‘Big Brother 28’: Drew Campbell on Why He Played Both Sides & His One Regret

Big Brother Mug

$16.95

Buy Now

Drew Campbell was probably the most talked-about Houseguest of Big Brother 28 aside from the icons. He played both sides of the house, won a lot of competitions, and made moves and votes that angered his allies, but he made it to the final three, becoming the seventh member of the Jury.

The 22-year-old managed to never have an eviction vote against him, as every time he was on the block (four), he managed to save himself either with a Veto or Blockbuster, except for the final three. He had six competition wins throughout the entire season, giving him only one less than Rick Devens.

Drew was voted into the Timecapsule, earning the Never Not Pass, meaning he wouldn’t be a Have Not for the rest of the game, giving him access to warm showers and all the food he could want to eat. He was also in the top three for America’s Favorite Houseguest.

The dental assistant also had a “flirtmance” with Melody Morris, who told us that she wants to stay friends with Drew.

Did he feel betrayed by Devens? Here’s what he had to say about his game.

CBS

What’s popping, Drew?

Drew Campbell: What’s poppin’?

You got third place. That’s nothing to beat yourself up over. How are you feeling?

Dude, I got to do my dream. I’ve waited since I was eight years old to play this game. I got to be there all 87 days. There’s not much more I could ask for besides winning the whole thing. I’m super excited about making it that far. And as a fan of the show, I’m a genuine fan. I had so much fun, more fun than I thought I was going to have.

Were you surprised that Devens evicted you, or were you expecting it?

I go both ways. I’m surprised because I thought he loved me. He was my dad, but I’m not, because Devens is a really smart game player, and when you’re sitting on the block, usually the bigger target goes home, and he didn’t want to leave it up to chance. So I don’t really blame him. I mean, if I were in his place, I would have evicted him. So it is what it is. It’s the game. Not surprised, but emotionally, I felt like my dad just betrayed me.

You seemed really upset when he evicted you. Were you more upset because of the fact that “your dad” evicted you, or because you realized you weren’t making it to the final two? What were those emotions?

Can I answer all of the above? I was pretty bummed that I didn’t get to the final two chairs. It’s a dream. I wanted to go this whole season without being evicted. That was my first time making an eviction speech, which was really fun until it wasn’t. But also, I saved him. I brought him to the final three, and I was hoping to return the favor, and he didn’t. So that also kind of that kind of stung.

Like you just said, you’ve never faced an eviction vote or speech because you saved yourself every time. You nearly made history on the pressure cooker competition, and you won that. So you have nothing to be ashamed of. You played an absolutely great game. 

Thank you so much. That’s all you want to hear. All you want to hear after you played, especially as a fan.

And you were entertaining, so you can’t ask for more. 

Sorry to everyone who watched, America. I know I’m a lot, but I had a lot of fun.

You were also in the top three for America’s Favorite and got voted into the Timecapsule. What did those two things mean to you?

The time capsule vote was probably the coolest thing ever. I thought for sure that America wasn’t my biggest fan. So when I got that, I was like, “Oh, people like want me to stick around.” So, that was really exciting, super fun to do. Only six people got to do it this season. I barely got in there with the sixth person. But almost winning America’s favorite is honestly, I would have been more excited about winning that than the whole show, which is really cool. Glad I made it to the top three. Made it to the top three for that. Made it to the top three of the season. Made it to the top three for the newbies going to the time capsule, dude. Three is the magic number. 

Related

Julie Chen-Moonves Reflects on 'Big Brother's 'Terrible' First Reviews 26 Years Later

Going into the game, did you mean to play both sides of the house, or is that how your allies fell?

Going into the game, I didn’t know what I was gonna do. I  think the best way to go into this game is to see what the playing field looks like, and I immediately saw the icons, and I knew they’re gonna stick together. So I was like, I’ll attach myself there. And I’m a huge fan of Ian Terry and the way that he did the Quack Pack. I can’t lie, he came in as the youngest guy. I came in as the youngest guy. I was trying to channel my inner Ian, and I was stealing information from the other side, bringing it to them, and I kind of got lost in the sauce, but I got labeled the middleman. So that’s really cool.

You worked with the icons all season. Ultimately, had to evict one in the end, and then one evicted you. Do you wish that you had not aligned yourself so closely with them after all that?

I can’t say that. I think I still would have done that. It got me really far in the game. I still would have aligned myself with the icons. I feel like I learned a lot from them. They had the most experience in the game. As a fan, I know how the show works. I’ve seen almost every season except ours, and they’ve played games before, so they know how this thing works firsthand. I think I learned a lot from them, and I don’t think I would not align myself with them if I got the chance to do it again.

How different do you think your game would have been if the icons weren’t in the game?

If the icons weren’t in this game, it’d be super different. I would be completely relying on—  honestly, there’s one dude in that house that I felt like, if I got to play this game all over again, I would be with him. It’d be Yash. I do think me and him are two peas in a pod. He comes from an immigrant family, and so do I. He’s from the East Coast. I’m from the West Coast. I think if we got to play this game again, and the icons weren’t here, Yash would have been my number one dude. We would have run this thing to the final two.

You two seemed to butt heads in the house, though.

Whose fault is that? I want to say probably mine. Yash is a cool dude.

In the pressure cooker power veto, would you have stuck to Yash’s deal that you made with him?

Because I put it on my sister’s life, and I love her a lot, I would have done it. I would have kept true to it. I think the only way I was able to get out of that deal was the fact that I didn’t put him up. So I saw it as an opportunity to get rid of him and not follow through with my deal. But I do see a world where that would hurt my game a lot more by following through with that deal because I’d be an idiot to think that Yash didn’t have the same deal with the icons, and he was just trying to play the middleman role because that’s what I would have done. Yash’s a great player. I bet him $5,000 that he did the exact same thing.

Matthew Taplinger/CBS

Your hairbrush-you finally found it in the house.

Dude, what a find!

Do you know what happened? The story with that?

So, I know the culprit. I know Taylor did it, but I don’t know why. Can you fill me in?

She took it and put it down her shirt and then hid it in the Diary Room. I don’t know what her motivation was. Probably just to mess with you because she called you a weasel all season. 

How dare she? How dare her? How dare she steal my hairbrush and be right about me? No, I don’t blame her. I don’t blame her. She knew exactly how to get under my skin, and it was my hairbrush. I mean, I think everyone could have done that, and I would have been set off. [laughs]

Do you have any regrets or anything you would have changed about your time on the show?

I am a super fan of the show. I loved every day, every hour, every minute, every second. I felt like I played the whole time. I was living my dream. One thing I would have changed is that during the Mallory [Aurichio] vote, I would have loved to vote to keep her, even though it meant she was going anyway. I just want her to know that she had three friends in the house. That’s the one thing I regret.

Do you regret voting out Barrett since he was one of your closest friends too?

Big Brother, Season 28, now streaming, Paramount+