‘Big Brother’ Showmances: How Taylor Hale, Jordan Lloyd, Jeff Schroeder and More Players Really Feel About the Strategy (Exclusive)

In the Big Brother house, some come for the competition, but stay for the romance. Season after season, viewers find themselves watching contestants develop feelings for one another other. For some, true relationships are formed leading to proposals, weddings and babies. But for others, a brief fling for gameplay or company only reaches showmance levels.

Before Season 25 of Big Brother kicks off this Wednesday, The Messenger caught up with a few fan favorites to see what advice they would give future contestants about finding love on the CBS reality show.

Despite Big Brother having more successful marriages than The Bachelor, many advised future houseguests to stay away from any kind of showmance in those first few weeks.  

"Don't do it right away," Big Brother: All Stars player Janelle Pierzina exclusively shared with The Messenger. "If you are feeling those feels, you got to wait until jury at least and that's beneficial for you because you for sure have a vote."

For Taylor Hale, who became the first Black woman to win Big Brother in 2022, she knows a showmance can make some contestants stay in the game. 

"I had a fauxmance that I used as a gameplay and strategy so I could have more of a social standing with other people in the house," Hale told The Messenger. "That fauxmance turned into a relationship after the show. I had a sexmance because I was in a house for 70 something days and I was horny as hell by the end of the game." 

Hale, who was linked to runner-up Monte Taylor during the game, ended up dating her co-star Joseph Abdin for five months after Season 24 wrapped. The pair later called it quits and broke up in April.

"I'll say for women, just be very conscious of how it can be interpreted by the jury," she said. "If you're making it to the end game, we all know what happens when people think you're just trying to sleep your way to the end. I got that accusation all the time. We all know it's not true. But just make sure you understand who's on that jury and how they're gonna interpret you being horny. It's okay girl." 

But as host Julie Chen Moonves always reminds contestants and viewers: Expect the unexpected.

When Jeff Schroder and Jordan Lloyd entered the Big Brother house in the summer of 2009, they were both determined to win the $500,000 cash prize. But over time, the pair started developing real feelings for each other. 

"I thought you were cute, but I never thought about dating," Lloyd told The Messenger when discussing her love story with Schroeder. "I never thought it would be anything but we became friends and I feel like that is important in the house. And you go through so many emotions in that house that you need someone to bond with and to talk to so I don't think showmance is bad."

Fourteen years after meeting on the CBS reality show, the Togethermess podcast hosts are married and raising two kids in Denver, Colorado. 

"If you're going to get into a showmance, I think it's an advantage to your game to stick with that person till one of you gets knocked out or somebody wins," Schroeder said. "That was a great advantage because there was a point in our game where I told Jordan, 'I got your back 100%. I know you don't know me, but I really trust you.'"

Perhaps the biggest lesson from 24 seasons of Big Brother is that good things come to those who wait. 

When Memphis Garrett and Christmas Abbott competed in Big Brother: All Stars in 2020, they slowly discovered that they could become more than just alliance members and co-stars.

But instead of entering a showmance or professing feelings for each other in the house, they waited until the season completely wrapped. 

"I think my biggest advice would be make sure you're there to play the game," Garrett said. "If that person is meant for you, then it will blossom outside of the house. And I think you're there for a reason. You're chosen for a reason to go in that house and you have an opportunity that is very rare and unique and an experience that not everyone gets so don't mess it up by getting in a showmance."

It may not be expected. In fact, it could be hard to believe. But for some contestants, finding their forever person is a real possibility.

"How rare is it that you get to be best friends and fall in love before you even have a date," Abbott shared. "So it's worth the wait."

Big Brother kicks off a brand-new season Wednesday, August 2 at 8/7c on CBS.