The latest competitor booted from the ‘Big Brother’ house opened up to ET following his eviction.
*Caution: Spoilers ahead!
It was a very busy week in the Big Brother house, with a lot of unexpected twists and turns that flipped the whole game on its head.
Going into Thursday’s live show, Felicia Cannon and Blue Kim were on the chopping block, put there by Head of Household Jag Bains.
However, due to a number of twists and surprises that have come to truly define this season, things got really wild when it came to the Power of Veto competitions. Instead of one Power of Veto being handed out, there were two.
Blue managed to snag the Power of Veto and, logically, took herself off the block next, which made room for America Lopez to go up instead.
Which was when Jag’s whole plan came together. Jag managed to win the second Power of Veto and decided to take Felicia off the block to backdoor Cory Wurtenberger — America’s showmance boyfriend and closest ally.
With both Cory and America being backdoored, neither had a chance to truly save themselves before the live vote. A tearful America went “scorched earth” on Jag and Blue, but Cory decided to try and play things a little more safe.
With America’s blessing, essentially, Cory campaigned hard to keep himself in the game — and seemed to be making headway right up until Thursday’s live eviction where the eventual vote went how many expected — Cory was kicked out by a unanimous decision and became the second member of the jury, alongside Cameron Hardin.
“Don’t get me wrong: I think I’m a flawed player, but I think I’m a player and I played the game pretty hard,” Cory told ET in an exclusive exit interview following his eviction. “So I’m proud of myself. I think I have more confidence in my own ability and like, that intangible will to win, that drive and all that garbage. But in terms of my personal self-confidence and self-worth, I think I had it before and I think this, if anything, is kind of like just reaffirming that.”
Cory admitted that he was surprised by the double Power of Veto reveal, though he admitted that he and America had been expecting to be backdoored.
“If you were watching the feeds, I was freaking out every night with America thinking we were going to be backdoored,” he admitted. “I was freaking out every week. So you know that’s just the Cory Wurtenberger experience.”
And he said he has no regrets about his showmance with America, despite initially being hesitant to pursue that connection.
“It was so fun and it was a part of this experience,” he shared. “That hesitancy towards the start of the season is not, you know, a proactive strategic choice by me. It’s more of just me being kind of awkward and I’ve always had a strange relationship with intimacy. Then you throw a billion cameras and microphones surrounding you, it just makes it 10 times more awkward and challenging.”
“But yeah, I’m super excited to pursue, you know, wherever this relationship is after the show,” he added. “I think being able to go through that together is going to be extremely helpful. And yeah, I’m open to whatever happens after the show. She’s incredible and I can’t wait to spend more time with her.”
Speaking with host Julie Chen Moonves in his Big Brother exit interview, Cory said he knew getting rid of him was “the right move” on Jag’s part.
“If I won HOH this coming week, I [would be] putting Matt [Klotz] and Jag up, so no hard feelings when it comes to that,” Cory said. “The truth is, after being called out like seven speeches in a row, I feel like I’m in danger until that veto meeting is done and noms are locked.”
When asked about not being able to get the votes to save himself, Cory said he basically didn’t have enough people left in the house supporting him.
“There is more I could’ve done, but it just probably would have entailed me trying to get America to feel super guilty and then throw in the towel,” Cory said. “Which, that feels like crossing the line and I’m not going to do that.”
Big Brother airs multiple nights a week on CBS. Check here for this week’s schedule.