One could argue that Big Brother 25’s Bowie Jane made a risky move teaming up with a dynamic duo like Matt Klotz and Jag Bains, but she has no regrets.
“I knew exactly what I was getting myself into,” Bowie, 46, exclusively told Us Weekly after placing third during the live season finale on Thursday, November 9. “The benefit of a strong three, including me winning [Head of Household competitions], was rotating through and keeping control of the game. So, yes, we all became targets, but as long as we kept winning, it was fine. And also they were reliable. I just wanted people I could trust in the house.”
Bowie lay low for much of the season before winning her first competition during week 10. She went on to form the Mafia alliance with Matt, 27, and Jag, 25, who placed second and first, respectively. Matt and Jag had been working together since the beginning of the game, and Bowie knew when she aligned with the pair that they might always choose each other over her.
“I knew that was the case. I had everyone in my ear [saying], ‘You should be getting rid of them, they’re only going to save each other.’ I knew that, but I thought there might be a chance that I could win one of the final comps or there was a chance Jag would take me [to the final two],” she told Us. “But I always had that doubt that he wouldn’t take me. So, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I think [working with Matt and Jag] still got me really far in the game and I got close to the end, so, I’m happy.”
Jag ultimately chose to take Matt to the final two after winning the final Head of Household competition. If, in another universe — nod to the season’s theme intended — Jag had taken her instead, Bowie had an argument prepared for why she deserved to win over him.
“People have thought I played the middle, that was the intention,” she explained. “Cory [Wurtenberger], America [Lopez], Jag, Matt and myself had that discussion. The aim was to put me out into the Big Brother house as just in the middle. But really I was in an alliance with them. … No one knew about that, that I was working so closely with them. … I also made sure I wasn’t a target by not winning any comps for the first half of the season. I did that on purpose because it just puts a target on your back when you have to nominate people.”
While Bowie’s alliance with Matt and Jag didn’t get her to the final two, she stands by her decision to work with people she could trust. A turning point in the game for her came during week week 5 when her former allies Felicia Cannon, Cirie Fields, Izzy Gleicher and Mecole Hayes voted out Red Utley without telling Bowie they’d flipped, blindsiding her.
“I’m not down for all that dodginess,” Bowie told Us. “I really, truly thought we were all being honest, and we were just one alliance and we were going to win competitions, and that was how I was playing the game then. I didn’t know that people would be in 10 alliances, I just didn’t know that.”
She continued: “I thought 70 percent of the house would be honest and there’d be a handful of dodgy people. It was the other way around.”
