A classy exit. Three-time player Da’Vonne Rogers was the latest houseguest evicted from Big Brother: All-Stars on Thursday, September 24, and she is still working out her feelings about the whole thing.
The acting coach, 32, has been the target since Head of Household Memphis Garrett‘s original plan to backdoor David Alexander fell through when Tyler Crispen decided not to use the veto.
Da’Vonne understandably didn’t want to give the majority alliance in the house the satisfaction of openly campaigning, but she did spend the week trying to pick up votes to stay. Ultimately, she was voted out 5-2 against her ally Kevin Campbell.
The votes to evict Kevin came from Dani Donato-Briones and Nicole Franzel, the latter of whom had lied to Da’Vonne about voting to evict Ian Terry the week before.
Is Da’Vonne still upset with Nicole? How does she feel about her recent friction with David? And we had to ask her about that amazing eviction speech. Check out our interview!
Us Weekly: How are you feeling this morning about Nicole? Did her goodbye message make you feel any better about her lying to you?
Da’Vonne Rogers: This morning I feel the same about Nicole as I did when I left the house. Her message did not make it any better. In fact, it made it worse. Game-related, I get it. You want to protect your moves and you want to protect your alliances. However, we were in an alliance. So you just let me know that I wasn’t your priority alliance. I was at the bottom. So thank you for that. That’s one.
And then two, I let Nicole know, “Hey, on a personal level – not even game, on a personal level – I’m coming to you and asking about this vote because it’s bigger than the game. I, as a Black woman, do not want to be on this television bashing this Black man for something he didn’t do. I don’t want that. So, for me, as your friend, on a personal level, can you give me that?” I even gave her an excuse for game purposes. I told her, I said, “Hey, did you think we were going to flip out at the last minute? So you freaked out and panicked and you decided to flip your vote?” I tried to give her an excuse to use to tell me the truth and she just wouldn’t. I’m a little bothered. I’m a little bothered by that. But there’s room for conversation. At the moment, there’s not a lot of respect in the game play or the personal play right now. I’m struggling. But it’s fresh. We’ll see.
Us: Obviously, you were being lied to, but do you regret blaming David for voting to evict Ian?
DV: When I play this game, I usually don’t have regrets. That is something that I definitely regret. I regret going off on him and being upset with him and accusing him of something he didn’t do. Granted, David’s track record with me, as far as him lying and sabotaging my game … come on, it was off the charts. It wasn’t like that was my buddy [and] we were aligned. It was great and all of a sudden I started accusing him of stuff. That wasn’t the case at all. The trust was not there. It was just bad. But above all of that, I’m extremely apologetic and I hope that he can forgive me and that there can be a conversation and we can move forward. But I’m definitely sitting here like, ugh, I feel really bad. I feel terrible.
Us: Your eviction speech was so poignant and beautifully done. How did it feel to get that all out?
DV: My eviction speech and having the opportunity to say everything I wanted to say, and getting it out – even though Julie [Chen] was telling me, “Da’Vonne, we gotta wrap it up” – I still needed to get it out because if this was my last time with this platform, I wanted to make sure that those houseguests who look like me that come in here after me, they know, “Hey, we can do this.” I wanted to give them hope. I wanted to give them encouragement. I wanted to let them know it’s not impossible. These women and these people have done it before us. We’re not the only ones. Yes, it’s going to be difficult. Yes, it’s going to be an uphill battle. Yes, the odds will be against you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I hope myself, David and Kevin can be examples of “Come on, it’s possible. Let’s do it.” I really hope that message came across and that it was received.
Us: Who do you think is playing the best game right now?
DV: I think Dani is doing a really good job in this game. I am concerned that she does have her hands in a lot of pots right now. But hopefully that doesn’t bite her in the butt if she can make it to those final two chairs. Also, I’m excited about the game that David is playing. I feel like, at this point in the game, he needs to just fly under the radar. It’s going to get messy. People are going to start shooting at their friends and their alliance members, and while that’s happening, if he’s just under all the fire, he can skate to the end. I believe that.
Us: How did this season compare to your previous seasons?
DV: I had so much fun this season. If I had to compare it to my previous seasons, I would say this season is by far my favorite season. Nothing can compare to season 17, meeting Jason [Roy], my baby, my friend. Nothing can compare to that, but as far as an overall season, this right here was something different. I have no regrets other than the situation with David. Other than that, this roller coaster I would get on over and over.
Us: Will you ever play Big Brother again?
DV: You already know I’ll play this game every time they call me – until I win. Once I win, I’m done. But yeah, over and over and over. I love this game. I watched this game growing up. This was me and my grandmother’s favorite show. Every time I’m in that house, I think about her. Every single time I’m in that house. That’s like my connection to her. I can always feel her presence when I’m in there. So yeah, I’ll play this game over and over and over.
Big Brother: All-Stars airs on CBS Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
