‘Big Brother 16’ exclusive: Brittany Martinez on Team America, alliances, Caleb, and more

For at least the rest of the pre-jury phase on “Big Brother 16,” we’re going to be bringing you some one-on-one interviews with the houseguests evicted from the show. This starts today with a chat with one Brittany Martinez. The single mom was sent home last week, and she is still trying to get adjusted to what life is like on the outside world.

In this chat, we discussed such things as Zach’s behavior patterns, whether she wished a counter-alliance could form, and if Team America in a sense really ended up hurting her game thanks to Derrick and Frankie wanting to keep Donny.

CarterMatt – So how has life been for you since getting out of the house? I know some say it can take weeks or even months to decompress.

Brittany Martinez – It’s been crazy, just with the kids it’s crazy. Right now my son’s getting stitches because he split his head open. I haven’t even gotten to sit down and watch any of the episodes, so I’ve only been filled in one what some people are telling me.

Is there a part of you that’s nervous to watch them? There’s often that weird feeling of watching yourself on TV.

I am nervous. I’ll probably sit down with my friends and with some wine and giggle with [them]. I’m definitely nervous to see myself on TV, and it’z crazy because I haven’t done anything near that before.

My kids have Tivo-ed everything, and they’ve [seen the] live feeds. My daughter was like my biggest supporter. She would constantly watch the live feeds. I would ask her something, and she would be like ‘yes, I saw you do that,’ or ‘I watched you do that.’ I don’t think she missed a moment.

I know you never want to be evicted, but at least you missed out on Zach as HoH, right?

He’s so obnoxious. I can only imagine. (Laughs.)

Do you think that [his antics] are completely genuine, or is he just playing this big character up for TV?

Like I’ve said to [others], in the house does not define who you are as a person or who you are. A lot of it is just strategy and your gameplay. Some people play on a personal level, and some are just in total game-mode. I think part of Zach’s strategy is to be obnoxious and loud and [mess with us]. It’s funny because America loves him for that … He keeps it on your toes, and he keeps it entertaining.

One of the things that I know people were curious about was why there was never a big counter-alliance formed. A lot of people knew that there was a Bomb Squad, or at least something like it. Was the problem just that nobody [in the minority] could win HoH, or were there rivalries that kept it from happening?

I feel like it became very predictable as to who it was going to be continually put up: Donny, Jocasta, myself, and Victoria. Obviously we were not a part of what was going on in the house. And with just us four standing alone, we didn’t have enough vote-wise to keep us in the house. Even if we were to come together, they would still take over when it comes to who we wanted out, unless we continuously managed to win [competitions] to keep ourselves around.

To me, to kind of go for an alliance with Jocasta, Victoria, and Donny, it just wasn’t a smart move because Victoria and Jocasta were weak players. Victoria’s clueless to everything. She’s clueless to herself, and especially the game. Jocasta, I love her to pieces, but she’s not an aggressive strong player. Donny, he’s a great player, but he never talks game and he is very secretive about everything. It was very hard.

You said something interesting in the house once to Caleb, where you claimed that he had ‘a lot of influence’ over others. From our standpoint, it was more that he was floating in the wind and was really nothing other than obsessed with Amber. Were the other guys like Derrick and Frankie doing a good job of making it look like Caleb had power?

It’s a bummer, because Caleb came off as one of the strongest houseguests in there, but literally Amber has taken over every moment of his thoughts. Amber is ruining his game, and his game is just disintegrating before his eyes. He’s not really in game mode anymore; every second of the day he’s just watching Amber and what she does. He’s getting upset if Amber talks to Cody or any of the guys in the house. She is using her looks to win the guys over and keep her there, and every time you look at Caleb his blood is just boiling.

I feel like he’s going to hate life when he gets out of the show. (Laughs.)

I know you’ve been told a little about Team America at this point.

Yeah, I just found out.

Do you think that really hurt your game? Obviously, Derrick and Frankie want to make sure Donny stays since he helps them to make more money every week.

For sure. Had I made it through this eviction, I feel like I would’ve made it a lot further in the game because I think a lot of focus would have been taken off of me.

In the end, it’s bittersweet. After coming back to my family and my kids, it made the eviction that much easier on me.

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New “Big Brother 16” episodes air on Global in Canada every Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday; in the United States, you can catch them on CBS.

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Photo: CBS