Hodeya Cohen, who was recently eliminated from Israel’s "Big Brother" house, returned to her Bat Yam apartment and opened it up for a home tour. The 27-year-old, who had been a frontrunner in viewer polls and hoped to reach the finale, said the surprise exit left her disappointed, but she wanted time to recover, process the experience and reconnect with normal life.
A dominant presence on the show, Cohen said she does not dwell on regret or rehash whether she acted correctly. "I do not deal with what I did right or wrong," she said, adding that she had gradually lowered her guard at her own pace. She also said the tense relationship with fellow contestant Gal Rubin did not bother her afterward, and described herself as guided by emotion and honesty throughout the season. In a podcast, she said living under constant cameras was not easy, and that as someone who "has no rules" she was drawn to do exactly what she was told not to do.
Outside the show, Cohen has returned to her work as a DJ and content creator, where she has about 205,000 followers. Her relationship with fellow participant Zohar Izik Zaken has also strengthened, and she said, "We are together and I love him very much, and he is my backbone." Zaken said he was fully waiting for her, misses her, and thinks she is "an amazing woman."
The tour also highlighted the apartment itself, a pink-themed space in Bat Yam filled with pastel furniture, fluffy textures, a home DJ setup, and a neon sign reading "My happy place." Cohen, who grew up in a religious home in Lod and left religion at age 11, also displayed a memorial corner for her brother Abraham, who was murdered at the Re'im music festival in October 2023. She said he would have been angry to see the tribute in pink, because he preferred black.
