'Big Brother' Stars Rachel Reilly and Janelle Pierzina Talk Season 24 and Address Franchise's Future

By Stephanie Downs

The 24th season of Big Brother has been one for the books. Recently, PopCulture.com got to chat with two of Big Brother's most iconic stars, Rachel Reilly and Janelle Pierzina, about their turn on USA Network's Snake in the Grass. Of course, the conversation turned to the current season of the CBS reality series. With Big Brother 24 in its final stretch, Rachel and Janelle offered their thoughts on this season's gameplay. Additionally, they also gave their opinions on the future of the franchise itself. 

Both Rachel and Janelle are fully invested in Season 24. Between the drama and the strategy, there certainly hasn't been a dull moment so far. As Janelle said, "I really, really like the season. Ilove the cast. I think there's been a lot of drama and there's been a lot of strategy, which is so nice to see in modern BB because we usually don't get that." Rachel agreed and noted that she really enjoyed the season's recent twist, the split house. 

Like many fans and fellow alumni, Rachel is rooting for Taylor Hale this season. Taylor hasn't had the easiest time in the Big Brother house, but she's managed to thrive all the same even as her antagonists have gotten the boot. Rachel said that she would be "surprised" if Taylor doesn't make it to the end and noted that she would have a great story for the jury if she did make it to the final two. 

While Janelle and Rachel are enjoying Big Brother 24, they do have some trepidations about the direction that the show is going in. Both women got to experience competing before the rise of social media (Rachel appeared on Seasons 12 and 13 while Janelle appeared on Seasons 6, 7, 14, and 22). Now, in the social media era, there's been a noticeable change in the gameplay and the behavior of the contestants. As for when this shift in tone occurred, they point to Season 16, the season after the series was plagued with a major racism scandal. 

"[Season] 16 was like, okay, let's do a one love type of thing. Everyone loves everybody. We don't say anything. We don't do anything," Janelle said. "And then we just kind of all work as a group, a lot of group thinking. I think the key here is group, not individual players, which it's hard to see that in modern BBs because that changed the game." She continued, "I mean, right at Season 6, I had a MySpace account and I didn't really care if someone was going to comment on my MySpace page that I suck. Bye. But, now, it's just... you're so visible and you're so easy to find and people want to seek you out and ruin your life."

"And I feel like also there's a lot of people that want to be influencers when they get off the show. They think they're going to be these big influencers and get a million followers on TikTok or whatever," Rachel added. "Once that happened and once it became such a big social media show, it did change how people go into the house because they want to be famous or want to be social media famous. And that changes the game because then they're not focused on $750,000 ... It's not even 500,000 anymore. It's $750,000. That is crazy. That's life-changing money."

While there isn't a quick fix for this issue, they do believe that the more that the players focus on the game, the more the game itself will flourish for both the contestants and viewers alike. Rachel said, "I think [the problem] is the cast. I think that they need to make sure the people going on the show are committed to winning $750,000."

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