Big Brother Canada 11 interview: John Michael Sosa on eviction
In today’s interview we talk about being the first person out, being labeled as a threat, and that a number of people may already be perceiving the guys in the house to be a big threat.
Matt & Jess – I saw how emotional you were last night, and I know how much you love this show and care about this show. Did that make it so much harder to have to leave so early?
John Michael – A little bit, yes. I actually take it more as flattery. It was hard for me to cope with the idea that I was going home, because every time I would campaign, people would come up with things like ‘you’re a triple threat, you should feel honored to be on the block,’ and I was just like ‘oh, I don’t know if this is how you’d describe honor’ (laughs). The houseguests would say ‘it doesn’t feel right for you to go home. We know how much it means for you to be here.’ They knew what was happening was shady. It didn’t feel correct for them, and that’s why we were crying. It didn’t feel right in so many different layers.
Everyone loves to play the game of ‘what could you have done differently,’ but it’s hard for you unless you just flopped down like a fish in the middle of that first competition. You were bamboozled! It’s hard to prepare for that.
Looking back at that first comp, I should have just whipped away that last piece of puzzle and been like ‘oh my gosh Santina, I twitched!’ and then threw the competition that way. There is something really gratifying about walking out of the house being unapologetically myself for who I was and what I stood for. I think people took advantage of my kindness. People would say that I was lying — I wasn’t lying. They’d say that I was scheming — I wasn’t scheming. I genuinely was not doing those things, and I found that a lot of my campaigning was me debunking these thoughts. People were having these a-ha moments where they were realizing ‘you’re not?’ [along the way].
Even my relationship with Santina. Normally, when you are partnered up with someone, you are immediately going to be thought of as a duo. Right off the bat, I told her that we needed to create a healthy distance, but even that didn’t work. People were coming up to me asking where Santina’s head is at, and I genuinely did not know. She never told me what was going on in her head, but that came off to the other houseguests as ‘oh, they’re working together. He is not revealing any of her secrets.’ I was like ‘no!’.
When I finally ended up on the block, everyone was like ‘oh, he really was telling the truth.’ Then I was like ‘am I the only one playing the game as honest as I can here?’
Speaking of dishonesty, Santina backstabbed you right away. It’s so early, and she hasn’t had any real time to build up any social currency in the game. Do you think this will come back to bite her later?
I think that it was not the biggest bang for her buck. There was a little bit of ego here, a little bit of cockiness. I totally read this as the silliest move in Big Brother history. She’s going to look back at this and think ‘wow, he really did want to work with me and I did damage myself.’ Not only did she lose an ally, but call it whatever you want to call it … it was shady. It was stone-cold and people will always remember that. They will remember you put up your partner as a nominee and you backdoored him.
Every time I was talking to people, I was like ‘would you put up your partner?’ and they were like ‘no.’ I was like ‘that’s funny, because that’s who you are working with. Someone who did put up their partner.’ Looking back at that, this compounded the fact that people saw me as a threat — that I wasn’t afraid to speak truth. I think people really wanted me to be nice about some [things], and I was like ‘no. This doesn’t feel correct at all.’ All is fair in love and war and Big Brother, but this one was a nasty, nasty needle to my side.
Some people just can’t handle the truth, John Michael.
Oh yeah. When I was dropping some truth-bombs to Santina, I could tell I was the only person speaking to her that way. You could tell that she was getting flustered and she didn’t know how to speak to me. I even challenged her and said ‘before and after putting me on the block, has my tone with you ever changed?’. She admitted no. If [everything suggests] that I would work with you, why would you go against me? That’s when I figured out that there were people behind the scenes scheming. It was the boys’ alliance.
Let’s talk about these bros — how are people not seeing this? Especially after so many years?
So what you guys probably don’t know just yet is that their egos are so inflated that the cracks are already showing. As a smart player, it would be a little safer to let them go at each other versus rallying up troops and doing what I was doing. I can see that angle and how it could be strategic. I think everyone saw the boys aligning themselves — we knew who was hanging out with who. Although we didn’t have an idea it was that defined, we all were aware of it. It was so rough to accept the fact that this HoH was being ran by a man who was afraid of a little boy being willing to take them down. So, here I am, the sacrificial lamb. I hope it galvanized them.
I really walked out of the house reminding them that when you get lost in the Big Brother house, remember me. Remember what happened to me. Let it guide you. I’m happy I was able to impact the game that way.
Are you going to miss John Michael being a part of Big Brother Canada 11?
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