Yash Patel Shares He Had to Play the Game ‘With His Hands Tied’ After Bribe Deal

Coming into the Big Brother game, Yash Patel flew under the radar for weeks. He wasn’t in many alliances, but he wasn’t on many people’s radar either.

However, about halfway through the game, he started winning a lot of competitions and soon became a comp beast and a threat. But he saved himself when he needed to.

Yash’s big moment came when he accepted Dee Valladares Bribe that she won in the Timecapsule. At first, he didn’t take it, but when his life was on the line, he decided why not. This deal prevented him from putting up or renominating any of the icons — Dee, Rick Devens, or Angela Murray — during his next Head of Household.

Well, lo and behold, he won HOH and was not allowed to put any of them up, unless it was the only situation possible. Instead, he got out Barrett Pfeiffer, whom he lied to about the deal.

Yash went from being HOH to being evicted in one night during the Double Eviction. Here’s what he had to say about his time in the house.

CBS

Do you think taking Dee’s bribe helped or hurt your game? And then lying about it to the newbies?

Yash Patel: I think Dee’s bribe both helped and hurt my game. I think it helped me when I took it because it kept me off the block, and seeing how the Veto competition and the Blockbuster went after that, I don’t know if I would have survived because the veto was the one that Lala won, the fitness things, and I don’t think there was any beating her at that tongue competition. That was crazy. The Blockbuster was the one that Drew [Campbell] essentially gambled on, and he decided to shoot 50/50, and then you couldn’t press anything after he did. I don’t think I would have survived that week, so the bribe benefited me there.

But I think ultimately, it hurt me. I had to play the game with my hands tied. I couldn’t fully play the game I wanted to. I had to strategize more about which competitions I wanted to win. I had to have certain conversations to steer people in certain directions. So, having the bribe complicated my game and made things difficult, especially towards the end when there were icons in the final eight Houseguests, and I couldn’t nominate any of them.

In terms of lying to the Houseguests, it was pretty easy because it was essentially just don’t tell them, but the icons decided to air it out. That kind of was funny because it was a test of trust. The Houseguest trusted me, so they believed the fact that I was telling the truth. But I actually think it was beneficial once they aired it out because I didn’t have to hide it, and people were aware of my circumstances, and they were more understanding of it. But the bribe, in general, helped me in the short term and hurt me in the long term.

If you hadn’t made the bribe deal, would you have put up one of the icons?

Ten-thousand percent. If I had not made that deal, one, if not all three, of the icons would have been sitting on the block the second I won an HOH, which probably would have been a lot quicker because there were times I wasn’t trying to win an HOH because I knew I couldn’t put them up. Phenomenal bribe on their part.

Would you have upheld the deal you made with Drew in the Pressure Cooker and kept him safe?

As far as I knew, I never promised him anything in that Pressure Cooker. It very much was a one-way deal, where I’m going to let you win this veto, but in return, you keep Taylor [Brown] safe on eviction, and more importantly, on your next HOH, you do not put me up as an initial nom or a replacement nom. So, it was kind of a one-way exchange. My only promise to him was that I would throw the competition and let him win the veto.

So, a long-winded way of saying, no chance I was going to keep him safe if I had won HOH.

What led to your decision to eliminate Haley over Lala during the medieval twist?

That’s like asking if you’re going to brush your teeth in the morning. Of course, I was going to vote out Haley [Thogmartin] over Lala (LaTrice Verrett). Haley had been a nuisance to many throughout the previous few weeks, and LaLa was a bona fide ally of mine, and I knew no matter what, LaLa would not go against me. So, it was a very easy decision. The hard part was actually winning that competition.

How did it feel to go from HOH to evicted in one night?

*Scoffs* Gosh, I think that’s Big Brother. You go from the top to the bottom, the bottom to the top. It’s unfortunate the way it played out, but I can’t complain.

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