'Big Brother' Icons Rachel Reilly and Janelle Pierzina Talk 'Intense' 'Snake in the Grass' Experience

By Stephanie Downs

The worlds of Big Brother and Survivor are set to collide on USA's newest series, Snake in the Grass. For the Aug. 29 episode, Big Brother alumni Rachel Reilly and Janelle Pierzina will compete alongside Survivor's Stephenie Kendrick and Cirie Fields. In advance of the episode, PopCulture.com got the chance to chat with both Rachel and Janelle, during which they shed some insight into how their Snake in the Grass "treasure hunt" turned into an adventure to remember. 

Each episode of Snake in the Grass features a different group of four contestants, all of whom are vying for $100,000. During the excursion, they must determine who the "snake" or saboteur is amongst the group. If the three players successfully figure out who the "snake" is, they'll split the $100,000 prize. However, if they don't, the "snake" will walk away with all of the money. The players will have to strategize all while battling the elements in a Costa Rican jungle. According to Janelle and Rachel, they were originally told that they would be doing a "treasure hunt" of sorts. But, they quickly realized that they would need to implement some of their Big Brother skills for the Snake in the Grass challenge. 

"This was very fast-paced. So, you just start playing the game immediately," Janelle said about the experience, which lasted 36 hours total. "When he told us the twist of the show, I immediately was like, 'I'm going to figure out who the snake is.' And then just — boom — started going right into it. Just watching every single move, every single person, what they were doing." As for Rachel, she noted that she was "worried" about whether her social game would translate to this experience, as she typically replies on her "competitiveness." 

"I just didn't know because I'm just not good at picking up on social cues. I just want to trust everyone," Rachel said. "And especially being on the beach with all these legends, I'm such a big fan of all of these ladies. I think that's the thing that made it even harder because we get to all work together finally. But, also, we're working against whoever the snake is. So, you don't know. You don't know what to expect. You don't know what is going on."

Rachel and Janelle have been friends for some time now (they even competed on the same season of The Amazing Race). Although, they weren't aware that the other was going to be on the show. Still, once they did see each other, they knew that they would have an instant bond, especially against the two Survivor players. Considering all of the Survivor talk, and the fact that Snake in the Grass placed the two women in a Survivor-esque setting, would they consider making the jump over to the other CBS reality show now that they know what to expect? While Rachel would definitely be on board, Janelle has her reservations, as she said, "Oh, after one day in the jungle, I was like, I'm not doing Survivor. It was so horrible. I slept next to Cirie, she snored. It was... sleeping on the ground. I was like, this is just not my vibe right now at 42."

As Rachel offered, they might rethink things if they were able to do the experience with Stephenie and Cirie, as the four women all had a great time together during the intense Snake in the Grass experience and agreed that they'll be lifelong friends moving forward. The Big Brother 13 winner said, "It was one of the most fun shows I've ever done. And I think that the fact that it was 36 hours, the fact that it was the competitiveness and the social game of it ... So, you know that it's going to be a really intense episode. But, after the show wrapped, we all got to go out to dinner and hang out. I'll be friends with these ladies for life." Snake in the Grass airs on the USA Network on Mondays at 11 p.m. ET. 

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