‘Big Brother Canada’ pre-game exclusive: Is Graig Merritt a swing and a miss?

Graig Merritt, other than having a very bizarre spelling for his first name, is an interesting character. Given his work with Major League Baseball, we’re honestly surprised that he had the months off to do “Big Brother Canada 3.” Isn’t scouting a sort of year-around job? He is an interesting guy in that he has everything on the surface to be a good player and a competitive threat. Most importantly, he also doesn’t seem to be completely out of touch with reality.

If this is the first one of our pre-game interviews that you’ve read, here’s the premise for it: We had a chance to chat with all of the houseguests earlier this week, prior to anything about them airing on “ET Canada.” Therefore, we went into this with zero knowledge of who they were, their personality, or even what they looked like since we were talking over the phone. For the sake of fairness, we asked everyone roughly the same questions. Check out the exclusive interview with Graig below, and we’ll give you a brief overall impression at the bottom of this article. For all of our coverage on the other houseguests, click here, or on the image below.

CarterMatt – Tell us about yourself: Your name, where you’re from, your age, and what you do for a living.

Graig Merritt – So I’m 36, I’m a scout part-time for the Tampa Bay Rays, and I’m a baseball coach. (Note: His bio says he’s from Pitt Meadows, BC.)

What made you want to try out for Big Brother Canada this year?

You know what? I played on a baseball team a few years, and I never even knew what ‘Big Brother’ was. It was the start of season 1 of ‘Big Brother Canada,’ and my team was like ‘did you see last night’s show,’ and I was completely out of the loop, asking [what it was]. They explained it to me, I started watching it, and as time went by they started telling me ‘dude, you have to try out. You’d be perfect for it.’ So lo and behold, I went and tried out, and here I am.

If you could compare yourself to someone from either BB Canada or BB USA, who would it be?

So I’ve gone back and watched a ton of old episodes [of both shows]. I would say Adel from last year based on how positive his outlook was and how happy he was. I’m also a redhead, so I also loved Frank from season 14, the big curly-haired guy who was a former wrestler. (Note: Well, his dad was the wrestler in Sid Vicious, but we’ll still give him some credit here.) I liked how outspoken he was, his hair, I loved everything about him.

What’s something about you that would surprise people?

How physical I am. I think that goes along with baseball. That’s a tough question, I’m not too sure on that one.

What’s your basic strategy going into the house?

I have so many strategies working through my head it’s crazy. I know I want to align myself with someone who can do well in the mental challenges. I know I can do well in the physical challenges … but some of those mental challenges for me are going to be tough. I had a hard time keeping up with them on TV. If I want to go a long way in the show I need to align with someone who can do well in those, and I can carry the physical challenges, and we can go really far.

Is there any one thing you are the most excited to do this season?

Just to meet everyone and experience the house! Search around and see all the rooms, maybe try to find a secret room in there, meet Marsha the Moose. Hopefully I can meet Marsha the Moose in there. That’d be something I would be excited to do, as well.

What do you think your biggest weakness could be?

I have to control my emotions. I’m a really emotional guy. I’m going to have to think before I speak.

What are hoping to get out of the show: Money, fame, love, or just a good time?

How about all [of them]!

If there is one message you would pass along to the Canadian public before entering the game, what would it be?

Strap your seat belts on! It’s going to be electric, it’s going to be fun, so let’s enjoy the ride together.

Our overall impression – Graig sounded friendly, and he had a way of responding that was somewhat reminiscent to last year’s champion Jon. However, he’s also got too much of a competitive edge, almost like a certain guy he mentioned in Frank. We feel like he’s going to try too hard to win and get targeted because of it. The good news is that he doesn’t come across like a jerk, so he shouldn’t be public enemy #1 in the house.

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