Ashley Hollis is basking in her “Big Brother” victory.
After being crowned the Season 27 champion, the 25-year-old attorney exclusively spoke to The Post and defended her win from critics of her gameplay.
“Well firstly to the naysayers, I would like to argue I didn’t need to win competitions because I wasn’t a threat in the house,” Hollis told The Post. “And that wasn’t because of my lack of competition skills. That was because of my social game.”
“I mean, you had players like Morgan [Pope] who didn’t win a competition until day 54, yet they were a target far before day 54. She was targeted by Jimmy [Heagerty], Rachel [Reilly] and Keanu [Soto],” Hollis continued. “Same with Mickey [Lee]. Mickey only won a power. She never really was rising to the competitive level in the game before week five or week six. But it was because of her social game that got her on the block week six during Rachel’s HOH.”
Hollis reiterated that her “social game” helped her avoid being “a threat” in the game and secure six of the seven jury votes to win the $750,000 grand prize.
“And I also say to the naysayers, I won when I needed to win,” she added. “I was in a great position socially throughout the game where I didn’t necessarily need to win, but when I did need to win, I pulled it out.”
Hollis also explained her decision to take Vince Panaro to the final two over her close ally Pope.
“Obviously I took him for a reason. So I definitely thought I was going to win against him,” she said about Panaro, 34. “Now did I think it’d be a complete landslide? Not necessarily, but I knew I would get at least four votes next to him just because of my social game.”
“He had pretty much burned every single bridge in the house, burned it down to the ground,” Hollis noted. “So I knew I had a very great chance against him. The shock to me was just winning that final HOH. I knew me winning and losing was going to be the difference between first and second place. I knew if I could pull out that clutch win and make a big move, people would respect my game and they would see I won when I needed to win.”
“And also his speech… yikes,” Hollis added of Panaro. “You know, wasn’t the strongest. And I think that just me being an attorney really helped me skyrocket during that speech. I was able to pull out my true self and it felt great.”
Pope, 33, was the favorite to win the season before was evicted in third place, but Hollis believes she could’ve possibly beat the gamer if they made it to the final two together.
“I’ve seen a lot of ‘BB’ alum. And they were saying it might have been a toss up,” Hollis shared. “She might have won, but they weren’t really sure how the jury was going to go. Just because I guess Lauren [Dominigue] and Kelley [Jorgensen] weren’t really fans of Morgan and her game necessarily. Allegedly. That’s what some of the alumni are saying. So they were saying if I was to get those votes, I definitely had Will and probably Ava as well.”
“So it just depends how those two would go,” Hollis said. “And I would love to see. I’m curious to see what people thought. But I definitely didn’t think I would win next to her, which is why I didn’t take her.”
“Big Brother” will return for Season 28 next summer.
