Who Is Vanessa Rousso Of ‘Big Brother’ Season 17?

Vanessa Rousso is one of the Big Brother 17 houseguests playing the game this summer and she’s already generating quite a bit of buzz.

While there may well be a number of strong contenders for this new season, some would say there are a few things about Vanessa that make her really stand out. What’s the scoop on Rousso?

As Vanessa Rousso’s profile at CBS notes, she’s a professional poker player who lives in Las Vegas. She’s not just a casual poker player, as her profile claims that she is the second top female player in the world for live and online tournaments. Vanessa has been playing poker professionally for a decade and she’s scooped up about $4.5 million in winnings.

Rousso describes herself as being adaptable, eclectic and a maverick and she’s a huge fan of past winner Dan Gheesling. Vanessa thinks that what she’ll miss most while she’s in the house is her girlfriend Mel. This BB17 contestant hates to be publicly humiliated or out of control, and most would imagine those two things will come into play this summer.

In poker Vanessa’s nickname is “Lady Maverick.” She was born in New York, but she spent a lot of time in France as she grew up. Rousso was the valedictorian of her high school and she went to Duke University and she’s even appeared in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Vanessa was married to fellow poker player Chad Brown for two years, but they split in 2012. Brown later died of cancer in July 2014.

Though Vanessa’s relationship with her girlfriend, Melissa Ouellet, hasn’t necessarily been commonly known throughout the poker world until recently, the two have been together for a couple of years now apparently. Now that the news is out there and public, Melissa has been quite vocal in rooting her girlfriend on via social media.

Will Rousso tell everybody she’s a professional poker player? Will she be recognized by the other BB17 houseguests? In her chat with Jeff Schroeder for CBS, Vanessa says she’s going to focus on the fact that she is also a deejay. She isn’t going to tell people she’s a poker player, but she won’t be surprised if anybody happens to recognize her as she has been in some televised tournaments.

This Big Brother 17 houseguest says she’s a big fan of the show and she must love it, as she’s missing the World Series of Poker over it. She notes that this is essentially the most important time of the year for a professional poker player, so fans can imagine she’s going to play very hard this summer to ensure she has no regrets over missing out on a summer of poker.

If Vanessa wins BB17, she says she’ll invest her winnings, take care of her family and buy a nice gift for her girlfriend to thank her for keeping up with everything at home while she’s gone. Will she be able to game play as well in the Big Brother 17 house as she often can at the poker table? Fans can’t wait to find out.

There are said to be big twists and turns ahead, and fans are already buzzing about some of the intriguing houseguests playing this summer alongside Vanessa Rousso. Can Vanessa win Big Brother 17 or will it be someone like Audrey Middleton, Steve Moses or Jason Roy?

[Image via Shaw Media]