‘Big Brother’ star Zach reacts to getting smacked on head by Julie Chen Moonves

Oh, no. That had to be Zach Cornell’s first thought after losing the BB Block Buster on Thursday’s live eviction episode of Big Brother. That’s because Zach could have saved himself before that competition ever took place and removed himself from the nomination block with his BB Buy-Off Power. But he didn’t, choosing to keep his $10,000 and protect an alliance-mate in Morgan Pope — banking on the fact he could win the Block Buster or get the votes to stay.

Neither of those things happened. And when even Morgan did not vote to keep him, Zach was sent out the door by a vote of 8-2. It was a crushing — and completely avoidable — outcome for the 27-year-old marketing manager from Georgia, which explains why host Julie Chen Moonves smacked him upside the head with her notecards during their post-eviction interview.

Now it’s our turn to do the smacking! Does Zach regret not securing his safety? Is he surprised Morgan did not vote to keep him after he told her about his sacrifice? And what does he make of Vince campaigning against him? We asked the fifth one out of the game all that and more the morning after his ouster.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s get to the question everyone wants to ask you right now: What it is like to get hit in the head by Julie Chen Moonves?

ZACH CORNELL: That is an iconic moment, right? It’s one of those things where day one, I’m really excited, right? Because I actually got to hug Julie. I actually saved her in the game. And then all of a sudden on my final day, she’s beating me upside the head because in her mind I made a very, very stupid game move. But I still stand by my move because it was, in the moment, the best situation for me.

I was really rolling the dice, and if it really paid off for me, I thought, in my opinion, I was really sitting pretty. So I love Julie. It was also understandable because I would still be in the game right now, but I was thinking of the long game when I really should have been focusing on one day at a time.

So you stay on the block to protect Morgan, and then she doesn’t even vote for you to stay in the house. Tell me about that.

Yeah, I mean, even from day one, Vince and Morgan were my homies. We were a triangle. She was literally crying it felt like every hour about the decision, if it even came to that. And I kept having to tell her, “Morgan, we still have the Block Buster. There’s still a two-thirds chance that Vince and I can get out of this.” And if Keanu was sitting there at the very, very end with either one of us, we would’ve had a landslide vote.

I knew that there were four votes at the very end that could have gone either way. I knew that they were going to vote together. And the way that they were looking at me as I sat down after Keanu won, I knew it was my time. I knew it. People were saying, “You did good,” and I’m like, “Well, that’s not a good thing that I’m hearing right before I have to stand up and give my final speech.”

 But Vince was my homie. The reason why I did not use the power is that my closest friends would’ve been on the block together. We would’ve been in that same exact situation. So I’m thinking, “Why would I use that now? Let’s roll the dice. Let’s use this power in a later week where I knew that the fourth was not going to be one of my closest friends.” And so that was the thought process going in. The perception of the house at the beginning of the week was definitely much different compared to the very end of the week. Everyone was telling me that I was fine, but that’s the Big Brother house, right? Everything changes on a dime.

 Absolutely.

The night before when I went to sleep, I was feeling good. That’s when I revealed my power to Mickey. That’s when Morgan knew. That’s when Rylie literally told me, “You’re my boy, you’re gonna stay in this house.” Obviously, he did not vote for me to stay. But look, I don’t hold anything against anybody. I understand it’s a game and everyone’s got to do what’s best for them. I literally told Lauren, “Look, I care about you. I really respect you as a person, but at the end of the day, do what’s best for your game.” Because people were pairing both of us together. And I was like, “If that means taking me out of the game or voting against me, no hard feelings. I understand how that goes.”

So what do you think the reasons were for them? Why did they choose Vince over you?

Multiple reasons. Number one, people had mentioned that they had perceived me as a threat. I had won one challenge up to that point. I think I was like one for eight! And I’m sitting here like, “Okay, Zach, your time’s coming. You’re going to win again” But it’s just the perception of the house. Another reason why is that Rachel that final morning was pushing so hard for me to stay. And a lot of people wanted her out of the house. So because she was pushing for me to stay — which truth be told, if I won HOH, she was going be the back door person that I was going to put up — so the fact that she was pushing for me to stay, I had a very terrible gut feeling that morning that I was like, “Vince or I better win or else I’m really in trouble.

And then people perceived Lauren and I as a duo, and it’s very funny because you’ve got Rylie and Kat sitting here as a literal showmance, right? And so it’s crazy how week to week the perception changes of people and the excuses that people throw out just to save their tail. So I think those are the two main reasons why.

Did Morgan tell you straight up that she was going to keep Vince instead of you?

No. That morning, I actually got really emotional with Morgan. I was crying with her because Ashley had come to me and she’s like, “Zach, I want to vote for you, but the perception of the house has changed — those four votes. I don’t think they’re going to be on your side.” And so I knew Morgan was one of those four votes, and I was getting a little bit frustrated with how everything was going because the night before, everything was good in my eyes.

And so I told Morgan, “Straight up, tell me right before the Block Buster if you are going to keep me or not.” And then she was legitimately crying for hours on end before the live show started. And I honestly felt bad. So I went up to her and I was like, “You know what? It’s not fair for you to have to make this decision right now, even if it doesn’t even come to it, right? I don’t want you to have to put you in that position. Don’t tell me. We’ll just see what happens.” But I knew once they announced that Keanu won that I was in trouble. I really did have that feeling.

