Nicole Anthony was the second evicted houseguest of Big Brother 22: All-Stars, and she is now claiming that bad-mouthing Janelle Piezina and Kaysar Ridha was all part of her strategy to stay in the house. Nicole first competed on Big Brother 21, where she made it to Final 3 and was ultimately voted America's Favorite Houseguest by the general public. In 2020, Nicole was cast on the series' second-ever All-Stars season, where she competed with legendary BB players. For instance, BB22 is Janelle's fourth time and Kaysar's third time competing on the show.
During the first week of Big Brother: All-Stars, Nicole Anthony bonded with Kevin Campbell the most. However, he was put on the nomination block right away alongside Keesha Smith. Kevin was able to campaign his way to stay in the house, but not without holding a grudge that Janelle and Kaysar had a preference for keeping Keesha. In week 2, it was Nicole's turn to be nominated for eviction. Janelle and Kaysar helped her campaign and had every intention of keeping her, but Nicole didn't believe them for a long time. In turn, she started to bad-mouth them to the other BB22 players.
Now, Nicole Anthony is claiming that bad-mouthing Janelle and Kaysar was a deliberate choice stemming from her strategy to survive this nomination block. On the latest episode of the Hello, Friends! podcast, Nicole said that she did trust Janelle and Kaysar... but knew that her only way to survive was to get enough votes from the majority. Given that most of the house was targeting Janelle and Kaysar, Nicole realized that saying bad things about them was a good strategy for getting people on her side. According to Nicole, her intent was to prove that she would be a solid number for the dominant alliances to eliminate Janelle and Kaysar in the coming weeks. With that, Nicole is essentially saying that she did trust her allies during most of the time, but deliberately chose to drag their names to save herself.
Unfortunately, the fans are not so quick to believe that Nicole Anthony's smear campaign against Janelle and Kaysar on Big Brother: All-Stars was more strategic than personal. The fans watched as Nicole broke down a few times during that week and genuinely gave into the paranoia that Janelle and Kaysar were not actually trying to help her. It was only during Nicole's last 24 hours in the house that she was finally able to understand their efforts and intentions. After her eviction, BB host Julie Chen also called Nicole out on it. Ultimately, saying that this was all premeditated and part of the plan seems like a questionable claim, but it is the narrative that Nicole is offering at the moment.
The show must go on inside the Big Brother: All-Stars house, which is soon going to lose a third houseguest. It is safe to say that Nicole Anthony isn't bound to return to Big Brother anytime soon, particularly after having two very different but similarly tough experiences on the show two years in a row.
Big Brother 22: All-Stars airs Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 8pm EST on CBS.
Sources: Hello, Friends! Podcast