Liz Nolan – Big Brother 17 Runner-Up Finale Interview

Liz Nolan beat expectations when she entered the Big Brother 17 house as part of the Twin Twist and not only survived to have her sister Julia join the season but to also make it to the Final Two where she became the runner-up and won $50,000.

Liz Nolan with Julie Chen and Steve Moses at BB17 finale
Liz Nolan with Julie Chen and Steve Moses at BB17 finale – Source: CBS / Monty Brinton

Now outside of the house Liz was excited to discuss her experience, all the fun she had, and what it was like playing as part of a (briefly) hidden twist.

Big Brother Network: You said you didn’t expect Vanessa to take you to F2, butyou were willing to throw round one to her?

Liz: Yes! It’s a double edged sword because we were on those apples for three hours and I’m a very strong competitor but there’s only so much I can take of that. I did give it my all but in the end I just knew that I was not going to outlast Vanessa. She’s a little crazy.

I thought I’d just take my chances in the second round. Usually it’s something really easy like putting in order the HoHs so I definitely thought I had it in the bag over Steve. And yeah, I did take a really big risk, but you know, high risk, high reward.

BBN: If you had stayed up there on the apple, how much longer do you think you could have lasted?

Liz: I absolutely had about 25-30 minutes left in me. Now that I’ve come to terms with it, I definitely know that Vanessa’s bark was much worse than her bite.

BBN: What proved to be the hardest part of being a secret twin in those first five weeks?

Liz: Everything! People were on to us and every little morsel on our bodies. Our fingernail colors, the way we did our make-up, our hair! I was known as the plumper twin. It was so hard!

We only had 15-20 minutes to share days worth of stuff that went on. A lot of times we’d completely forget to mention stuff because we were just trying to memorize stuff and get everything transferred. I would have to say getting all the details in order.

BBN: How confident were you about making it the five weeks?

Liz: I went in to this thing thinking the worse. I was thinking it’d be like Adria and Natalie when “boom, boom” they get out one right after the other. So I’m so surprised that these Houseguests let us get to Day 85! #6 and #2. It really just floored me.

I think both of us played a really amazing social game. I think our social game was underestimated and the one reason we were able to last so long in the game. They didn’t see us as that big of a threat which was all part of the strategy.

BBN: Weeks ago you expressed concerns over Vanessa, but then when you had the chance you didn’t target her. Why did you decide to keep her?

Liz: Oh Vanessa, she was a character, wasn’t she? At that time Vanessa was on our side. I knew that she was never going to go after me. Why am I going to help the other people by taking her out? I know that I’m always safe with her. It’d stupid on my part to take her out.

I think she definitely helped me more in the game than she hurt me. I mean she did take me from 5 to 4 and 4 to 3. Vanessa was definitely not to be trusted, but for my own game I don’t think it was in my own best interests to take her out. If they want to do it then they could have done it and none of them did it.

BBN: Preseason you told me no showmances, but that clearly changed. At the start even it didn’t seem that serious, but what changed for you?

Liz: That is the hot topic. At first Austin was completely friend-zoned. I did not think of him like that at all. Not going to lie, as you probably saw, I was not really attracted to him. I don’t usually go for tattoos, long hair, ponytail beard, all the works. His personality really grew on me. I think he’s very charismatic. He’s hilarious. He knows how to talk. I think he quickly became someone I just wanted to be around in the house.

We’ll see what happens with Liztin, but we’re still going strong.

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6 Comments

  1. Yes, Liz showing some actual, true gratitude to Steve scored a point with me. But just one point. Otherwise, she played a terrible game IMO.

  2. She comes off great in the interview. Her thoughts seem more coherent without the extra syllables attached to each word-uh.

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