In Big Brother 4, Erika was remembered for being part of the Elite Eight, and her friendship with Jack Owens, Jr. She played mostly under the radar and was not deemed as a huge threat, which ultimately helped her in making it deep in the game. At the final four, Erika was not the original target because of her Girl Power alliance with Jun Song and Alison Irwin, but this came crashing down as when her ex-boyfriend Robert Roman, the original target of her alliance, won the Head of Household. After Alison won the veto, Alison saved herself and cast the sole vote to evict Erika as the former believed her best chance to win was to take Jun to the final two. Erika came in fourth place and became the sixth member of the jury.
Erika was one of the twenty former houseguests given the chance to compete in Big Brother 7, and was selected by the public to enter the house. Once again, Erika laid low the entire game and formed a one-sided showmance with Mike Malin, which took her to the very end of the game. She was pivotal in exposing Will Kirby's lies to Janelle Pierzina, which resulted in Will's eviction by Janelle at the final 4. However, her subdued gameplay and ineffective answers to the jury's questions led to Erika's loss to Mike in a 6 to 1 vote, with only receiving a vote from Marcellas Reynolds to win.
Janelle, Erika and Will are the first, second and third houseguests respectively to accomplish this, as well as the first houseguests to accomplish this on the same season together, followed by Nicole, Cody, Enzo and Christmas, and then Taylor and Xavier.
Erika originally won the HOH competition during Week 6 in Big Brother 7 (US), however, due to technical difficulties during the competition, she was dethroned as HOH, with Janelle Pierzina winning the redo.
Due to this, Erika became the first dethroned HOH in Big Brother history.
Erika and Mike Malin are the only houseguests to improve their placement in Big Brother 7.
Erika is the first HOH in Big Brother 4 to nominate their own ex.
