‘Big Brother Canada 3’ exclusive: Zach Oleynik on playing hard, success, mistakes, infamous Peter tweet

Was Zach Oleynik a great “Big Brother Canada” player this season? That is something that we have seen debated constantly online. He was a guy who when he was really going strong, he was almost unstoppable. He formed great alliances, and was stellar at getting these people to do what he wanted. The problem that he ran into was thinking that everyone outside of his alliance would do what he wanted. Specifically, keeping Jordan around to the detriment of their own game.

Since we do think that Zach had a good mind for the game, it did make for some interesting conversation after the fact. Also, it gave us a chance to talk more about the infamous Peter Brown tweet.

CarterMatt – I guess let’s touch the elephant in the room first, since I know you talked with Peter about the tweet on the ‘Side Show.’ Did you even remember writing it? It was two years ago.

Zach Oleynik – Oh I definitely did. I had a very good idea that was going to happen after I walked out of the house. I wasn’t worried about it while I was in the house because I had so much other stuff going on, but I was excited to get it out of the way.

Early on in the game, what you did so well was that even though you were an obvious threat, you made such tight bonds with people that they didn’t want to get rid of you for a while. How did you implement that?

I wanted to come in and set a social game up that set me up in a good place. And with competitions, there was a lot of luck in them this season! I wanted to be in an alliance and have people convinced that I was going to be there for them, that I would use the Veto on them. In reality, I was just looking out for myself and I had to do that, knowing that I was a big target and if the house wanted me out, everyone was going to rally on that. Nobody wanted to play against me in the final five or six. I thought that I could socially manipulate my way down to the end and I tried to do that, but I underestimated Sindy coming back in with all of the sequester information. That kind of roasted my game a little bit. You just gotta roll with the punches.

Let’s talk Newport, since that was a great alliance early in the game, but hard to keep secret. How hard was it to have covert conversations with someone in the house without people knowing?

It’s very, very difficult, and it obviously came out at a certain point because we loved talking game together. It’s so hard in the house! You really underestimate the angles in the house; there are very few places you can talk isolated, and when you are, people walk in and catch you. In the kitchen, you can look up and see upstairs and the bathroom. You can really cover the entire house in like five seconds. People don’t really see that on TV. They think that it is a big open space, but there are ears everywhere. You can rarely talk alone.

Then, obviously, you had the week that led to eviction. You’ve had time to think about it, so did you just get a little too clever for your own good?

Too fancy with it. I won the Veto, and instead of taking him off, I tried not to burn a bridge with two or three other people, and tried to keep the two sides of the house at bay [with Godfrey on the block]. If I had tried to put someone else up as a replacement like B, then there goes B, Sindy, and Sarah. I was trying to keep as many relationships as I can without having to say ‘I’m not with you.’ It was just assessing the house, being too fancy, and not keeping the two sides apart for the vote.

You had Jordan who you were close to as well as Ashleigh, but had you made it to the end with those two, who would you have taken?

If I had got Jordan way down to the end, I would have probably taken Jordan. At the end of the game there, I would have [obviously] taken Ashleigh. Had Jordan and I got there, it would’ve been unreal, Newport all the way down to the end. That would have been pretty cool, and I think I would have been able to beat him.

Last night on the show it was suggested that Jordan was going to vote just how you voted. Did you have any idea that this perception was out there?

I had no idea and I don’t know how it was portrayed, but it’s unfortunate if it was portrayed [like that] because Jordan was a good, smart gameplayer and a lot of people had good relationships with him. I just feel bad if it looks like I was just controlling him. I did have some people who were [hopefully] going to do things for my game, like Ashleigh and Pili. That is what I tried to bank on.

Were you well aware of the fact that Ashleigh wanted to take Pili to the end over you?

100%. I knew that Ashleigh didn’t want to sit beside me, and at that point when it was down to the seven or the eight, I knew that a lot of people didn’t want to sit beside me. Ashleigh would have been most loyal to me to maybe like a three or four, while everyone else may have been loyal to me to like a six. I knew that she would take Pili to the final three, so I probably would have tried to cut Pili before the final three and taken somebody [else].

Is there any particular competition loss that you are the most frustrated by after the fact?

Absolutely the Shomi Veto. That was my last week, and I had a bad week of competitions. The Shomi Veto I was off to a really great start in, but then I screwed up the top, ‘Sons of Anarchy,’ I think I spent like fifteen minutes on the final two pieces. I could’ve had a swing at that one, and then I think I could’ve went on a comp run with those last few.

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