Taylor Hale is soaking all the love in. Image Source: Distractify
Taylor Hale is soaking all the love in.
The finale of season 24 of Big Brother was held on Sunday and after a grueling and resilient 82-days, Taylor Hale was not only announced as the winner, but she is going to be remembered as the first black woman to win the mainland series, along with being the first champion to also be voted by fans as America's Favorite Player.
Taylor Hale recently spoke to Entertainment Tonight’s Denny Director about her experience and her historic win on the reality show, where she mentioned that just thinking about it blows her mind because she wasn't a big fan of the show, just a pretty passive, casual observer. She first became interested in Big Brother during the previous season. After seeing the earlier seasons as well, she came to believe that she had made an incredible impact on the franchise with her victory.
Taylor Hale went from being the most despised participant in the season—who was also bullied—and nearly got booted out in the first week to winning the competition. The pageant queen endured insults from her fellow housemates and false accusations that she had used someone else's mental illness as a weapon, but she never gave up.
She added that she thinks that it’s a testament to the mechanics of the game for over 24 seasons and mentioned that the show had black women in the previous seasons as well and they had been bullied, ostracised in other ways, and eventually evicted early on. So winning the show means a lot to her, she added, and it's not just because she was a comp beast or a Black woman who was well-liked; it means a lot because she was not liked in the house, but she took it upon herself with a lot of pain and burden and stereotypes that have happened over and over in the show and she made it till the end.
The personal stylist and pageant queen said that when she was bullied or belittled by other houseguests, she refused to give up on herself or her mission to win the show, and now when she has managed to achieve that, she hopes that it gives space for black women to play their own game. On being asked if she ever felt the need to let herself get evicted and go back, Taylor Hale admitted that there were a handful of moments where it was very tempting to say that she wanted to leave, but she added that it was so important for her to defend her character and explained further that one could only understand that they were wrong about assumptions of people by learning from them and understanding who they are as people, so Taylor decided to stick it out and finally win it.
Taylor also told Entertainment Weekly that winning the show was always her goal for her and it is mind-boggling to her that she was able to pull it off considering where she was in the first week of the show. But watching the previous season sort of helped her as she was prepared for whatever was supposed to come her way. While speaking to People magazine, the pageant queen said that she was glad to witness that people were able to see that she was not the villain and their support meant the world to her.
Taylor also shared that when she was crowned Miss Michigan USA 2021, she was the second black woman in 15 years to win the crown and she was of a darker complexion than her predecessor, so a lot of racist comments and backlash came her way, which she said prepared her for the criticism. Taylor said that she is used to letting things roll off her back, but added that she won't say that she is glad that she experienced that before, but it did come in handy in the house. The winner added that it's one of those things where one realizes it's not their responsibility to coddle somebody else's hatred; it’s their responsibility if they harm someone to take ownership of their actions and try to find common ground there and apologize. But if someone is spreading hatred or spreading completely false rumors, then it's not her responsibility to make up for their actions.
She took to her social media to thank her fans and everyone who supported her and defended her while she was inside the house. Taylor Hale proudly wrote that she is the first Black Woman to win Big Brother, first Houseguest to win the game and America’s Favorite Player. She concluded that history made TWICE over in one night!
Taylor Hale received $750,000 for her triumph on Sunday in addition to an extra $50,000 for being chosen as "America's Favorite Player." The former beauty pageant queen will surely be an inspiration for many others hoping to succeed in the Big Brother house now that the show has been renewed for season 25, which will debut next summer.
Congratulations!
