For quite some time, Cory planned on voting for Matt in the Big Brother finale however, he ultimately voted for Jag. Here’s why he changed his mind.
It was quite a shock that Cory Wurtenburger voted for Jag Bains to be crowned the winner of Big Brother 25 during the season finale on November 9. After repeatedly vouching for Matt to win, Cory ultimately placed his vote for Jag. It was not until nearly a week after the finale that Cory revealed the reasoning behind his decision.
Early on in the season, fans quickly learned how much of a super fan Cory was of the show. The 22-year-old Florida native was the youngest contestant on this season of Big Brother. In fact, he did not turn 22 until a few weeks into the competition. Competing on reality TV shows is in Cory’s blood. His brother, Zach Wurtenburger, competed on Survivor season 42. Unlike Cory, who lasted 79 days inside the Big Brother house, Zach only lasted three days on his season of Survivor.
Although he ultimately outlasted his brother, Cory’s Big Brother game was not off to a very good start. On the first night of the game, Cory not only lost his first competition of the season, but was also taken away from the rest of the cast as a punishment for losing. If this was not enough, Cory, along with the other three houseguests that lost the individual competitions were all nominated for eviction; however, Cory was the only one that vanished from the game. Because the first night inside the house is so important for social games, Cory was automatically at a disadvantage.
After he returned from the “Nether Region,” Reilly Smedley won the first Head of Household competition of the season. In one of the first season twists, her Head of Household reign was backward. Instead of nominating two houseguests for eviction, she had to decide which of the four already nominated houseguests she wanted to save from the block, leaving the other two up for eviction. Reilly ultimately saved Cory along with the son of Survivor legend, Jared Fields. The two houseguests that remained on the block were Felicia Cannon and Kirsten Elwin.
As the game went on, Cory played an extremely strong social game; however, he did not win many competitions. His only Head of Household reign was during the first double eviction of the season. He used his short-lived power to evict Jared; however, Jared quickly returned to the game as a Big Brother Zombie. This was the only time Cory held any type of power, and it quickly backfired on him.
Because he did not win competitions, Cory relied solely on his social game. Cory was a part of seven different alliances throughout the season; however, his true loyalty stayed with his Big Brother showmance partner, America Lopez. As the weeks went on, the two began working closely with the season’s final two, Matt Klotz and Jag Bains. Unfortunately, this was not a smart decision for the duo. During week 11, Jag won the Invisible Head of Household competition; however, his power was no secret as everyone in the house learned he had won. After two Power of Vetoes were won, both of Jag’s original nominees were removed from the block, forcing him to name two brand-new nominees. In one of the biggest blindsides in Big Brother history, Jag nominated both Cory and America. The couple, completely shocked by the bold game move, had no chance of saving their showmance. Cory was ultimately evicted, becoming the second jury member of the season.
Cory Flipped His Finale Vote Last Minute In Favor Of Jag
Wow. Cory says the reason he voted for Jag is because Matt’s goodbye messages to America & Blue were so bad
“I walked into the jury house thinking Matt was the best player in the game by far until Matt told me he wasn’t”
💀#BB25 pic.twitter.com/a84q6IOyF2
— Monica – Hibernation Era 🐻🍁 🛌 (@VintageWingnut1) November 14, 2023
Because of how betrayed both Cory and America felt by Jag’s Invisible Head of Household reign, it was assumed that neither of them would vote for Jag should he make it to the finale. As Cory headed into the jury house, he was vouching for Matt to win the game. He believed that Matt had the better gameplay out of the Minutemen alliance. But when it came time to cast his vote for the winner of Big Brother 25, Cory was ultimately one of the five jury members who cast their vote for Jag to win instead of Matt. So, what changed his mind?
Nearly one week after the season came to an end, Jag and Cory did an Instagram live together to talk about their experiences on the hit reality show. In a clip shared on Twitter by a user by the name of Monica, Cory explained his reasoning for ultimately giving Jag his jury vote during the finale. He explained that initially, he was completely team Matt. He truly believed that Matt played a stronger game. It was not until the second double eviction of the season that Cory began to change his mind about the season’s runner-up.
During the second double eviction, America and Blue Kim were sent to the jury house to join Cory and Cameron Hardin. Upon their arrival, they revealed everything that transpired leading up to their evictions. Because fans don’t see everything that goes on inside the Big Brother jury house, they did not hear about the goodbye messages that America and Blue received from Matt. In these messages, Matt put all of the blame on Jag, claiming that he wanted to keep them both in the game. When reflecting on this in the recent Instagram live, Cory said, “At that point I thought Matt was a much better player.”
It was not just the poorly worded goodbye messages that Matt left for Blue and America that ultimately changed Cory’s mind about whom to vote for. On finale night, Matt did not give a strong final plea to the jury on why they should have voted for him to win. Instead, he claimed that he and Jag worked together as a joint force for the entire duration of the season. Jag, on the other hand, delivered a harsh Big Bother final-two speech, taking credit for nearly all of the game moves that transpired throughout the entire season.
Although Cory initially wanted to cast his vote for Matt to win the season, he ultimately changed his mind as he learned that Matt was not as strong of a player as he initially thought he was. Had Matt had a strong final-two speech and taken individual credit for more of the game moves, Cory may have voted differently. Matt ultimately only received two jury votes; however, he still walked away with $75k for coming in second place in the Big Brother 25 finale.