Big Brother Season 27 Has A Secret 17th Houseguest Who Isn't The Vet I Expected, And I Think One Big Clue Could Help Narrow Down Who They Are

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Big Brother Season 27 premiere. Stream it with a Paramount+ subscription and read at your own risk!

The Big Brother Season 27 premiere didn't disappoint and lived up to the hype of being one of my most anticipated premieres on the 2025 TV schedule. Finally, we got to see the Houseguests enter the game, but it didn't take long until we were hit with another mystery. Yes, there is a mystery 17th Houseguest, but it's not the veteran everyone figured out was playing the game.

I guess I should've expected the unexpected, but who would've thought BB had yet another trick up its sleeve? Here's what we learned about the mystery 17th Houseguest, and my attempt to whittle down the list to figure out who they are.

Rachel Reilly Is Playing Big Brother, But She's Not The 17th Houseguest

Here's hoping that Big Brother 23's Joseph Abdin is a better lawyer than he is a secret keeper, because it seems he may have broken an NDA, revealing Rachel Reilly was playing in this season before it was announced during the premiere. In fairness to him, fans were already suspicious she was involved, and my hopes of the mystery person not being a former player were dashed.

Fortunately, Big Brother had another twist to throw to players, via this season's mysterious mastermind. He revealed that while Rachel was added to the game last, she's actually the 16th Houseguest. The 17th Houseguest had already entered the game, and was subtly responsible for the power outage and other events that happened during the episode.

The Houseguests were presented a challenge. If they can figure out who the accomplice to the mastermind was, that person will immediately leave the game, and we're back to the standard sixteen Houseguests. If they don't, then that person gets to stay. There were no clues given as to who this person could be, but I think there's one way we can whittle down potential options.

I Think There's One Obvious Way To Whittle Down Who The Accomplice Is

I was trying to think if the episode gave us any clues as to who the accomplice may be, and while there was nothing obvious, one thing did stand out when it comes to figuring out the logistics of the 17th Houseguest. From a logical standpoint, one would have to assume that whoever is the accomplice was instructed that they couldn't become the Week 1 HOH.

If they were, and discovered, then Big Brother would have to host a second Week 1 HOH competition to pick who is going to nominate three Houseguests for eviction. It'd be a level of chaos this game hasn't seen since Paloma Aguilar had to leave before the first eviction, so I feel safe speculating the accomplice made sure they were nowhere near the HOH comp. Plus, I feel like the show made a point to highlight everyone who didn't want to compete in the HOH, which I thought was a bit weird until I thought of this.

So, assuming that logic tracks, we can at least rule out Vince Panaro as the 17th Houseguest. We also know that Rachel is not, so there are two definitive people I have off my board.

After that, I would maybe rule out Jimmy Heagerty and Zach Cornell since they won competitions relevant to the game. I also feel like Adrian Rocha was trying way too hard to win both competitions he was in, so I'll take him off the board as well. Ashley Hollis was eager to play in the HOH competition, but she didn't do all that well. I guess for the sake of whittling things down, she's off the board, too. There's still plenty of options on the board, but I'm going to be shocked if any of that group end up being the 17th Houseguest. We'll just have to wait and see!

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Big Brother has another 90-minute episode coming up on CBS on Sunday, July 13th at 8:00 p.m. ET. Tune in to see if the Houseguests figure out who the accomplice is, and who will be the three people put up on the block to compete in the BB Blockbuster challenge.