Welcome to Reality Derby, Gold Derby’s weekly deep dive into all things reality TV, hosted by senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson. Watch the latest episode above. The following interview contains Big Brother 27 spoilers. Read at your own risk!
Mickey Lee has come to terms with her Big Brother 27 journey coming to an end. The 35-year-old event curator from Atlanta was evicted 6-1 over Ashley Hollis on Thursday night’s episode of Big Brother after being put on the block by Head of Household Keanu Soto.
“I’m feeling as confident as ever,” she tells Gold Derby. “I went into that house by myself and had to finagle and figure out all these things while being disconnected from everything that I’ve known and loved for my entire life. For a first-time player who didn’t have heavy study books to know what to do in this game, I think I did fairly decent. For that, I am proud.”
Mickey says she began sensing a shift in the house a week or two before her eviction. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t do a lot of investigating,” she confesses. “I was going to just let fate take its course. That was a prayer that I prayed: ‘Hey, God, whatever you see fit for me, let it be.’ I didn’t inquire too much. I heard a few extra whispers and figured something was brewing, but I didn’t know what. I anticipated myself being evicted first into jury, but I think I prefer it this way. I get to go out and live my life a little bit before coming back for finale.”
Read on for our full interview with Mickey.
Gold Derby: You learned about the Judges alliance of Ashley, Morgan Pope, Vince Panaro, Rachel Reilly, and Will Williams after your eviction. Did that shock you? And could you have done anything to infiltrate that?
Morgan: I think the signs were there. If I would have won the Block Buster, eliminating one of them would have shaken it up. They would have had to change their trajectory. And honestly, when Morgan was on the block next to Rylie Jeffries, my gut was telling me to let Morgan go. If I would have done that, it probably would have allowed me to have a few extra weeks in the house.
Did you really throw the Block Buster to Vince?
That was supposed to be the goal because I didn’t want to vote out Ashley. As much as we didn’t align all the time, I still cared about her as a person. I can’t say that I threw the Block Buster, but did I go as hard as I normally would? No, I didn’t. I let up just a little bit, but I tried.
Were you surprised Keanu put you on the block next to Vince and Morgan?
No! Let’s be honest — Keanu has been trying to get me and Morgan out since Week 2. He definitely had a great HOH. I do think I’m a stronger competitor than Morgan and Vince, so he did a good service. I was someone that could have won my way through a few more weeks. Getting me out was a good move for him.
Let’s go back to Week 4 when you stole Rylie’s HOH. Talk about that moment that led to you nominating Keanu, Rylie, and Kelley Jorgensen — and then ultimately backdooring Jimmy Heagerty.
A lot of the things attaching me to drama in that house were including Jimmy. As I started, it was smooth sailing and then a lot of chaos started to happen. It always involved Jimmy. He was at the center of most of my feuds, and a lot of people who wanted to put me on the block were influenced by things Jimmy had said or not said. Jimmy was trying to save his butt and was comfortable throwing me and Morgan under the bus. That’s where things shifted for me. I thought it was the best move for me to put Jimmy up, despite me loving him so much. I could have gone home much earlier because of Jimmy.
I trusted Jimmy to a certain extent, but his actions didn’t match his words. Jimmy swore down for a Final 3 alliance, but he had a lot of Final 3 alliances in the house. When it came to debunking rumors about me and Morgan, he never did that. He stayed in close cahoots with Keanu, someone who wanted me out, and he never defended anything. Looking back, if I would have changed anything I would have talked to Jimmy a little bit more. By the time he was on the block and the votes were set, there wasn’t much more I could do.
Throughout the first few weeks of the game, the general consensus was people thought you were the favorite to win. When did you start to sense you were losing control of the game?
I sensed it around Week 5. Things felt off. And I’ll be honest, it felt off because of me. My social battery started dying very quickly. That’s something you have to have control over. I wasn’t giving it my all in regards to those conversations I needed to have. I couldn’t connect with people. I felt like I was on an island by myself.
Do you think you would have been better off if you had never won HOH?
Honestly, yes.
Had you survived the block, what was your Week 9 plan?
My Week 9 plan would have been to win HOH and target Keanu, potentially Kelley, and/or Rachel.
Talk about your roller-coaster relationship with Rachel?
When Rachel came in the house, I didn’t know who she was. I was slightly intimidated because she was a previous winner. After I got to know her, I was a fan of her. I respected her a lot and wanted her to go into jury. I didn’t want to go to a final two or three with her — that would be insane — but I wanted her in jury. As time progressed, I noticed that the only time Rachel liked me was when I was praising her or speaking highly of her with no attention on me. That’s when we blossomed. When I had any moments of shine for myself, that’s when she wasn’t a fan of me. I learned quickly that as long as I kissed butt and made everything about her, we were great. If anyone knows me, they know I’m not like that at all. I don’t kiss butt and I don’t cower. There were a lot of things she said or did that were not very nice and kind of rude.
I don’t know what happened with her in previous seasons. She kept saying she didn’t want to be portrayed as that person, but what she told me and what I was seeing from her were very similar to the same people.”
Morgan and Vince have become a very tight pair. What’s going on there? Because the season started with you and Morgan looking like a duo. Lately, it’s Vince and Morgan having five-minute hugs.
I don’t know what’s going on with that. I’ll just say, it seems like something that will last for a very long time. Whatever it is they’re trying to do or figuring out — I can see it’s very solid. Whatever that is, I don’t know. I’m gonna mind my business.
Losing Morgan to Vince was a big turning point for you though.
There’s a lot of people in this game playing for Vince. He is Vinny “The Lip.” He has that lip on him. He’s working it. But I don’t think Morgan was ever truly for me. I think Morgan saw greatness in me. In Week 1 or 2 people saw me as a winner. She tried to attach herself to greatness. That’s not something I’m shy about. She had hopes of me carrying her until I couldn’t carry her anymore. I was disposable.
Who’s in the best position to win?
Will. He is under the radar and no one’s looking at him. I think he’s going to turn it up a notch.
Who do you want to win?
I would be OK with Will winning, for sure. At this point? Maybe even Kelley. Underdogs!
Finish this sentence: If I had survived tonight, my path to $750K would be …
Being a savage.