Frenchie was the second houseguest to be evicted on Big Brother 23. We caught up with him to find out why he went back on his word to not put up a minority or woman on the block, making peace with Travis and his alliance with Derek F.
You made a lot of promises that first week. One of them was promising not to put up any minorities or women. Your original nominees were Kyland and Alyssa. What made you change your mind? Were you originally only virtue signalling?
My mind wasn’t changed. Coming into this game, you only have a certain number of people you can pick from. When I looked at the keys, I knew that I could trust Kyland and that he would use the veto to get my point across and get Travis out. So, I trusted him 100%. When he got put up, he was only there for the sole purpose of getting the veto or if something crazy happened with the HOH with a dice roll, I knew that I could trust him with whatever came up.
90% of the people that I was able to nominate or 99%, were either women or minorities. It definitely put me in a pickle, but I knew that Travis and Brent were such strong competitors that had they gone on the block, they could have easily pulled themselves off – and then I would have been in trouble.
With Brent, he was in the Slaughterhouse, so it was hard to put him up for the simple fact that I would blow my game up and I would have everyone in the Slaughterhouse after me at that point. I didn’t trust any of them to begin with. With it being rocky, I didn’t want to tilt that.
Alyssa was just there to send a message to Christian. That Christian was safe this week, but next week… “Hmm. I know she’s the closest to you, so here’s your wake-up call. I’m coming.”
You were quick to make deals. Do you think you overpromised when it came to keeping people safe? You told Travis he wouldn’t be on the block on Day 1.
Yeah, because when you start this game, you don’t know what’s coming. You don’t know what twists and turns [are coming]. They always say, “expect the unexpected,” but I didn’t do that!
Coming in, I was under the impression that it was going to be like most seasons, where you can have a big pool of people to nominate. When I won HOH, and it was Teams on top of that and then this Wildcard competition where someone has the potential to save others besides themselves from the block, all these twists and turns are happening – and then the veto. It was like boom! There are only so many people you can nominate after that point.
It became tough at that point. I knew my end goal and no matter what, I stuck with that end goal. I don’t regret getting him [Travis] out. That was my goal from the start. It might have taken a rollercoaster to get there, but I dog there.
Did you make peace with Travis before he left?
I did! I actually hugged his neck and said, “I’ll be next!” Right at the eviction, if the audio is there, you can clearly see and hear, “I love you to death as a person, but you’re built like a Greek god. I know you would have beat me!” I also said, “On the outside, we’ll get together. I respect you as a person and trust me, I know I’m next.”
I knew.
As a superfan, what surprised you the most about being in the house? Other than your eviction, was there an experience that played out differently than what you imagined?
The Teams Twist. I didn’t expect that at all. At most, I thought we would have duos. Coming in and seeing that we had to play as a team, so it wasn’t just my game on the line.
I came in gunning for that first HOH. I don’t regret it. I was going for it, no matter what. My downfall was playing as what I wanted to see as a fan, instead of playing for myself. That definitely hurt my game. Playing in that sense. If I could do it all over again, I’d definitely play for myself and not care what the fan in me wanted to see. It would have been a whole lot different.
At the end of the day, I don’t regret any of it. I had a blast!
Out of all your alliances, your “final two” deal with Derek F. seemed the most genuine. What made that relationship more special than your other alliances?
It was. He’s an amazing person. I love Derek F. to death. I would do anything for him. He was the one person in that house, who, from the moment that I got upstairs with him, we locked eyes and he reminded me of my best friend from home. I was like, “We are going to get along great!” When we started talking, we instantly built that bond. That’s it for me. It’s ride or die with him. Everything else, whatever. That was my ride or die, not matter what! If I was ever on the block with him, it would have been horrible.
Did you give him any advice before you left?
We gave each other advice [throughout the game], honestly. Whenever I got down in the game, he picked me up. When he got down, I picked him up.
I told him to go get it…and don’t stop. He knew who he had to go after. “You’ve got to get them jokes out.” And he knows that. If he has a chance, I know he’ll do it. Because if he doesn’t, every person in that house will be picked off one by one by that jock alliance. And they will be the only ones left if he doesn’t do something – or they [the rest of the house] don’t do something.
When you say, “Jock Alliance,” do you for a fact know this is an alliance?
Oh, it’s obvious in the house. 100% obvious. Everybody in the house knows that Christian, Whitney, Alyssa, Brent, and Xavier are super close. I’m not naïve to know that. I read them all like a book on Day 2. I know when push comes to shove, they are going to stick together, no matter what. I just wanted to make sure that the rest of the house knew that.
Do you think that you blew up the Slaughterhouse alliance a bit too early? I don’t think you were officially on the block yet.
Right… At that point, I had already heard that they were the cause of me going up on the block. That was a short-term alliance anyway, in my opinion. Hence the name, the Slaughterhouse. I knew that I wanted to pick them off one by one from the get go, except Kyland and Derek F. I made sure that I had two people that I trusted in it so that we all three could watch the rest of the people in that [go].
I did try to watch what I told Kyland, because he is a very sweet human being. I knew that he would talk to the rest of them about stuff. Derek F. and I had our eyes on him the whole time. I had to watch what I said around Kyland. Did I trust him? Yes, I did. He’s such an amazing human being but he’s impressionable. I knew that if we told him everything, he would go and tell the others everything. I had to do it where, I knew I could keep him safe, but make sure he didn’t blow his own game up by telling him everything.
So, when I exploded the Slaughterhouse, it was for a reason. I knew I was going up the second Kyland got it [the HOH]. I knew they were going to get into his head. I didn’t trust them to begin with. A lot of people weren’t seeing it but I had those puzzle pieces from the start. I knew it was going to come together like it did.
The second he got HOH, I was like “I know what’s happening from here.” I love the kid to death, but he’s super impressionable. I know I was a huge target in the house and I’m a hell of a resume builder. So, for him to be able to “I got the most protected player in the house out,” it’s good for his game. I’m happy for him, honestly. He got me! Checkmate!
And that’s what I said before I walked out of the house, “checkmate!” I do suck at chess, but I played too hard. I looked at him in a funny way and said, “Checkmate!” and gave him a hug. I don’t hold any grudges.
Other than Derek F., who would you like to see make it to the end?
I’m pro-Hannah. She’s really smart and very charismatic. I would also love to see Tiffany, Azah, or Britini go to the very end. They absolutely deserve it.
Azah is one of the best people that I’ve ever met in my entire life. We fight like brother and sister, but at the end of the day, we hug each other’s neck and tell each other “Sweet dreams.” We know that we are only telling each other these things because we care about each other. That’s how our relationship was in the house. I expected no less. I’m telling you, she’s one of the most amazing people in this world.
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