Zae Frederich was the first person eliminated from “Big Brother 27,” but at least he had the opportunity to fight with the legendary Rachel Reilly before leaving the house.
Rachel, who previously competed on “Big Brother 12” and won “Big Brother 13,” is known for inciting drama on the CBS reality show. She’s great at starting fights, but she isn’t the best at coming up with quippy comebacks on the fly. As evidenced by her infamous “Big Brother 12” brawl with Ragan Fox, Rachel won’t back down from a confrontation, even if she’s not sure what to say next.
Zae, 23, who was evicted during the Thursday, July 17, episode of “Big Brother,” exclusively told NJ.com that he was “just really confused” by Rachel’s argument style. After getting on her bad side, Zae would notice Rachel “just staring” at him in the house.
“Maybe she was thinking of something [to say], I don’t know. I thought she was trying to intimidate me,” he said. “I was trying not to involve myself, because I don’t like conflict. But then it got to the point where she was, like, staring at me. I was trying to get water, and she’s just staring me down.”
Zae said that when he tried to talk things out with Rachel in a private room, she shut down the conversation. “She just kept on saying, ‘I’m bored, I’m bored. I don’t wanna talk about this, I’m bored.’ And I was like, ‘You were just calling me a child, but you’re the one acting [like] a child,’” Zae recalled. “It’s crazy in my opinion, but none of it got shown [on the show]. I feel like the way they showed it was a little bit skewed, in my opinion.”
Rachel and Zae’s problems began as Zae campaigned for votes to stay over fellow nominees Kelley Jorgensen and Amy Bingham. Zae told Rachel that anyone who voted against him could potentially become his future target, which she took as a direct threat
“I’d be careful coming for the queen. You will get beheaded,” Rachel warned Zae.
Zae told NJ.com that he was “trying to word it differently” when he made his pitch to Rachel. “Instead of, ‘If you vote against me, you’re on the block,’ I was trying to say, ‘Hey, if you vote for me, I got your back,’” he explained. “I didn’t want to threaten anyone in the house. … It goes without saying that obviously I’m not gonna put somebody up on the block right after they vote to keep me in the house.”
Zae thinks Rachel was “playing victim mentality” by assuming that he was coming for her directly. He said Rachel wouldn’t give him a straight answer when he asked if she genuinely had beef with him or was just “playing it up for TV.”
“It was honestly the weirdest interaction I’ve ever had, I think with anybody. It was very strange,” Zae shared. “I’d love to talk to her outside the house.
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