Big Brother crowned Rachel Reilly its thirteenth-season winner during Wednesday night's live finale broadcast of the CBS reality competition.
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Rachel, a 27-year-old former twelfth-season houseguest who returned to compete on this year's Big Brother edition as part of the season's initial "duos" twist, took home Big Brother 13's $500,000 grand prize on Day 75 via a close 4-3 jury vote over Porsche Briggs, a 23-year-old VIP cocktail waitress who currently resides in Miami Beach, FL.
Rachel received jury votes from previously evicted Big Brother houseguests Shelly Moore; Brendon Villegas, Rachel's former twelfth-season "showmance" partner turned real-life fiance; and former eleventh-season houseguests Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd, who also returned to compete on the thirteenth season as part of the "duos" twist.
Porsche received votes from previously evicted Big Brother houseguests Kalia Booker, Adam Poch and returning eighth-season houseguest Danielle Donato.
Rachel and Porsche became Big Brother's final two thirteenth-season houseguests after they competed in the third phase of the season's final Head of Household competition earlier in the live finale.
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Since he had failed to win either of the competition's first two phases, Adam -- who had been the third member of the season's final three houseguests -- was not eligible to compete in the third and final phase.
Similar to the third part of other seasons' final HoH competitions, Big Brother host Julie Chen read the beginning of a statement one of the season's first six jury members had made while they were in the jury house and Rachel and Porsche then had to guess which of two possible endings was correct.
The houseguest with the most correct answers after the six statements would be crowned the final HoH and get to choose which other Final 3 houseguest would advance to the jury vote with them.
Neither woman proved to be particularly good at guessing the proper statement, however Rachel managed to get two of the first five questions correct while Porsche answered all five wrong -- resulting in Rachel winning the competition and being crowned the season's final HoH.
Rachel -- who had previously made a Final 2 deal with Porche -- then opted to evict Adam, a 39-year-old music industry manager who currently resides in Hoboken, NJ, after he and Porsche were each given the chance to make a final plea.
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"In the last few weeks, I have fought side-by side with one person, and this person has helped me with the game. And I know you said 'Earn your spot here,' Adam, and I've earned it," Rachel said after she listened to the pleas and announced Adam's eviction.
"I'm so sorry, I have to evict you. I made a deal with Porsche."
After his eviction, Adam told Julie he wasn't surprised by Rachel's decision.
"She definitely made the right decision... [because] if I was in the Final 2, I would have won," he said. "In the jury, the people that are there, they would definitely have voted for me."
The seven jury members then asked Rachel and Porsche four questions -- two to each women -- that they had all previously agreed upon as a group.
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Rachel or Porsche were then each allowed to make a final statement, after which the jury members cast their votes for Big Brother's thirteenth-season champion.
After Rachel's win was announced near the end of the 90-minute broadcast, Julie also revealed Jeff had won the season's "America's Favorite Houseguest" viewer vote and will receive its $25,000 prize.
About The Author: Steven Rogers