Just Jared got the chance to sit down with Big Brother season 27′s first evicted Houseguest Zae Frederich, who was sent packing last week.
He revealed his winner pick, who he thinks might go home next, his reaction to Rylie voting him out, his reaction to Zach crying upon his exit, and more.
He also spoke about having haters for the very first time in his life, picking up the crown in the BB Blockbuster competition, and reflected on a moment he called “the dumbest I’ve ever felt.”
Keep reading to find out more…
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JUST JARED: I wanted to start off by asking you about last night’s episode. Did you happen to catch it?
ZAE FREDERICH: I haven’t been able to catch up…I’ve been watching the first episodes and doing a ton of DM, social media stuff. I haven’t watched that episode yet actually.
JUST JARED: Do you know who won Head of Household for Week 2? What is your reaction to this week’s events so far?
ZAE FREDERICH: I think it’s a good move for Jimmy’s game because, you know, him and Keanu had a little beef. I think a lot of people are targeting Keanu right now. And so it makes sense for him to put Keanu up. I think Kelley’s an easy option. If she goes up on the block, I think there’s a good chance she goes home. And then Adrian, I don’t know how I feel about that one. I think because Adrian’s not super tight with anybody, I can see it being, you know, a little bit less blood on his hands because he’s not in a ton of alliances. He’s not super, super close with everyone in the house. But I really, really like Adrian. Like I really don’t want to see him go home. I know he’s not the target or anything, but I hate that he’s even on the block in the first place.
JUST JARED: Now that you’re back and integrating into the real world again…is there any aspect where you’re thinking ‘oh man I wish I had done something differently’ or ‘I wish like this had just worked out slightly different for me?’
ZAE FREDERICH: I mean, I think there’s a million different things that sometimes just drive me crazy. I try to not think about it too much because it does just get to you sometimes. But I mean, from the beginning…people thought I was the accomplice, that played into stuff and then it goes into me not winning the safety that week. And then it goes into me getting put up as a nominee because Vince won Head of Household. He was one of the ones I was least close to at the very, very beginning. And then…losing the competition. That was a big aspect of like, I really thought I was going to perform better in those competitions. In the moment, I crumbled, I fumbled the bag. And then it goes into, you know, me not being able to get the vote. And so there’s just so many different factors.
JJ: When you were in the process of getting cast, did you kind of view yourself as someone who was going to be a comp beast, someone who would easily win that Veto or the BB Blockbuster?
ZAE: Yeah, and honestly, I obviously lost all my competitions, but I still kind of feel like I would have been that. I was kind of getting used to it, it was so weird to be in there and I’ve never done anything like that. It was just so much stuff going on at once and I missed it.
Like, in that last [BB Blockbuster] competition, there were three screens. I stared at one screen. I was like, where are the other two words. There were supposed to be four words…I just stared at it. We waiting for the other two words and then I turned around after Kelley buzzed in and realized there’s a huge screen on the wall that I totally missed.
JJ: There was a clip, correct me if I’m wrong, there was a clip where I thought you picked up the tiara. Is that true?
ZAE: I did. I picked up the right one, right off the bat because I saw the back wall. I saw [the word] ‘Crown,’ so I went over to the nearest Crown. I picked it up just so nobody else could take it, and I was like, all right, now I’m waiting for the other Crown. Like, I’m looking for the word “green,” I’m looking for the word [to match] because that’s the Crown I had. And I’m just like, where are the other words? They’re not popping up. And then, you know, I turn, I see “Emerald” – like almost instantly. My brain just kind of unscrambled it on the wall. But it was after Kelley buzzed in. I was like, wow…that was probably the dumbest I’ve ever felt. I was like, wow, this just cost me a whole game because I didn’t see a giant, a million-foot screen on the wall.
JJ: Was Rylie voting against you hurtful?
ZAE: At the end of the day, it’s part of the game. I don’t take anything that goes inside that house personally, because it’s not personal. I love Riley. He’s my boy. I do think it was a dumb game move on his part to be kind of simping for Katherine so much that he would vote against one of his closest allies, especially after telling me he wanted to go to the top two with me. But it’s nothing personal. I love the guy, and think no differently of him.
I do think that, for his game, it kind of screwed him over a little bit in the long run. For one, people aren’t going to trust him as much anymore if they figure out that he was the one that voted against. And I think, long term, [it wasn’t the best play for him.] But I respect his game regardless.
JJ: I saw you’ve been doing some Instagram Q&A’s. Have you seen the Internet’s opinion of your game? Have you read what people have thought about how you played?
ZAE: Yeah, I think a lot of people… I mean, obviously you’re going to have both sides, right? I have a ton of haters. I have a ton of people who thought I played the game horribly. A lot of people thought I was annoying, and that’s part of it. I don’t take it personally.
But I also had a lot of people who loved me. They loved the way I stood up to Rachel, they loved that I was confident, and they loved the way I played the game… my personality and how I brought it out in the game. So I think you’re always going to have both sides. I’ve read a lot of things…I think it’s pretty split down the middle.
