Janelle Pierzina is a legend of Big Brother, and as anyone who has seen her play knows, she’s not shy about sharing her opinion. In fact, Twitter users got to see how she felt about Season 24’s Daniel Durston when he went off on Taylor Hale, but what are her thoughts on the season as a whole? Janelle was kind enough to share her thoughts with CinemaBlend, and why no modern season can ever be as intense as the early years.
I spoke to Janelle Pierzina ahead of her latest reality show appearance on USA’s Snake in the Grass, which will premiere Monday, August 29. I asked Janelle her opinion of Big Brother Season 24 based on what she’s seen so far and got her honest thoughts on what’s going on:
With this season, I would say it’s one of the best modern Big Brother seasons I’ve ever seen because it’s not like a bunch of sheep following one person and then just completely voting with the house. Unanimously voting people out of the game and little to no strategy. This game has a lot of strategy right now, I think.
Anyone who watched Janelle in Season 22 should know she’s not about one-sided steamroll seasons. This season, The Leftovers managed to flip the script by evicting Ameerah Jones and Nicole (who both faced backlash from fans for mistreatment of Taylor), and it’s looking like even The Leftovers may not last much longer with the upcoming house split and drama happening. In short, votes aren’t unanimous, and as Janelle said, there’s a lot of strategy.
Janelle is a fan of Season 24, to the point that she likened it to another recent and popular Big Brother season. Janelle gave some love to former Housemate Tyler Crispen and the Season 20 cast (even though he effectively evicted her from All-Stars 2) while talking about the latest episodes:
It’s so interesting to watch. I would say it lines up there with, for me, I love Season 20 because I love, love, love fighting alliances. I like to root for the underdogs. So I always rooted for that horrible alliance, the hive? They were so bad. I loved watching Bayley trying to figure it out. I always root for the underdogs.
Big Brother Season 24 checks off the boxes of an entertaining modern season for Janelle. I wondered if the drama can even compare to some of her early appearances and if Season 24 measures up to some of the earlier years of the game.
Some people may compare Season 24 of Big Brother to an older season of the game, but Janelle Pierzina isn’t one of those people. Janelle explained that she doesn’t believe we’ll ever get another season like the old days, and it’s more or product of times changing than the game itself:
I don’t think we’ll ever get the classic O.G. players where you’re in someone’s face screaming things because of the environment that the country is in. People get canceled, and they’re just like, ‘Oh my God. I don’t want to ruin my life.’ Like, why would you do that? And the intent of some people to go on reality TV nowadays is different than 2005. Where there was no social media, and you were just like, 'I want to win Big Brother,' so the people that they get are different.
Janelle believes that social media and cancel culture definitely made Big Brother harder to navigate, and as a result, Houseguests aren’t quite as extreme these days. A positive is that Houseguests aren’t quite as combative as they once were, though there have been some embroiled in controversy. (Season 21 winner Jackson Michie is a great example.)
Janelle Pierzina isn’t going on Big Brother anytime soon, but fans will be able to catch her, Season 13 winner Rachel Reilly (who wants to return to the game), and frequent Survivor contestants Cirie Fields and Stephenie Kendrick on USA's Snake in the Grass. The series features four contestants, all competing for prize money, but there’s a traitor among them. Players must try and complete challenges to try and expose the identity of the snake, or lose and walk away with nothing while the snake gets $100k.
If the three identify the snake, they split the money, and the other leaves with nothing. Obviously, the game is more intense with Big Brother and Survivor alumni in the mix, so this will be one fans won't want to miss. Catch Janelle and others on Snake in the Grass on Monday, August 29 at 11:00 p.m. ET on USA. Of course, anyone with a Paramount+ subscription can rewatch these iconic players on Survivor or Big Brother, so maybe do that while waiting for this exciting new episode.
