‘Big Brother 17’ exclusive: Da’Vonne Rogers on strategy, Audrey, Steve in a trash can, and more

We have made it very little of a secret over time how we feel about Da’Vonne Rogers as a “Big Brother” player. We’re a big fan. We find her incredibly entertaining, she gives great Diary Room sessions, and she has some attributes that are found in many good players. Her eviction this past week came as a result of a few factors, from being a little too vocal to being on the wrong side of an alliance to even Shelli being somewhat cowardly about nominating someone like Audrey out of fear of what the public would think.

In the interview below, you will get a chance to see what she has to say about her game, watching the show, Audrey, Jason, and even whether or not Steve was really spying on people in a crash can earlier in the game. That’s what we do here at CarterMatt: Solve some of the world’s greatest mysteries!

CarterMatt – I think this is a good place to start. Going out of the game you said you were afraid people were going to hate you. How do you feel now that you’ve had time to realize that people really feel the opposite way about you?

Da’Vonne Rogers – I am blown back by the love and support that people have been given me. I really, really thought that America was going to eat up Audrey and eat up Steve, and they were the two people that I was like ‘they gotta GO!’ I thought I was like America’s #1 ‘we don’t like her.’ I just KNEW it.

Going into this, I know you were a big fan. Did you have this plan to be this sort of character, to be so entertaining in the Diary Room?

Going into the house, my strategy was to be quiet. Don’t say nothing in the house and keep my mouth closed. In the Diary Room was where I was going to express how I felt, really talk to [America]. But, in that situation and in that moment [in the house], oh GOD all strategy just went out the window. It just disappeared.

Is it so much harder than people realize to be low-key in there? You’re in this weird place, and the game is almost everything that you’re thinking about.

Nothing. We had no entertainment, no outside, nothing. A bird can fly in the backyard and that is the highlight of our day! There is nothing! Even with the fight that Clay and I had in the beginning. It was so small, but because it was like the biggest thing that happened in the house by far, it was like ‘oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.’ Everybody got a magnifying glass, and it was just BIG. It’s crazy. You become paranoid, everybody’s a suspect. Somebody could be in the corner talking about their family, but in your mind they are talking about game and plotting against you. It’s terrible! It’s awful.

I want to talk about the Clay thing, because I still don’t get it. You were just walking into rooms! Did you ever get any real sort of explanation as to what was going on there?

Clay lied to me when he came upstairs and just said ‘I didn’t say anything.’ He never gave me a reason but me personally, I feel like Clay never trusted me. Once he saw that people starting attaching themselves to me he started to watch me, and saw that I was verbal and I was observant. That made him really nervous, because I could expose him. So when he showed his true colors in that fight, that was when he knew it was game on and he had to get rid of me as soon as possible.

Have you gotten a chance to watch all of the episodes now?

Yes, and I’m all caught up, and I’m like ‘oh my god, they’ve been plotting since they stepped foot in the door!’ Everybody. Also, I feel like I gave a lot of people too much credit. People were playing hard, but they weren’t playing as hard as I gave them credit for. I’m glad to know I was right about a lot of things. I just couldn’t keep my mouth closed! If I had just kept quiet about a lot of things and just observed, I think I would still be in the house and I would’ve made it far.

Is there anyone in watching that you think is being misrepresented at all for TV viewers based on your experience with them?

I think everybody is pretty accurate … well no, maybe Shelli. I think people are loving her like she’s some sweetie pie. They don’t know! She has horns and they come out at night, on the top of her head. Horns! She’s not the only one, but I don’t think anyone is getting misrepresented in a bad way. I feel like it’s pretty accurate for the most part.

What about surprises? Is there anything you’ve been shocked to see?

Not really, other than the money where Steve told me he loved me (laughs) and I didn’t hear it in that moment! So I’m watching the show and he’s like ‘I love you you’ and I’m like ‘wait, WHAT?!!’ I didn’t [know].

Did you like Steve in the house?

I love Steve. He was just very paranoid. You could tell he was a lover of this game, because everything he did, he did thinking about what other people are going to think if they are watching [him] in this game. That was he thought. ‘I’m not going to eat an apple, but who in here is going to eat an apple and [who’s gonna] watch while they are eating the apple and what [is someone] going to say about eating the apple.’ That’s what he thought about the whole process. He was a little awkward and a little strange, but for the most part he was a great guy.

