rick’s path to the end. Her argument about reaching the finale without what she described in terms of elitism, power and privilege was certainly memorable, but to us, it came across as more bitter than persuasive.
Whatever point Taylor wanted to make about advantages Rick received during the game was fair territory for a jury argument. But criticizing the person sitting beside you doesn’t automatically strengthen your own résumé. You’re in the Final 2. Own it. Tell the jury why you survived and why your relationships mattered. Explain which decisions changed your game and why they should write your name down.
Big Brother 28 jury vote: Rick pushes back on Taylor’s move
Things became even more interesting when Taylor took credit for orchestrating the vote flip that sent Lyric out of the house. That was one claim Rick wasn’t going to let sit there.
Rick countered that the people in the Crossovers knew who had actually orchestrated the flip. Contemporary coverage of that week also described the late change as involving Dee and Rick, with the Crossovers joining the move, while later season analysis specifically disputed Taylor’s belief that she had caused Lyric’s eviction.
And that’s where the difference between their Final 2 pitches became particularly interesting. Taylor had every right to challenge Rick’s game. That’s part of sitting in those chairs. But when you’re taking credit for a move and the person beside you can immediately challenge your version of events in front of the very people who were there, that’s not where you want the conversation going. Ultimately, six of the seven jurors voted for Rick.
With Big Brother 28 crowning a winner, that lopsided jury vote ultimately became one of the biggest stories of finale night.
About that ‘privilege’ argument
The language Taylor used also didn’t help her case with us. Whatever she meant by talking about elitism, power and privilege, it risked sounding personal at precisely the moment when she needed to make the strongest possible argument for her own game.
And there’s another reason we’d rather have heard Taylor focus on herself. Making the Final 2 of Big Brother is already an accomplishment. The show can give houseguests exposure and opportunities they didn’t have before they entered the house. Whether Taylor chooses to pursue television appearances, social media, another reality show or absolutely none of those things is entirely up to her. We have no idea what she’ll do next.
But that’s also why her future isn’t really the point. The question on Big Brother 28 finale night was what Taylor had done during the season to deserve the win. We would have preferred hearing more of that and less about what she believed Rick represented.
Come on, Lala!
And then there was Lala. Of course.
Lala gave us plenty to talk about this season. We loved her sassiness at times, while at other points she seemed completely lost about what was happening around her. But hey, she made the jury. And let’s give her this one forever: that endurance victory was memorable. Contemporary coverage noted that nobody in the house seemed to expect Lala to win that competition, but she outlasted the field anyway.
Then she gave us one more Lala moment on finale night. Lala cast the ONLY vote for Taylor. Every other juror, including Drew, voted for Rick.
She was voting with her heart? Come on, Lala! LOL. But you know what? That’s the jury. You earn your vote, and you get to use it however you want. If Lala believed Taylor deserved hers, Taylor deserved to receive it.
As Big Brother 28 crowns its winner, that lone vote also gave us one final classic Lala moment to talk about.
Drew came painfully close
We also have to give Drew his flowers. He made the Final 3. That’s a heck of an accomplishment for anybody who walks into that house, and Drew survived approximately 400 moments when we thought his game might finally be over.
Was his game perfect? Not even close. At times, Drew seemed to get lost socially, and some of the relationships he thought were solid weren’t nearly as secure as he believed. But he kept surviving. He won when he needed to win, made decisions that kept him moving forward and eventually found himself one competition away from potentially reaching the Final 2.
His loyalty to Rick ultimately helped end his game. That hurts. But Drew seems like a nice kid, and making the Final 3 of Big Brother is something he should be proud of.
Rick becomes the Big Brother 28 winner
And that brings us back to our winner. Rick played a nice game. Not a perfect game. There is no such thing.
But Rick competed, strategized and built relationships while generally avoiding the kind of unnecessarily personal nastiness that can sometimes take over the Big Brother house. He was likable and entertaining, and he knew he was playing a game. When the biggest decision of his season arrived, he made the ruthless choice even though it clearly hurt him to do it.
That’s an interesting combination. Rick could play hard without constantly making everything feel personal. Six jurors rewarded him with the win, and America gave him another vote of confidence by naming him America’s Favorite Player.
So as Big Brother 28 crowns Rick its champion, he leaves with both the jury’s decision and the viewers’ America’s Favorite Player vote.
Big Brother 28 season review: So how good was it?
Now that Big Brother 28 crowns Rick its winner and the confetti has fallen, where does the season ultimately land for us? Probably somewhere around average. It had its moments. Absolutely.
There were stretches when we couldn’t wait to see what happened next. We got blindsides, ridiculous decisions, powers, fights, funny moments and houseguests we genuinely enjoyed watching. At the same time, there were slower stretches, twists that didn’t always work for us and an endgame that became painfully quiet once the Final 3 was established.
It wasn’t our favorite season of Big Brother. It wasn’t our least favorite either. But it gave us things we’ll remember.
We’ll remember Lala’s sassiness and that endurance win nobody seemed to see coming. Drew somehow surviving his way to the Final 3 will stick with us too. And we’ll remember Taylor turning up the competition wins when she desperately needed them and making a final push that helped get her into one of those Final 2 chairs.
And we’ll remember Rick cutting his closest ally as Big Brother 28 crowns a winner, taking the game by a 6-1 vote and then discovering that America had chosen him as its favorite player too. Not bad for an average season.
And now, after spending the entire summer talking about these people almost every night, we’re left with one final thought. Rick, seriously. Buy Drew dinner.
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