Big Brother competitor Aaryn Gries remains under fire for comments made towards Asian-American houseguest Helen Kim and African-American houseguests Candice Stewart and Howard Overby. When approached by fellow competitor Amanda Zuckerman about her hurtful comments, Gries denied any wrongdoing.
The conversation took place in the Head of Household bedroom and aired Thursday prior to the Live Eviction. Zuckerman approached Gries as a friend, Today reports, telling her that she is telling her this “friend-to-friend” and telling her to just be “mindful” of what comes out of her mouth as some of the houseguests feel that she is a racist.
Gries responded, “That's the most obnoxious, annoying thing I've ever heard.” Zuckerman pointed out that when Stewart asked Gries what her middle name was, she snidely stated, “Shaniqua.”
“That had nothing to do with anything,” Gries defended. “The reason I said that was that it was the first name I thought of. I'm sick of being grilled about my life."
The 22-year-old former model then stood firmly, “I haven’t said anything racist.”
Gries is one of three houseguests who’s racist comments created an online firestorm. Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman have stated on more than one occasion that Kim should get in the kitchen and “make some f**king rice” and Gries joked that that Kim is probably really good at doing nails.
Her comments were found so racist that host Julie Chen addressed the comments on The Talk where she admitted that the comments “stung” and reminded her of being bullied for her race.
Gries also slammed openly gay competitor Andy Herran calling him a “Queer.”
Since her comments were made public, her modeling agency dropped their contract with her and Bella Petite magazine released a statement saying they would no longer publish photographs of her in their features. The editor of the magazine released a statement expressing her “disappointment” in Gries.
Gries, Zimmerman and Stewart Clawson have all been relieved from their jobs following their racist and homophobic comments made on the show. The houseguests have no idea how their comments inside of the house have changed their lives outside of the competition.
Image: CBS