The third time was the charm for CBS reality TV icon Rick Devens, who just won “Big Brother” Season 28 on Thursday night after coming up short on two seasons of “Survivor” — including Season 50 earlier this year.
“It’s an identity crisis, for sure. For a long time now, I’ve identified as a ‘Survivor’ player. I felt like I was ‘Survivor’ coded: ‘That’s my thing, I’m out in the wild, I love being outdoors.’ But now, it’s like, am I ‘Big Brother’ coded?” the former news anchor told TheWrap after his win. “Objectively, I’m better at ‘Big Brother’ than I am at ‘Survivor.’ I couldn’t do it twice playing ‘Survivor,’ and I did it the first time playing ‘Big Brother.’ So it’s an honor, it’s a crazy honor. There’s actually less winners of ‘Big Brother’ than there are ‘Survivor,’ and I love many of them. I’m very impressed with the people that can pull this off, I’m still wrapping my head around it.”
Indeed, Devens bested fellow finalist Taylor Brown 6-1 during the live finale after cutting his early ally Drew Campbell at the last minute. Alongside fellow icons Dee Valladares and Angela Murray, it was a summer-long dynamic that echoed his reality television start on “Edge of Extinction,” which similarly saw four former players enter the game.
“It was really interesting coming in as less than 20% of the house, a big target on us, to an extent. On my first season, my closest ally was one of those returning people. I really learned from David Wright, and I guess I was kind of his Drew in a way, learning and working together and wanting to be loyal to him. Neither of us made it far enough for us to turn on each other. But now I’m that guy, which is really cool,” Devens said. “Some of them really did want advice on things, some of them asked about what’s it going to be like when this is all over. I do see the advantages they came in with in terms of knowing the strategy, knowing how to work people in these games, and I definitely tried to use that to my advantage. I’ve got to get on the phone with David Wright and talk this out.”
“‘Survivor’ is definitely harder in terms of you’re living out in the wild, it can rain on you all day; being a have-not is a breeze compared to ‘Survivor.’ But ‘Big Brother,’ you’re in here so long that it is just draining on you, a week just lasts forever and sometimes you’re stuck inside the whole time,” he added. “So they’re difficult in their own ways, but they’re fun in their own ways. ‘Big Brother’ was so cool, putting on costumes and time traveling and all the goofy stuff, so I really have all due respect for ‘Big Brother.’ I love them both.”
Devens and Dee are now the second and third “Survivor” players to cross over to “Big Brother,” following fellow “Survivor 50” juror Cirie Fields’ summer on “BB25.” However, only Devens walked away as America’s Favorite Houseguest.
“Just being invited on the show, I know it’s something Dee and I talked a lot about, we were treading in Cirie’s footsteps. We were on a tribe with Cirie; actually, every day I was on ‘Survivor 50’ I was with Cirie. We got swapped together, we merged together. Huge Cirie fan, amazed by what she does,” he said. “So anytime I can do anything as well as her, and in this case, maybe surpass it a little bit in the ‘Big Brother’ sense, I will take it 100% of the time. I still bow down to her, but it means a lot. I was really so excited to win, obviously, but America’s Favorite Houseguest is a whole ‘nother thing. Like, wow, they really appreciated the way I played the game.”
Plus, Devens confirmed he really did intend on bringing Campbell to the final two until Brown pitched him otherwise the night before. “I thought we played almost mirror image games, I was very impressed with his game. There was this narrative that I was maybe dragging him along, that he was doing what I wanted, but I didn’t see it that way at all,” he shared. “I think we can be in the Drew Campbell fan club together.”
Either way, Devens’ real-life kids and wife Becca are happy with how he played.
“My family was over the moon about this. My son actually said the only way it was worth it for you to go away for that long was that you needed to win the whole thing; so good job, proud of you, Dad — and then it was basically back to business as usual,” he said with a laugh. “Juju wanted to tell me about the YouTube videos she just watched, Jack wanted to tell me about the video game that he’s playing. They’re already moved past ‘Big Brother.’”
Luckily, fans won’t have to move past “Big Brother” anytime soon, as the Julie Chen Moonves-hosted competition show has been renewed for not one but two seasons on CBS, with Season 29 casting already open.
Every episode of “Big Brother: Time Trip” is now available to stream on Paramount+.