JJ: Do you have any reaction to Zach’s emotional response to you leaving?
ZAE: Yeah, I mean, obviously it was touching. I saw that, and it made me get a little bit emotional as well…it made me realize, you know, I’m not going to see these guys for a long time. These are some of my best friends, after one week. But when you’re in a house when you have zero distractions and all you’re doing is building relationships for 18-plus hours a day, it’s really easy to get really close to people.
Especially going through such a unique experience with someone… it’s a bonding experience. I was close with everyone in that house, and especially Zach. He’s one of my boys, and he always will be. So yeah, it was hard. I think it was hard for him to see me go so early on, and it was hard for me to leave the house so early on.
JJ: Are you at peace with going after Rachel so publicly at the end there?
ZAE: I think it was the best move for my game, honestly. I don’t think it would have changed anything if I wouldn’t have. Honestly, I tried not to go after her…it was one of those things I think she more instigated and wasn’t going to let go until some sort of conflict happened. And I kind of just understood that.
So I wanted to keep very cool. I didn’t want to blow up, say anything personal, or do anything like that. But I think the people who watched the live cams have a very different take on how that whole encounter went down.
JJ: Do you have any inkling about who could go all the way to the end?
ZAE: You know, I’ve thought about it a lot. I think my money would be on Morgan, because she is super smart, super strategic, super athletic. She has all the characteristics that should make her the number one threat in that house right now, or at least one of the top threats.
She’s flying under everyone’s radar. No one’s thinking anything of it, which is crazy in my opinion, because from the beginning I was like, man, she’s smart. As soon as I started playing chess with her and things like that… she doesn’t even really know what she’s doing, but she does. Cause she’s smart. She puts stuff together really well. She’s very strategic. If she stays under the radar, she’s gonna make a great run.
For how much of a threat she is, I think she’s the least considered a threat.
JJ: Did you see the clip of her from the live feeds going into the bathroom and showing how dirty the bathroom was? There’s a sock in there that she named “Pete.”
ZAE: Ava’s sock, I think. I think Ava admitted to it.
JJ: And then there’s a lemon in the bathroom.
ZAE: I have no idea why that would be in there. There could be a million different reasons for that. So weird. I wasn’t the one who put the lemon in the bathroom. We got Shower Gate, now we got Lemon Gate and Sock Gate. Who knows?
JJ: Do you think anyone is overrated in the house right now, in terms of their game?
ZAE: I haven’t looked at enough like the polls or anything to see who like people think are going to win. But for my take, I think the people that’ll get out pretty soon are probably Keanu, Kelley, and Jimmy, just because I think they’re kind of controversial. And so I don’t see them making it a ton farther, but you really never know.
JJ: Why do you think some members of the house thought you were the Secret Accomplice? Especially after it was called out that it could likely be a woman.
ZAE: Right, it makes sense. Looking back I was like man we really fumbled that, that should have been so obvious. It should have been obvious that it was Amy, because a mom figure is coming in. Obviously they’re going to replace the mom figure. It just like kind of makes sense because most seasons have one mom figure. And so it just kind of makes sense.
But obviously, people, I think, thought I was the accomplice because I have a very jokey personality. We went in the house, you know, two hours in. And I think Ashley, she asked me, ‘are you the accomplice?’ But I think it’s not the best question because obviously, who’s going to say ‘yes’ if they actually are. And so I was kind of joking around. I was like, I don’t know. Am I? Kind of as a joke…I was like oh shoot like this this was really dumb thing to say.
I don’t think it really played into my downfall, I think people knowing my personality after like one day realized that if I was the accomplice that I would have probably said it right after like, oh I got y’all like.
I also will say that other people I feel thought it was me…People thought I was sitting on the couch right by where the thing disappeared and I was like, ‘I don’t think I was’ but I think I was sitting on the other couch, and when I watched the episode I was like, ‘I was sitting on the other couch, everyone was wrong, I was right!’ But that was another reason why there was a lot of suspicion around it because people thought I was sitting in that little chair right by the relic.
JJ: Will you be watching the rest of the season?
ZAE: Of course I’ll be watching on, I’ll watch every step. Obviously, I just got back… it’s been a lot of catching up to do on like social media, things like that. Everything’s been crazy…I’m trying to catch back up on the episodes and you know really be an involved fan because…I’m the only one that has an insider perspective of all those people right now and so it’s kind of sick to get that like unique perspective of the house.
JJ: When you came back home, was there anything that popped up for you that you missed while you were away?
ZAE: I didn’t see anything super specific that I was like ‘whoa like this is super crazy that I missed while I was in the house,’ but I mean, just reading up on me and the people’s point of view of me is also like, obviously, kind of crazy. I’ve never had haters before, but now I do and it’s kind of a unique experience. It’s kind of cool.
JJ: Did you see last season’s first evicted houseguest Matt tagged you on Instagram with a message about being the first evicted?
ZAE: Yeah, so I actually was on Facetime with him for probably like two hours yesterday. I got to catch up with him a little bit and I really like Matt, so maybe you guys will see a little collab here.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Source: justjared.com