Rachel Eileen Reilly Villegas is an American reality television personality, fashion designer, talk show host, actress, and reality show winner.
Reilly appeared on Big Brother in its 12th season, aired in the Summer of 2010. Reilly was evicted in the fifth week of the season. Reilly later returned to the house as a guest for one day as part of the "Pandora's Box" twist. As a result of her ninth place finish, Reilly became the first member of the Big Brother jury. One year later, Reilly returned to Big Brother for its 13th season, as part of a "Returning Duos" twist. Reilly eventually was named as the winner of Big Brother 13 in a vote of 4-3. Reilly returned to the house during Big Brother 14 as a Pandora's Box "prize" for Ian Terry. She then made a brief appearance in the premiere episode of Big Brother 15, giving her sister Elissa a key to the Big Brother house. She also appeared later in the season, offering her opinion on the season and her sister's gameplay. She appeared in a similar role during the closing stages of the second season of Big Brother Canada and Big Brother 16, discussing the game and prospects of the remaining HouseGuests. In Big Brother 20, she returned to the house to host a Power of Veto competition.
Reilly holds the record for being nominated for eviction five times and still making it to the end to win the $500,000 prize. Additionally, in winning the third part of the final Head of Household competition, she tied Janelle Pierzina's record of multi-seasonal HoH competition wins at six. She is also tied with Drew Daniel, Pierzina, Hayden Moss, Ian Terry, Aaryn Gries and Caleb Reynolds for the most sole HOHs won in a season at four.
The day following her Big Brother win, Reilly and Villegas appeared on CBS talk-show The Talk, co-hosted by Big Brother hostess Julie Chen. Reilly discussed her experiences on Big Brother during her appearance and won a vacation to Aruba, after competing in a Big Brother style challenge.
Reilly and then-fiancé Brendon Villegas were on the season 20 of The Amazing Race, which premiered on Feb 19, 2012. They ended up in 3rd place out of 11 teams in the final leg, losing to border patrol agents of Art Velez and J.J. Carrell (runners-up) and the married couple Rachel and Dave Brown, Jr. (winners). During the competition, Reilly was shown breaking down into tears several times, and also got into arguments with competitor Vanessa Macias. After their marriage, Reilly and Villegas participated in The Amazing Race once more as part of its second All-Stars edition. Through the course of the season, the two won three legs, earning US$10,000 each and a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. However, they again finished the race in 3rd place. Reilly and Villegas are the first team to have completed all legs of the race on two separate seasons, with Reilly being the first woman competitor to complete this task (Eric Sanchez of seasons 9 and 11 had accomplished this earlier as the first male racer, but he had a new race teammate for his second season). Reilly participated for the third time of her career the The Amazing Race 31. This time, Reilly raced with her sister, Elissa Slater. They finished in 7th place. She also broke the all-time record for most legs raced ever on The Amazing Race during this season, which was later broken by Leo and Jamal. She still holds the female record for the most legs raced.
Reilly and her husband Brendon Villegas apeared on Celebrity Fear Factor, participating in the episode titled Royalty Rumble. Reilly and her husband climbed through cockroaches, snakes, frogs, crabs and maggots to complete a puzzle. They were immersed in a giant water tank upside down by their ankles to test their fear of drowning and how long they could handle the task. Finally, they completed the stunt of landing a helicopter on a moving 18-wheeler, disarming a bomb, and escaping before the truck blew up. Reilly and Villegas had the quickest time and won $50,000 for lung cancer charity.
Snake in the Grass
Reilly competed on Snake in the Grass against fellow Big Brother and The Amazing Race alum Janelle Pierzina and former Survivor contestants Cirie Fields and Stephenie Lagrossa Kendrick for a chance to win $100,000. At the end of the episode, she, Pierzina, and Fields figured out that LaGrossa Kendrick was the Snake and the three of them split the grand prize money.
The Traitors
In 2023, Reilly was announced as a competitor on Peacock's reality TV series The Traitors alongside her fellow Snake in the Grass contestants Cirie Fields and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick.
Reilly has played a recurring role as a waitress on CBS's Emmy Award-winning soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful since 2010. She also landed a gig on Hollywood Today Live on FOX as their reality TV correspondent and the reality TV expert for the show.
