Devens Wins BB28: The Last Cut Was the Hardest

Review of the October 1 finale. Feed times are Pacific house time.

Rick Devens is the winner of Big Brother 28. At the October 1 finale, he beat Taylor Brown 6–1 after using the final Head of Household to evict Drew Campbell in third place. Taylor was not evicted in the finale. She reached the end and finished as runner-up. Devens also won America's Favorite Player, so he left with both of the night's major honors.

The cut at the center

The final competition split cleanly. Taylor won Part 1, and Devens won Parts 2 and 3, which put the last decision in his hands. GoldDerby’s episode recap records a 5–3 Part 3 win. That decision was the emotional core of the episode. TVLine describes it as a hard cut that came after Taylor's late campaign to sit beside him. Big Brother Network reports that Devens was in tears as he explained it. He said his loyalty to his family came first, and he chose Taylor over Drew.

Drew handled the exit well. Per Big Brother Network, he acknowledged the eviction hurt but called it the right move for Devens's game.

The live feeds had already hinted at this outcome. Hamsterwatch logged Devens calling the Drew cut a "no-brainer" the night before the finale, then saying he wanted to get some sleep. Hamsterwatch observed no follow-up conversation, and the feeds went dark shortly after 9 AM. Treat that line as one data point, not a settled plan. Still, the tearful version on finale night and the blunt version on the feeds point the same way.

What Drew had done for him

In our reading, this is why the cut stings. It is not a claim about how any juror saw it. Drew had already saved Devens once when it mattered most. At the final four, Taylor was HOH and Drew held the veto. As RHAP recapped, Drew evicted Dee and kept Devens. A week earlier, Devens had nominated Drew as HOH at final five, and Drew won the veto to get out of trouble. So Drew made a loyal move toward someone who had put him on the block, and he got no matching loyalty in return.

That does not make Devens's choice wrong. A finalist owes the jury a winnable argument, not a thank-you. Nothing in the record proves how a Devens–Drew final two would have voted, and we won't pretend it does. All we can say is that Devens picked the chair he wanted and the result held up.

Taylor's case and the vote

Taylor's late campaign did exactly what it needed to do on finale night: it got her into the final two. It did not get her the win. The sequence was a prerecorded jury roundtable featuring Chelsie Baham, followed by live jury questions, and then the votes. EW frames the two cases broadly: Taylor as the resilient underdog and Devens as the bold, aggressive player. GoldDerby’s recap gives those themes some texture: Taylor faced questions about her repeated nominations, her biggest move and why she should win. Devens was pressed on the advantages of entering as an icon, his influence, his adjustments and when he decided to cut Drew. Taylor leaned on adversity and work behind the scenes. Devens acknowledged his advantages while arguing that he used them effectively and survived being a target.

The closing appeals made the contrast sharper. Taylor appealed to Drew after the betrayal; Devens emphasized his competition wins, daily effort and protection of allies. Our reading: Taylor had a real argument for the final seat she won, but Devens could connect a broader season record to the last decisive move. That is an assessment of the cases, not a claim to know each juror’s private reasoning.

The final vote was 6–1. LaLa voted for Taylor; Angela, Barrett, Yash, Melody, Dee and Drew voted for Devens, as Big Brother Network's results record confirms. Drew's vote is the sharpest ending to the loyalty story: the ally Devens cut still voted for him to win. That establishes his vote, without supplying an unspoken motive.

How Devens got there

Devens's case was easy to summarize because his biggest moves were on camera:

• The Diamond Veto. CBS footage confirms he used it to save Dee and name Kamu as the replacement nominee. It let him change both the nominee and the replacement.
• The double eviction. RHAP reported that Devens won the veto and saved himself on a night when Barrett and Yash both went home.
• The final five. As HOH, he nominated Drew and Melody, while Drew won the veto to secure his own safety. Their alliance did not keep Drew off the block.

Not every big moment of the late game belonged to him. CinemaBlend's coverage of the week 10 Pressure Cooker veto points to the endurance-veto deal between Drew and Yash, a reminder that Drew built his own route deep into the game. Even so, Devens consistently put his own hand on the outcome, and he finished with six of the seven jury votes.

Two wins on one night

America's Favorite Player brought Devens another $50,000, according to Us Magazine. It's a fitting finish. The jury and the viewing audience both landed on the same player, even after a final cut that was hard to watch.

Receipts

• Us Magazine on the 6–1 result, the comp splits, and AFP
• TVLine's finale recap, including LaLa's vote for Taylor
• Big Brother Network on the jury roundtable, Devens's decision, and Drew's exit
• Hamsterwatch's feed log from finale day
• GoldDerby’s episode recap and jury exchange
• EW on the finalists' cases
• CBS footage of the Diamond Veto
• RHAP on the double-eviction veto
• RHAP on final-five HOH and veto
• Drew and Yash’s endurance-veto deal
• RHAP on Drew keeping Devens at final four

Hero: an editorial collage based on PocketBB's cast portraits of Taylor, Drew and Devens.