From super-fan to champion!
Hairspray's Marissa Jaret Winokur had the honor of being crowned Celebrity Big Brother's first-ever champion, as CBS' debut all-celeb season came to a close on Sunday night. In the finale, Marissa took home the $250,000 prize over house BFF Ross Mathews, and she told E! News it was "a dream come true" for her and her son, Zev Isaac Miller, to just compete on the show, let alone win the whole darn thing.
"This is his favorite show, but it's his favorite show because it's my favorite show. I've watched since season one, so I'm 19 seasons and [Over The Top]," Marissa said after her big win. "We've watched every season, so being part of it was a dream come true. I had to do it and every time I did anything I was like, I hope I'm not embarrassing. I want to make him proud!"
While he said he was proud and "super excited" by her win, Zev, 9, did admit his mom embarrassed him "a little, but not too much!" How?! "Mainly, just talking about me so much," he said. "I like it, it's just sometimes it can get annoying!"
Ah, to be young again!
When it came to the competition, Marissa admitted to being in awe of "queen bee" Omarosa's game-play, noting her White House tea-spilling and constant pot-stirring made for "compelling" TV.
"It was compelling to watch her in the show," Marissa said of this season's most polarizing houseguest. "There were moments once where Ross and I were literally like, we can't get rid of her because this is such good TV!I definitely as like, Omarosa has to stay as long as she can until she's gonna win this, but Omarosa is such good TV! People don't realize...how smart she is, but she was playing hard and she would say random things."
Loving the player AND the game? Spoken like a true Big Brother fan!
Of course, fans fell in love with the friendship and alliance between Marissa and Ross, with many being surprised they didn't know each other before the show.
"I didn't know him before, I was like, he's a funny guy, I didn't realize how smart he was, how quick he was," she gushed. "We clicked immediately. He's my people, I was going to do anything!"
To hear more from Marissa about her big Celebrity Big Brother win, including the first thing she's going to do now that she's out of the house after 26 days, watch our interview with her and Zev above!
Big Brother season 20 will premiere this summer on CBS.