The inaugural houseguest eviction of Big Brother Season 27 happened on Thursday’s (July 17) live episode, and it was Isaiah “Zae” Frederich who found himself leaving the Hotel Mystere first — a rare 17th-place contestant, thanks to the twist that brought all-timer Rachel Reilly into the mix.
Zae became a target for the house fairly early on in the new season. He was part of the so-called “Bro” collective of muscular contestants and the “Burger Boys” alliance and somehow became a top suspect for the secret “accomplice” to the Mastermind, who helped Reilly get into the house when no one was looking. Though the house ultimately (wrongly) voted on Rylie Jeffries as the accomplice — thus, allowing for the real accomplice, Amy Bingham, to remain in the house — Zae was still a prime suspect to some of his housemates.
Later, after Vince Panaro won the first HOH competition, in which the selected players had to balance electricity cores on a BB Blaster, he had the power to nominate three players for eviction. He chose Zae, Amy Bingham, and his #ShowerGate pal Ashley Hollis. However, Ashley then won safety in the Power of Veto competition by correctly identifying the suspects in the “Campsite Caper” challenge, so Vince added his bestie Kelley Jorgensen to the block. Minutes before the eviction vote began, Kelley won her own safety from the block by defeating the other two in the BB Blockbuster competition, unscrambling the words onscreen to find a key object in the room. Then, by a vote of nine to five, Zae was sent home instead of Amy, who was, perhaps not coincidentally, the real “accomplice” but was fiercely campaigned for by Rachel.
So who did Zae blame for his ouster? Why was he a suspect in the accomplice search to begin with? And who is he looking forward to watching as the season continues? TV Insider caught up with Zae Frederich to find out!
How are you doing?
Zae Frederich: I’m doing all right. Obviously, I wasn’t planning on being here today, but it is what it is. I’m making the most of it.
Did you get any sleep?
A good sleep actually. It was an eventful day yesterday, so let’s say my body was pretty tired.
So digging into it, who do you blame most for orchestrating your eviction?
Definitely Rachel. Rachel, even in the one-on-ones where Amy was campaigning for herself, she actually wasn’t campaigning for herself. It was Rachel campaigning for Amy with Amy as a bystander, basically.
How did you feel about being targeted as a potential accomplice? How do you think that came about?
Oh, I think it’s just because I was kind of joking around a little bit, and people would ask me, “Oh, are you the accomplice?” And I was like, “I don’t know, maybe.” I just kind of joked. I didn’t think they would take it seriously. It’s my personality. And they did take it seriously, and they’re like, “Whoa, like this guy just said he’s the accomplice! Obviously, it’s him.” I was like, “All right, guys, obviously if I was the accomplice, I wouldn’t say that.” But at the end of the day, I didn’t care too much because I knew that it wasn’t going to be a life-changing vote for me, since I wasn’t actually the accomplice, and so I didn’t really care too much.
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How did you feel when you found out it was Amy and that you two were on the block together?
I know. It’s like, dang, I could have gotten her out a week ago, and the whole game would have been shifted for sure. So who knows what would have happened differently if we would have been able to get that correctly.
The people who voted against you were Rylie, Jimmy, Morgan, Ashley, Nikki, Ava, Katherine, and Lauren. Of those, who surprises you the most?
Oh, definitely Rylie, because obviously, Rylie and I were in an alliance. He was one of my best friends in the house. Still is. Obviously, I love the guy still, but it did surprise me that they got to him, and they probably convinced him that I was a threat and it was better for his game to get me out early, which is understandable, and everyone’s just out there trying to play the best game that they can. And so I don’t hold him at fault for that. But it was a little bit surprising to hear off the bat because he had literally told me in the house that he wanted to be top two with me and that he wanted to go all the way with me. So it was a little bit surprising to hear his name on that list.
Zach was pretty emotional about your exit. Why do you think he was so like personally affected?
