Rick Devens, best known to television audiences from “Survivor 38” and “Survivor 50,” has won “Big Brother 28,” taking the $750,000 grand prize after a jury vote of 6-1 over runner-up Taylor Brown.
Brown, the season’s runner-up, receives the $75,000 second-place prize. The jury members who voted for Devens were Angela Murray, Barrett Pfeiffer, Yash Patel, Melody Morris, Dee Valladares and Drew Campbell. LaTrice Verrett cast the lone vote for Brown.
Devens’ win wasn’t limited to the grand prize. He also collected $50,000 for being named America’s Favorite Player and another $10,000 for triggering the season’s “Pharaoh’s Curse” twist, bringing his total earnings for the season to $810,000.
The finale hinged on the last Head of Household competition, which Devens won over Brown in its third part. As final HOH, Devens chose to bring Brown rather than Campbell to the final two — a decision that surprised viewers given how close Devens and Campbell had been throughout the season, with the pair frequently referring to each other as “father” and “son.”
Host Julie Chen Moonves told viewers ahead of the final eviction that Brown had made a forceful case to Devens for why he should take her to the end instead of Campbell, a pitch that evidently worked.
A Season Built Around Returning Players
Devens, Valladares and Murray — the latter a veteran of “Big Brother 26” — entered this season as returning “Icons” playing alongside a cast of first-time houseguests.
Drew Campbell emerged as a particularly divisive figure among his fellow competitors. Mallory Aurichio, who was evicted before the jury phase, said she felt misled by him. “I always knew he was tight with the ‘Icons’ and I knew he talked too much, but I had been kind of assuming he had my best interests and he didn’t,” she said, accusing him of playing both sides of the house.
Yash Patel echoed that frustration about the game itself. “In terms of the game, you best believe I have hard feelings towards him,” he said, though he added he wasn’t carrying the conflict into life outside the house. “Everything that happened in that house stays in that that house. Game is game. So I’m not gonna bring that into the real world.”
Melody Morris, who had a “flirtmance” with Campbell during the season, said she valued the friendship but drew a clear line. “I love Drew and I think he’s awesome. I wanna continue to be his friend, but there is a lot of traits that Drew has that I would never want to date,” she said.
Dee Valladares, a “Survivor 45” winner who also played alongside Devens on “Survivor 50,” acknowledged after her own eviction that she would have cut Devens had she reached final HOH herself. “As much as my heart wants to stay loyal to Devens, he could absolutely beat me,” she said, adding that she would have stayed loyal to him only up until the final two because “we need each other for jury votes.”
Earlier in the season, marking the show’s 1,000th episode, Season 13 winner Rachel Reilly told reporters she had hoped the “Survivor” transplants would dominate. “I feel like if Dee and Devens can outwit, outplay, outlast these people, and if they can win competitions and use their powers at the right time, I’m hoping that for future seasons if we do see another ‘Survivor’ player or if we see any more returnees, that we have more of an outright battle from the beginning,” she said, adding, “You have to give it to the gamer.”
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