Celebrity Big Brother is barely underway, yet contestants are already getting political. Omarosa Manigualt, who is best known from season 1 of The Apprentice and for serving in President Donald Trump‘s White House, had a heart-to-heart with Ross Mathews — insinuating she might not be as gung-ho about Trump as some people think.
In a sneak peek of Thursday’s episode, which is part two of the mini season’s three-day premiere, Manigault spilled some of her White House secrets to Mathews.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“As a voter, a citizen, I never got it, why you went to the White House with him,” says Matthews, a comedian an TV personality.
“I felt like it was a call to duty, I felt like I was serving my country by serving him,” Manigault says. “It was always about the country. Like, I was haunted by tweets every single day. What is he gonna tweet next?”
“Does anybody say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” the TV personality asks.
“I mean, I tried to be that person, and then all of the people around him attacked me,” she says, breaking down into tears and claiming she got iced out by the administration.
“Who has that power to say what’s going on?” Matthews asks.
“I don’t know. I’m not there. It’s not my circus, not my monkeys,” she says. “I’d like to say not my problem but I can’t say that because, it’s bad.”
“Should we be worried?” Matthews asks, begging her to tell him everything will “be okay” because it’s what he wants to hear. She nods: “No, it’s not gonna be okay.”
When Mathews first saw Manigault was going to be in the Big Brother house, he immediately made it clear he thought they wouldn’t get along.
In a confessional interview, he said if there was one person he didn’t want to see in the Big Brother house, it was Manigault.
American Pie actress Shannon Elizabeth also seemed hesitant about rooming with Manigault, but she ultimately hoped for the best aligned herself with her.
“Not quite sure how [rooming with Omarosa is] gonna go, bit I’m so excited to be here,” Elizabeth said.
Another contestant, Big Time Rush band member and Nickelodeon TV star James Maslow, did not even know who Omarosa was. He asked her “who she apprenticed for” and was taken aback when she told him it was Donald Trump.
However, Manigault was randomly selected to be safe from the first eviction, so they will have to deal with her for at least another round.
The 44-year-old secured an all-girls alliance with the other women in the house with the goal of evicting a strong male competitor before the men have a chance to dominate.
Elizabeth won the first Head of Household on Wednesday night’s premiere, meaning the girls have control of the house — for now.
In the final moments of the show’s premiere, host Julie Chen revealed that the Big Brother gift bags given to all of the contestants could include a promotional t-shirt, or they could include the power to recast the Head of Household.
The contents of each star’s gift bags were not revealed on Wednesday’s episodes, but left Elizabeth feeling nervous about her victory.
Aside from Elizabeth, Manigault, Mathews and Maslow, other competitors in the house include Metta World Peace, Mark McGrath, Brandi Glanville, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Ariadna Gutiérrez and Chuck Liddell.
Celebrity Big Brother airs almost every night for the next three weeks at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
More Reality
-

“Reverse the Curse” – Back from tribal, tensions rise following the exit of a particularly historic player. The final five immunity challenge ends in a showdown and features one of the closest finishes the show has ever seen. Jeff reveals the outcomes of the remaining in-game fan votes and how they impact the final stage of the competition. Then, one castaway will be crowned Sole Survivor and awarded the $2 million prize, during the three-hour live season finale, on SURVIVOR 50, Wednesday, May 20 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on-demand for Paramount+ Premium plan subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs)*. Jeff Probst serves as host and executive producer. Pictured: Aubry Bracco Photo: Robert Voets/CBS ©2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.






