Brendon Villegas

Early life and education

Villegas is originally from Riverside, California. At the time he competed in The Amazing Race, he was a Ph.D candidate in biomedical physics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Season 12

Villegas first appeared on 12th season of Big Brother in 2010. He began a showmance with fellow contestant Rachel Reilly. In week five he was put up for eviction alongside his show-mantic partner Reilly by HOH Matt. In week 6, he won HOH and nominated Lane and Ragan. Brendon was nominated by Britney in week 7, alongside Enzo, however he saved himself when he won the POV and Matt replaced him as a nominee. Before HouseGuest Matt was evicted it was announced that it was double eviction day. Brendon and Ragan were nominated by Hayden for eviction, but after Ragan won the power of veto, Brendon was evicted over replacement nominee Britney by a vote of 3-0. Brendon became the 4th Big Brother Jury member this season after the immediate eviction of Matt. Brendon voted for Lane to win Big Brother.

Season 13

Villegas was one of the returning houseguests in the "Double Trouble" twist. His partner is his fiancée Rachel Reilly. On Day 1, Brendon became immune from eviction when Rachel became the first HoH, and later became a part of the Veterans alliance. Brendon and Rachel won the Power of Veto as a team in Week 1 in the competition, Faster than a Speeding Veto, but chose not to use it. In Week 3, Brendon again won the Power of Veto in the competition, Hot Legs, after spelling the word "Understanding", the same word that won him the veto last season. He chose not to use it, angering ally Daniele who had wanted him to use it against Jeff, causing a split in the Veterans alliance. In Week 4, Daniele became the new Head of Household, nominating Brendon and Rachel for eviction. On Day 29, Brendon won the Power of Veto for the third time in four weeks in the competition, Time's Up, but later decided to use it on Rachel. On Day 34, Brendon was evicted by a vote of 5-2 against Jordan, gaining the votes of Rachel and Porsche. However, on Day 41, Brendon defeated Lawon in a competition entitled That's How We Roll to return to the house. On Day 48, he was re-evicted by a vote of 5-1. Brendon is the second houseguest in Big Brother history to be evicted three times, the first being Big Brother 6/7 Kaysar Ridha. In the jury house, he seemed to be very good friends with Jeff. Brendon was the 5th evicted HouseGuest and the 1st Jury member and voted for fiance, Rachel to win.

The Amazing Race 20

Villegas and fiancé Rachel Reilly were on the 20th season of The Amazing Race, which premiered on February 19, 2012. They ended up in 3rd place out of 11 teams in the final leg in The Amazing Race 20 losing to Border Patrol Agents of Art & JJ (runner-up) and Army Wife Rachel & Combat Pilot Dave, who won the race.

The Amazing Race 24

Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly wed after their previous Amazing Race appearance, and competed again in the second All-Stars edition of the race. He and Reilly won three legs, earning US$10,000 each and a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. However, in the end they came in third place for a second time, losing to former Stealing Angels vocalists Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Wayne (2nd place) and father/son team Dave and Connor O'Leary (1st place). The Big Brother stars however did become the first team to complete an entire race course on two separate seasons.

Personal life

Villegas was engaged to fellow Big Brother player Rachel Reilly. Villegas proposed on Valentine's Day 2011. On September 8, 2012 the couple got married. Their first child was born on April 8, 2016.