Exclusive Interview
‘Big Brother’: Morgan Pope & Vince Panaro Reveal Post-Finale Relationship Status
After 83 days of life in the Big Brother house, Vince Panaro and Morgan Pope have made it to the end of Season 27, and they are finally able to address the speculation about their close relationship, which some fans dubbed a “cheatmance.” Following the season finale, both Vince and Morgan are ready to tell their side of the story.
It is not out of the ordinary for close relationships to emerge in the Big Brother house. However, Vince and Morgan’s in-house connection was no typical connection. While Vince entered the house gushing about his longtime girlfriend, Kelsey, fans began to speculate that there could be romantic feelings between Vince and Morgan, based on their frequent cuddling in the HOH room. Zingbot later brought the public perception of their relationship to light, asking Morgan, “What do you call someone who lights up when Vince walks into the room, gives him long hugs, and cuddles him? His girlfriend!”
Looking back at their connection, Morgan revealed to Swooon, “I stand by what I said to Julie [Chen Moonves], like it was a strictly friendship, platonic relationship for me.” However, she added, “I mean, I can’t speak for him. You know, that would be something that you’d have to ask him specifically. But for me, it was a platonic friendship that was game-related.”
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Clearly on the same page as his ally, Vince admitted, “[Morgan]’s an awesome friend. She is such a good friend, and she’s a local to LA. So I hope that we’re friends outside of this.” Shifting the topic, he continued, “And I hope that I’m friends with Keanu [Soto] outside of this. I hope I’m friends with Lauren [Domingue] outside of this. You know, really the good people that I felt really close to in the house.”
Describing the importance of one-on-one relationships in the Big Brother house, Morgan shared, “I mean, when you come into the house, you try to find allies. We’re the only two in the house that were from LA, so we naturally connected, just on our favorite places, and where we lived, and things like that. We just grew together.” Beyond their friendship, Morgan dove into their dominant alliance. She told Swooon, “[Vince] loved to strategize, just like me. It just kind of worked, and especially someone who won HOHs, you know, it was nice to have someone who was in power. I had won four HOHs. That’s a full month of safety for me, and then I was able to win my own stuff and protect him. So it was just kind of like this mutual agreement of a great friendship.”
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However, not every minute in the Big Brother house is spent on gameplay. Morgan confessed, “I think when we would turn the game off, it was just nice to kind of escape because that’s what you need in the house. When you don’t turn the game off, you literally go crazy. You get paranoid, and you think that all these things are happening when they’re not.” Even so, she maintained, “So when you’re able to turn the game off and just connect with someone on that kind of friendship level, it’s something that I really cherish.”
Addressing the “cheatmance” rumors head-on, Morgan told Swooon, “The narrative is going to be what the narrative is. But I can speak from my perspective, and that’s what it is for me. Those are my intentions, strictly friendship, and I stand on that.”
While Vince’s girlfriend has yet to speak out about her take on Vince’s social game, Vince confirmed to Swooon that Kelsey was not present at the finale. Big Brother Season 27 winner Ashley Hollis also revealed new details about what went down in the Big Brother house.
Big Brother, Season 27, Streaming Now, Paramount+
— Reporting by Brittany Sims
