‘Big Brother Canada’ finale exclusive: Kelsey Faith on finishing second, returning to game, ‘sting’ from jury vote

Going into this season of “Big Brother Canada,” Kelsey Faith is someone we envisioned going fairly far into the game. However, at the same exact time, we certainly didn’t expert her having the road that she did. She was evicted from the game once, and yet came back in and used her allies to make it much further. She also won an important Head of Household along the way, and made the decision to take Phil and Nick to the end with her.

We spoke with Kelsey at length this morning in what was the first of many interviews we’re doing throughout the day. Take a look for more on her take about the game, taking the brothers to the end, and if she thinks that Mitch could have gone really far had she not come back into the house.

CarterMatt – Are you starting to get accustomed to being outside of the house, and seeing things like phones and other people again?

Kelsey Faith – I’m feeling good and I’ve missed the outside world, but at the same exact time I’m getting separation from my final three group (laughs) and feeling a little awkward. But that’s okay; I’ll get back to it!

I spoke with you before the show, and at the time you really didn’t have a whole lot of knowledge or experience about the game at that given time. How has the experience compared to whatever you were expecting them?

Man, I got to see little clips of myself giving myself a pep talk, and it was almost embarrassing to watch because I was so naive back then, I was like ‘hey Kelsey! Have a great time! You’re going to love it.’ Then, day 2 I was on the block and I was living my hell. So, I learned very quickly what life was like in the ‘Big Brother’ house, and while don’t get me wrong I loved the experience and I wouldn’t change anything, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, that’s for sure!

Let’s go back to that first week, when you and Paige were on the block. We didn’t see the feeds for that week, so what were you doing to keep yourself safe?

I decided that I was going to just be myself. People were like ‘you need to convince us that we should keep you,’ and I was thinking to myself ‘I don’t wanna convince you, I just want you to keep me.’ At that point, I didn’t really know about campaigning and telling people why I was best for their game; I just wanted them to like me as a person. So, that’s sort of the route I took. I’m just going to have fun with these people, and when we get to the end of the game, I’m going to try and take them out of it with just normal conversations. I’m just going to try to get them to like me for me.

Bless Paige, she’s such a sweetheart, but she was so quiet and so reserved. I didn’t really got to know her, so at the end of the day I was just like ‘who do you want to be with? We’ve got 80 days in the house together, and I had a lot of fun with you guys for the last little while, and I want to continue to have fun with you guys.’ That worked

Let’s fast-forward a bit to when you’re actually evicted, or I guess sort of. Did you think that this was going to be it for you in that moment?

I did. I was really in a place, preparing myself to go back home to my family and my friends and my dog. When all of a sudden I was put in this little room with Loveita I was panicking (laughs), thinking ‘oh my God, do I really want to go in this room? Where’s the bathroom? Do I want to do this?’ For the first few days in that room, it was pretty rough, but the longer I was in that room, the more I wanted to get back in the house. The more I learned about the game, the more that I felt I had unfinished business that I needed to go take care of. I’m really happy that I got the opportunity to come back in.

What you did very well was that when you came back in, you didn’t seem to hold too much animosity towards Joel or other people who evicted you. Was that hard to talk to these people thinking ‘well, you evicted me!’ about them?

I joked about it with the brothers the last little while, like ‘you guys voted me out.’ No, at that point I was almost campaigning for Raul to stay [before getting evicted]. Jared, Raul, and I all sat down and talked, and I was just like ‘instead of campaigning against each other, let’s just sit down and just decide who we think should go, and we’ll try to convince people of that.’ I had come for this experience and I’d come to meet people and I’d felt so fulfilled that I started campaigning for Raul, telling people ‘I think this is why you should keep him.’ I didn’t really any of those feelings [of animosity] because I knew it was a game and I’d tried to get myself out at that point (laughs) So I understood it and my plan worked.

You said when you came back that you were going to focus on the game more strategically than you did the first time. Do you feel like you were able to better execute that? Was there ever a moment you thought it wasn’t working?

It’s always hard to be extremely confident in this house, but I knew as soon as I came back in that I could make it very, very far. And, I had learned a lot. I watched people interact with each other for a week, and I started to understand people more and the game, and who you needed to talk to and when. How you can persuade them and get them to do what you want them to. I feel like I came in a completely changed player, and I feel like it’s something a lot of people didn’t give me credit for. I feel like I learned a lot in that room and I fought to get here.

Getting out Mitch was obviously a huge move. Did you think that this would have happened in the event you were not brought back, or he would’ve made it really far into the game?

I think that Mitch was playing a very good game, but even before I left the house that week Jared, Raul, and I had a conversation about that. I said ‘boys, you need to remember that Mitch was also HoH this week. He won HoH with Joel, so he had a say in who was going up on the block. Raul, he put you and I up and he would’ve been okay if either one of us went.’ We kind of knew that he was working everywhere, but at that point he wasn’t one of the people we were extremely concerned about. It’s the people who are working everybody, and you know they are working everybody, that you [put away for now]. They’re not winning comps or a threat in other ways. You don’t worry too much about them.

I think had Mitch stayed in the house he would have dominated, he’s very smart, very strategic, and was playing a very good game.

Let’s fast-forward again all the way to the finale. Any regrets taking the brothers? Do you think you could have had more votes against Tim, given that he’s won before?

I don’t regret it. The brothers and I, we had each other’s backs, and we worked together to get to that point together. That’s one thing in the house tried to do: Stay to my word. I wanted to give the brothers I fighting chance. Going up against them, I felt confident I could beat either one of them.

So I was happy to bring the brothers, I’m happy they won, and I wouldn’t have changed it.

Is there any vote you’re surprised you didn’t get?

Yeah, I think the most surprising was Cassandra because her and I, I felt we had an actual, genuine relationship inside of this house. I don’t know if I was being a fool, but even before we left she said ‘you’re playing the smartest game. If you make it to final two, you’re going to win. I can’t believe how well you’ve done.’ I thought she had my back like I had my back. It wasn’t just disappointing; it also was a bit of a sting coming from someone I thought was a friend.

Okay, last thing: What are you going to do now that you’re out of the house?

I have no idea! I’m really going day-by-day. Today I’m going to go and party my face off at the wrap-up party, and then just get home and see my family, friends, and my chihuahua. Go with the flow and see what happens.

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