Zach and I were tight. We were in a little bit of a bromance. We would cut up a little bit when we had the chance, and I love Zach a lot. I think very highly of him as a person in every aspect, and so it was hard. I think that it will be a little bit of an adjustment for him after I leave the house because we were so close and we were probably the two closest out of anyone in the house.
What was your read on the whole #ShowerGate situation?
I was pretty upset by [it]. I would say I thought it was very inconsiderate of Ashley to take that much time in the shower. I’ve since learned that I guess it wasn’t as much time as I thought it was, but at the time I was like, “Man, like she’s gotta go. That’s the easiest option.” Nobody else has done anything to make anyone else upset. Everyone’s been very considerate in the house, and so that’s an easy [move]. That’s enough reason right there to evict somebody.
You blamed Rachel for what happened to you. How do you think her coming into the house is going to change things?
I think people are scared of her. I’m not exactly sure why, but people are scared of Rachel. They’re scared to make moves on her. And so I think she’s gonna have, unless she’s on the block, a really easy time coasting, until people aren’t scared of her, and she has Amy as a second vote right now, so I think she’s in a pretty good position as long as people don’t target her.
What did you think in general of the Mastermind Hotel Mystere twist of all this? How did that affect the game?
It was a super neat twist. I loved the way the house was designed. It was very beautiful. I thought it was really cool, the murder mystery theme almost, and I hope to see a lot more twists that go along with that theme as the season evolves.
During the veto competition, everybody was complaining about the smells. How bad was that?
So it’s kind of funny. I actually had COVID about four or five years ago. I can’t smell. So as soon as I was in that booth and I heard the word smell — I wrote it on all my like medical sheets and stuff, too — I was like, “Well, dang, this is not good for me.” So I actually couldn’t tell you if they smelled that bad or not. I could kind of get the stronger ones. I kind of get a slight whiff of it, but it didn’t bother me at all. I was in there really wheezing it in, trying to get something. I wanted to smell the bad smell, but I couldn’t.
Looking back, I mean, I know it’s a short time, but is there anything you would have done differently?
I mean, obviously it was a short time. I think I waited a little bit too long to start talking game and building those relationships on a game level with people. I think I was just trying to take it on a personal level a little bit too long, which came back to bite me a little bit because by the time I sat down with people one on one and started talking game, a lot of them have already made up their minds of who they were going to keep and who they were going to evict. And so it kind of did not play in my favor and I think it kind of put me at a disadvantage in a way.
Who are you most looking forward to seeing after all this is done, and who are you most looking forward to watching?
I’m most looking forward to seeing after the house probably Rylie, Keanu, and Zach. Those are my boys. I want to see those guys all the time. I wanna hang out with them all the time. But honestly, everybody. I love everybody in the house. I’m excited for the finale night when I get to see them all again, and after seeing how the whole season unravels.
And then the answer to the second part of your question, who am I most excited to watch in the house? I think that, if I had to make a prediction right now, Morgan will make a really good run. She’s kind of laying low right now and she’s not viewed much of a threat, but she is really smart. She will be good at challenges, and she’s a triple threat. I think Vinny will be really good…. I think there’s a chance he could go up this week just because he was HOH first week, and it’s an easy target for the second HOH. But at the same time, I do feel like he’s a very strategic player, and he knows when to make moves, and he’s very calculated.
In this game, do you want to come back and try this again?
I would love nothing more than to come back. I mean, maybe they won’t want the last-place contestant to ever come back. But if they do, my teams are always open. I would drop anything to come back and do this again and redeem myself and hopefully not get evicted first next time. But if I do get evicted first next time, that’s my sign that I just need to stay away from any sort of TV show ’cause I suck. But I can make a run. I think I can make a run if I get back in the show. And I do think I could be like a competitive player and really be entertaining to watch, hopefully.
Matt Hardeman was the one last year, and look at how much of a fan favorite he is, so you never know.
People love Matt. Matt was great to watch. So hopefully I can be similar in that aspect, and people like watching me, and hopefully I have a similar experience to Matt.
This story originally appeared on TV Insider