She dominated competitions. She often controlled who stayed and who left. And even the people she got out of the house seemed to like and respect her. It made Morgan Pope the biggest threat to win season 27 of Big Brother, which is exactly why eventual champion Ashley Hollis wanted no part of sitting next to her at the end.
Morgan’s quest for the $750,000 prize came up just a bit short when Ashley won the final Head of Household competition and chose to bring Vince to the end, explaining to Morgan that, “I don’t think I can beat you in a final two. I think it will be a toss-up with Vinny.” Thus marked the end of Morgan’s game, and the end of an incredible run in which the competition beast won two Head of Households and five Veto competitions.
How hard was it for Morgan to get that close, but not quite close enough? How does she think she would have done sitting next to Ashley at the end? And what was the jury question to Ashley that she didn’t ask? We spoke to the third-place finisher a few hours after she stepped out of the house to get answers on that and much more.
CBS
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How tough is to be that close to winning Big Brother and just coming up a bit short?
MORGAN POPE: It’s really tough because I knew almost a month ago that I was gonna have to win my way to the end to win. There’d be no other way that I could have made it in the final two unless I physically won. And I was doing it and I knew one more competition was what it was gonna take. But I never underestimated Ashley. She is very strong mentally, and I knew that I was facing one of the best mental competitors, and if I did lose to her, I could at least be proud I lost to one of the best mental competitors in the game. But it is very tough. I would not lie about that.
Do you think you win if you’re sitting next to Ashley in the final two?
Yes. Just plain and simple, yes. Because her and I, we played very similarly. We both had honest and loyal games, so it’s like we take that out of both of our games. You have to boil it down to the competitions, you have to boil it down to how get through.
And we navigated very similarly. Like, I also had Keanu as a shield, just like Rachel. And it just so happened to be that Keanu staying in the game was better for my game, was a bigger target than I was. And so Ashley played very similarly, I just had more competition wins and had several different allies compared to her. But I was very confident that if I did win that final HOH that I was gonna beat Ashley in the final two.
What happened on that final stage of the final HOH competition? Did you overthink it?
Yeah. In the past, there have been times I had the right answer and switched at the last minute and got it wrong. And it was no secret that the same thing happened today. And I knew as soon as Julie said answers were locked, I knew the right answer and I knew I was holding the wrong one. And it was just things where you just kind of accept that you didn’t win.
Like I said all season, I can take it to the chin, I can handle a loss. And I’m proud of her. It was the first thing I told her. I told her I was so proud of her, because I know all season long she won one [competition] week one and all she kept saying was she wished she could wish one more competition, and that mattered.
We saw you were planning to ask Vince a question from the jury, then thought about asking Ashley one instead, and then ended up teeing Vince up to talk about the strongest parts of his game, clearly seeming to try to help him articulate his game to the jury. Explain to me what was going there with your back and forth?
So I knew I wanted to ask Vince the question first. I was also very curious about why Ashley thought that taking me out was going to be one of the moves for her game. Because I wanted her to be able to say why me over Vince, you know? Because the last week or so, she knew I was taking her, and I was under the impression that she was taking me because she said that if she was to lose to anyone, she would want lose to someone who was deserving of the money. Once she won HOH, I knew that she was going to make the decision to take me out. I just had a feeling because if I was her, like I said, I would’ve done the same thing.
Matthew Taplinger/CBS
What was that moment like? Ashley told me she pulled you aside before casting the vote and sort of said, “Are you gonna be mad if I do this?” Tell me your reaction when you kind of got that confirmation that you were going.
Well, so she didn’t actually say that when we finished our competition. We were walking down. I told her that I was so proud of her and I was walking down holding her hand. She just said that she didn’t know what she was going to do. And that’s why when I sat next to Vince, I told him, I was like, “I’m pretty sure I’m going home. I’m going out to the stage.” I just knew because the best move to make in her position was to take me out because she was going to lose next to me. And she had a better chance going against Vinny. She did, and she won.
Were you surprised when you got to the jury and you heard the questions for Vince and saw their reactions to his answers? Were you surprised that they were so clearly not feeling his game?
No. [Laughs] No, because people have been saying for weeks that he was playing my game. And truthfully, he was. I had a lot of strategy in Vinny’s HOHs. I learned a lot about him and I knew how to properly communicate with him and kind of weigh out the options, but I weighed them a little bit more in my favor and it just so happened to work. I mean, I got his number two on the block, for real.
