Rachel Reilly

This article is about the American reality show contestant. For the British television presenter, see Rachel Riley.
Rachel Reilly

Reilly (left) with husband Brendon Villegas in 2011.
Born Rachel Eileen Reilly
(1984-10-16) October 16, 1984
Concord, North Carolina
Residence Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Television Big Brother 12 (9th place)
Big Brother 13 (winner)
The Amazing Race 20 (3rd place)
The Amazing Race 24 (3rd Place)
Spouse(s) Brendon Villegas (m. 2012)

Rachel Eileen Reilly Villegas (born October 16, 1984) is an American television personality, a talk show host, an actress, and a reality show participant. Reilly appeared in two seasons of the American edition of the television series Big Brother, winning its thirteenth season in 2011.[1] She has also participated in two seasons of The Amazing Race with her husband Brendon Villegas, placing third on both occasions.

Early life and education

Reilly, with one younger sister named Elissa, was born in 1984[2] at Concord, North Carolina and attended First Assembly Christian School in Concord. She graduated from Northwest Cabarrus High School in Kannapolis, North Carolina in 2002.[3] Reilly is a member of the Phi Mu sorority and she graduated from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 2007.[4][5]

Reality Shows

Big Brother

Season 12

Reilly first appeared on Big Brother in its twelfth season, aired in the Summer of 2010. Within the first week of the season, Reilly entered into a romantic relationship with fellow houseguest Brendon Villegas, leading to the pair becoming immediate targets, but despite being nominated in the first week, Reilly was spared when the rest of the house decided fellow nominee Annie Whittington was a bigger threat. Reilly won two Head of Household competitions during her stay in the house, in the second and fourth weeks, resulting in the evictions of Monet Stunson and Kristen Bitting. Reilly was known for her many feuds during her stay, most notably with Ragan Fox and Britney Haynes. Eventually, Reilly and Villegas were nominated together in the fifth week of the season, and despite Villegas' attempts to get the other players to keep Reilly instead of him, Reilly was evicted unanimously. Reilly later returned to the house as a guest for one day as part of the "Pandora's Box" twist. As a result of her ninth place finish, Reilly became the first member of the Big Brother jury, and eventually voted for runner-up Lane Elenburg to win the $500,000 prize.

Season 13

One year later, Reilly and Villegas (by now her fiance) returned to Big Brother for its thirteenth season, as part of a "Returning Duos" twist. Reilly claimed she was returning to the show in a bid to redeem herself following her previous appearance. Reilly and Villegas quickly forged an alliance with the four other returning players, father and daughter, Dick and Daniele Donato of Big Brother 8 and fellow couple, Jordan Lloyd and Jeff Schroeder of Big Brother 11, as well as a side alliance with Porsche Briggs. The alliance - known as "the Veterans" dominated the house in the early weeks, with Reilly winning Head of Household (HoH) in the first and third weeks, as well as the Power of Veto in a two-person challenge with Villegas in the first week. The alliance fell apart in the second of Reilly's HoH weeks, when Daniele was caught in her attempts to turn the two couples against each other. However, Daniele then proceeded to win the next HoH competition, nominating Reilly and Villegas against each other, sparking a long-running feud between the two women. After winning the Power of Veto, Villegas decided to use it on Reilly, effectively ensuring his own eviction. Reilly was nominated again the following week, but was spared when confusion about an upcoming twist caused Lawon Exum to volunteer to be evicted in her place, in the mistaken belief that it would give him an advantage in the game. In reality, the evicted player and the winner of an America's Choice vote would compete to return, with Villegas winning the vote and then beating Exum in the subsequent competition, regaining his place in the game. His stay was short lived however, as he was evicted at the hands of Donato once again a week later. Reilly took revenge the following week, evicting Daniele after finding herself as the swing-vote. After narrowly surviving an eviction vote 3-2 against Schroeder, Reilly paired with Lloyd when the duos twist briefly returned, and won a key Veto competition that kept them both in the game at the expense of Shelly Moore. Reilly then followed up by winning HoH for the third time, resulting in the eviction of Kalia Booker. After failing to win the final Veto competition, Reilly reformed her early alliance with Briggs, and the pair worked together to make the final two, with Briggs evicting Lloyd in the final four stage, and then Reilly evicting Adam Poch the following week after she won HoH for the fourth time. Reilly eventually was named as the winner of Big Brother 13 in a vote of 4-3 over Briggs, earning the jury votes of Brendon Villegas, Jeff Schroeder, Jordan Lloyd and Shelly Moore, and losing the votes of Daniele Donato, Kalia Booker and Adam Poch. Reilly won $500,000 for winning the show.

