'Big Brother 25's Miranda 'Bowie Jane' Ball Says Betraying is 'Not Her Style'
Bowie Jane
Big Brother’s house is open once more! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will be bringing you interviews with this season's houseguests as they get evicted from the game.
Miranda "Bowie Jane" Ball is truly one-of-a-kind. Outside of the Big Brother house, she navigates two very different careers as an attorney and DJ. Entering the game, she chose to hide her law career as well as her age, walking into every conversation with a kilometer-wide grin. Ironically, though, many people in the game found Bowie Jane's game quite toothless. During her three stints as Head of Household, she linked up with Jag Bains and Matt Klotz, and went from floating around the house to committing to the trio. And while she was able to run the "Mafia" alliance all the way to finale night, the "Minutemen" had put the hit on her, as she became the last juror, walking out the door with that trademark smile.
Bowie Jane started Big Brother 25 as part of the "Professors" alliance, working chiefly with her roommates Cirie Fields and Felicia Cannon. Like a crocodile lurking, she chose to fade into the background to avoid the early eyes on her. However, her lack of distinct game talk made her an outcast within her own alliance early on, keeping her out of the loop on several key decisions. It culminated in the blindside of Red Utley, which only Bowie Jane and Cameron Hardin were left out of. Upset and betrayed, she strengthened her relationship with Cameron, forming a new tight alliance. But that all upended when Jag and Matt entered the picture.
As the jury began, Bowie Jane won her first competition. Despite promising Cameron he was safe, the Minutemen were able to convince her to turn on him and join up with them instead. The trio went ahead to dominate the game, winning nearly every competition the rest of the season. Bowie Jane herself got two more stints in the HoH room, thanks to her supernatural prowess in tiebreakers. But while she was gaining control, she was losing respect as people were leaving the game, accusing her of being a follower without her own agency in the game. Regardless, Bowie Jane succeeded in her goal of making it to the end with her guys. And she felt she had a solid path to the end, as Jag would cut Matt as the bigger threat. But Bowie Jane found her game sent down under on finale night. Jag sent her packing, but reminded her of her promise to vote for him in the end, one she handily kept.
Hours after the Big Brother 25 finale, Bowie speaks with Parade.com about her reaction to Jag cutting her, her claims of that she won by getting her "team" to the end, and her ever-changing feelings about Cirie and Felicia.
Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 25
Hey, Bowie Jane! How are you feeling right now?
I'm over the moon. I couldn't believe how excited I was walking out that door onto the stage for some reason. I mean, I've just been evicted!
To be candid, I agree! You had just lost out on the chance of winning $750,000, and your smile was so huge. Why were you feeling that way?
I mean, look, 100 days in the house will do it to you. But also Matt and Jag, I can't really be mad that they were left in the house. So I was happy with those two and not someone I didn't like. Then coming out onto the stage and seeing my mum and dad in the audience who had flown here from Australia, I was dying. And then seeing Jag's family and Matt's family, it's just such an overwhelming experience. It really is. And plus, I'm an excitable person!
So, in evicting you, Jag reminded you of a promise you made that you'd always vote for him if he made it to the Final Two. Did your mind ever sway that you wouldn't vote for him as you were listening to their speeches?
I had already thought about this over the last couple of nights. Obviously, how am I going to be angry if he doesn't take me to the Final Two when he kind of suggested he would? And then I thought, "You know what? I'm cool with that." And I'd already decided I was gonna vote for Jag if he kicked me out. So him saying that I thought was kind of clever. But it didn't make any difference. I was gonna vote for him. I was with him.
Let's say Jag goes through on his promise to you and takes you to the Final Two. What do you think your chances are against him?
Well, actually, I had more blood on my hands than Matt did. So Jag using that as a selling point maybe that would have helped me a little bit. I didn't know what Cameron's reaction would be. But Cameron and I sort of did appreciate each other. So did Cory and I. I thought I could probably get two votes. But I was sure that I had a lot of blood on my hands in that jury. Especially kicking America out, because then it was Cory and America.
We have to talk about the "Mafia" alliance. Because you said several times throughout the season that you were happy as long as your "team" got to the end, even if it meant you didn't win. How valid was that? Were you fine just getting to third place?
