Rachel Reilly met an unfair fate on Big Brother 27 after she was taken out by the Mastermind’s second twist — The White Locust Resort. Coming back as the only veteran player and winner, she had a big target on her back from day one. However, she was never put on the block and never had any votes against her this season because she formed alliances with almost everyone, even her frenemies.

After coming into the game through the Mastermind twist, she was also taken out by it. When the houseguests entered the White Locust retreat, one of them wasn’t going to check out, and it turned out to be her. She had three minutes and 30 seconds to get a ball through a hamster wheel maze to the center, but failed to do so in the allotted time. This caused her to be eliminated from the game and become the first jury member.

Making it to the first spot in the Jury is no stranger to Rachel, as she met a similar fate in Season 12, but was voted out instead of taken out by a competition. She went on to win Season 13 against Porsche Briggs. Big Brother has brought her her husband, Brendon Villegas, and their two children, as well as money, and a chance to play a game she loves.

Rachel talked to TV Insider about whether she would have remained loyal to Keanu Soto after forming the Frenemies alliance with him or not. She also talked about how hard it was to play without Brendon in the game for the first time.

Why did you want to come back for a third time? 

Well, honestly, I love Big Brother, and I’m such a fan of the show. I feel like these opportunities in life don’t come around all the time. When you’re given an opportunity to play your favorite show, that has given you so much. I mean, I won the game. I met my husband on the show. We have two beautiful children because of it, and even my sister played Big Brother. How could I ever turn that opportunity down?

I was dying to play All-Stars, but I was pregnant at the time, so I just couldn’t imagine getting that invitation and turning it down.

The first two times you played with your now-husband, Brendon. How hard was it to play without him this time?

It was so hard to not play Big Brother 27 with Brendon. Not only when you play with your fiancé/boyfriend, do you have such an advantage because you have someone in there that you can completely trust, but you also have someone in there who is fighting in the game for you. At the end of the day, I always had my number one ally. I also had someone I could 100 percent depend on, rely on, someone to talk to and vent to, and someone who makes you happy when living in his house.

Playing this season without Brendon was very hard. However, I went into this season thinking I needed to get to know the players, strategically form alliances and friendships, and make as many connections as I could, so I could play this game socially and strategically, and win as many competitions as I could.

When I played with Brendon, I was a totally different person at a totally different place in my life. But now I’ve evolved as a player and a human, I think that I was able to go into season 27 with a different perspective and different mindset of how to play the game, and I think that even though it was hard to not have my person with me, I was able to navigate it and do a really good job. Enough so that I was never nominated, never received any votes against me. I truly don’t think that if I hadn’t been taken out by this twist, I don’t think I would have been nominated.

Even making it to the final two chairs, I didn’t see a path to where people were going to target me, at least to the final five. I really do not see a path where they would have. Expect the unexpected in Big Brother always. I do think I played a good game, as good as I could have. The game has changed so much as well from when I played. I played a totally different Big Brother-type game.

Would you have stayed loyal to Keanu? If not, who would you have taken to the final two?

Unfortunately, I could not remain loyal to Keanu. After he tried to get me evicted and tried to convince Vince [Panaro] to put me on the block, I did not trust him. There was a time when I would have been 100 percent loyal to Keanu, and I would have taken him to the final two, knowing that I probably could have beaten him because I had a better social game than him, and I had more friends in the jury. But once he tried to get me evicted, there was just no chance that I could have taken him to the final two or even worked with him much longer.

He and I became so much at odds. We were on this such up and down, hot and cold, relationship, where it was just too much that I think it was probably a detriment to my game and probably to his. So, we wouldn’t have been able to work together much longer.

I would have taken either Ashley [Hollis] or Ava [Pearl] to the final two. I would have loved to stay true to the deal I made with Ava, and I truly adored her. Ashley was my BB bestie. If she would have made it to the final three, and I had the chance to pick her, I would have picked her. To be honest, I think I would have beaten Ashley. At the end of the day, it would have been a strategic move, but it is also personal because you are picking someone that you are going to beat, but also someone that you truly want to sit next to.

I would have taken Ashley. Ava would have been my second choice.

Who did you feel most betrayed by in the White Locust competition?

I felt extremely betrayed by Ava. I thought that she and I had had a better relationship than we did. I think that when I was trying to strategically explain to her how the White Locust maze was going to work, I felt like she didn’t want to listen to me. I felt like she didn’t respect what I was trying to explain to her. I don’t know that Ava understood, even though she is a fan, how that competition needed to be executed, and because of that, I felt very betrayed by her decision to pick Vince, of all people.

I think it was a bad decision. If her intention was to try to force me out of the game, then maybe it was a good decision on her part, but I don’t believe that that was her intention. I think strategically, it didn’t make sense for either one of our games.