It was a running debate among both houseguests and fans throughout this latest season of Big Brother. Did the reality all-star players Rick Devens, Dee Valladares, and Angela Murray get advantages in the game, or were they disadvantaged by entering the contest with clear targets on their backs from their previous success on Survivor (Dee and Devens) and Big Brother (Angela)?

Many fans argued that contest was unfair because only the icons were able to compete for the week 1 Head of Household, and that all three were obviously going to receive an opportunity to compete for a Time Capsule power (or punishment) in the game due to their already built-in fanbases. Indeed, the first three players voted into the Time Capsule were Angela, Rick, and Dee.

The debate about advantages in the game extended all the way into the jury final questioning, when the jury asked Devens via Dee: “Do you feel coming into the game as an icon was an advantage?”

Rick noted that, “I understand that there were advantages coming into the game as an icon,” but then went on to answer that “it was obviously a disadvantage” — citing that, “There were three of us, we weren’t even 20 percent of the house; there was a huge target on us the entire game.”

Devens — who won the season over Taylor Brown in an overwhelming 6-1 jury vote —also addressed the topic while talking to Entertainment Weekly just hours after his victory.

“There are some perceived unfair advantages,” he told EW. “Like, we were gonna win that week 1 HOH, there’s no doubt about it. But there’s 11 weeks after that, that you can get us out.”

He continued: “In the end, we were 20 percent of the house. If they wanted us out, they could’ve got us out any time, except that we were winning HOHs, we were putting alliances together, we were working hard for our game. So, no, I think more than anything, it was a disadvantage. I was like, ‘Three of us? I thought we were gonna be half the house. I thought it was gonna be half the house was icon players.’”

The person Rick was sitting next to at the end had a very different perspective, telling the jury, “I didn’t come into this game with elitism, power, and privilege. I had to work to get here. He was given all these things to systematically make it to the end, and because of it, I think I should win.”

When asked by EW whether she felt she was competing on a level playing field against the icons, Taylor did not mince words.

“Absolutely not,” she replied. “I get they say it’s this disadvantage because they become the target, but when you have people in the house who are fans of Survivor and Big Brother, they are almost in awe of these people. And instead of wanting to gun for them, wanting to get them out, they say that, but in real life, they want to work with them. They want to be up under them. They want to learn from them.”

With so much chatter about the alleged advantages the icons had or did not have, we decided to pose the question to the folks who actually set the game board — Big Brother executive producers Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan. Did the returning reality stars have an easier path to the end?

“You’re not naive to the fact that who’s coming into the game, right?” Meehan tells EW when asked about perceived icon advantages. “So in building the creative for the season, we didn’t do three America votes because we’re like, ‘Hey, they’re, they might win three of them. We’re gonna do six. We’re gonna make sure that everyone has an opportunity.’”

Meehan also notes that the Time Capsule powers were not automatic and had to be earned — three of whom did (Dee, Devens, and Drew Campbell) while three did not (Angela, Melody Morris, and Mallory Aurichio).

“Look, ultimately, they have to win,” Meehan says. “They have to go in and win something. So it wasn’t vote for them and they get it. It was: ‘If someone is voted, they have to go now earn it. Can they earn that advantage?’ And then we doubled the number. If there was three of them, there were six opportunities for people to earn either advantages or punishments. So we kind of thought that was fair.’”

As for the criticism that only the icons were allowed to compete for the first Head of Household, Meehan notes that many players enter the game specifically not wanting to win the first HOH because it immediately puts blood on your hands and makes you a target for players seeking retaliation for being nominated.

“We hear this in casting,” Meehan reveals, “because we interview so many people, and half the people wanna win it, half the people don’t wanna win it. There is no real formula because sometimes you win it and you go on to win the game, and sometimes you win it and you let the power go to your head and you make lots of enemies and you’re gone the next week. So, you could say, yes, it’s an advantage to be HOH because you can form your alliances, but that doesn’t work out half the time.”

Meehan also says that while a lot of attention has been paid to the fact that only the icons could compete for the first Head of Household, the new players were competing for something potentially even more valuable.

“From the move in, the new players had a chance to win safety on opening night. That, to me, is a huge advantage because you get to compete for HOH next week, right? So there’s a plus side to that. The flip side is, [the icons] came in and they were able to win and then maybe able to start forming alliances. That’s true as well. So I think there are both sides you can look at.”

Grodner also points out that while the icons may have had safety for week 1, there were plenty of weeks after where the new players could have rid themselves of the familiar faces.

“Big Brother is a long game,” Grodner notes. “That may have been sort of the first week where people can argue and all of that, but the truth is there were nine other weeks or whatever that the rest of the cast had to gain power and mount forces against them.”

“The fact that no one took a shot was interesting,” Meehan adds. “But you have to also credit them because they went over to Kamu, Haley, and Chuk, who had power early, and they immediately formed a relationship and a bond and alliance with them. So they did the work. It wasn’t just sitting around.”

Meehan and Grodner also feel Devens has a “valid argument” that the icons entered the game as much bigger threats than a newbie with no known history.

“They came in with known résumés with a big target on their back,” Grodner says. “I think there’s valid arguments for both, but they also kind of cancel each other out.”

Meehan says it’s also always an open question as to how new reality competition players will react to former ones on a season.

“You never know if people are going to side with them, or, like Drew, defend them to such high degrees. That was kind of unexpected that someone would go to those lengths. So you don’t really know what’s gonna happen when they’re in there.”

And Devens and Taylor have very different takes on how it all shook out.