'Big Brother 26's Leah Peters Says She Doesn't Regret Her HoH Decisions

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.

There are many varied terms that can be used to describe Leah Peters. A friend. A crush. An underdog. A wildcard. For one particular person, the word that came to mind was "sensational." But through ten weeks of Big Brother 26, the one word not associated with the VIP cocktail server was "nominee." Despite many close calls with the block, Leah was able to avoid hitting it due to some choice connections. Following her week as HoH, she was confident the streak would continue after passing the key off to Makensy Manbeck. Little did Leah know, though, that she was in for the biggest betrayal of the season. Despite her inherent trust in Makensy, the latter was convinced that Leah was coming after her allies, causing her first–and ultimately only–nomination.

Leah was one of the first victims of what would soon become Big Brother 26's chaos, as she and Makensy were left out of the first eviction vote due to their perceived closeness with first boot Matt Hardeman. They were considered outsiders and easy nominations. Even so, Leah was kindling a relationship with Quinn Martin, and he helped keep her safe as one of the house's power players. But that didn't mean that she wasn't moving independently from him at points in the game. Indeed, she and Makensy were a key part of the house flip that broke up the "Pentagon" alliance. When she won her first competition, despite Quinn's wishes and literal begging, she used the veto to pull off Angela Murray to better her own game. Unfortunately, that kicked off a downward swing of Leah being on the outside once more, as she was left out of votes to evict both of her "minions" in Joseph Rodriguez and Quinn.

At one of her lowest moments, Leah and the other houseguests were stranded in the backyard for a week in "Jankie World." But Leah was all smiles amidst the misery, as she won Head of Household. Seeing two trios in front of her, she debated her options of who to target, especially after Angela won veto and she had a chance at a second. Ultimately, the self-proclaimed "chubby chaser" chose to thin out the tightest group, going for T'kor Clottey. Following her eviction, remorse began to immediately set in, as Leah wondered if she should have gone after Chelsie Baham instead. And soon she would come to rue her decision even more. Throughout the week, Chelsie planted seeds in Makensy that Leah did not have her in her endgame plans. And some choice conversations served as the final push for an astounding decision. Holding the veto as well, Makensy chose to remove her own nominee, putting Leah up instead. Leah was left shocked and devastated. The person who stood next to her during her first blindside in the game was the one to cause her final one.

Now on her way to the jury house, Leah talks with Parade.com about her reaction to Makensy's move, how she looks back on her HoH reign, and her take on the Quinn dynamic.

Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 26

Talk me through your reaction to your nomination by Makensy. How do you view her game based on the conversations you’ve had the past few days?
I was completely and utterly shocked being nominated by Makensy. She was someone I was really rooting to win this week, and someone that I really would have kept safe throughout the whole entire game. I view her game as shaky from this point forward, and I worry that, if she continues to maintain loyalty to the same people, that she will be playing for second place, unfortunately. But I still wish her the best, and I hope that she makes it to the end.

During your HoH, you chose to go after the trio of Kimo, Rubina, and T’kor. This past week, you mentioned how you regretted what you had done with your nominations. Talk to me about the logic behind your decisions as HoH, and how you look back on it a week later.
I still believe that even if I completely changed everything, that the result could have been exactly the same. And for that reason, I don't truly regret anything. I think it's way easier said than done, and it's easy to say, "If I just did this one thing, I would have lasted till the end." But I truly did what was best for me at the time, and I don't regret a thing.

You had a close strategic and personal relationship with Quinn, though occasionally your paths diverged, like when you used the veto on Angela during his HoH. Talk to me about your dynamic.
I felt comfortable enough with Quinn to be able to make a personal game decision for myself and know that he would still forgive me afterwards, regardless of the outcome, I think that we have just a very genuine relationship with each other, and I really look forward to nurturing that relationship outside of the Big Brother house as well. We both had very similar ways of thinking. I would have loved if it was me and him at the end. But I truly appreciate how he always took the time to understand me and the reasons for why I did things that I did. So I think although our relationship might seem complicated to the outside world, it always made sense to me.

Had you survived this week, what would your plan have been for the endgame? Who were you looking to sit in the end with?
If I had been chosen to last another week in the house, I would have targeted Rubina and Kimo, because I promised loyalty to Makensy, Cam, and Chelsie, and I wanted to follow through with that and maintain a loyal and honest game. I could have seen myself sitting in the end, and wanted to see myself sitting in the end, with someone who was equally as likely to win or someone that I felt confident had a comparable game to my own, and I didn't want it to be an easy choice. So for that reason, I would have loved to be sitting next to Makensy or even Chelsie. I think it would have been an honor to sit next to either of them and to see two women in those Final Two chairs would have been absolutely amazing. But I don't regret a thing, and I'm so grateful to even had the opportunity to be on such an amazing show. 

Finally, give us your rapid-fire thoughts on each of the remaining houseguests. Starting with Angela.
Passionate.
Cam.
Kind.
Chelsie.
Powerful.
Kimo.
Animated.
Makensy.
Playful.
And finally, Rubina.
Inspiring.

Next, check out our interview with T'kor Clottey, who was evicted in Big Brother 26 Week 9.