The game is officially on as one contestant suffered the fate of the first player evicted from Big Brother 25. After the dust settled on CBS Thursday night, 25-year-old Kirsten Elwin was given her walking papers and departed the Big Brother house after Julie Chen Moonves announced she had been voted out unanimously — 13-0.
Kirsten, a molecular biologist from Houston, Texas, sat on the block beside Felicia Cannon after Head of Household Reilly Smedley saved Cory Wurtenberger and Jared Fields. The four names were up for elimination after losing their respective “Big Brother Multiverse” competitions on premiere night.
Kirsten was viewed as someone who played too hard in the opening days of season 25 by building multiple alliances and overly strategizing. Although two distinct groups have assembled in the house that pits the older and younger houseguests against each other, the roster elected to stay on the same page for the first eviction night.
Unfortunately for Kirsten, that meant her time on the show was cut short. She went out swinging, however. She campaigned to Power of Veto holder Hisam Goueli for him to take her off the block. After he decided to forgo using the Veto, Kristen continually checked in with her other housemates, who, according to her post-game interview with Julie, told her she was safe.
“I think I’m really surprised,” Kirsten said to Julie after leaving the house,” just because I had pretty good relationships with a lot of people in the house very early. I tried to get a ‘yes’ or a definitive answer from people about two to three times before I came to any decisions. I made sure I continuously checked in with them and everyone pretty much said, ‘Hey, you’re good. We got you — you’ve got my vote.’”
Kirsten went on to say she felt most blindsided by Cirie Fields, the Survivor legend who joined the cast alongside her son, Jared. She pointed to Cirie relaying their private conversations to Reilly in an effort to prevent Felicia’s eviction.
Kirsten wasn’t the only player to leave the Big Brother house during week 1
Although Kirsten now has the label of Big Brother 25’s first boot, she wasn’t the first to leave the game. Luke Valentine, a 30-year-old illustrator who lives in Coral Springs, Florida, was expelled from the house the day before after he used a racial slur.
Luke’s removal was addressed on Thursday night’s episode.
After nine days of play, 15 hopefuls remain in the 100-day season. The Head of Household competition wasn’t aired on Thursday night, but it’s clear that the battle for Big Brother’s most powerful position will be fierce considering the house’s division.