‘Big Brother Canada 4’ exclusive: Ramsey Aburaneh on leaving the game, strategy, and upcoming finale

When Ramsey Aburaneh left the “Big Brother Canada” game earlier this season, he did so with the noblest of reasons: To be there for his father during a difficult time as he underwent surgery. The same went for the rest of his family.

We hadn’t had a chance to speak with him since leaving the house, so on Tuesday morning, we were excited to see how he was doing, how he feels about this season, and also what he expects to see play out this season. Usually when we do these interviews they are directly removed from the game; this time around, Ramsey has the benefit of additional perspective, and also the knowledge that he was not evicted by his other players and therefore did nothing wrong in his game at the time.

CarterMatt – First of all, how are you doing? How are things going in your life?

Ramsey Aburaneh – To see all the support from all the fans and the positive energy has really helped my dad get through some of these tough times, and I really want to take a second to thank every fan for that. It really does mean the world to me, and that’s why I’ve been interacting with them so much on all social media. (Note: You can follow Ramsey on Twitter here.)

You have an interesting perspective in that you’ve had some time since the game ended. How much of a chance have you had to see your season?

I’ve watched my episode when I chose to leave the house, and I watched the episode past that one. As far as any episode prior to when I left, I really haven’t had a chance to watch it. But, I’m really aware through Twitter and some of the conversations I’ve been reading about what’s happened, where my game is. I’m still very aware of the game side of things.

Is it an odd feeling watching yourself on TV? I’ve been through reality TV and I know it can feel really weird.

Oh, you have no idea. It is weirdest thing! I mean, to see myself on TV is bizarre. It’s hilarious and surreal at the same time. At the end of the day there’s nothing in the house that I did that I regret. Sure, there are things that I wish I had done more of, but for the most part I loved my experience.

Let’s go through some of what happened chronologically, and I want to start with the first week. We didn’t see the feeds for that, but when they came back there were people talking about you as a target, and that was one of the only times it felt like you were in danger. What happened, and how did you recover from that?

In the first week, I came on the show and said ‘I’m going to come in and be this super-strategist. I’m going to play everyone, I’m going to lie, and I’m going to build alliances.’ I think that was so far from who I was as a real person and that got me in trouble. I wasn’t able to lie and keep this image going where I was friends with this one person when I really didn’t like them. I think people noticed it, and they got threatened by it and that’s when I got talked about as a target.

After the whole blowout with Dallas, I had time to spend by myself and think ‘Ramsey who are you? What kind of values do you have? What do you hold close to your heart?’ Once I became clear on that I started playing the game with my heart on my sleeve; I started playing my game emotionally, which is who I am. The more that I played to my own self, the better that I became.

It’s interesting you bring that up because in speaking to you pregame, I remember you saying that you are someone who values that quiet time, and at the moment I wondered if you were going to have that in the ‘Big Brother’ house. Yet, you found it, and it helped you. Do you think that pulling away caused more people to want to come to you rather than the other way around?

Yes, it did. I’m sure you can imagine it is very hard to get time alone in that house, but I did find it. Every alliance I was in, the person I was in the alliance with approached me. I was very close to Jared, and he approached me on day one. Loveita and Sharry, Dallas and Maddy, they approached me [not too long after]. Every relationship that I had was because someone approached me.

I think a big factor for me was that I was in the middle age group in there, a little more mature than other people. I’m very collected. I’m someone who people wanted to work with, and I wasn’t firing on all cylinders and people liked that about me.

Why did the house become so fragmented, with Jared, Kelsey, and Raul on one side and then Dallas, Maddy, and to some extent you — though I know you had something with Jared — on the other? Was it personality conflicts or something else?

