Big Brother Canada 6 interview: Winner Paras Atashnak on her path to victory
One day after taking home the title of winner (as we predicted she would pre-season), we had a chance to speak with Paras about what she did to secure her victory, the final jury speeches, and also if she would ever want to do this again.
CarterMatt – How does it feel to be crowned the winner of this season? Has it sunk in?
Paras – No, it hasn’t sunk in. Throughout the day I’m trying to take the time to figure out what happened last night, but overall I think it will take me a few days in order to grasp what really happened.
Something you told me you were going to do pre-game, and I’m really glad you did it, was spend a lot of time discussing the game on the live feeds to viewers at home. Did that serve as a way to actually talk things out and help you think about moves?
For sure. Obviously part of it was just me being a live feeder myself. I really love it when players talk to the cameras because it made me feel included and a part of the process. I wanted to do that for any live feeders.
It was also to help me because I couldn’t express my thoughts to anybody in the house. I didn’t trust anybody 100% to tell them how I felt. It was 100% therapeutic for me to freely voice how I felt about things that were happening without thinking it could be used against me or that it could come back to bite me. It was really nice to have that outlet!
How worried were you that the game you played would not be as recognized? I was worried along the way that some people wouldn’t get the game you played.
Going into the finale, that was my #1 fear because sitting next to either one of the comp beasts, their games were so apparent and visible to everybody. They had won competitions and had their moves that everyone could see. For me, it was a lot of little moves — having influence here and there, starting feuds between different people, and bringing information back and forth. I wasn’t going to be able to say everything that I had done. To this day, unless they watch the show, they’re not going to know what moves I had made. Even last night, I wasn’t able to get everything across to them. That is the risk that you run when you play a game that is so low-key and under-the-radar. You might not get a chance to explain it in 30 seconds or less. That was my fear — they’re not going to know my moves because I played this under-the-radar game so well. They just saw me as a floater and didn’t know the moves that I had done.
Was there one small move you made that you think was the most influential to your win?
I think that, even though I went back and forth on the decision to keep Kaela over Ali, it was keeping Kaela in the game. It didn’t sit well with me as someone who knows the game well to keep a power duo, but I knew I had to do it because it would guarantee me not just final five, but also final four because as long as Maddy was in the game, Maddy was always going home before me. That was a move that was small, but also solidified my win. I got to final four, won that HoH, and then went to final three and won the final HoH. That’s where things started looking up for me.
It took me a little time to figure it out, but that was the move that really changed things for me.
Who did you think was going to be the hardest juror to win over here, other than Derek?
Derek was a write-off for me, but Ali was the person who surprised me. Ali, walking out of the house, told me that I didn’t have her jury vote, and she told every interviewer that she wasn’t going to be voting for me. She told me at the finale that she told everybody that she was going to be voting for Kaela. I think that my speech in combination with how Kaela worded her speech definitely helped in swaying Ali’s vote.
I was the most surprised about her and Liv — I thought those two were going to vote together, even though all season long they said that they weren’t really a duo. They were always going to vote together.
How much did you constantly think about the way in which you talked to people and made them try to feel good on their way out the door?
That’s all I thought about. I’ve seen it before — not such in the Canadian version, mostly in the US [version] — so many amazing players get to the end and not win the jury over because they were so rude or condescending in their goodbye messages; or, because they let their egos run their game. I was so careful. In my pre-game interviews I said I would take so much care in my jury management, and I think the only person I messed that up with was Ali. I did give her my word and went back on it, and I think that was the one mistake I made in the game.
I knew how important jury management was just because the jury is going to be a little bit bitter. The jury is going to play with their emotions and that’s what the game is partially about. If you have someone up there calling them ‘babies’ and saying things like ‘that’s why I’m here and you’re there,’ and then you have someone who is like ‘I recognize my mistakes and I realized that I didn’t have to win competitions,’ that helps. I give credit where credit is due and play into their emotions. I made sure that they weren’t offended by any means. I tried to do that with everyone as they went out the door, and did that as early as Veronica, Erica, or Merron — jury could start that early! I was so careful with every single person who left the house.
What’s the first thing that you’re going to do when you’re done with all of this?
I think after 69 days of living in that crazy house I’m going to need a vacation. That’s the first thing — I wish I could say I’m going to spend time with family first and foremost, but after 69 days I think a vacation is much-needed (laughs).
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