Big Brother gave Rachel Reilly more than just a $500,000 prize — the series brought her to her one true love, Brendon Villegas, and their family.
Reilly, now 40, first appeared on Big Brother 12 in 2010. Fans watched as she and Villegas, now 45, fell in love on screen. While the couple didn’t make it to the end at the time, they would go on to appear on The Amazing Race before returning to the Big Brother house the next summer as fiancés. Reilly was ultimately crowned the champion of season 13. In September 2012, Reilly and Villegas tied the knot.
Now, Reilly and Villegas share two children: daughter Adora, 9, and son Adler, 4. When Reilly decided to go play Big Brother for a third time for season 27 earlier this year, she went into the house for the first time without Villegas. The professor stayed back with their little ones as the group supported Reilly’s dreams of being the game’s first two-time winner.
“Adora and Adler were going to watch parties every single week, and they said they had the most fun watching me on TV,” Reilly exclusively shares with Us Weekly in the annual Reality Stars of the Year issue as one of the honorees. “Adora thinks that she’s gonna be the next Big Brother winner.”
Rachel Says She Has ‘Unfinished Business’ After ‘Big Brother’ Elimination
While Adora isn’t old enough to compete on the CBS reality series right now, Reilly is fully supportive of her little one’s dreams but has told her she has to wait “12 years.”
“I’m like, when you’re 21, you absolutely can go into the Big Brother house. My dream would be for Adora to go into the Big Brother house and to be in a showmance … and for her to find the love of her life as well and win the game, of course,” she teases. “She is so in love with the show as well.”
In Big Brother 27, Reilly came into the house after 14 years with the intention to show fans how much she has “evolved as a player.”
“I think this was the best gameplay you’ve ever seen from me,” she tells Us. “I really needed to focus this season on my social and strategic game, and for me, that meant thinking about how other Big Brother players had played the game, and how winners that I’ve personally interviewed, or I’ve had the chance to talk to, have played the game. I’m a student of the Big Brother game.”
Reilly achieved her goal of proving to fans she still had it. She was a major contender to win the game if it were not for her shocking elimination due to the White Locust twist. Reilly was unexpectedly eliminated after she failed to complete a puzzle maze while inside a hamster wheel. Looking back on it now, Reilly explains that the game of Big Brother is to “expect the unexpected” even when it includes a twist involving a “hamster wheel of death.”
“It did not turn out how I would have loved for it to turn out, but I feel like, what a great way to go out. I never got evicted, I never got a vote against me, and I never even went on the block this season,” she says, while looking at the bright side of the situation. “And people tried … so I think that that’s a lot to credit to my game play, that I was able to stay off the block. I never had a vote against me. I was eliminated, just like the icon I am.”
Reilly’s elimination from Big Brother 27 outraged fans and alumni of the game. After learning about the reaction to her departure, Reilly was “so grateful for the fan love and support,” especially while she was in the dark due to the “Big Brother bubble.” She was also “floored” at how other former Big Brother players came to her defense as well.
“It was so nice to see the support from the Big Brother community and how much they were really rooting for me, and it’s just so nice that I was able to just kind of reconnect with them,” she tells Us. “Some people told me that I reinvigorated their love for the game as well, which is really exciting.”
‘Big Brother’ Alumni Speak Out After Rachel’s Controversial Elimination
While Reilly wasn’t able to take home the win a second time, she left her mark on the season as her elimination set the tone for the season’s endgame. In her dramatic exit, Reilly made a passionate speech to the remaining players about what it takes to be a Big Brother legend.
“I think that a lot of it had to do with the fact that I said, you know, you have to play a strategic, social and competitive game, that social game is so important,” she reflects. “I told them I wanted to see them step up, get blood on their hands. And I know Morgan [Pope] took that very seriously. I know Ashley [Hollis] took that very seriously.”
Hollis, 25, was one of Reilly’s closest allies and friends in the game, and the lawyer ended up taking home the victory during the finale. The Big Brother 27 finale was the most-watched episode of the series in the past three years as it was watched by more than 4 million viewers. Reilly proudly voted for Hollis to join her amongst the ranks of Big Brother winners.
“Big Brother is a very social game, and we saw that with Ashley’s win. She played amazing social and strategic games and Ashley won competitions when she needed to,” she explains. “She won probably the two most important competitions that she could have won. Week one, she would have gone home, and at the finale, she literally won the final three HOH, which I knew was going to guarantee her that win.”
After leaving the house, Reilly and Hollis remain close. Reilly shares that she has plans to “get together” with the season 27 winner and will bring a “bottle of champagne.”
One reunion Reilly was looking forward to the most coming out of Big Brother 27 was seeing Villegas, Adora and Adler. Villegas and the kids flew out to Los Angeles to be there for the finale night.
“Our reunion was amazing …I told him, I’m never letting him go again,” she gushes. “There’s a lot of cuddles and hugs and just talking.”
Not only did Villegas support his wife by rooting for her to win, he went above and beyond to make sure she had everything she needed — including her fabulous wardrobe.
“He sent me dresses throughout the season, so I always looked good,” she shares. “He’s just like, honestly, went beyond, above and beyond as a husband, and he even sent me jewelry to match my dresses.”
‘Big Brother’ Winner Ashley Explains Why She Channeled Elle Woods in Game
Villegas also surprised Reilly by picking out outfits for her when they got home on top of the romantic gesture by having flowers for her “everywhere.”
“It’s just so amazing to know that I had the support of such an amazing man,” she gushes. “And that he’s my spouse, you know, like my soulmate, I get to spend my life with him.”
Reilly also teases to Us that she and Villegas haven’t completely ruled out expanding their family in the future.
“I did talk to Brendon about baby number three, and it’s not out of the question,” she tells Us. “We feel like we have so much love to give. So it’s not out of the question, but I’m not sure that it’s gonna happen.”
For more with the Reality Stars of the Year, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