It was the blue room and the pink room. The blue room was me, Jared, Kelsey, Mitch, Raul, and three of them built, these words came out of their mouth, an ‘unbreakable bond.’ At the end of the day, those three were really close together. I had grown closer to the people in the pink room, but because I shared a bed with Jared in the early days, that’s how I was able to stay connected to that side and I found myself in the middle there. I kind of wanted to play it low-key in the first half of the game and I think I was successful in doing that.

Was it threatening that there were other people, like Mitch, Tim, and to a certain extent, the brothers, who were also trying to play the middle?

Yea, you know Mitch, I had no idea about. That’s what I love about ‘Big Brother’ — the twists keep the game unpredictable. Mitch truly was playing everyone, and good on him. He had such a strong case to win this game. One person who at the very beginning I saw right through was Cassandra. I saw she was a strong player; she was great at deceiving people. From the very first week she was someone I was always cautious of and she knew that I saw right through her and she wanted me out of the house, because she had everyone else played.

It’s funny, because on the feeds and the show I saw you targeting her a lot. Why wouldn’t anyone else go along with that plan?

Honestly, I honestly think it comes down to an age thing. The older you get — by no means am I old — I just think that once you go from early twenties to your mid-to-late twenties, you start to really understand people, and you really see through their secondary faces that they try to put on. With Cassandra I knew she was a strong female presence in that game, and she was always going to do what she needed to do.

I wanted that out of the way, but I think someone like the brothers, they are young. They want to be part of the cool crowd, they want to be a part of the next new thing. I didn’t care about that. I parked my ego at the front door, and I think I do that in my real life. I don’t care that I’m not the cool guy, or that I’m not in the cool crowd. I think people respected that.

Since we’ve already talked about two of the final four now in Cassandra and the brothers, let’s look at the other other players. What did you think about Tim in the game, and was there a cognizance that he was something more than a guy constantly claiming that he didn’t really want to win?

With Tim, and I think I’m speaking for myself and a lot of other people too, everyone knew in that house that Tim was a very strong player. With Tim in the first half of the game, he was a mentor since A) he had won his game and B) we were looking to him for advice. Everyone knew in the house that he was a strong player, but it’s all about timing. That’s what the fans need to realize. The time to look at Tim [going from] a mentor to a player happened at the time I left the house. So it’s not that we didn’t see him as a strong threat; we did, but we thought that the time to get him out would come later. What happened is that there were two chances where we could have gotten rid of Tim. There was the time when the brothers put Maddy and I on the block, and there was another opportunity this past week.

That’s where I think people screwed up — they didn’t take advantage of their opportunity to get Tim out [when they could]. I always knew he was a good player, but it was all a question about when to get him out.

Now, let’s talk Kelsey. Is there a way that she can win the game, even though she was already evicted?

This week the brothers put up Tim and Cass. I think Cass is gonna go. Assuming it’s Tim, Kelsey, and the brothers in the final three, if Tim wins that final HoH and heads to the final two, I think he has the strongest case to win the game and I think he will win. If Kelsey or the brothers win, I think they’ll take each other to the final two and I think she has more friends on that jury and a stronger case to win the game.

Who are you most excited to speak with from the jury when they are released back into the wild?

Oh my god, honestly finding out the news about Mitch about how he’s a successful YouTuber … I’m excited to talk with all of them. There is not one person I’m more excited to speak with than the rest. I think everyone in that house has a special place in that heart.

I know it has to be hard to think about, but have you wondered what would have happened had you never been put in the position where you needed to leave?

I think that was my week to blossom. I said this even when we spoke [pregame]: I wanted to be low-key in the first half of the game, and then in the second half I wanted to make big moves. I think that week was my week. I think Maddy would have left, and I would’ve had free range to do whatever I wanted. I think I would have gone very far in the game. It’s too bad what happened happened, but we’ll see in the future what happens.

That’s my last question, Ramsey! I know it’s a big time commitment, but people would want to see you back and you’d have a good story. Are you saying you’re interested in doing this again?

You know, I’m saying I’m very interested in coming back. I would love that opportunity.

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