Big Brother 25’s Izzy Gleicher kept her allies Cirie Fields and Jared Fields’ mother-son relationship a secret during her time on the reality series — but did she ever consider spilling the beans?
“I struggled with that,” Izzy, 32, exclusively admitted to Us Weekly on Friday, September 15, one day after she was evicted by an 8-1 vote. (Cirie, 53, cast the sole vote in her favor.)
Izzy explained that although she was “thinking about [whether to share the secret] a ton,” the “plan was to make it so that wasn’t the case.” In the end, Izzy didn’t betray Jared, 25, and Cirie’s confidence even as she headed out the door. She told Us that even if she’d been on the block next to Cirie instead of Felicia Cannon, she still wouldn’t have used her ally’s secret against her.
While some Big Brother viewers think Izzy let her close personal relationship with Cirie hinder her game, Izzy felt that she had a path to victory despite her closest connections in the house being a mother-son duo.
“We absolutely had a plan [for] when we got to [the] final three. And I won’t get into a lot of details about it, but I am confident that me and Jared would’ve been sitting in those final two chairs,” Izzy hinted. “And I know I would’ve beaten Jared, so I was OK with that.”
When Cirie first entered the game as the surprise 17th houseguest last month, Izzy was the only player who put two and two together that Jared is Cirie’s son. She immediately approached Jared to tell him she knew the secret and vowed not to tell anyone. Although Izzy told Us that she handled the moment in a “sloppy” manner and “will be embarrassed watching the first episode back,” she stands by the move itself.
“In some ways, [I] wanted to get ahead in case other people knew [the secret],” she explained. “You don’t know how you’re going to find people in this house before you get in there. And I was like, ‘This is a way that can immediately connect me to two people.’ And so that felt like, ‘I can’t mess up this opportunity.’”
Izzy ultimately did a better job of keeping the secret than Jared himself, who told his showmance partner Blue Kim last month that his mom is in the house. Although he lied and told Blue, 25, that Felicia, 63, is his mom, Blue figured out that Jared’s real connection might be to Cirie instead.
Izzy told Us that Jared’s “stupid” decision to share such sensitive information with Blue “might get [Cirie and Jared] into trouble.”
Although Izzy worked closely with Jared in the game, she admitted that the pair “butted heads” at times. Had Cirie not been in the house, Izzy said she still “would’ve tried” to work with Jared, but doesn’t know how long their loyalty to each other would’ve lasted.
While Izzy was ride or die until the end with the Fields family, it’s one of her other allies Cory Wurtenberger who helped flip the vote that sealed her fate this week. As she left the house, Izzy hugged everyone but Head of Household Cameron Harding and Cory, 21, calling the latter a “pipsqueak” and saying she would see him soon.
“For as smart as Cory is, I think the way that he got me out was sloppy for him,” Izzy told Us. “I think this didn’t make him look good. I think that he’s absolutely going to be a target along with Cameron. … If [Cory] knew me at all, which I thought we were connecting as people, he knew that I was being serious about working with him and protecting him and each other for at least a while.”
Izzy added that Cory doesn’t have many connections left in the house without her. “Sure, be on an island with [showmance partner] America [Lopez],” she said. “Let’s see how long that lasts.”
Big Brother airs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays on CBS.