I’m going to ask about something that I’ve really been wanting to know for a while since it was pre-feeds. Did Steve really spy on people in a trash can?

No! (Laughs.) Steve is a jokester. He likes to play jokes and pranks inside the house. The guys were daring him to kiss one of the girls, and he was like ‘no I don’t want to do that, I respect women and I don’t want to do that to one of the girls’ and they kept pressing the issue, being like ‘do it, do it, do it.’ So he ran, and they were going after him, and he ran in the storage room! There’s like nothing in there that you can hide in other than the trash can, so he hid in there. I was just like ‘oh, STEVE!’ It’s just one of those things you smile about because it’s Steve.

I know you’ve talked a little bit already in interviews about Audrey and how many people in the house probably don’t want to nominate her because she is transgender and [they’re afraid of the backlash]. Is there anyone who you think would nominate her?

Jason. The other people in there, they’ll talk about it and say that they’re going to do it, but when the opportunity presents itself, they’re all ‘I don’t want to be the person to want to do that.’ I was just like ‘why?’ I appreciate what she did when she came in here, but that’s not who she is while she is playing. She’s just a player like the rest of us! She’s Audrey. I’m Da’Vonne. Send her home!

What does Jason need to do moving forward to try and survive? 

Jason needs to fake and lie and smile. He needs to convince them that he is on their team, and he needs to get HoH and make some big moves. Other than that, he is a big target because everyone is going to think that he is out to get revenge on me. Even if he’s gotta throw me under the bus and be like ‘[Da’Vonne’s] not that cool,’ I’m not gonna get mad! He’s playing the game. Saying whatever he needs to to get by. You need to get these people out of this house!

Did Jason put any sort of target on his back by winning the first HoH?

No, the target came from Audrey. Because Jason got dethroned, Audrey said that this was the perfect time to try to get rid of him. Because she planted that seed, that kind of spread throughout the house. We kind of had to put that fire out, like ‘no no no.’ At that point he had to up his social game and that took some of the target off of his back.

What’s Jackie doing in the game? Is she still asleep?

She’s sitting there, she’s being pretty. She enjoys the hot tub. That’s about it. She’s just there.

What about Becky? Other than that insane story about the train, what else is she bringing to the table?

Becky actually is a competition beast! The girl is good at the competitions, but other than that she’s just there. But people are not going to see her as a threat. She’s kind of a [competition] threat, but she’s playing a good game inside the house. She’s a stepford wife! She’s just cooking and cleaning and breaking her back taking care of the house, and when she needs to win a competition she’ll go win. She’s actually playing a really great game. She might make it to the end.

That makes me feel better about picking her to win preseason! I wasn’t feeling so good about that a week ago.

As we start to wind down here let’s get to some hypothetical situations. Had you stuck around in the house what would you have done? Could you really trust Audrey after everything?

I would’ve had to work with Audrey, because Audrey had all the information. For whatever reason everyone thinks that Audrey is AT&T and they have to connect to her! She had everybody’s business! In order to get further in the game I needed her. We would’ve had to keep it very low-key, nobody could have known, but I would’ve had to work with her.

As for everyone else, I had told myself ‘Da’Vonne, if you get saved, you need to start over. It’s a new beginning. Close your mouth, get it together, and get your head into this game.’ That was going to be my restart. I had Jason, and I would’ve had Audrey on the low. I wanted to try to trust Vanessa, but I knew she didn’t trust me, even when she was telling me to my face ‘I’m not working with anybody in here.’ I knew in my gut her and Austin had teamed up. I knew I couldn’t work with her, but that would’ve been awesome, especially knowing now that she’s this great poker player and not just some little poker player like she told me in the house. We could’ve been phenomenal.

Finally, was there any reason you’d want to keep the twins in the game? If you can get rid of them earlier enough, then that may pave the way for some sort of buyback where someone else could re-enter the game?

I had no intention of working with Liz or Julia or whoever it was at the time. When I was [on the block] I told her whatever I felt I needed to because I wanted her vote. Once I got her vote, she HAD to go. There was no way her sister was going to come into that house. At the end of the day if it was her, me, and her sister in the final three, I’m getting sent home. That was NEVER an option.

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