Julie Chen thinks THIS houseguest was the best Big Brother winner ever
Who is the best Big Brother winner in the history of Big Brother? EW asks the ultimate authority: Forever host Julie Chen.
Julie Chen spoke to EW Morning Live — the Entertainment Weekly Radio show on Sirius XM — and weighed in on a public poll the publication ran asking fans to rank all the winners. On the call she discussed some of the popular choices for best winner — Will Kirby, Dan Gheesling, before sharing her own pick.
Chen, with pretty ironclad justification, went with the winner of season 13, Rachel Reilly.
According to EW, Chen explained her reasoning such:
"I’m going to say Rachel Reilly. Because she turned that ship around at the 11th hour. She had everyone against her — a power couple, her and Brandon. She was also seen as very obnoxious in the house, a little bit of a troublemaker, a loudmouth. And she had everything stacked up against her. But she pulled it out by winning competitions and ultimately, when you get the jury to vote after you have pissed off so many people, that says a lot. And I’m going to throw it in there — being a woman."
Such a description makes you wonder what could have been in Jessica had some how managed to make it through, though there’s plenty to suggest any sympathy for Jody was highly orchestrated by the Big Brother production team. (The live feeds always tell the truth!)
Chen went out to applaud Reilly for always calling people out — “floaters better grab a life vest” — as she and Brandon fought to the death. There was also something totally upfront and honest about Rachel that Chen appreciated.
Asked about Will Kirby — the No.1 fan pick for best winner — Chen said:
"Will Kirby stabbed you in the front with a smile. And he had this charm going for him. So he was kind of a villain, but he was a charming villain. He wasn’t an obvious, ‘Oh, I can’t stand him.’ He had a way of disarming people. And Dan Gheesling, I thought of saying his name because he turned it around with staging his own funeral. He came in ruthless the second time around. He wasn’t a nice guy anymore."
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On EW’s fan rankings, Derrick Levasseur, who recently visited the BB19 house, came in second with season 10’s Dan Gheesling coming in third. Jun Song, from season 4, is the first woman on the list at No. 6 and Rachel follows her at No. 7. (According to EW, she received the second highest number of first place votes, but that was offset by the high number of negative votes.)