Da’Vonne Rogers became the second person to be evicted from the Big Brother 17 house last night when her best efforts to pull the votes together came up short and she was sent packing.
I spoke with Da’Vonne today about her experience on the Big Brother, what she would have done if she had been able to stay, and why did she make those curious picks for the Last Laugh vote blocks. Read on for all that and more.
When someone is evicted we try to look at what could have been the root cause and that’s tough because it’s usually such a combination of events that lead us to this point. But here’s a big one for Da’Vonne: does she wish she had used that Fast Forward save on Shelli who was obviously troubled by it going to Liz instead?
Da’Vonne Rogers: All night I tossed and turned about it. If I just gave that to that girl I’d be fine. But in my mind I just felt like the second group of Houseguests thought the first group had made an alliance so I wanted to shut that down.
Liz had offered me two free safeties, “if I win HoH you’re good.” You know, I got to protect myself twice, so why not take the offer? It definitely bit me in the butt for sure.
The last ditch effort by Da’Vonne to stay inside the game came thanks to her Last Laugh twist power that let her cancel out three voters. Many of us considered the easy picks to be Clay, Jeff, and James to be easy picks but instead she went with Jeff, Jackie, and Becky. Why she’d make those choices?
Rogers: I wanted to remain anonymous if I stayed in the house and I knew if I picked Clay or Audrey that it’d be obvious that I had the power. I didn’t want the people to know that.
So I figured, who could I pick that it wouldn’t be obvious that I had it but at the same time would cancel out votes for Meg. I knew those three would be perfect.
The Twin Twist was quickly spoiled to us as viewers, but it seemed to pass by the Houseguests who were living side by side with Liz Nolan and her twin Julia. Once Da’Vonne discovered this secret I thought she’d use it to her advantage and apply a little blackmail pressure. So what happened?
Rogers: It was definitely a bad move [letting everyone know]. I felt like me and Jason at that point had become one player. That was my ride or die. If I had tea, I was giving it to him and vice versa.
With that I said, look, I’m gonna tell you but keep this between me and you. I’ll be damned if like two seconds later he didn’t run to Meg and then Meg ran to Jeff and then… It spread like wildfire and hit the floor running. It was awful.
We saw Da’Vonne crack the Twins code this Monday, but was that the first time she noticed?
Rogers: After maybe a week and a half of being in the house. I knew it! The girl who entered the house had a real big butt, so I called her “thick ‘ums.” She had real nice butt, shout out to her. Her sister was very slim. The one who entered the house [Liz] is very fun. She likes to play pool, she want to work out, she want to chill in the hot tub. The other just want to lounge around and chill.
I could tell in how they dressed, in how they acted, in their personality. If you really put them side by side they look nothing like twins. It’s kinda obvious. I was shocked nobody else saw it.
A lot of people were upset about the “thick ‘ums” reference last night so I asked Da’Vonne if that was a slam or what?
Rogers: Where I come from “thick” is a compliment like “ohh, she’s got a nice butt.” I was giving her a compliment. I was a little jealous! I want one like that too.
Da’Vonne was at odds with Shelli and Clay for a long time in the house so I wanted to know where she felt like that all started and why wouldn’t they let it go.
Rogers: I think that was the situation where I got in to it with Clay where I exposed him for not being the sweet, charming guy he claimed to be. Once that was exposed I knew that was a problem. I really feel like he handed Shelli the gun and put the bullet on my name and she fired.
So what if Da’Vonne had succeeded in her vote flip and even scored a big win the HoH comp, then who would she have nom’d?
Rogers: I would put up Shelli and Audrey, let them battle it out, and then I’d Backdoor Clay and send them.
Going in to the season I fully expected Da’Vonne to catch on to Vanessa Rousso, a widely known professional poker player, since she’s a poker dealer herself, but it didn’t happen. Why not?
Rogers: No, I did not know her at all! It kind of freaked me out when she named some of the casinos she had been playing poker at and I was like, “ohh!” Cause I’ve dealt at some of those casinos and she’s going to recognize my hands and face. She’s going to know who I am.
Da’Vonne was a real fan of Big Brother, so I wanted to know what was her favorite memory she’d be taking away from her experience of finally getting in the house.
Rogers: The friendship I built with Jason. I came in to the game saying I wasn’t going to trust anybody, I was going to be a robot, and not like anybody. He was my piece of home and I really enjoyed that moment with him building that friendship.
His love and passion for the game and how much he knows this game. Me and him could have won this game!
So Da’Vonne won’t get to the end of Big Brother 17 with Jason, but who does she think will get there to the very end?
Rogers: I hope Jason, but if they continue to let this man fly by like they have then it’s probably going to be John along with Audrey.
Da’Vonne is out of the running now so what’s next for her?
Rogers: I need to go home and see my baby! Before I do anything else with my life I need to go home and be with my baby. I miss that girl so much it’s ridiculous.
I gotta detox and get the Big Brother up off of me cause I’ve been very paranoid, very angry, very emotional. So I gotta get that off of me and then get back in to the swing of things in my regular life.
Fans of Da’Vonne will be able to find her soon on Twitter, but she doesn’t have an account just yet. I invited her to come find us when she gets on there and then we’ll let everyone know where they can get more of her Big Brother commentary on this season.
Update: Da’Vonne’s official Twitter account is @DayDaVonne_bb17
Watch our original preseason interview with Da’Vonne Rogers: