‘Big Brother’ star Katherine Woodman defends Rylie Jeffries amid fan outcry

Showmances can be a powerful force in the game of Big Brother, but that power also makes them dangerous to other players and can therefore paint a big target on the duo in question. Katherine Woodman and Rylie Jeffries watched their games implode over the past two weeks when Rachel Reilly put Rylie up for eviction and out of the house last week, and then Vince Panaro did the same to Katherine right after.

But who gets the credit/blame for taking the couple out? Ally Lauren Domingue, for using the Veto that ultimately led to Rylie’s ouster? Rachel, for then nominating Rylie? Vince, for ultimately siding with Rachel? Or is it all three?

We asked Katherine all that and more when we connected the morning after her fellow Houseguests voted her out 7-1 instead of Ava Pearl, and also inquired about her reaction to fan complaints about Rylie’s behavior towards her while in the house and if she had any reservations about his behavior.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, have you gotten your five margaritas yet?

KATHERINE WOODMAN: No, I have not gotten my five margaritas yet. I am super excited though. I might be getting them at the airport.

Why do you think the house ultimately sent you packing?

I think Ava was really great to keep around, not only for morale, but also I definitely had quite a few people on a very obvious list that I would want out of the house and Ava wasn’t really gunning for too many.

You had what I thought was a pretty strong argument to stay in your final speech by noting that Ava was so well liked that nobody should want to sit next to her on the block moving forward. Why do you think that argument didn’t stick?

I think it was just a little too late maybe. I think it would’ve been a great argument maybe a week ago or two weeks ago if I had prepared for a situation like that ahead of time. But in the moment, um, I think a lot of people in the house were very set in their decisions and it is shortly after nominations, so if I wasn’t able to kind of feel like I convinced them before that, I don’t know how much the last speech really would’ve stuck.

How surprised were you not to even get votes from Keanu and Kelley to stay?

Not too much. Lauren did let me know slightly before the live show that Kelley had mentioned that she would likely be voting for Ava and that Lauren probably should as well, which hinted to me that Kelley and Keanu were probably going to switch. I was honestly very happy to find out that Lauren did not, because it is nice that I got my sympathy vote from her because I love her.

Well, let’s talk about Lauren because she had a very interesting role to play in why you’re sitting here talking to me now. When Rachel was HOH, she told Lauren very clearly to not use the Veto and that she would put you or Rylie up on the block if she took Vince down with it, so what do you make of Lauren going ahead and doing that anyway?

I don’t quite know the context of it yet and haven’t been able to see, but as far as I understand, she definitely was calling a bluff. She was told that, but as far as I know, she didn’t know that it was a for sure thing. She thought Rachel was maybe lying because Rachel gave so many assurances of the opposite ever happening, especially in her own hands. So I think Lauren was playing it not safe for potentially the first time and it didn’t go quite as well as she was hoping.

Yeah, you’ve got a good read on it. That’s kind of what happened. Rachel was clear, “This is what I’m gonna do,” and Lauren didn’t necessarily buy it. Okay, let’s talk about Rachel. You and Rachel had a pretty topsy turvy arc this season. What are your thoughts on her now as a player and as a person?

I think overall, every hour I spend away, I am able to separate it a little bit more. I do think that no matter what, Rachel did cross some personal lines that I don’t fully respect even as the gameplay. But it’s not one of her concerns. And she does really well for herself being a villain. And I hope that the little personal things that I think maybe crossed a line I can move past, because we’re all there for the same reason and it is to win. So I might not appreciate how she did it, but I get it.

What are the lines you feel she crossed?  That’s always an interesting thing, because in Big Brother, everyone’s got a different line, right? So what are the lines you feel she crossed?

I feel like her initial bonding with me was over my mom’s passing. And after that, just certain things made me trust her a little bit more, especially with the fact that she knew that and it was brought up a couple times and I felt like using that kind to her advantage to get closer to me  is crossing a bit of a line. So I didn’t love that and I didn’t love how she compared Rylie a lot to her husband and how much she liked seeing us together and how it reminded her of that — I think kind of crossed a line for me personally, and emotionally as well.