So I took this game in stages. First, don't get evicted the first two weeks, then make jury, then try and make it a few weeks more into jury. I am very much, "Let's deal with things as they happen." I'm an ex-athlete. You don't look ahead to the final, or you choke usually. So I was like, "Let's take this week by week." I knew I was gonna have an issue getting past the Fianl Three because they were such good mate. But I made great inroads with Jag, so it was close. And I could have pushed for Felicia to have been thrown, I think it would be in the Final Two. But to me, it wasn't quite the honorable thing to do. I think he made the right decision. But I still had plans to navigate into a Final Two position.
Something that also probably helped you feel good with the Mafia was the comments you three had been making the past couple of weeks about how you were the only "good people" this season. At one point, you even said that people "cheated" in the house. Can you clarify your thoughts on that for me?
Obviously, at the start, I didn't realize that people would be in more than one alliance. There'll be breakdowns within the alliance. But I didn't realize people were in 40 alliances. So that was the kind of stuff I was talking about, like with Cirie and Izzy and Mama Felicia and Meme being in different alliances. And Jared, of course, that was shocking to me. And so then when I was working with people who were sticking to their vote. We were under a lot of pressure with that Izzy vote, all of us, and we all made a stand. So with the Jared vote, once we've done a couple of weeks for that, I felt really good. I felt like we've got people who are going to stick to what they say, they're not afraid to make a move, and also we can win comps when we need to. So that to me is a great way forward.
Do you still feel like playing the way they did is a "bad" way to play or makes them "bad" people?
I've watched so much U.S. Big Brother. But I think this season feels like everyone was playing super hard. Which is great. But yeah, the betraying, it's just not my style. I don't want to do it. If I played again, I still wouldn't do it. I like the way I played. And I think if I could have won the comps at the end, which there was a chance, then I would be in the Final Two. And I'd have a really good pitch to win at that point. That was my plan. So I'm cool with people playing that kind of a game. But look, it's Big Brother. You may not last when you're playing that aggressively.
From a social perspective, you felt isolated at the beginning of the game, especially when you were left out of the Red blindside. That drove you to Cameron, and eventually to Jag and Matt. Talk to me about navigating that part of the game.
Yeah, I was obviously so mad and upset the night of the blindside. I was just screaming in the Diary Room. I'm sure you saw it; sorry parents! But the next day I woke up, and I was like, "Okay, we're going into game mode. "I mean, I was in game mode, but a different kind of game mode. I was like, "We're going to sports mode. And I'm going to play really carefully with this. I'm going to pretend that I care." And I know we've been chatting to Cory and America. And so when they started wanting to make moves, this was a great opportunity. It seemed like a group that we're going to stick to their vote. And they did, and that was the way forward for me. Once I've been blindsided by Felicia, Cirie, and Izzy, I can't trust them again. It was all over then.
So then how did it feel to take out Cirie and Felicia towards the end, given your feelings towards them? Even when it veered on personal with "Operation Pressure Cracker," where you, Jag, and Matt tried to "rile up" Felicia by isolating her, giving her the silent treatment, and even contemplating banging pots and pans to keep her up at night.
I mean, Felicia was always cooking. I don't mean food. She was always cooking plans and schemes and in people's ears. So that's why we're like, "Well, that's bloody intimidating." But we didn't end up doing that at all. Look, I actually really do like Cirie and Felicia, and I had worked with them from day one. And I did feel a bit emotional when they were leaving. I've spent a lot of time with them. But yeah, as gamers, I thought Cirie was getting close with Matt, as Jag said in his speech. We were talking about, "Look, Cirie's really close with Matt. That's a threat to us. Someone who may take him to the Final Two, we kind of need to get rid of that one." And then we figured Felicia wasn't quite as good under pressure and competition. So we thought we would take her out the next week. It felt good to be in the Final Three once we did accomplish all those tasks.
Finally, you dropped a couple of bombshells on the houseguests tonight, namely your career as a lawyer and your real age. How have things been since you revealed that side of yourself?
I mean, Cameron reckons he knew. So that's funny. Cory was insisting that I'm a DJ, which I am a DJ, that's my main thing. But yeah, I hid my past as trial attorney. SLook, I couldn't ever let that in the house. I would have been evicted first week. Even my age, I thought the ages of the house would be more skewed younger. I thought it would be like 20 to 25 years old. I thought 45 would think, "Well we've got to get rid of her. She's too old." I thought 35 was a good balance. But then I didn't realize Cirei and Felicia would be in there
Next, check out our interview with Big Brother 25 runner-up Matt Klotz.
