‘Big Brother 27’ Finale Recap: Who Won the $750,000 Prize?

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Big Brother Season 27 finale.]

Sixteen — actually 17 houseguests — entered the Big Brother house this season after the Mastermind twist, and only three were left standing: Morgan Pope, Vince Panaro, and Ashley Hollis.

One player went home the winner and $750,000 richer. Another took home $75,000. The cast member in third place became the seventh member of the Jury and voted with the other six members — Rachel Reilly, Cliffton “Will” Williams, Kelley Jorgenson, Lauren Domingue, Keanu Soto, and Ava Pearl— to crown the winner. One houseguest from the season also took home $50,000 after being awarded America’s Favorite Houseguest.

In part one of the three-part Head of Household competition, Vince, Morgan, and Ashley hung onto drones as they had to find where the Mastermind was hiding. The houseguests were spun in circles as the drones tilted horizontally and vertically. Sound blasts came out of the speakers next to them to try to throw them off. Vince said he felt like he was going to pass out. Ashley thought she was going to puke.

Ashley was the first to fall off at 28 minutes and 46 seconds, so it came down to Vince and Morgan. Whoever won this part advanced automatically to part three. Vince fell off at 53 minutes and 25 seconds, making Morgan the winner of part one. Vince and Ashley will face off in part two.

Big Brother Season 22 winner, Cody Calafiore, sat down with the Jury members and revealed that Ava was the sixth member. He then asked them about the remaining houseguests and what they are looking for in a winner. Rachel said that she “won’t allow” the Jury to be bitter. “We cannot say we won’t vote for Vince when Dr. Will won this game,” she said. “He got all of you out of this game.”

Talking about Ashley, Will shared that Ashley is a lawyer, and many of the Jury members were shocked. They said she had a great social game. Everyone was impressed with Morgan and acknowledged that she had won enough competitions to win the game.

Season 16 contestant Frankie Grande returned to host part two of the HOH competition. The Mastermind appeared and explained the game to them. Ashley and Vince had to knock down three billboards to expose his identity while harnessed on a rope. Then, they had to put together puzzles with the faces of six former houseguests on them. Whoever finished first and correctly opened the envelope with the password on it set off a laser beam and revealed who was behind the mask.

Vince finished before Ashley and began assembling the puzzle. Once he finished, the envelope revealed that the password was the order the houseguests left the game. Vince buzzed in first, but was wrong. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. It’s right!” he yelled.

Vince put in the days they left. So did Ashley at first — until she reread the card. She put in the correct numbers and won part two. Vince said that he deserved third place and began to cry after the loss. “I worked my ass off for three months, and I can’t win when I need to,” he said.

After the competition, the Mastermind was revealed to be Season 2 winner, Dr. Will. He walked through the door and pretended to be arrested before being taken out the door again, and said he was framed.

Vince continued to beat himself up over the loss. He told Morgan he knew she and Ashley were going to take each other. Morgan said in the Diary Room that she wasn’t sure what she would do. However, in the kitchen, Ashley talked to the camera and said that she wanted to win part three and vote out Morgan.

For the third part of the HOH competition, Morgan and Ashley had to decide which statement the Jury members said in a video clip was false. For each correct answer, they received one point. Whoever had the most after six questions won.

For the first question, Morgan and Ashley both got Rachel’s false statement correct. For Will’s statements, the women picked different answers. Ashley picked C and received another point. For Kelley’s statement, they chose different answers again. Ashley got it correct with B, receiving three points. Morgan and Ashley disagreed again. Ashley got it right again and won the competition. She now has to evict either Morgan or Vince, with the other going to the Jury.

Ashley admitted that she was torn over her decision, but she chose to evict Morgan because she didn’t think she could win over her. Vince and Ashley became the final two. Morgan told host Julie Chen Moonves that she wasn’t shocked but was disappointed. She revealed that she would have taken Ashley because she might have lost to Vince. She also stressed that she and Vince are just best friends and hoped to continue to be outside of the game.

The rest of the Jury was shocked to see Morgan walk out of the game. They agreed they all wanted Vince to be the seventh member. After they picked their jaws up off the floor, they asked the final two questions they wanted answers to.

Keanu wanted to know why Vince chose emotional manipulation as his gameplay. Vince said he didn’t think he did that and did everything he could to help himself. He had to choose a side once the game came to an end. Rachel asked Ashley to list the strategic moves she made to win the game. Ashley explained that she was aligned with Rachel and others in the house. She convinced Rachel to keep Morgan, which caused them to form the Judges’ Alliance. She also made alliances outside of their alliance.

Kelley asked Vince how much of his lying and crying was sincere. He said all of his crying was sincere. “When I spoke, I spoke with passion and conviction,” Vince said. “I felt so passionate about the game that the tears just came out.”

Will asked Ashley what her contributions were to her own game. Ashley said that her social game was her biggest contribution, and she knew that once she got to the final seven that she would make it to the final two. Lauren told Vince to name three game moves that Morgan couldn’t take credit for. He said joining the Judges’ Alliance was all him. He also said that for the first six weeks, he wasn’t aligned with Morgan, and his first nomination was his move. Also, putting Kelley and Keanu on the block was his third move.

Ava asked Ashley why she deserved to win against Vince. Ashley replied that she played an honest and loyal game and turned her enemies into her allies. Morgan asked Vince what the strongest part of his game was that got him to the final two. He said his social game because he did a lot of damage control during his HOHs.

Vince and Ashley had one last chance to tell them why they deserved to win. The Jury then cast their votes, and all will be revealed at the end of the episode.

Julie then talked to the prejurors — Zae Frederich, Amy Bingham, Adrian Rocha, Jimmy Haegarty, Mickey Lee, Katherine Woodman, Riley Jeffries, and Zach Cornell. Katherine revealed that she and Rylie are together and that she visited him in his hometown.

The Mastermind was then seen in his lair, and Season 11’s Jessie Godderz was revealed to be the Mastermind. However, another Mastermind walked in, and Frankie was the second one. Season 8’s Eric Stein was another Mastermind. They all revealed that their games ended with twists and there were three different masks the whole season.

It was now time for the votes. Ava, Keanu, Lauren, and Kelley all voted for Ashley, which made her the runaway winner. Morgan’s vote was revealed, and she chose Vince in the end. Will and Rachel also voted for Ashley, making it six to one.

The top three vote-getters for America’s Favorite Houseguest were Keanu, Will, and Rachel. Keanu won the $50,000 prize by 65 percent. “I wanted to play a clean and honest game, so thank you, everyone,” he said. Season 24 winner Taylor Hale also won the BB: Unlocked draft and took home the trophy since Ashley won.

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