By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

She had one of the most controversial exits in Big Brother USA history. Although she was never nominated and never voted out, former Season 13 winner Rachel Reilly left the game via the White Locust twist. Rachel failed to complete a puzzle in the allotted time limit and became the first member of this season’s jury. Before she headed off to the jury house, Rachel spoke to us about the twist itself, what it was like to play with newbies and why she and Kelley didn’t get along.

PSST: In our humble opinion, we still think she will be revealed as The Mastermind.

John Powell: You were eliminated by a twist. Now that you have had time to reflect on things do you think it was your social game that failed you?

Rachel Reilly: I think that I failed myself. Unfortunately, I think I wasn’t able to complete the “Hamster Wheel of Death” as I call it. (laughs) So, I don’t think necessarily that my social game failed me but I do think if I would have approached Ava that evening in a different way she may have picked me. I don’t think it helped that Keanu was literally standing in my way of the door when I was trying to talk to her. I felt like he was just always in my way of the game and Ava doesn’t like how we fought so I think that that had a lot to do with it.

At the end of the day, I had three and a half minutes to complete this hamster wheel that took everyone else less time. I think at the end I just failed myself. I wish it wasn’t true but unfortunately I wasn’t able to complete it.

John Powell: You had a roller coaster of a relationship with Keanu. Reflect on your personal and strategic relationship with Keanu as a person and a player?

Rachel Reilly: I think that Keanu played a great game because I helped coach him. (smiles and laughs) I mean, honestly, he did progress a lot as a player and I think that there was a point in my opinion where he started to think that I would win the game. I remember having a conversation with him where he was like: How did you do that? He thought I was going to win the game because Lauren and Katherine had said they would both vote for me.

I think that at that point, the relationship really started to just kind of head south and I don’t think he wanted to kind of work with me any more. That’s when I believe that he turned on me and that’s when he, I believe, tried to get me out of the game. Once someone tries to get you out of the game you can’t really ever trust them again. So at that point, I just was like: You know, you want to get me out then I’m going to try to get you out too.

John Powell: At times, you expressed frustration working with the newbies. In your eyes, who has progressed the most as a player and who has progressed the least as a player?

Rachel Reilly: I truly feel like, as a player, that Keanu has really grown in his social game and his strategic game. Obviously, he’s a great competitor so I do respect him.

I think that just socially we’ve seen Ashley grow from being a target weeks one and two to really being able to make friends and have a great social game throughout the season. I just wish that she was a little more competitive and was able to step up her competitive game. These Big Brother competitions, they’re not what they used to be, so I think that they’re hard and when you’re competing against a player like Keanu who wins everything it’s hard to be able to stand out in a competition. I really think that Ashley has been able to evolve socially as a player and navigate that. I really enjoyed working with her this season and I truly hope to see her stay in this game and to see her in those final three spots and see if she can, like, pull it out.

John Powell: You and Kelley never seemed to hit it off. What happened, if anything, between you two?

Rachel Reilly: I think Kelley and I just never saw eye-to-eye. I tried to work with her and she went back and reported everything I said to Mickey. I just think after that, I kind of had to not trust her and just kind of cut bait and move on. It’s kind of like you give people a chance in this game and if they don’t follow through then I think you have to just kind of work with people that you can trust and people who do want to work with you. People that aren’t going to backstab you or tell your secrets. I think I felt that Kelly always tried to sabotage my game as well and it was just kind of frustrating to me.

John Powell: Who do you hope follows you into the jury house? And why?

Rachel Reilly: I kind of would like to see Kelley in the jury house next just because I don’t feel that she and I ever really had a great relationship. I just kind of always have felt that she and I, we played on different sides of the game. We never saw eye-to-eye. We never worked together and to be honest, I am rooting for other people so at this point f she’s got to go, she’s got to go.

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