‘Big Brother 28’: Rick Devens Talks His Historic Win & If He Felt Bad Cutting Drew

Brittany SimsFri, October 2, 2026 at 6:33 AM UTC

0

2834 SeasonS.28EpisodeEp.34Image Description: BIG BROTHER on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs)* Pictured: Devens. - CBS

Rick Devens came into Season 28 of Big Brotherwith a big target on his back by being one of three reality TV icons to enter the game. Now, he made history with his win.

He was in the final three against Drew Campbell and Taylor Brown. After winning the final part of the HOH competition, Devens decided to evict Drew and take Taylor with him. He won in a six-to-one vote.

Throughout the game, he aligned himself with most of the house and managed to never be on the block until week eight. He also won the Diamond Power of Veto in the Timecapsule, which he was voted into by the fans.

His biggest alliance was with Season 26’s Angela Murray and Survivor‘s Dee Valladares. However, Devens also aligned himself with Drew, whom he called his son in the game.

Devens won eight competitions, including parts two and three of the final HOH competition, the most of anyone this season. Every time he was nominated, he managed to get himself off the block with either the Blockbuster or the Power of Veto.

He not only became the first Survivor player to win Big Brother, but also is the highest winner in the show’s history due to his first-place winnings, AFH winnings, and the $10,000 he won from the Pharaoh’s Curse.

Find out what Devens had to say about his time in the house, his historic first-place finish, and more.

How are you?

Rick Devens: I am excellent!

I just have to say congratulations. You made history. Not only are you the first Survivor player to win Big Brother, but the highest-winning player of all time. How are you feeling right now?

I’m feeling really good. Both of those feel really good because I always want to represent Survivor Nation and all my Survivor brothers and sisters, and being the highest-earning winner of all time can’t complain about that. I got kids and they ain’t cheap.

How confident were you coming into the finale?

I was confident that if I could get to the jury phase, I would do a good job of arguing my case. But even though I had made a deal with Taylor that I would take her to the final two if I won that part three, and she would take me to the final two if she won the part three, I still don’t know if she really would have taken me to the final two. So I felt like I needed to win that, and if I did, I would have a really good chance of winning, but I had no idea what part three was going to be. I’ve been studying just random stuff all week, so I’d say I was maybe 5050, maybe 60-40 at my most confident times. I was stressing.

Did you plan to take Taylor all along, or were you originally going to take Drew?

I was going to take Drew. I wanted to take Drew when I told him in front of all of America that I’m taking you to the final two. I meant it, and then the night before the finale, Taylor comes to me and says, “If you take Drew, I’m not going to vote for you, and I’m going to make sure Lala doesn’t vote for you.” And then I go, “Oh no, because I think Melody [Morris] and Barrett [Pfeiffer] are going to vote for Drew. That’s four. That’s all I need to lose in the finals. So on top of that, when she was willing to say that she would take me to the final two if she won part three, and I take her to the final two if I won part three, that’s where it switched. I still had to sleep on it and talk to her this morning because I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to sit next to Drew, but I didn’t leave my family all summer for second place when I felt like there was a realistic shot at first place if I made the harder emotional decision. So I kind of just took all emotion out of it and looked at the facts, and it was a no-brainer. And then I had to I had to go with it. Seeing it now, I hate it. I wanted Drew in the final two with me!

Matthew Taplinger/CBS

Seeing as how the votes fell now, do you still think that you would have lost to Drew?

I still think there’s a really good possibility I would have lost to Drew. Drew played a very active game, and I think Melody definitely would have voted for Drew if Taylor and Lala voted for Drew, like I believe they would have based on what Taylor said. Then it would have all come down to Barrett, and he knows how well Drew played. I think Drew and I played very, very similar games, and he knows that the only reason I’m in the final three is that Drew dragged me there. He would know the only reason Drew was in the final two was that I dragged him there, so it all kind of comes out in the wash, and he would have been able to vote for whoever he wanted to vote for, and I think that could have been Drew. So now that I’ve won, I’m glad I made the decision I made, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to Drew because I do feel like he deserved to be in that final two chair. He really put everything into this game this season, and is a big, big reason why I am where I am.

