‘Big Brother 17’ exclusive: Jeff Weldon on eviction, Austin and Liz, being huge threat
From almost the beginning of “Big Brother 17,” Jeff Weldon was a guy who played hard. He made alliances, tried to get in good with many different players, but eventually ran into some trouble for a variety of reasons. He played too hard too quickly, clashed with a few people in the house, and was hurt badly by having someone in the game in Austin who felt threatened by how close he was to Liz. Maybe this start at first as an unconscious thing for Austin, but it became very conscious as soon as he became the Head of Household alongside Vanessa. He didn’t hold that title for long, but him allowing Johnny Mac to win the Veto helped to seal Jeff’s fate in the end.
We talked with Jeff in a new interview this afternoon about his time with Austin, specific game moves he regretted, and how at first he wanted to just go into the house with Jackie without any fanfare at all.
CarterMatt – So have you been able to sort of unwind and look back at your game since getting evicted from the house?
Jeff Weldon – As you can imagine, when you get evicted from the house there are a lot of mixed emotions and questions that you have. You want to go back and see what was going on that you weren’t aware of.
So let’s talk about that for a minute here. Is there any one thing that surprised you the most since getting out of the game?
There wasn’t really anything that surprised me, and I think that was my biggest downfall. I voiced my opinion on a lot of shady things that actually were accurate, and I think that threw a lot of people off their game and made them question ‘does this guy know too much?’ and ‘why should we keep him around if he’s thinking one step ahead?’. Everything was pretty much already known; I think the biggest thing is that Clay and Shelli surprised me a little bit with them working closer with Austin than I felt comfortable with. That was something I didn’t know was occurring. That was kind of shocking to me.
How many people in the house had an idea who you were from ‘The Amazing Race’?
The only person who admitted to it was Steve. He would bring it up and talk about it, and he would barely bring it up! And he didn’t seem like he was talking to other houseguests about it, and you think they would want to pick his brain and ask ‘hey, so how close are these two really? Are they putting on a show, are they putting on a front?’, because there were all kinds of rumors. ‘I heard Jeff and Jackie were married.’ People actually thought that in the house.
It’s kind of crazy to think that if Steve was not there, you two may have been undetected. Did you ever think you could play the game [without bringing it up]?
That’s what we wanted to do at first! But, when they announced us, they made it impossible for it to be a possibility. But, it would have been a huge risk because you never know who has seen the show, and if you come off right off the gate as shady it creates an unnecessary target. (Note: For the record, we don’t think CBS would ever allow it to be a secret; it’d look really bad on “The Amazing Race” as a popular property if nobody knew who Jeff & Jackie were.)
So when did you film this past ‘Amazing Race’ season? Wasn’t it late last year?
Going [into] December, yep.
So when did you figure out you had a chance to be a part of ‘Big Brother’?
[Not until] about two weeks before the show was airing. (Note: We feel like Jeff was actually referring to two weeks before he entered the house, which was more than a week before it aired.)
That had to be a mad scramble for you to get everything together before leaving.
I was just getting back on my feet, too. Basically if you’re leaving for three months, it’s not one of those things where you can keep your job. I had to resign and that’s always unfortunate.
Was there any way for you to be under-the-radar in this game, given that you did come in with this ‘Amazing Race’ experience, you could be seen as a physical threat, and you have a big personality?
You pose a great question, and I don’t think so. I think that there are some things that are obvious and you can’t hide the truth. I feel like I decreased the target on my back, but I walked in there with a big target and I walked out a big target.
Do you think that things could have been different for you if Austin had not won HoH, and maybe someone else like a Clay had who didn’t have some of that supposedly jealousy towards you with Liz?
Yeah, I think it would have changed a lot of things. I can’t attest for how things are going for him right now because I’m not in the house, but one thing I regret, and one of my biggest mistakes of the game, was building a good relationship with Clay but not Shelli, because she is the one who wears the pants in there and makes decisions for them. She was constantly in his ear, and it was apparent that she wanted me gone. Clay was hesitant but [she got to him].
What was your take on Austin with Liz? Was she so good at reeling him in, or did he come in there just hoping for this sort of relationship?
It’s something we talked about a lot in the house. We were very confused by this relationship, thinking ‘what is this? Does he have a crush on her, is he like the dad who is super-paranoid and doesn’t want her around any guys?’. We couldn’t get a feel for what was going on there. Was he trying to control or manipulate her?
The issue is that nobody wanted to talk to Austin about it, so we never got the information because we thought he would snap and go crazy. We just kind of left it as-is.
You told Jackie a few people [such as the James, Meg, and Jason group] to be closer with before you left. Do you think now that it is still her best move to stick with them?
A lot of power shifts have gone through, and it’s really hard to say. None of the alliances really work out for that long, and they move a lot quicker than they have in past seasons. I think if she got together with some of the people I told her about, like Steve and Meg and James and Jason, they could throw off the other players. Oh, and Johnny Mac. Can’t forget Johnny Mac.
Who do you think is playing the best game that no one is really recognizing as dangerous right now?
I honestly think that Johnny Mac or Steve. People are thinking about Steve so I can’t really throw him out right now, but Johnny Mac is definitely dangerous in there.
So through this whole experience of doing two reality shows in less than a year’s time, is there anything you think you really figured out or learned about yourself?
I think the biggest thing I learned for myself is that it’s okay to take yourself outside of your comfort zone, and do things you normally wouldn’t do and take big risks. I went from a corporate America 9-to-5 job to start doing reality TV, and it taught me a lot about myself. It taught me to do things that I normally wouldn’t do. It builds character.
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Thanks to Jeff for his time, and head over here to see some other “Big Brother” live feed updates and more! Also, sign up here to get some more scoop on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)
