There’s an old saying in reality television: first impressions are almost never the whole story. And Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves, who has seen more houseguests come and go than most of us could ever remember, just had to eat her words in the most public way possible. When Season 28 premiered back in July, Chen Moonves made it pretty clear that she was not impressed with Rick Devens, the 42-year-old former Survivor legend who walked into the Big Brother house with a resume that preceded him. She rolled her eyes at his early gameplay, called some of his moves “terrible,” and basically told him, through the press, to go back to the island he came from. It was harsh, it was funny, and honestly, it was exactly the kind of blunt honesty that Big Brother fans have come to expect from her. But now, with the season finale just around the corner, Chen Moonves is standing in front of the camera with a completely different tune. “I like him. You can’t not like Rick Devens, so I’ve been humbled,” she admitted exclusively to Us, and you could almost hear the smile in her voice. It’s a rare moment of vulnerability from a host who usually plays it cool, and it says a lot about how much Devens has won her over over the past few months.
For those who didn’t follow the journey, Devens first made a name for himself on Survivor, where he competed on seasons 38 and 50 of the long-running CBS series. He was charismatic, strategic, and had a natural knack for talking his way out of impossible situations. But Big Brother is a completely different beast, and Chen Moonves wasn’t about to hand out participation trophies just because someone had already survived the elements and outwitted a bunch of strangers on a beach. “I know people love Devens, and he was great at Survivor,” she told Entertainment Weekly back when the season was just getting started. “This ain’t Survivor, honey. This here [is] Big Brother.” She even took it a step further during that early press run, saying, “I was like, ‘Go back to the island, dude! I’m gonna snuff out your flame.’” It was a brutal assessment, and honestly, it wasn’t entirely unfair. Devens’ early weeks in the Big Brother house were messy. He made moves that didn’t quite land, got tangled up in side deals and flip-flops, and generally looked like someone who was still trying to play a game that wasn’t quite the one happening around him. There were moments when it felt like he was destined to be an early boot, just another Survivor crossover who couldn’t adapt to the faster, more chaotic pace of Big Brother. But somewhere along the way, something shifted.
Maybe it was the live feeds. Maybe it was the pressure of the game. Maybe it was just the sheer stubbornness of a man who refused to let a bunch of houseguests in an air-conditioned mansion outplay him after he’d already outlasted the elements on a remote island. Whatever it was, Devens found his footing. He started forming real alliances, winning competitions when he needed to, and slowly but surely, he turned his game around. By the time the final three rolled around, he was standing alongside Taylor Brown and Drew Campbell, and Chen Moonves couldn’t help but admit that she had been wrong about him. “I like him. You can’t not like Rick Devens, so I’ve been humbled,” she repeated, as if still trying to wrap her head around it. She also pointed out something that a lot of fans have been saying for weeks: “No one can be a performative phony for 87 days straight, especially in a show like Big Brother with the live feeds. You can’t be a phony for that long. He’s someone who it’s very easy to root for him.” It’s a fair point. Big Brother is one of the most psychologically grueling reality competitions on television, not just because of the challenges, but because the live feeds mean there’s no hiding from who you really are. You can edit a character in the confessionals, but you can’t edit the 24-hour-a-day reality of the house. And Devens, for all his early missteps, managed to be genuine. That’s not nothing.
Chen Moonves also got a little reflective about why she’s come around on him so completely. She joked that she’s been “working it out between me and Jesus,” and that the universe has been telling her, “Love one another,” and “Thou shalt not judge.” She laughed that God is probably teaching her a lesson, saying, “I think God is going to say, ‘All right, we’ve got to have Rick Devens win it.’” But it wasn’t just about divine intervention. She pointed out something that makes Devens an easy person to support on a human level. “Don’t forget he’s older. He has a wife. He has two little kids. They were rooting for him. You want a guy to be able to provide for his family,” she said. That kind of perspective matters, especially in a show that often rewards chaos and backstabbing over good old-fashioned likability. At the end of the day, Big Brother is still a game, but it’s also a life-changing opportunity. The winner walks away with $750,000, and for someone like Devens, that money could mean the difference between just surviving and actually thriving. It’s the kind of feel-good narrative that even a cynical host can get behind, and Chen Moonves isn’t pretending otherwise.
Of course, the finale itself is a nail-biter. Chen Moonves admitted that she has “butterflies in my stomach” just thinking about it. With the jury about to cast their votes, she doesn’t have a clue who’s going to take home the grand prize. “It’s anyone’s game,” she said, and she means it. She’s been sitting front and center for all the shocking evictions, the backdoor blindsides, the last-minute veto saves, and the kind of gameplay that makes you want to throw your remote at the TV. And still, she says, “I’m so excited, and I’m happy no matter who wins because I’m very happy with this final three.” That’s not just host-speak. There have been seasons where the final three felt anticlimactic or frustrating, where you were rooting for someone who didn’t make it and the last few episodes felt like a formality. This is not one of those seasons. Taylor, Drew, and Rick have all played different but compelling games, and they’ve earned their spots. It’s rare to see a finale where you can genuinely make a case for all three of them, and Chen Moonves seems to understand how special that is. She’s not taking any of it for granted.
One of the most fun moments of the interview came when the conversation turned to the idea of sending more Big Brother players to Survivor. This season featured not one but two former Survivor players, including Dee Valladares, and the cross-network crossover has clearly been on Chen Moonves’ mind. When asked which houseguests should be shipped off to Fiji to face Jeff Probst, she didn’t hesitate. “Kamu Kirk. I think he could crush it. He’s an athlete. I don’t think he’s scared of the elements,” she said. She also gave a shout-out to Yash Patel, calling him “hysterical and a great competitor.” She had some caveats, of course. She loves Angela Murray, but she’s not sure the Survivor editors would do her justice. “I don’t know if I want to see Angela because I love her, but I think they would edit her too much. I love her on live feeds,” she explained. And then there’s Lala Verrett, who already proved herself by winning the wall competition. “Let’s see what she’s got on the island,” Chen Moonves said with a grin. It’s clear that, despite all the stress and unpredictability of this season, she still has a deep love for the game and the people who play it. She’s seen the best and worst of human nature play out under pressure, and she’s still rooting for the underdogs. And maybe that’s the real lesson of this season: you can judge a player from the outside, you can write them off, you can tell them to go back to the island. But at the end of the day, people can surprise you. Rick Devens did. And as Big Brother fans get ready for one last night of evictions, jury votes, and a winner walking away with three-quarters of a million dollars, there’s a quiet hope in the air that maybe, just maybe, the nicest person in the room doesn’t always finish last. The season finale airs Thursday, October 1, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, and Chen Moonves will be right there, holding her breath, ready to crown a winner. And this time, she’s happy to admit she has no idea who it’ll be.