All right, let’s talk about Vince. Vince voted out Rylie and then put you on the block, which sent you out of the house. How much do you blame him for the events of the past two weeks?

I mean, I blame him a decent amount. [Laughs] I wish things could have gone differently, but there’s only so much talking that you can do in that house. You throw stuff at the wall and you hope that it sticks, and Vince is a slip-free wall, I guess. Everything that other people threw at him stuck, and what I could do didn’t. So I blame him, I guess, a bit, but I wasn’t playing my game the same way. And I don’t know if I ever would’ve aligned with Rachel to stay in that house like he did. [Laughs] So he probably made the right move.

Yeah, what did you make of the news that Vince and Rachel were in an alliance together called the Judges? How surprising was that to you? Or maybe not surprising?

Not fully. I mean, I think if my list of people that I wanted out of the house or I would nominate consisted of four of the five people in that alliance, then it kind of makes sense that they’re probably working together. So it wasn’t entirely shocking. There’s only so much that Vince can say, like he was manipulated to make decisions,  without it being like: Okay, you have to have something going on that’s also making you want to do it. It can’t be fully things that you don’t want to do. So I don’t think it wasn’t that surprising. I know in the moment I was like, “Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.

I’m guessing you’ve been briefed on some of the reaction outside of the house to your relationship with Rylie, with people reacting very negatively to some of the things he would say to you. First off, were you ever upset or disturbed by anything Rylie said or did?

No, I was not. I genuinely… I was very surprised to hear that any of that was taken wrongly.

What do you make of those concerns from viewers?

I haven’t had a chance to talk to Rylie yet, but I hope he’s doing good. I think it’s really concerning hearing that he wasn’t being seen in the best light, and I hate that I had, like, any part in that. And yeah, I’m excited to get to talk to him and offer him some reassurance that I never felt that way around him or with him. And I genuinely love that I got to share my experience in the house with him.

I just want to say, Katherine, you should not hate anything of your own behavior or activity at all. You should not put any blame on yourself for anything. So I just want to put that out there.

I appreciate that.

I’ll just ask you the question that Julie asked you, and I know you just got out of the house. What do you see and what do you want your future with Rylie to be?

Yeah, the question is hard to answer. We’ll see what happens. He is going to be one of the first people I talk to once I have technology back in my hands, so we’ll see. I hope to see him soon. At the very least, I hope to talk to him very, very soon.

Let me ask you to put your analyst hat on. I’m guessing you’re rooting for Lauren to win Big Brother, but from what everything you saw, who iss playing the best game in the house right now?

Maybe Will! I found that very surprising. Will is a little bit more of a two-faced person than I thought he would be. [Laughs] He has two number ones in that house that are not in his alliance. So I was very surprised to see that he was involved in that.

And who are his number ones that are outside of his alliance?

Mickey and Ava. He loves the both of them so much and I’m like, “Wow, he’s got a lot of people connected with him.”

Anyone that doesn’t win the game might look back and be like, “Oh, I should have zigged when I zagged here.” Any regrets in terms of gameplay in the house where maybe if you could have change something it might lead to a different result?

It felt like quite a few things were potentially out of my hands, but it felt like a snowball of decisions other people were making that were inadvertently affecting me and making my game continuously worse. But if I maybe had convinced Lauren just a little bit more heavily not to use the Veto on Vince, uh, that might’ve been a little bit more of a turning point for me. But I did go as hard as I could without making her feel like I was, you know, being like, “Don’t use it, don’t use it.” So I still feel pretty good about how hard I tried to get her to not use that Veto.

Let’s say you had skated by and made it through the vote, and let’s say you’d then won HOH. You mentioned earlier you had a list of people you wanted to come after. So who would have been your three nominees and who would’ve been your target? Because you got Rachel out there, you got Vince who you wanted to pluck out all of his mustache hairs. Who would it have been?

Morgan, Rachel and Ashley were actually up first. Vince would’ve been a renom, as well as Mickey would’ve potentially been a renom. All five of them

And whom would you have wanted out from that group?

All of the above. [Laughs] Rachel potentially would’ve been the thing I was gonna be most happy to see leave. But any of the others, I didn’t trust at all.

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