Advertisement

Well, if it makes me feel any better, I just talked to the other two, and they both said they would have cut you at the final two.

Related

'Big Brother 28': Runner- Up Taylor Brown Shares Her Biggest Move & Why She Kept to Her Bed

There you go. Oh, Drew would have cut me too?

Yeah.

Ow! Thank you. That makes me do a lot better.

He said you were like his dad, but he couldn’t win against you.

And I would have expected him to cut me, and that would have been the right decision. So, like father, like son.

So you won six to one. Did any of the votes that you got surprise you?

I wasn’t shocked, but I was pleasantly surprised that I got Melody’s vote. I did think she would respect my game more, but I know she was closer with Taylor on a personal level. Then I think Taylor expected to get Yash’s vote, but I was never sure of that one. Like, Yash and I played similar games, like all gas, no brakes, and I thought he would really respect the game that I played, and he and I were also really good friends. So, Melody’s vote pleasantly surprised me. None of the others really did, though.

How different do you think your game would have been if you were the only icon playing?

Ooh, it would have been a lot tougher. But I’ll tell you, I expected half the cast to be icons. I thought we were at a huge disadvantage coming in, not even 20% of the house. Like what? There’s 14 of them and three of us. I think it would have been tough. I would have been less threatening, I guess. So maybe people would have been still willing to work with me, and I did develop a lot of great relationships with the newbie house guests, like if that had happened, I guess maybe the Yash/Kamu relationship I made could have been the relationship that took me through the whole game. I think if Rachel Riley had stayed in the house, it would have been a lot harder for the three icons to work together. If it was her and Angela and I, like, that’s a weird combination of people and personalities. Whereas I think Dee, Angela, and I meshed really well. So I think I got lucky in a lot of senses. But I still think three icons in a house of 17. There’s no excuse for you to not get rid of us. Like that’s on you at that point. So I feel pretty good about the way we played the game.

You weren’t on the block until week eight. How do you think you managed that?

No one was more surprised than I was that I was able to pull that off. I don’t know. I thought I put a huge target on myself in week two. I made a big scene at the nomination ceremony, and went after Rome [Seymour], who was like the biggest threat in the game. I won an HOH and a veto in the same week. I thought, “I’m doing a lot of crazy stuff around here.” I’d already done the Diamond Power of Veto, and even in week eight, when I went up, it was because I volunteered to be a renom, like an idiot. So I think I’ve just done a really good job with the social and strategic game, which Survivor players are probably pretty shocked about. That’s not what I’m known for.

But I had insulated myself really well within all these different alliances. I had so many alliances. It was insane, and most of them had the same people, so I could be honest about things. There was just like one person or two people different in each of these things. A lot of them knew about each other, so I just had done a really good job of insulating myself and of offering value to all the different people I was with. I wasn’t just someone they were dragging along. I was helping them as well, and I think that’s why I was able to stay off the block as long as I did.

Matthew Taplinger/CBS

You got the diamond power veto in the time capsule and used it on Dee. Did you ever think of saving it for yourself instead?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, and I was very very lucky to get that. When Drew came and said he got the have-not pass, I went “Wow, dude! I lucked out.” Like, that was huge. I could have saved it for one or two more weeks, and it’s like an immunity idol. You get out of jail free. Like it’s great, and I did want to save it for myself, but that was an opportunity where I was like, if I pull Dee off the block, I think I can also save Angela. Those are two of my closest allies in the game. Plus, I can get out Kamu, who is like this huge threat. Maybe this is my chance. And then I tried to pull together the Mosh Pit Alliance, which held together for one vote. But I thought it was going to be better than that. So I was like, I’m going to maximize this diamond power veto, save two of my closest allies, get out the biggest threat in the game, set myself up with a new majority alliance that I’m going to be able to ride to the end. So all of that outweighed. Maybe I’m on the block next week, and we’ll need this. And I just felt like that’s the way to go. Like you can’t play these games scared that you’re going to need something later. You just have to make the moves when you have an opportunity to make the moves. And I felt like that was the right time.

Big Brother, Season 28, now streaming, Paramount+

Read the latest entertainment news on TV Insider.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”