Jason De Puy Says “Big Brother” Was a ‘Vacation’ Compared to “Drag Race”: ‘No “BB” Contestant Could Ever Handle It’ (Exclusive)
Jason De Puy Says “Big Brother” Was a ‘Vacation’ Compared to “Drag Race”: ‘No “BB” Contestant Could Ever Handle It’ (Exclusive)
Lily BrownFri, July 31, 2026 at 8:53 PM UTC
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Jason De Puy in ‘Big Brother 28’Credit: CBS
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Big Brother season 28.
Jason De Puy believes his time on RuPaul’s Drag Race was more challenging than his experience on Big Brother 28
The latest Big Brother houseguest to walk out the door is reflecting on his game after the 12-0 vote that sent him packing
He says, if the opportunity came up, he would return to Big Brother with a potential new strategy
For Jason De Puy, surviving the Big Brother house was one thing. Surviving RuPaul’s Drag Race? That’s the real challenge.
The drag performer and reality star, 35, quickly became one of the breakout personalities of Big Brother 28 despite being the season’s third evictee. But he says living under the constant surveillance and navigating alliances was still easier than spending hours transforming into his drag persona, Salina EsTitties.
“Definitely the six-hour drag transformation,” De Puy tells PEOPLE when asked whether Big Brother strategy or getting into drag is more exhausting. “Big Brother has been a vacation for me.”
He adds with a laugh, “I don’t think any other BB contestant could ever handle Drag Race. I definitely think Drag Race is the harder game, to be quite honest. But what I will say is [Drag Race] is the more expensive game.”
Salina EsTitties on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’Credit: Paramount+
De Puy’s time in the Big Brother house came to an early end on Thursday, July 30, when he was evicted by his fellow houseguests in a 12-0 vote following a tumultuous week involving house meetings and a lot of noise (courtesy of his pots-and-pans strategy).
Still, he says he hopes Drag Race fans don’t look at his early Big Brother departure and assume the CBS competition series is a breeze. “The biggest thing for me is to think that Drag Race fans are like, ‘Boo, he only got voted out third,’ ” he says. “I’m like, ‘No, you guys could never survive one day in the Big Brother house.’ So I feel good about it.”
As De Puy shares, being a drag queen came with its advantages and disadvantages when secluded with over a dozen strangers on a TV set.
“You’re not afraid to take the spotlight, and it definitely puts a target on your back to do so,” he says. “I think a lot of drag queens would have a hard time blending in, to be honest. I thought I blended in fairly well for the most part. But ultimately, when it was time to turn on the show, I thought that was probably the most threatening to people when they saw the real drag queen come out of me.”
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Before entering the house, De Puy tried to gather whatever intel he could from former Big Brother player and friend Frankie Grande, who competed on the show’s 16th season in 2014. While Grande couldn’t reveal much, one small piece of advice ended up becoming part of De Puy’s strategy. “There was not much he could say,” De Puy recalls. “I was trying to pry for information without giving too much information away because I wasn’t necessarily allowed to tell him.”
The one tip he did learn ended up helping him read the game: “Look at where the cameras are pointing at.”
“‘That will probably tell you that something juicy’s been going on,’ ” he recalled. “I was able to clock who was talking and who was making conversations that were juicy enough for the cameras to look at. That was kind of a strategy I utilized in the game.”
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Kamu Kirk, Haley Thogmartin, Lyric Medeiros, Mallory Aurichio and Jason De Puy on ‘Big Brother’Credit: CBS
De Puy’s game unraveled after the now-infamous “tea party” confrontation earlier this week, when a seemingly lighthearted house gathering turned heated after fellow houseguest and then-head-of-household Kamu Kirk aired him out in front of his housemates. De Puy didn’t back down, though, and questioned the fellow competitor’s tactics in front of everyone else. He believes the moment showcased why keeping Kirk around was dangerous for everyone else’s game.
“That was kind of my final pitch, right?” he says, referring to his plea to target the opposing side of the house. “I was like, ‘Look at what Kamu is capable of. If you guys want to stand a chance to win this game, you need to make sure they’re not in power.’”
He compares Kamu’s move to an earlier exchange involving fellow houseguest and Survivor alum Rick Devens. “Devens did the same thing with me and Rome [Seymour] week two at the nomination ceremony,” he says. “Devens, Kamu. They want the spotlight. They want to be the big guy. They wanna be the showgirl. And with me in the house, that was too threatening because baby, I’m the showgirl.”
Of course, De Puy’s most memorable response came after the “tea party” confrontation, when he marched through the house banging pots and pans in a scene that’s already become one of the season’s defining moments.
“I was in bed after the tea party trying to go to sleep, and Kamu’s voice just kept playing in my head. It was irritating me,” De Puy says. “It was so very clear that Kamu wants to be this influencer. He wants to be famous. He talks about wanting to be on TV so bad. I’m like, ‘You know what? I have to show him who the real TV star is right now.’”
Jason De Puy on ‘Big Brother’Credit: CBS
While fans compared the moment to other memorable reality TV blowups, including those of Josh Martinez from Big Brother 19 and Tanisha Thomas fromBad Girls Club, De Puy says he wasn’t thinking about making a meme. “It was less about creating a viral moment and more about really irritating them and scaring them,” he says. “I think that’s what I wanted to do. I don’t think anyone in that house had balls to stand up to Kamu. No one had the balls to stand up during that tea party, except for me and myself.”
He adds, “So I was like, ‘I’m going to show these kids. You’re not going to just bully me and isolate me, put me in a corner. I’m going to speak up. I’m going to make a moment. I’m going to make you scared.’”
After his fellow houseguest Kirk made viral anti-drag remarks during their time in the house, De Puy says he believes his castmate felt “threatened” just by the words “drag queen.”
“Not once did I ever put a stitch of makeup on my face. I never wore a wig. I never put on a dress. I’m the drag queen, but [Kirk] was so threatened by the idea of just those words. Just those words alone spiraled him into a place where he had to pick on me, bully me, air me out and make a fool of me right in front of the entire house,” he says, laughing. “Never even saw me in drag.”
Despite his short stay, De Puy would happily return to Big Brother, though he admits he’d tweak his strategy and would “go back and study” to see where he’d handle things “differently.”
But there is one thing he wouldn’t change. “I’ll also still maybe be messy,” he says.
Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, with Big Brother: Unlocked airing Fridays at 8 p.m. Episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
