Big Brother Canada 7 interview: Anthony Douglas on finishing second, alliance with Dane

Through much of Big Brother Canada 7, you can argue that Anthony Douglas was one of the game’s most strategic players. He had a knack for getting people to do whatever he wanted at any given moment, and he was also a member of the powerful Pretty Boys alliance. He made it all the way to the final two but, in a rather surprising decision, the jury opted to not cast a single vote his way.

What happened there? In this interview with Anthony we discuss that final outcome, plus also some of the moves that happened along the way and if he would’ve taken Dane to the end if given the opportunity. For some more discussion on the rest of the finale in video form, watch our video below and be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube and check out our official Big Brother Canada playlist.

CarterMatt – Were you able to get any sleep at all last night?

Anthony – (Laughs) Not gonna lie, I got out, I celebrated a little bit, I danced around the hotel room, I took a nice hot shower, I got into bed, and I prayed. I thanked God for this wonderful ride and I prayed every single day in that house. My faith is what got me to the end. Honestly, I slept well, man!

Good to know! The thing is that a lot of people really struggle to let go of being in the game and carrying stuff with them. Do you think that you’ll dwell on [finishing second], or will you be able to move on soon after getting home?

This platform showed what I’m capable of. I’ve always wanted to get into TV and film — the good comes with the bad and I’m prepared for it. I played the best game that I possibly could have. I did a lot of things inside of that house. A lot of people will have their judgments, but they don’t know what it’s like to be inside of that house. I played my heart out; I did everything I could to get as far as I did, and I think I did a great job.

I’ll tell you what I was the most impressed by — you would get people in conversations and, even if they believed something different than you, you’d [change their mind] and then make them believe it was their idea. You’d just snow these people over! Is that a skill that you knew that you had?

I’ve always had that skill, but, the truth is that everything I said was honesty. People trusted me and when I said things, they thought that it was best for their game, but every thing that I said was what was best for the Pretty Boys. It’s not difficult to bring truth to these people and not difficult to predict what’s going to happen in the future. Sometimes in sitting down with these people, it only took five minutes; other times, it took a little while longer to spread the mojo. We did what we had to do and we got it done.

I’ll be honest with you — I would’ve been really afraid to take you to the end of the game because you had some good relationships in the house and I thought you had a good chance of winning. What do you think happened with the end result?

To be honest, I knew in my head that Dane played a better game. He won a lot of comps, Dane had a really good social game — I just had the best social game.

Think about what happens in the jury house — one person goes in there, and then one person comes in a week later, and then two people the week after that. You gotta think about what’s being said in the jury house. You gotta think about who’s in the jury house. Sam was the first person in the jury house and she had an opportunity to set the tone. Sam had no idea what was going on inside of that house; all that she knew was that people in her group were loyal to her and she got side-swiped. She didn’t like me, and she probably knew that I was the one [behind what happened]. Then, you gotta think about who went in right after Sam — it was Cory. With Cory in the house, they could talk back and forth and Sam could manipulate Cory just like she was doing the last week before she was evicted. Sam was a liar in the game and a liar in the jury house.

You gotta understand, a lot of people who went into the jury house had no idea of what was going on. These were people who didn’t know where the real power was and were kept out of the loop. They were walking around blinded. They had their 1-2 friends they were cool with, but they didn’t know who was locking arms and who was crying in each other’s arms and riding for each other. The Pretty Boys were actively riding for each other. The people in the Jury House, or the people who were evicted before the jury, they were riding with maybe one other person for the entire game. You’re sitting in front of the cameras talking to Canada when you should be working on your social game. You’re blowing bubbles in people’s mouths or talking about riding into the sunset with unicorns and Skittles and rainbows, when you should’ve been working on the social game. These people thought the game relied around comps and they wanted to align themselves with just one person that was good at comps.

The game is called the greatest social experiment for a reason. It’s not called the greatest competition game of all time! People have won competitions and gone home the very next week. We’ve seen comp beats who win every other HoH and get unlucky. It doesn’t come down to competitions; it comes down to relationships. When you’re locked in that house with nowhere to go, who is going to ride for you? Who is going to speak highly of you?

If you had won the final HoH, would you have taken Dane?

I definitely would’ve taken Dane. I saved Dane’s life twice in that game. Dane said something to me that changed my outlook on the game — ‘in order to be the best, you have to beat the best.’ That just opened my eyes. He was absolutely right. There were times when I did question him, but just like Dane and I talked about, Shaq and Kobe didn’t always get along, but they won championships together! The greatest players, of course they have disagreements and they don’t always see eye to eye! But, the greatest thing with any relationship is communication. Me and Dane had that. Dane played a great game and I love Kyra. Kyra is a wonderful person, they stand for a lot, and they deserve to be there despite what everyone says. I think Kyra was blinded the entire time and didn’t have any true alliance members; yet, they still fought to the end and I’m really proud of them for everything that they did.

I like the basketball analogy, so let’s go with that — if you were to play again, would you be like Shaq and just get yourself some new teammates, and find a way to get far using the same strategy? Could you do the same thing again?

Here’s the trick, and here’s what a lot of people forget — when you walk inside that door, it’s game on. Every eye contact, handshake, hug, and short conversation. Every long conversation. You help somebody with the dishes or you pour someone a glass of water. You wink at someone. Everything is judged and people make judgments based on your impressions. Do you clean up after yourself? We only have one carton of eggs; are you selfishly using four? (Laughs.) All of these things are taken into consideration. These are wonderful people; they are entering the house being a–holes. Nobody’s going into the house swearing. It’s all kumbaya at the beginning.

But, eventually, it gets to a point where you have to point a finger. Every single HoH is difficult because you have to point a finger, and if you can’t point a finger, you have to think about your allies, the people riding for you. Who are they having a disconnect with? If I walked back into that house, I would do the same exact thing that I did. I would ask questions and find out people’s history. Dane and I had a connection because we both went through similar things. We both got a little teary-eyed when we made our final two, and I realized that Dane was someone who was just like me. I’m a trustworthy person, so why wouldn’t I align with someone who was such a trustworthy person? If I didn’t align with somebody in the game, it was because I knew that they already had an alliance or I knew that they were disloyal.

For more Big Brother Canada finale interviews…

Be sure to visit the link here! We already have an interview with Kyra online. Meanwhile, let us know your thoughts about Anthony, his game, and this interview in the comments. (Photo: Global.)