‘Big Brother Canada’ full interview: Rachelle Diamond on Sabrina, Arlie regret, more
In today’s “Big Brother Canada 2” interview, we bring to you a chat with someone who was at times relatively invisible on the show, but made it pretty far in Rachelle Diamond. At one point, she was labeled a “Gremlin.” Then, she was also in a hot dog costume … while also being Head of Household. She basically had as much of a “Big Brother” experience as you can from top to bottom over the course of a season.
This interview was conducted on Friday morning, around 12 hours or so after the houseguests all entered the real world again after months away.
CarterMatt – How have the past 12 hours been for you?
Rachelle Diamond – It’s very overwhelming! People are excited, they’re sad, they’re fighting still, the game is still happening but it’s not really. It’s very emotional, and it’s a rollercoaster for sure.
So have you had a chance to see some of the other houseguests that were here?
Yeah. So I saw my mom right after, it was fabulous, and we went out all of us, BB Canada, BB US, and it was very cool. It was like ‘wait, we were on this show?’; it’s very surreal, but it’s awesome.
Was there anyone you were especially happy to see?
Well, I love Peter. (Laughs.) But Judd was super nice, and Amanda was really nice. They’re all amazing people.
Let’s go back here to the very beginning, since first and foremost, this house is way smaller than it looks on TV. Was that very overwhelming to you at first to just be in here?
It was very overwhelming when I first came in. I was just like ‘these people are really loud, and I thought I was loud. I can’t even speak!’ But you get used to it, and you over time become yourself. IT becomes easier, but the first moment is very scary.
So when did the alliance with Sabrina really start to officially form?
The beginnings of me and Sabrina as an alliance would definitely be when I was HoH, because that is when I went over to the First Five’s side, the side that was in power, and left the side that was not in power, and Sabrina supposedly manipulated me into getting rid of Ika. But, it was for my best interest at that time.
Who were you closest with before that time?
I was closest with Jon and Neda, for sure.
You understood then a little bit of how they worked and what [they brought to the table]. Did you ever warn anyone about them as extremely dangerous?
At the beginning, they weren’t perceived as that big of a threat. I always knew that Jon was a threat, but I didn’t think of Neda as a threat at the beginning, but that was part of her gameplan and she did a great job of that.
So just the concept of winning HoH, what was that whole feeling like?
That was amazing. It was an HoH that you really had to work for. I had to stand there a LONG time and I earned it and I was proud. It was awesome getting to win and getting my room.
The crazy thing about ‘Big Brother,’ especially this version, is that you cannot really prepare for all of the twists. So you can’t even say that you regret sending home Ika, because you didn’t know what was coming.
Exactly. I don’t regret sending home Ika because I had no idea what was coming. I could’ve sent someone else home, too, and it could be totally different. So it wasn’t my worst move. My worst move was sending Arlie home.
We’ll get to Arlie, since there is a lot of stuff to talk about there. But I want to touch on the Canada’s HoH twist, since it had to be interesting for you. Do you feel like it in some ways helped you, since it led to you and Sabrina becoming closer? Was it a net positive?
I almost want to say that it was a net positive and a net negative, because Andrew went home and power shifted and I wasn’t in as much power. But, it did bring me and Sabrina together.
So what was the reason that really swayed you against keeping Arlie in the game?
My thing was that if we kept Arlie, he wouldn’t come after me right away. But, I knew that I had no chance of winning this game [against him] if he stayed because he was going to win this game.
When you were evicted there was also sorts of talk about you being a big competition threat. What did you think about that?
They saw it as an endurance [threat] because in the first competition with the ice I stayed on a long time, and the other one I one. But they were always worried that the next challenge would be endurance, but it wasn’t, and Rachelle’s going to win. So that’s why they saw me as a physical threat. I was a little annoyed because there were people who were doing better than me in competitions, but I guess it’s better to be voted out as a physical threat than something else.
When you were evicted, how long did it take you to process what was going on?
It was crazy, but I think I dealt with it a lot better than some people. [In a way] I was relieved, because the house was starting to drive me a little crazy. I was feeling very closed, and we were being locked up into rooms and I was feeling very confined. So it was kind of like a breath of fresh air, but then a day passed and I was like ‘I miss the house, I wish I was still playing, I could’ve won $100,000.’ It goes in waves.
What are you excited to go back and watch? You basically have 60 episodes of television waiting for you.
I don’t know. I’m excited to see all of our bios to see who everyone really is, but I’m excited to watch everything. I’m going to take a little bit of time off and be like ‘this is my real life,’ but then I’ll go check out my ‘Big Brother’ life.
Are you excited or nervous about the whole social media aspect of being on TV? There are always people cheering for you, but always people who aren’t.
I am a little bit nervous, but I’m not a person who takes things to heart … It’ll probably effect me a little bit in that I’ll say ‘that’s no mean,’ but I won’t let it get me down. There’s haters, and then there’s lovers.
Has this whole experience made you into even more of a crazy ‘Big Brother’ fan?
I am going to watch every season of every country. I’ve already watched some of Australia and the UK, but I’m going to go crazy and watch everything.
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If you want to see the rest of our “Big Brother” interviews that are posted already, you can do so at the link here. We will have more of them posted every day until they are all wrapped up in the days ahead.
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Photo: Slice