What would you have done if you had won the regular Power of Veto?

If I had won the regular Power of Veto, I would have given the actual Veto to Vince, and then as Kat was closing the box, I would have played the actual [advantage] power for myself. Because in that position, Morgan would’ve been the only person that was really close to us on the block, and we could have had an extra vote to keep her in the game. And it would’ve just been a better scenario.

I didn’t even care at that point if my cards were shown about who I really cared about in this game. It’s just that I knew that Vince and Morgan were my go-tos. They were my homies. So clearly, I was pulling for Vince to win the Veto, but it never happened.

At one point, Morgan was worried that you would choose Lauren over her and Vince egged her on in that thinking to get her on his side with the vote.

Oh, did he really?

Yeah, so what do you make of that and him maybe at the very least tapping you under the bus?

Look, it’s gameplay, right? Vince is literally my best friend in the game. I showed my power to both of them in hopes that they would keep me in their best interest. And so he had to play what he had to do. I knew for a fact that he had never actually thrown my name under the bus, talked actual crap about me, and I was doing the same.

It was the type of situation where I knew that I had to kind of position myself in a better spot than Vince to the people that we were closest with. So the fact that he did use that tactic, I’m like, hats off to him. Honestly. You have to do what you have to do. But I honestly didn’t know that it came from Vince, which is pretty surprising to me. But I also know that he is a gamer and he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. So genuinely, no hard feelings to him.

You mentioned that you would’ve backdoored Rachel had you won HOH.

A hundred percent.

So who would be the three people you would’ve nominated then? Let’s say Keanu goes home, and you’re still in the house. You win HOH. What three people were going up?

Kelley, one. It would’ve been Ava, two — because Ava obviously put me up. And then I would’ve put Kat up as a three, and that would’ve caused issues with Rylie. I would’ve sat Ava down and I would’ve sat Kat down and I would have said, “I need y’all to win, to pull yourself off.” If I had won the veto, I would have pulled off Kat, because nobody is ever going to vote against Ava if Ava’s the final person sitting there against anybody else.

And so I would’ve put Rachel in that position, and then if Rachel had won the Block Buster, Kelley would’ve gone home, and I would’ve been totally fine with that. So that was the game plan going in. And I don’t know who the heck is HOH currently right now. If it’s in someone from the Melting Pot, they’re going to try and do that same type of situation.

You’re obviously a physical guy and a great athlete, yet you did not win a single competition after saving Julie from the Mastermind back on day 1. What happened and how frustrating was that?

It was frustrating. I had a whole conversation with Rachel. She won so many comps in her season, and it’s frustrating, right? I was actually kind of telling myself, “You know, sooner or later you’re gonna get that athletic comp.” Truthfully, I thought the Block Buster was gonna be an athletic comp or something that is a bit more skill, rather than a puzzle. It was not, but that’s the nature of the game. I think the one athletic comp that I had, it was the balance beam competition, and Rylie is just a freaking giraffe.

I was in that final two and I was praying that I was gonna be the second person to go so I knew what time I had to beat, but that man ran it perfectly. And so I was honestly hoping for a better showing when it came to the competition side of the game, but Big Brother humbles you. So I’ve been severely humbled. But it was a great experience and hopefully I get another opportunity to do so.

Whom are you rooting for to win?

I am rooting for Morgan or Vince to win. They’re my closest people. I respect Mickey’s game, and that’s the reason why I wanted her in the Melting Pot alliance with Vince and Morgan. So any of those three, really, I am thrilled and over the moon if any of them win. I believe that Mickey sooner or later will be targeted a lot, and I think that because Vince has been on the block before, he’s about to be in danger depending on who wins HOH. If Rachel wins HOH, you may have one of the best episodes in Big Brother history because she’s about to throw up everybody — a lot of close friends of mine.

We saw some tears from you in the house. When is the last time you cried this much?

Oh, gosh, man, the, the house throws you for a whirl. I saw some sad puppy dog videos on TikTok right before I came onto the show, so that’s probably the most recent time, but actually, it’s like an emotional beating is the best way to describe it to America. I think I was in there for 38 days, but nobody realizes the downtime in between each thing. There would be multiple days from when you won the Veto to when they announced who is going to be pulled off the block, right?

And then after that, I had three plus days to try and pull the votes and everything, and that was where the emotional rollercoaster came from, because right when the veto block situation ended, I still thought that I had the votes. And then 12 hours later, Mickey tells me that I don’t have the votes. Then I announced that I do have the power to some people, and everyone’s telling me that they have my back and I do have the votes again.

So it’s kind of like this emotional rollercoaster and I had to let it out in that moment. I would tell America it’s absolutely not what you expect and there’s a lot of downtime and you can only talk about favorite colors and where they live and occupations so much in that house. Let’s just say that I am not surprised that I cried a lot in that house.

I know you’ve got to run Zach, so before you go, I just want to thank you from Big Brother fans everywhere for saving our host from the Mastermind. I know that was a harrowing experience going up against that diabolical force. We appreciate you getting her back.

Thank you for having me. And like I said, it was a bucket list moment for me to hug Julie and to save her. I can forever say that. And to all the Big Brother fans, thank you guys so much for the support. It’s been an incredible journey and I’m really excited to see who wins. So we’ll be cheering them on together.

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