Gameplay getting personal. Big Brother alums and fans alike have called out the season 24 houseguests for their behavior toward contestant Taylor Hale.
“The treatment of Taylor in #BB24 is a prime example of why The Cookout was formed,” season 23 winner Xavier Prather wrote via Twitter in July, referencing the all-Black alliance he helped form during the 2021 competition. “Members of the Black community (especially Black women) and other people of color stand no chance in the Big Brother House due to perpetuation of micro-aggressions and unconscious biases which plague our society.”
Tiffany Mitchell, who was credited with devising the “master plan” that got the Cookout to the final six, also weighed in on the situation.
“This convo with Monte [Taylor] and Terrance [Higgins] has me FUMING,” she wrote via Twitter. “Two Black men gossiping and tearing down another Black woman who actually did NOTHING to them. Accusing her of being condescending because she actually has a personality.”
Paloma Aguilar, who became the first person to leave the season 24 house when she self-evicted due to a mental health crisis, was among the contestants who received criticism for how she treated Taylor. In one episode, she vented to several other houseguests about the former Miss Michigan USA.
“Bro, I’ve tried to be compassionate toward her. She’s such a bitch to me. She has not talked game to any of the girls,” she said. “Her personality just rubs people the wrong way and she lacks, most of all, self-awareness.”
After her premature exit from the game, the California native exclusively gave Us Weekly her side of the story.
“It’s crazy how people jump to conclusions with the whole racist bit — Taylor and I are actually good friends so please keep hyping her up! She’s a QUEEN,” she told Us in July.
The Berkeley alum continued, ”Remember that reality TV isn’t always real. I’m always rooting for boss babes, never going to try and tear a strong woman down and I was extremely straight up with her the first days when we didn’t mesh.”
Paloma also urged fans not to think they knew everything that went down in the Big Brother house, despite the contestants being shown on live feeds 24/7.
“It is such a shame how social media tries to tear a person down through cancel culture because of the way things were being portrayed to fit a narrative for ‘good TV,’” she wrote via Instagram in July.
The home remodeler continued, “No one understands the psychological challenge of reality television unless you have firsthand EXPERIENCED it.”
Scroll through for more of Paloma and the other evicted season 24 contestants’ comments on how the house treated Taylor:
The self-proclaimed fashion enthusiast claimed that her feelings about Taylor were actually the result of her being a victim of bullying. “I was in the house bullied by Taylor. I am in the shower washing my hair and she makes a comment and makes fun of how I look in the shower. Or I drop a piece of pineapple and there is a condescending comment that happens,” she claimed in a TikTok video. Although Paloma admitted she didn’t always “take the high road” with her fellow houseguest, she claimed her behavior was nothing more than a reaction to being treated poorly. “Was it a matter of race and me being a racist? Absolutely not. Was it a matter of me getting bullied and it not being shown on camera? Yeah. That for sure happened,” she said in the clip. “Did Taylor and I get past that and become friends? Absolutely.” CBS
Pooch was heard saying on the live feeds that he thought Taylor would “blow up” if she were nominated for eviction, despite the Michigan native exhibiting no aggressive behavior. After becoming the first evicted houseguest of the season, the assistant football coach stated that viewers at home didn’t have the full picture. “Y’all think you know what happens in that house 24/7 because of live feeds are hysterical,” he wrote via Twitter. “Just like on the TV episodes same with the feeds. Producers show you what they WANT you to see.” CBS
Although she started out strong in the game, Ameerah was the victim of a successful blindside in week 3, becoming the second evictee. The content designer was a member of the Girls’ Girls alliance, which excluded Taylor from the get-go. After leaving the house, she told Us that Taylor “did not deserve” the houseguests’ vitriol. “I have to admit that there was definitely some things that I said, as well as other people in the house, that probably shouldn’t have been said,” Ameerah said in July. “As far as like dog-piling on her, it was in the beginning. It was because she said a lot of snarky things to people, is how we perceived them. A lot of things were, like, said under her breath and honestly, they weren’t that bad at all to deserve that.” The Maryland native acknowledged the “mob mentality” nature of show, stating that the negative perception of Taylor “started out small” and “just kept snowballing.” CBS
“With my situation with Taylor, I obviously want to be able to talk about it and be open about that situation and hope that going forward, that I can grow from that,” the personal chef exclusively told Us in August 2022 after her eviction. “I know that I have addressed some of the things that I recall to her and I have told her, and I’ve apologized to her about the things that I’ve said under my breath. As far as detail of what I’ve said, I need to go back and I want to rewatch all of these things because I wanna see and I wanna hear and really be able to reflect on the things that I’ve said, but I wanna be able to see it first before I can even respond to something like that.” She added: “I know I messed up. I mean, I know that I’ve said things that are inappropriate, and I also know that I have brought it to her attention. I’ve brought some of my behavior to her attention that she wasn’t even aware of.” CBS
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