LaTrice “Lala” Verrett may not have always understood everything that was going on inside the Big Brother house, but she left a lasting impression during her 59-day run. The New Jersey-based boutique salesperson was evicted on Thursday night by a 4-2 vote over her close ally Taylor Brown.
Despite being the oldest person in the house at 58, Lala stayed on the Wall the longest (setting a new age record for the endurance Head of Household competition) and later won the 1980s exercise-based Veto challenge.
And yet, it wasn’t enough to outlast the so-called reality icons: Angela Murray from Big Brother, and Dee Valladares and Rick Devens from Survivor. Lala is now the first member of the seven-person jury who will vote for the winner during the Oct. 1 finale.
Read on for our full exit interview with Lala, in which she explains why she didn’t go after the icons when she was Head of Household, why she was “devastated” when Rome Seymour didn’t fight harder to keep her safe, and which key relationships she should have handled differently.
Gold Derby: When you won HOH in Week 5, you did not nominate any of the icons. Talk us through that decision, and any regrets you may or may not have.
LaTrice “Lala” Verrett: I did not nominate any of the icons. I was going to be nominating Devens as a renom because I wanted Devens out. Hindsight is 20-20. Devens had a power, so Devens could have taken himself out anyway. So, the best thing for me was to not do an icon because I would’ve been in Yash [Patel]’s place where his whole HOH was jacked. I really, really, really that week wanted to take Haley [Thogmartin] out, and I was quite disappointed when I couldn’t. [Laughs.]
But I got rid of a very powerful couple in the house [Haley and Chuk Anyanwu]. And I thought that was a very, very good Head of Household, because it actually changed the trajectory of our game. The other side was just picking us off, picking us off, picking us off. And my Head of Household actually changed that. So, hindsight, I did what I needed to do and I think I did a pretty darn good job at it.
Looking back on your entire Big Brother journey, what were your favorite and least favorite moments in the house?
Gosh! Favorite moment? Of course, winning the Wall and beating Kamu [Kirk]. What?! MMA fighter, 34 years old vs. 58 years old, hanging on the Wall, winning, was the top of everything.
Worst moment would be, oh my gosh, I almost forgot about this. In the beginning, when Devens fooled Rome and was like, “Who are your favorite people?” I wasn’t on the block because of it, because I wasn’t on that list. But me and Rome, it was he and I. It was me and Rome, period, point blank, the end. And that was devastating to me. I was really, really, really hurt when I was not even on his list. Yeah, that hurt my feelings so badly, and that’s why the tears flowed at that nomination ceremony. Yeah, that was a real low point for me, and that was really early on.
What were the key relationships you wish you had handled differently, and why?
Probably in the beginning, I should have been with the icons. From the beginning of the show, I was always on the bottom rung. I was on the bottom rung on the side of the house that I was on, and on the other side, because I was never anyone’s first choice, I would’ve always been their last choice.
I was at a point in being here where I was really not fitting in on anyone’s side or in anyone’s pairings. I really didn’t have a pairing in the game, and that made it kind of difficult. So, I don’t know if I could have changed that early on or not, but I never really saw the opportunity to change that. I think that’s just intrinsically what it was, and I had to work within those boundaries, and I did the best that I could within those boundaries.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