I had to do what I could to get as far as I could. And that’s what I did. But I was not surprised that the jury was not happy with him and his jury management. He knows that. But he played a great game. He just did the opposite of what Ashley did, which was more of a blind manipulative game. So while the jury can be a little salty about it, he was the one in the second place, not them.
CBS
What was your speech to the jury going to be like? What were your home run lines that I know you practiced?
My home run lines hit on the fact that I had a strong social game. I was on the block for Rachel and Keanu, came off the block to being in an alliance with Rachel and being aligned with Keanu to an extent. Whenever I was on the block as a target, I came off as an ally. I mean, that’s huge. How do you start as a target and end as an ally? I won my way through the competitions proving that I deserve to be here and I am a strong competitor.
And also just hinting back that I’m a strategist. I mean, I’m a gamer. They had no clue that they were gaming with a professional in the building. Like, granted, I’m used to playing a character in a video game, but I took that as like, I’m the character. I get to do what I wanna do and navigate how I need to, and play the roles that I need to. And it was so fun.
The Zingbot made that crack about your relationship with Vince, and other contestants were talking a lot about it. Keanu made a joke about being on Cheating Island instead of Big Brother. Do you feel any lines were crossed at all?
Yeah, I mean, Cheating Island? I was like, first of all, those were in lockdown HOHs, and that was actually getting a life story that I went through that was extremely difficult. We had a hug about it and Keanu felt some type of way. Did I think that crossed the line? Absolutely. Like. I was very aware of him having a girlfriend.
As far as how Vince feels or any that, those are his feelings. I can’t speak on them. They were strictly platonic from my end, and a game relationship. I mean, the guy won four HOHs, he had great social game and he was moving forward, it would be stupid for me just to disconnect because of a Zing. Like, was I surprised? Absolutely. I was shocked that that was the zing. I was like, “Really? That’s what y’all think? Okay. That’s kind of weird, you know?” It is what it is. And I feel like at the end of the day, I know where I stood and I know my intentions. Do I know his? No. And he can speak on that himself.
Matthew Taplinger/CBS
You mentioned you’re a gamer. You had no comp wins in first seven weeks of the game, until you finally won a Veto in week eight, and from then on, absolute domination. What happened to kick you in gear like that, and then stay in that gear?
You know, I ask myself that all the time. I remember crying in Diary Room sessions being like, “I’m getting evicted with nothing to show for it” And I decided that I was going to win. I wanted to prove that I came here to play a game. I’m a gamer. There was no way I was gonna be able to leave this house with nothing to show for it. And I don’t know what it was, but it was just something inside of me, whether it’s the gamer or just me as a woman.
I just wanted to prove to everyone that I’m a force to be reckoned with. And I proved that. I mean, winning that many competitions in a row to secure your safety is insane. I look at myself like, “Who am I?” You know what I mean? I can’t believe it. I am so proud that everyone even thought I deserved to win the game. Even though I didn’t win, it’s the fact that I have people telling me that I deserve to win and that I killed it. I’m so proud of the Big Brother game that I played, and just because I didn’t win didn’t mean that I wasn’t the best to do it this season. And I’m okay with that.
CBS
You were such a complete player in terms of strategic, social, and athletic — just hitting on all three phases. That’s the type of player they like to bring back, so would you do this all whole stupid crazy thing over again?
I would, as crazy as that sounds like. Would I come back tomorrow? No, I need some time, but I would definitely come back in the future. The thing about Big Brother is it really tests your limits and it hits you in ways that you can’t in the outside world. I learned so much about myself and I’m so much stronger of a person than I was coming in. And I’m just so proud.
I can’t wait to inspire not only other women of color, but women in general and even the fellas. I’m excited to be an inspiration to people who want to come on this game and want to win competitions. Vven though I lost the one [at the end], part one of the final HOH was an endurance comp and I had not had an real endurance comp under my belt. And going in I was like, “You know what? I’m gonna win this endurance competition.”
Because the other thing is, I could have dropped and given it to Vinny, I probably would’ve won the second one and it would’ve been me and him in the end, and I probably would’ve been able to beat him in that mental competition. But it really came down to the fact that I wanted it on my resume. It just wasn’t meant for me to win the game, but getting to still be seen as being one of the best this season is awesome.
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