‘Big Brother 24’: Ameerah Jones Reacts to Alyssa’s Betrayal and Turner’s Anti-Bullying Speech
The third week of Big Brother 24 involved house drama and a blindside. Ameerah Jones talked to Showbiz Cheat Sheet on July 29 over Zoom to explain how all of this came into play with her eviction.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead for the Big Brother 24 episode on July 28, 2022.]
Ameerah Jones on the biggest mistake in her game
This week Matt “Turner” Turner won Head of Household (HOH). He joined The Leftovers alliance, and they came up with the plan to evict Ameerah Jones. They were successful. She opened up about the start of her game.
Q: Since your alliance started off as the Girls’ Girls and girls’ alliances, there is usually the pitfall of someone rats out. So understandable that the women were sussing out who that possibly could be. Landed on Taylor because she was not talking so much in the beginning. But as time went on I was wondering, other women started becoming very close with the other men in the house. And it was very interesting to see how the same kind of interrogation of who could possibly then be more loyal to men didn’t really come up. I’m specifically talking about Alyssa and her crush on Kyle. In the end, she actually really did give up everyone’s game to Kyle, which led to the back door. So can you talk a little bit about that?
Ameerah: So the reason for that is because [Taylor and Nicole] were definitely they were hanging out with the guys from the first day. The very first night, while all the girls were in the back kiki-ing haha-ing. And they were just, you know, with the guys and ‘We’re like, oh, my gosh. Like, these are the girls that are–‘ because there’s always like the girls that align with the guys based on other seasons. Like there’s some that just stick with them and like we’re like, okay, those are the girls are gonna stick with them. Like, let’s just form our alliance. And that’s how it all started.
As time went by, I know you mentioned Alyssa, but I was actually more concerned about Indy being close to Monte and Joseph that I was very afraid of that. And so I just started monitoring it. And at one point, I was like, We got to get Indy out of here. So I don’t know. I was like, Indy is on my list. I’m ready to get out here cause I did not trust her.
Q: Why did Alyssa fly under your radar?
Ameerah: Alyssa flew under my radar because I had built she–I was very close with Alyssa. I had built trust with her pretty quickly. And so I felt very comfortable with her. I felt like I knew her longer than the few weeks that were in this house. And so once I built that trust with her and that understanding, I trusted her with Kyle.
And actually, in the last couple of days, I started noticing like, wow, this girl drops a lot of information that she should not be dropping. So that was all new to me in the last couple of days. But before that, I had trusted her only because I had already built that initial relationship with her before she started getting good with all of the guys.
Q: What do you think is your biggest mistake in the game now that you’re out?
Ameerah: Aligning with Alyssa. I think that it was so crazy to me to be in conversations with her and other people and hear her dropping these huge bombs and especially with the other people we were aligned with because it made them not trust her, which also relayed on me too, because I’m connected with her. And so I’m like, ‘Holy cow. Like, Alyssa could not keep a secret.’
Q: To be fair, Monte also plays a part. I think the fact that you slipped up and told Monte, ‘Taylor wants you out.’ But then being in an alliance with him, then try to walk it back when he’s like, ‘Well, we need to get Taylor out.’…So what’s your thoughts there?
Ameerah: In my mindset, I for my own personal gain, I felt more comfortable with Taylor than I felt with Pooch. So I’m fighting for myself. I’m going to put up I’m going to fight to have Pooch be put out. And then would you take out Taylor next week? Also, Nicole was brought into this alliance later on, and she felt very comfortable in her relationship with Taylor. And so we felt like he should be comfortable with our decision and our confidence and making sure that Taylor would not put him on the block.
And also, Taylor had told me that she would put Turner up. So she told me Monte, then she changed the Turner. And so that’s why how I was able to kind of tell him, like she was mentioning Turner, too. So I felt like we sort of had a trust in there that they should just trust us to manage Taylor at this time.
Ameerah wanted the bullying discussion handled differently in the ‘Big Brother’ house
Q: The big change was when Turner makes a speech, puts you on the block. You said afterward in your diary room that you were disappointed that he brought up the bullying. Can you expand on why you were disappointed?
Ameerah: So the bullying thing was definitely happening. I was aware of it. I think everyone in the house was aware of it. And what I thought was going to come out of that conversation was he was going to put the people on the block that he felt were like the bullies in the house. So I was shocked that me and Terrance were up there because obviously, you know, I had contributed to some of the things that were said in the house, but there was a lot of very big main contributors in that house. And I was shocked that they said me instead of these people.
