Big Brother 27's Morgan Pope Reacts to Devastating Loss: 'I Knew I Could Have Won' (Exclusive)
Morgan Pope went into the Big Brother 27 finale as a frontrunner to win, but the last Head of Household competition slipped away from her at the worst possible moment. She ended up losing to eventual winner Ashley Hollis, a result Morgan admits was tough to accept so soon after walking out of the house.
"To be honest, it’s bittersweet because I know I played one hell of a game," the Twitch streamer, 24, exclusively tells Men's Journal. "I know I would’ve beaten both of them in the finals, and so I knew that it was all riding on that last HOH."
She continues, "And Ashley is a great mental competitor. She’s always done just as good if not better than me in mental competitions. We were pretty actually even when it came to the mental competitions, so I had my work cut out for me... And I second-guessed myself on multiple questions. It’s funny because the ones that I set myself on, I had the original answer correct. So it’s hard not to sit there and be like, damn, you had it right the first time. Girl, don’t second-guess."
Much of Morgan's game revolved around her partnership with Vince Panaro, who ended up finishing as runner-up and got one vote from the jury in Morgan. "Throughout the season I knew his story he’d been applying for, he worked so hard to navigate every decision he made, which to be honest, a lot of his decisions came around me," she tells MJ about giving him her vote. "He made more enemies for saving me. He played a game to protect me because I was his strongest ally, which was great for me, let’s be honest."
"I voted because he was my No. 1 ally and I know he would’ve done the same thing for me," she adds. "And to be honest, Ashley cooked him so crisply. I mean, he was a well-done steak, and I was like, one vote for Vince just to say thanks for playing this game with me ain’t going to hurt."
Morgan also addresses rumors about their friendship being more than platonic, as Vince has a longtime girlfriend back home. "From my perspective and my perspective only, I can only speak about mine, it was game-related," she says. "I mean, let’s be real. He won four HOHs. I had a month of safety outside of the seven wins that I made to make sure I was safe. So regardless, or not, frankly, it’s none of my business. Those are things that he has to handle and that he can speak on. But as far as from when we connected on day three, we were the only two L.A. locals in the crib, and we just came together. We strategized. And that’s what I came in here to do as a gamer. So I obviously gravitate toward someone who is playing a game that’s similar to me. Now, granted we played very different ones. I was more honest and loyal. He was not whatsoever, but that was his game."
She hammers the point home, adding, "It was a strictly platonic friendship. When you’re in a game, you need someone who’s going to be a friend. And he was someone who was always there for me."
Looking back on her impressive competition run of two HOHs and five Vetoes, Morgan admits she doubted herself early but found her momentum late in the season. "I felt like a lot of my allies were winning and I was kind of just the social girl who was trying to keep votes on their side and work socially, which helped," she explains. "But I felt like I wasn’t really pulling my weight. I said that a lot. I’m like, I feel like I’m not pulling my weight because I’m used to being on the relay team at my college, I’m used to pulling weight. So I don’t know what came over me, but I just knew that when I got to jury, if I was even going to make it to the Final Two, I was going to have to win. And that’s what I did."
Even without the victory, she's proud of her game. “I cannot leave my story here in Big Brother. And like I said, while I didn’t win, I feel like a winner. And I feel like the feeling of making history and the most powerful women players that the Big Brother game has seen. That's crazy, but right now it feel far more than 750,000 bucks."
And when it comes to playing again, Morgan isn’t ruling it out. "While I will say I would not play tomorrow – I would definitely need a break – I would definitely come back to the Big Brother house. I mean, it was fun and I learned so much."