Other Seasons

Reilly briefly returned to the house during Big Brother 14 as a Pandora's Box "prize" for Ian Terry. She then made a cameo appearance in the premiere episode of Big Brother 15, giving her sister Elissa a key to the Big Brother house. She also appeared later in the season, offering her opinion on the season and her sister's gameplay. She appeared in a similar role during the closing stages of the second season of Big Brother Canada and Big Brother 16, discussing the game and prospects of the remaining houseguests.

Records

In being nominated for eviction five times[6] [7][8] and still making it to the end to win the $500,000 prize, Reilly set a Big Brother record as the first finalist to achieve this feat. Additionally, in winning the third part of the final Head of Household competition (which she won by providing the only correct answers), she tied Janelle Pierzina's record of multi-seasonal HoH competition wins at 6. She is also tied with Drew Daniels, Janelle Pierzina, Hayden Moss, Ian Terry, Aaryn Gries and Caleb Reynolds for the most sole HOHs won in a season at 4.

Post Big Brother

The day following her Big Brother win, Reilly and Villegas appeared on CBS talk-show The Talk, co-hosted by Big Brother hostess Julie Chen. Reilly discussed her experiences on Big Brother during her appearance and won a vacation to Aruba, after competing in a Big Brother style challenge. In late 2011, photographs appeared on the internet suggesting that Reilly and Villegas are competing as a team on the 20th season of The Amazing Race.[9] In January 2012, CBS confirmed that Reilly and Villegas would compete on the 20th season of The Amazing Race.[10] In 2013, Reilly began appearing in a Hollywood production of The Real Drunk Housewives of San Fernando Valley, a musical parody of the television show.[11] Reilly currently is a host on Reality Relapse, a television show focusing on all things reality TV on the BiteSizeTV network.

The Amazing Race 20

Reilly and then-fiancé Brendon Villegas were on the 20th season of The Amazing Race, which premiered on February 19, 2012. They ended up in 3rd place out of 11 teams in the final leg, losing to border patrol agents of Art Velez and J.J. Carrell (runners-up) and the married couple Rachel and Dave Brown, Jr. (winners). During the competition, Reilly was shown breaking down into tears several times, and also got into arguments with competitor Vanessa Macias.[12][13]

The Amazing Race 24

After their marriage, Reilly and Villegas participated in The Amazing Race once more as part of its second All-Stars edition. Through the course of the season, the two won three legs, earning US$10,000 each and a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. However, they again finished the race in 3rd place. Reilly and Villegas are the first team to have completed all legs of the race on two separate seasons, with Reilly being the first woman competitor to complete this task (Eric Sanchez of seasons 9 and 11 had accomplished this earlier as the first male racer, but he had a new race teammate for his second season).

Acting

Reilly has played a recurring role of a waitress on CBS' Emmy Award winning soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, and she has played her character since 2010, and continues to make numerous appearances.[14] Reilly is also working on the award winning web series Youthful Daze with a recurring role, and has her first feature movie premiering in 2015 in movie theaters across the US.

