'Big Brother 26's Angela Murray Breaks Down Her History-Making Veto Record

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.

Angela, Angela, Angela. Where to start when describing the enigmatic arc of Angela Murray on Big Brother 26? While the theme of this season seems to be chaos incarnate, she is the mascot. Someone who made tight alliances, only to blow them up as paranoia fed her like a charcuterie platter. Someone was consistently a house target, yet had the veto used on her a record number of times. Someone who wore her emotions on her face as much as her thick-rimmed glasses, who would profusely weep while always expressed her gratitude about being on the show. Angela is a real estate agent and, in a manner of thinking, she owned that house.

Typically, a first HoH uses the initial burst of power to build bonds and alliances that directly translate to longevity in the game. That doesn't seem to be the case recently, though, and Angela is one of the most extreme examples. True to a typical season, she was brought in on some early groupings. But what lorded over her thinking was Matt Hardeman. A personal disconnect segued into paranoia he was plotting against her, culminating in a tirade for the ages. Angela walked down the stairs one Saturday morning and drew eyes with her "Crazy Eyes" rant against Matt. While she succeeded in her plan of getting him out of the house, her actions presented herself as a loose cannon and wildcard to the other players.

To be fair to the others, Angela did not help herself at all from shaking this perception. As she began her near-permanent residence on the block, she was not afraid to turn on those who were closest to her when she felt she was in danger. She made a Final Two deal with Quinn Martin, then outed his power to Tucker Des Lauriers. She then got in tight with Tucker, only to decide to target him, worried he wouldn't take her to the finals. Despite Angela torching relationships left and right. the other players felt there was always a bigger fish to fry. And so, she was astoundingly removed from the block by the veto by three different people over the course of the season. The most surprised by far, though, was Angela herself.

Despite the havoc of the prejury, Angela seemed to settle down with the endgame in sight. She was racking up competition wins and forming a tight alliance with Leah Peters and Makensy Manbeck that she hoped would take her to the end. Little did she know, though, that some chaos was coming Angela's way for once. Makensy was convinced to turn on Leah and Angela, putting them both on the block to face eviction. Faced with the threat of going out the door right after her closest ally, Angela made it to the tiebreaker round of the next HoH, only to fall just short. And even though it was a rather rote vote, she still walked out with her head held high, and the anarchic exuberance that brought through that very door months ago.

Now on her way to the jury house, Angela talks with Parade.com about what she visualized her endgame to be, her record-breaking time on the block, and her season full of conflicts.

Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 26

You said on your way out the door you would have taken Kimo to the end. Had you survived the double eviction, talk me through what your ideal endgame would have looked like.
So my endgame, if I had survived a double eviction, would have been taking Kimo with me as far as we could go. I very quickly solidified a relationship with Kimo and had a bond like no other. And I would have loved to have done that with him. I think the two of us possibly with Rubina along the way, I think we could have made magic, and it would have been a fun little duo.

You had the veto used on you by somebody else three times, the most in Big Brother history. What do you think was the greatest contributor to you getting saved so many times?
I did have the veto used on me three times! Being a fan of the show, I should know that that is making history. I think that the veto was used on me three times because I really did work on relationships. You cannot possibly live with 15 people and not try to find your people, people that you can get along with and have day to day conversations that aren't related to the game. And so I think that the houseguests that used it on me saw my heart and saw my true intentions and my true self, that I am a very passionate people person, and that what I love, I love hard. And I think they felt that, and I think that's why I was saved so many times,

You were not afraid to speak your mind with your fellow houseguests, which sometimes culminated in arguments with people like Lisa, Quinn, and Tucker. How did those conflicts affect your perception in the house and the way you approached the game?
[Pause.] So outside of the game, I definitely am opinionated. Like my kids say, I will give you my opinion, whether you want it or not. I think that coincided with what happened with Quinn and Lisa and Matt. It's hard to bite my tongue, and I did a lot of that throughout this game. Because normally, you're going to just get it, whether you like it or not. It isn't always harsh or anything like that in normal life. But in here, when you're living under a pressure cooker situation, and everything is very heightened, it just came out. And how it affected me is in a negative way, and trying to recover from that and move forward with my game. I shot myself in the foot with it, and I should have held my tongue, but I didn't. And I had to do a lot of cleanup. That was very messy. It was a lot of recovery for me, and I made my game hard by having a big mouth.

Finally, give us your rapid-fire thoughts on each of the remaining houseguests. Starting with Cam.
Floater! Big-time floater.
Chelsie.
[Pause.] Manipulating
Kimo.
Sweetheart.
Makensy.
Gullible.
And finally, Rubina.
[Pause.] Spitfire.

Next, check out our interview with Leah Peters, who was also evicted in Big Brother 26 Week 10.