Big Brother contestant Cassi Colvin returns to Allen

There's still one sore spot for Colvin -- the manner in which she was portrayed on the show.

Photo by Kelsey Kruzich

Cassi Colvin was a houseguest on this season of CBS' hit reality program Big Brother until the show's July 21 broadcast.

After two and a half months on camera or being sequestered as a cast member for CBS' hit reality show Big Brother, Cassi Colvin has returned home to Allen.

"There is no way to describe being in there," Cassi said of the show's house, which she shared with 15 other cast members for 20 days' worth of broadcasts. "It is the ultimate human experience. [The house itself] is a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be."

The show, which is in its 13th season, places a group of strangers together in a single house outfitted with 52 hidden cameras and 95 hidden microphones. Houseguests face off in various physical and mental challenges, and a different tenant is voted off of the show each week. The last remaining contestant claims a $500,000 prize.

"You've got the two-way mirrors all over the house, so even when you think you're alone in a room you hear the cameras," she said. "You never forget that the cameras are there but you just kind of fall into it."

In the early stages of the season, Cassi said her goal was to advance through the game as far as possible without resorting to any backstabbing or other underhanded tactics. She persisted until Day 20, when she was voted off the show. The vote came a few days after a spat with houseguest Rachel Reilly, who returned to the show after a stint on Big Brother's previous season.

"I still 100 percent believe that you can play the game as I was playing it, with some honesty and a little bit of class, and still go far," she said.

Though Cassi said she wouldn't trade the experience for the world, there's still one sore spot for her -- the manner in which she was portrayed on the show.

"The network, unfortunately, didn't show any of my gameplay," she said. "It was all me hanging out in a bikini looking at the birds. So I was really disappointed with that, because I am actually a very smart girl and definitely had a plan in there and was executing it. I could have gone really far had it not been for Rachel."

During the show and while they were sequestered, Cassi said, all contestants are completely isolated from the outside world. They are not allowed to contact friends and family members, watch television, or access the Internet.

"It was kind of OK as long as I could see her [on TV], but when she went into sequester, where I can't talk to her or see her, that was hard on me," said Cassi's father, Jeff. "When we communicated with the show, they wouldn't tell us where she was. They wouldn't tell us if she was in a hotel, in a house, if she was in the Caribbean, or what. They would tell us nothing."

Cassi returned to her parents' home in Allen Friday night. Upon her arrival, Jeff said he made a point to show her the massive outpouring of Internet support from fans, including a "Team Cassi" Twitter page and three YouTube music videos edited with clips of her from the show.

"There's a large percentage of total strangers that feel about her the same way her family and friends do," Jeff said.

Cassi plans to pick up with her successful modeling career -- which has seen her appear in magazines such as Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Seventeen -- sometime this week. But first, she said, she plans to get in some rest and relaxation with friends at TopGolf and other local hangout spots.

"Was I in there playing? Was I cutting deals? Did I have a couple of different sides going? Absolutely," she said. "Nobody knew that watching the show, but at one point I was sitting in a really good spot, and up until the Rachel thing I felt pretty secure to get to final 7, at least."

Does she think her run on the show will help advance her career?

"I didn't go on there with that intention, seeking fame or to further myself or anything," she said. "I've got no expectations, so anything that does happen I'll be ecstatic about."