‘Big Brother 16’ finale exclusive: Winner Derrick Levasseur on strategy, Team America, family
“Big Brother 16” threw us a curveball this year, at least in that the majority of the backyard interviews were not live for some strange and very-sad reason that we’ll be stewing about for a while.
However, we were lucky enough to transcribe most of the interviews that were last night over at the link here, and now, we’ve got some exclusive questions and answers from the head Hitman and the winner of the season in Derrick Levasseur. Read on for his thoughts on Donny, his strategy, and life as a cop moving forward.
CarterMatt – Are you prepared to basically have people yelling ‘holla’ at you for the rest of your life?
Derrick Lavasseur – Yeah, apparently that was a big thing on the outside of the house, and it was a big thing on the inside as well. Yeah, I think that’s going to be my new thing.
Let’s talk about your game for a minute here, since I think one of the things you were best at was being able to befriend people as they were going out the door. Was that all strategy, part of you just wanting to bond with them, or both?
It was absolutely strategy. I knew a lot of people and the way that they were doing it. When somebody was cut off, the house had a tendency to make them into an outcast. It was very obvious to everyone in the house that if you were on the block, nobody wanted to talk to you.
I took that as an opportunity. [If it was a situation] not knowing who was going home, I would befriend both of them. If I knew someone was definitely going home, and if I definitely knew someone was going home, I would befriend them more than the other person, just to know that when they leave that house, one of the last good memories they would have was a conversation they may have had with me.
While it wasn’t a guarantee, I had nothing but free time in the house. Why not spend that with somebody who could potentially award me a half a million dollars?
Was there anyone in the game you were worried about the most? On the outside it looked like Donny was on to your game the most.
Here’s the thing. The Team America thing was amazing, but it actually hurt my game a little bit. I’m sure you guys saw, because frankly if I had the opportunity, I wouldn’t have teamed up with Donny, even though I really liked him as a fan of the show, knowing that was someone I would be rooting for.
In the house, he was essentially trying to use other people to do his dirty work. He would portray himself as the honest, trustworthy guy, and I knew for a fact that he had been going for a few people and letting them know that I was his target. When I asked him about it, I gave him the opportunity to clear the air and just let me know, and I was still on the fence about sending him or Nicole home … he looked me right in the eye and said ‘I’ve never said a word about you.’ Unfortunately for him he had said those words to Cody, my #1 ally, and I knew that Cody wasn’t going to lie to me about it. That was when I made the decision that, while Team America was Team America, Donny had to go.
Do you think Team America hurt Zach more than any other player? You guys used him as a scapegoat and it was really entertaining, but it seemed to really hurt his game.
You know, I gotta tell you, it wasn’t intended to do that. But Zach, man, he would just get bored. The Amanda Zuckerman rumor, he could have squashed it and it would’ve been over, but he decided to embrace it and actually stir the pot a little more by saying he WAS her cousin. Then, there was the saboteur mission where everyone thought that it COULD be him, but they weren’t sure until he decided to steal a cue ball off the table in front of Caleb and Cody.
He was going either way. It was decided when he was the replacement nominee that he was going home. It was advantageous to send Victoria home, and all that did was reaffirm everyone’s decision to send him home. In addition to people thinking he was untrustworthy, now they thought he was the saboteur.
Let’s talk your future. When I talked to Tony after ‘Survivor,’ he was talking about how the show had changed things for him already as a cop, that he couldn’t do the same stuff that he once did. Do you know what’s next for you? Obviously it’ll be hard to go undercover now.
I know it was played up on the show, but I haven’t been an undercover cop in three years. I haven’t worked in undercover narcotics, I was promoted to Sergeant a few years ago. As far as any future undercover because I still have the look for it, that’s probably over. But, I have ten years now, and they usually like to give that to the newer officers.
Honestly, I didn’t even know if I was going to get on the show. It was a dream of mine, and I had never applied. This was my first time applying and I wanted to give it a go so I wouldn’t have any regrets. Obviously seeing what has happened and had happened, I’m pretty glad I did.
Let’s talk prospects of playing again. You hinted that you would on the feeds, but has that changed now that you’ve won, or that you’ve had a chance to talk to your family?
It’s always a possibility. If something presents itself where it works for my family and my occupation at the time, I would absolutely consider it. As you guys know, I take a lot of pride in the game and pride in what you guys are saying right now, and I want to continue to live up to that expectation.
So if the right opportunity presented itself, and I got to play with some of the best players to play this game, it would be very hard not to do that if the surrounding circumstances were in place and allow me to do so.
Final thoughts, whether it be about the game or your life now?
I talked with my wife last night, and I didn’t expect to get this out of it. When you are in that house and you’re competing for the money, you start to think about the things you’re missing because you’re dead to everyone else. While they can see you, you can’t see them and it’s like that effect if someone passes away and you realize the things that aren’t important and what really is.
For me, especially having my grandfather pass away while I was in there, I realized how important family is and how imperative it is to spend as much time with them as I can … When I was in that house, even though I wanted to win that money, what really kept me going was my family, and I’m going to spend every waking moment with them moving forward. When you live a day-to-day life, you kind of forget that sometimes.
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Photo: CBS