Big Brother season 25 came to an end during a live two-hour finale, where the jury of 7 voted for the winner of the show, and host Julie Chen Moonves found herself surprised by where some of the votes landed. After 100 days of competition, Big Brother 25 came to an end, with Jag Bains, Matt Klotz, and Bowie Jane taking the final 3 spots.
Jag won the final Head Of Household of the season, choosing to evict Bowie and sit next to Matt for the final 2 votes. After answering some difficult questions from the jury, Jag gave an impassioned speech and ultimately won over the jury.
The Big Brother jury consisted of Cameron Hardin, Cory Wurtenberger, Blue Kim, America Lopez, Cirie Fields, Felicia Cannon, and Bowie after her eviction. While some of the votes seemed fairly straightforward, Julie shared with EW that she felt that Jag’s impassioned final speech worked, but could’ve “cost him Cirie’s vote” in the end. Julie shared that she was also surprised by Blue and America, whom she thought “would have also been in the Matt camp, making it 4-3 for Matt.” Julie’s view of the game comes from an interesting perspective as the host, who is closer to the houseguests than most.
While Julie commended Jag, the first Sikh winner of Big Brother in franchise history, she wasn’t shy about discussing her thoughts on the winner’s approach to the endgame. “His résumé was airtight, but that final plea to the jury was a little harsh. Ouch,” Julie explained, continuing, “Jag [showed] a whole different side! I was like, ‘What happened to the gracious guy we just heard evict Bowie?!’” While Jag may have made some difficult moves in the game, his choice to own his strategy was key to winning the game. Delivering his message with a potentially harsh tone felt urgent, pushing the jury to vote for him.
Though Julie’s perspective on the houseguests is coming from one of the closest vantage points, it’s possible that she wasn’t observing quite as much of their interaction than some of the Big Brother live feed viewers did. Jag seemed like the obvious winner, especially after watching Big Brother 25 unfold on the live feeds. The jurors were all vocal about their preferred style of gameplay in the house, and many were put off by the fact that, though he had social game on his resume, Matt wasn’t able to deliver the entire package in the house. Jag’s speeches and ownership of his moves simply sealed the deal.
With Big Brother 25 finally coming to an end, anticipation is already building for what’s coming next. With Big Brother Reindeer Games premiering this December, Julie will be able to take a break from the pressure cooker of the game and relax.