‘Big Brother’ Season 27 ‘Mystery Houseguest’ Revealed

Grab a life vest, floaters, because Rachel Reilly is checking in to Hotel Mystère on Big Brother.

The iconic Big Brother player, who made her debut in Season 12 of the CBS show before taking home the win a season later, was revealed during Thursday’s premiere to be the 17th houseguest playing in Big Brother Season 27.

“Floaters, grab a life vest. Reality royalty has officially arrived,” Rachel announced upon her dramatic entrance into the house. She added in the Diary Room later, “I’m here to show these newbies how to play Big Brother.”

And while Rachel’s appearance was a surprise (despite fans’ guesses on social media) she technically isn’t the mystery houseguest that the show has been teasing. In yet another premiere twist, it was revealed that Rachel is actually a regular houseguest, but that one of the 16 other players who was introduced during the premiere is an “accomplice” behind some of the mischief during the first episode.

If the rest of the houseguests are able to identify the accomplice by Sunday’s episode, they’ll be evicted from the game. If they aren’t able to track them down, they’ll stay in play for the rest of the season.

Rachel has an impressive history not just in the Big Brother house, but also in three seasons of The Amazing Race, as well as The Traitors, Snake in the Grass, and Celebrity Fear Factor.

Her return to the game and 17th houseguest twist weren’t the only mysterious happenings in the BB27 premiere. When the lights suddenly went out during the premiere, host Julie Chen Moonves was “kidnapped” by “The Mastermind,” a new trickster clad in a red mask, and it was up to the houseguests to get her back.

With one half of the houseguests playing in a competition to locate Julie and the others competing to find the missing HOH relic, the groups’ two winners walked away with a little something extra. While Zach was given $10,000 for freeing Julie, Jimmy was rewarded for tracking down the relic with the ability to pick the four players who would compete in the first Head of Household competition.

Jimmy selected himself, Adrian, Ashley, and Vince for the first HOH competition, but it was Vince who walked away with the win — and the perilous role as the season’s first HOH.