Personal life

Reilly is married to fellow Big Brother player Brendon Villegas. Villegas proposed on Valentine's Day 2011, and they married September 8, 2012. WE Network aired Reilly and Brendon's wedding as a holiday wedding special. Celebrity event coordinator David Tutera planned the gala, which took place at sunset in the city of Los Angeles. The wedding was attended by approximately 120 friends and family. The couple honeymooned in Aruba.[15][16] Reilly is currently a host and producer on Reality Relapse on Bite Size TV network. Reilly also landed a gig on Hollywood Today Live on FOX as their reality TV correspondent and the reality TV expert for the show.[17] On September 16, 2015, Reilly and Villegas announced that she was pregnant with their first child together on a live taping of Big Brother 17. On April 8, 2016, their first child was born.[18]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Big Brother 12 Herself (Contestant) Placed 9th of 13
17 episodes
2010–2014 The Bold and the Beautiful Bikini Beach Waitress Recurring guest star
2011 Big Brother 13 Herself (Contestant) Placed 1st of 14
29 episodes
Winner $500,000.00
2011 The Brides of Beverly Hills Herself Episode "Rachel"
2011 The Consultant Student Video Short
2011 The Talk Herself (Guest Host) September 15, 2011 episode
2012 The Amazing Race 20 Herself (Contestant) Placed 3rd of 11
11 episodes
2012 The Price Is Right Herself (Guest Presenter) May 16, 2012 episode
2012 Natural Born Sellers Herself Episode "Buying a House Versus Buying a Condo"
2012 Big Brother 14 Herself Part of Pandora's Box Twist
Appeared at finale
2012 The Brides of Beverly Hills Herself Episode "Elissa Reilly"
2012 My Fair Wedding with David Tutera Herself Episode "Brenchel"
2013 Hell's Kitchen 11 Herself A Guest in the dinner service (episode 9)
2013 Big Brother 15 Herself Gave her sister, Elissa the key to the Big Brother 15 house
Gave opinion on her sister's gameplay
Gave opinion on season.
2013 Entertainment Tonight Canada Herself Guest Host
2014 Big Brother Canada 2 Herself Gave opinion on season.
2014 Big Brother Side Show (Canada) Herself Episode before the finale
2014 The Amazing Race 24 Herself (Contestant) All-Stars
2014 E Talk (Canada) Herself Discussion on Amazing Race Canada
2014 Hollywood Today Live "FOX" Herself Host & Reality TV Expert
2014 Big Brother 16 Herself Gave opinion on season
2015 Youthful Daze Sabrina Series Regular Season 4, Guest Star Season 3
2015 AxeMan 2 Breaker Co-Star
2015 Big Brother 17 Herself Gave opinion on season, Announced pregnancy

References

  1. ↑ "'Big Brother' jury votes Rachel Reilly winner over Porsche Briggs". Reality TV World. 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  2. ↑ "Rachel Reilly's Official Facebook page". Facebook.com. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  3. ↑ Théoden Janes (2011-09-19). "'Big Brother' house has been her home - twice". CharlotteObserver.com. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
  4. ↑ "NEW REALITY | Western Carolina Magazine". Magazine.wcu.edu. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
  5. ↑ "Reilly, WCU alum and ‘Big Brother’ winner, returns to Cullowhee - Features - Western Carolinian - Western Carolina University". Western Carolinian. 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
  6. ↑ Morty. "Video of Rachel talking about being up 5 times". Mortystv.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  7. ↑ Gomez, Patrick (2011-09-15). "People Magazine on Rachel's win". People.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  8. ↑ "Rachel up on block 5 times, yet wins under "Interrogation" paragraph". Blog.zap2it.com. 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  9. ↑ "Which 'Big Brother' Couple Will Be on 'The Amazing Race 20'?". Buddytv.com. 2011-11-28. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  10. ↑ "Press Express | Not Available". Cbspressexpress.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  11. ↑ "Reality Star Rachel Reilly Joins THE REAL DRUNK HOUSEWIVES OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY". Broadway World. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  12. ↑ Joyce Eng (2012-05-09). "Amazing Race's Brendon and Rachel: Vanessa Is Mean Just to Be Mean - Today's News: Our Take". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  13. ↑ Joyce Eng (2012-05-10). "Amazing Race's Vanessa and Ralph: Rachel Is a "Weak Personality" - Today's News: Our Take". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  14. ↑ "Rachel Reilly on CBS' B&B". Tvguide.com. 2011-09-20. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  15. ↑ "Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly: Engaged!". The Hollywood Gossip. 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  16. ↑ "Big Brother's Brendon Villegas & Rachel Reilly Are Married". People Magazine. 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
  17. ↑ "Big Brother's Rachel Reilly lands job with Fox's Hollywood Today Live". Starcasm.net. 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  18. ↑ http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/big-brother-stars-rachel-reilly-and-brendon-villegas-welcome-first-baby-together-w202046

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rachel Reilly.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Hayden Moss		 Big Brother U.S. winner
Season 13 (2011) 		Succeeded by
Ian Terry
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