Drew Campbell had the chance to evict Rick Devens nearly one week before he won Big Brother — and the decision might have cost him the $750,000.
“I still stand by the decision,” Drew, 22, exclusively told Us of how he feels about remaining loyal to Devens, 42, following the season 28 finale on Thursday, October 1. “Because if I evicted Devens, I would have been the biggest target in the house.”
Last week, Drew won the final Power of Veto of the season and made the sole vote to evict Survivor winner Dee Valladares over Devens. (Taylor Brown, who was the runner-up, was safe as Head of Household.)
Drew ultimately sided with Devens as they had a close bond and made promises — that were eventually broken — about going to the final two together. He explained that he couldn’t “see a world” where Dee “would have taken” him to the end and felt he had a better chance with Devens.
“I would have had to win out, and I would have had to win that [last HoH competition],” he said.
Drew also thought maybe Taylor would have taken him to the end if she won the final HoH and made a flashy move by evicting Devens.
“I felt like I had a better chance with Taylor still in the house with Devens because if Taylor won, I think her big move would have been to get rid of Devens because she needed a move,” he said. “I stand by my decision absolutely. It’s a bummer the way it turned out, but I don’t regret it.”
While Drew was loyal to Devens all season long, it was the former news anchor who struck first. Devens won the final HoH and evicted Drew after hearing a compelling argument from Taylor. While Drew was heartbroken over Devens’ decision, he understood his reasoning.
“It’s a bummer. I wish he took me. I think it would have been close. He might have beat me. Maybe I would have beat him,” he told Us. “Devens is a really smart guy, and he wanted to take the sure thing, and I can’t blame him for doing that because if the shoe was on the other foot, I would have cut him. So I can’t be mad. It was the right move. It sucks to be on the other end of it, but it’s all love for Devens. He’s always going to be my Big Brother dad.”
Drew ultimately voted for Devens to win the game and gave him credit where it was due.
“Devens deserved to win because me and him, we played hard the whole time. He won the most competitions. He came in with a big target on his back, being an icon, and he has a lot of experience that helped him get to the end,” he explained. “At the end of the day, it’s like, who’s the guy that ran the show? It’s got to be Devens. I’m not going to be a bitter juror, even if he betrayed me. He’s the dude that played the best game. I’m going to vote for the guy or girl that played the best. And in this case, it was Devens.”
