‘Big Brother 27’ Winner Ashley Hollis Reveals the Biggest Surprises of Her Victory Over Vince Panaro (Exclusive)

Big Brother 27 winner Ashley Hollis is still riding the high of her dominant 6-1 victory over fellow houseguest Vince Panaro.

After taking home the $750,000 win in Sunday’s live finale, Ashley opened up to PopCulture.com about choosing to take Vince to the Final Two while revealing which of her former housemates surprised her in the end — for better or for worse.

“I feel on top of the world,” Ashley gushed Monday of her Season 27 win. “It’s really an indescribable, surreal feeling, that’s for sure.”

After winning the final HOH in Sunday’s finale episode, Ashley decided to bring Vince to the end of the game with her instead of Morgan Pope, calling her ability to win against Vince a “toss-up” over the former D1 athlete.

Internally, Ashley was much more confident about her chances of winning against Vince than she let on. “That was completely gamesmanship. I knew I would beat him, which is why I took him,” she told PopCulture. “He had terrible jury management. Not only that, I just feel like I played a better social game than [him].”

“You know, the only thing he had on me was more competitions, but what he did with those wins was not that impressionable,” she continued. “I mean, Morgan pretty much ran his HOHs, and I knew that coming in because I worked so closely with both of them. So, I did not think it was a toss-up.”

That confidence only grew after Ashley admittedly “ate them up” with her answers to the jury and her final speech, in which she revealed that she had been downplaying her intelligence and hiding her profession as an attorney.

“I felt pretty good after doing my speeches and hearing [Vince’s]. I felt like, ‘Okay, I think I won this game,’” she revealed, adding that during the commercial break, Vince told her, “I’m pretty sure you beat me.”

The 6-1 vote was still a huge surprise, however, as Ashley thought that Vince would at least get another vote from his close ally, Lauren Domingue.

“You know, Lauren and I weren’t that close this game,” she revealed. “I think she’s a sweetheart, but we just didn’t really connect on a super, super close level, especially game-wise. She always was extremely close to Vinny the entire game. So, I wasn’t sure if I would get her vote, just because she had a better relationship to Vince quite literally for 70-something days.”

She continued, “But I’m so glad that she respected my gameplay and saw the value of crowning me the winner, and I really appreciate it.”

Some houseguests surprised Ashley less positively, as the newly-crowned winner revealed that Rylie Jeffries, Kelley Jorgensen and Zach Cornell “won’t be getting a follow” from her post-season due to their comments in the house.

“To hear some of Kelley’s comments, because we didn’t get along necessarily — I mean, she just wasn’t my cup of tea, quite frankly — but to hear some of the comments that made that were kind of nasty, that surprised me too,” she told PopCulture. “And then Zach calling me dumb is absolutely hilarious. I love that he got to watch me win this game and be on the stage as a pre-juror…. and I cast a vote to evict him. So yeah, who’s the dumb one now?”

Ashley is looking forward to “some lifelong friendships” with other Season 27 cast members, including “ride or die” Morgan as well as Cliffton “Will” Williams, Ava Pearl, Rachel Reilly, Amy Bingham, Adrian Rocha and “even Jimmy [Heagerty].” She added, “I love me some Jimmy. As messy as he was on the show, as a person, he really is so fun.”

With a $750,000 win in the bank, Ashley is looking to a future in acting, singing or hosting, with a plan to possibly get into entertainment law in the future.

“I’m willing to take on any opportunity that comes to me,” she said, “whether it’s reality TV, traditional TV, I’m ready for all of it.”