And so I was expecting: A. For him to at least say who the bullies were instead of just putting, you know, these two random people on the block. But B: some type of like team or like houseguest meeting where we could discuss what was going on. I was looking for the bullying thing to be brought up and healed. And so just mentioning like ‘This is happening. But anyway, I’m putting Ameerah and Terrance up.’ I thought we were going to solve the root of the issue at that moment, or at least later on. And it never actually happened. I never knew why it wasn’t brought up, who was doing it, why it was happening, and how do we move on from this? So that’s why I was really confused at the speech and then putting me and Terrance on the block.
Q: In the end, the bullying, a lot of it was behind Taylor’s back. People were very nice to her face, and then with other people would be bystanders or be in conversations where she’s being compared to bugs and not having her name used and stuff…For your game, with the big blow-up, for example, everyone really did mostly watch Daniel attack her and blame her for Paloma. What was going through your mind of balancing out should I say something or this is my game? You still really did want to target Taylor at the end, and what was so nice about Turner’s thing is that it’s like, ‘Actually, I’m not gonna join the Taylor pile on. I’m not going to use this for game as everyone has been.‘
Ameerah: In that moment, so you’re in game mode when you’re in this house, it’s just completely every single thing that you’re thinking about, any kind of move, that move that you’re about to make, you think about it from a game perspective. And optics are extremely important in the house, and that was something that I had a hard time balancing with, especially in this moment where I knew what was happening, didn’t feel right to me. And so I was trying to balance that with OK, but I also–Daniel could beat me in a game. I don’t want Daniel to win next week. I don’t want him to take me out, and I lose $750,000.
So the way that I felt like I had to handle it was talking to everyone individually. So I did speak with Nicole, I did speak with Daniel, and I spoke one on one with Taylor as well, letting her know that I didn’t agree with what was what had happened and that I was actually in the room for the comment that they were talking about. And I was on her side for that.
And so, I was trying to balance talking to everyone one-on-one about why I felt their behavior was appropriate and yet trying to be there for Taylor in this situation because it was completely unnecessary and it was wrong. It was–it was wrong. It’s not even what she meant by the comment I knew immediately when I heard it.
And so just trying to be, you know, balance all of these things at the same time and when you’re in this heightened emotional, emotional environment. And so it was struggle. It was very hard. I do have some decisions in the house that I regret more towards the end of my time there, which I didn’t know was and my time there. I was trying to mend them and trying to build relationships and, you know, get to know like Taylor, for example, like who she actually was outside of the game.
Ameerah addresses her talk about colorism and racism with Taylor and Jasmine
Q: You had conflicting comments about The Cookout and whether race was coming into play in the game. One was like, ‘Thanks, Cookout. You make it awkward.’ Which they knew it was going to be awkward for future Black players. And you’re like, ‘We’re not going to do that.’ Taylor was very outspoken of feeling like she was being treated differently as a Black woman. You talked about this with Jasmine. Jasmine was like, ‘Well, I’m a Black woman. And you agreed that Jasmine wasn’t being treated differently, but colorism exists. Taylor’s the dark-skinned Black woman in the house. How do you actually feel since you said a lot of conflicting things about this?
Ameerah: So there was a lot of conflicting emotions. So going into the house, I was very afraid to associate with Black people because I was afraid that people were going to come in and think there was a Cookout. So even going to this house, I was heightened aware of like when I was speaking to a person of color, like immediately I was like, I don’t want them to think that like they’re trying to target us, get us out of the house.
So when originally when Taylor and Terrance were put on the block, I brought it to Paloma. I was like, There’s two Black people on the block, and I’m going to think and I think that I was like, ‘If you keep doing this, I’m gonna think I’m next.’ That blew up. Daniel had like a meltdown. He started talking to Monte about how he put two Black people on the block. And it was I was afraid of saying anything else because I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Like, this is blowing up out of control.’
Me and Taylor had spoken…And she told me, ‘They’re coming after Black woman, a strong black woman. They’re calling you a robot.’ And I was like, didn’t want to believe it because I had these strong alliances. And so I was like, you know, like, I’m hearing her out. It’s possible. And then it’s funny that the next day, like, you know, two more Black people we were put on, two more black people were put in the block. And I was like, ‘Damn, I think Taylor was right.’
But as far as the conversation with Jasmine, I felt. I didn’t feel like I exactly knew how to handle that situation because while I was trying to talk to her about like what Taylor’s issue was, it kind of got switched into like she has experienced colorism as being a light-skinned Black woman. And so I was like confused as to which way I was supposed to be taking this conversation. It’s definitely a sensitive topic. And so she felt like Taylor wasn’t including her in the topic of Black women because she was light-skinned. And so I never knew that Taylor was–I never knew that Taylor felt like she was feeling colorism so. It was–it was hard to manage all of this in the house.
This interview has been edited and condensed for this article.
