On September 25th, Taylor Makenzie Dickens Hale was crowned the Big Brother 24 winner. She made history by being the first Black woman to win the popular reality TV show. She will receive $750,000 with an additional $50,000 for being America’s favorite houseguest (AFP). She is the first person in Big Brother history to win both Big Brother and AFP.

Taylor Hale came to the popular reality TV show with a goal in mind: to win. But she didn’t arrive to just win, she had a bigger purpose to accomplish: to create a safe space for future black female Big Brother players to come and play for who they are and not who they should be. 

“I have bled out the most in this game,” Hale told the jury during the last episode. “But I have bandaged myself together every single time and gotten up and continued to fight, because like so many other women in the world, that is what we have to do to get to the end.”

Hale didn’t just win Big Brother; she showed resilience, kindness, and character. At the beginning of BB24, she was targeted for the first few weeks and experienced microaggressions as a Black woman in the BB house. Many of the contestants bullied and ostracized her.

“I have been falsely accused and unjustly accused of using someone’s mental health,” Hale said. “I have been called the b-word so many more times in this house than I have in my real life.”

However, luck was on her side when six other contestants formed an alliance called the Leftover, made up of Hale, Matthew Tuner, Kyle Capener, Michael Bruner, Brittany Hoopes, Joseph Abdin, and Monte Taylor.

With two Head of Household wins, she made it to the final two after Monte Taylor decided to pick her over Matthew Turner.

“Do you want the same thing where we see evictions and comp wins be the path to success?” she said. “Or do you want a winner where we choose resiliency, we choose persistence as a reason to win this game?”

With her epic finale speech, Hale was able to grab the jurors’ attention and emotions. She was able to show them that resiliency is the path to victory, especially after the ill-treatment she received during her stay in the game. 

“I was resilient, and it paid off in the end,” she remarked. “I was willing to carry that bag so that  in the future, women like me won’t have to do that.” She continued to say, “And I want that to be the case for Black women, for women of all different ethnicities.”

She had been at rock bottom for weeks, but she rose with grace and confidence. With constant threats and evictions, she managed to stand upright and fight. “I am not a shield, I am a sword,” she said. “I am not a victim, I am a victor.”