Big Brother Craze

Hey there, my BBCrazies! As you know, after the seasons I try to get in touch with the most recent crop of houseguests for Interviews – and do my best to ask them what you want to know. Thus, today I have the one, the only Dorkapodomus himself – Ronnie!

We loved him (Ok, I loved him, because I felt I understood him to some degree), hated him (Yeah, I did a bit of that too!), debated his tactics, gasped in horror, and even laughed sometimes and sympathized others – but one thing is certain: Ronnie Talbott will NEVER be forgotten! And here’s what he had to say about his stay in the Big Brother House. Enjoy!

[As with all our interviews and articles here at Big Brother Craze, they are (c)BigBrotherCraze, thus copying and pasting this interview is NOT PERMITTED – you may link directly to this entry wherever you like. Here’s the direct link: http://bigbrothercraze.us/2009/10/07/the-square-root-of-bb-evil-an-interview-with-ronnie/.]

BBCraze: So let’s start at the beginning! What did the casting process involve for you? We know you’re the uberfan – how many times, how long did it take, etc? What advice would you give to those considering trying out for season 12?

Ronnie: Well I am limited in what I can say about the process, but what I can tell you is that I have auditioned to be on the show since season 8. It seems the 4th time was the charm for me, LOL. My advice for anyone considering auditioning for season 12 is to do it, first and foremost. It is an amazing once in a lifetime experience that I know I will treasure forever!! The other piece of advice I have is to be yourself!! They can tell if you are faking or just trying to be controversial. Robyn and her team are AMAZING!!! I love them all and they know what they are looking for when they see it, so just be yourself and know that you have something special to offer.

BBCraze: How was your reception when you got home – friends, family, work, fans? Do you have a funniest fan freak-out moment? What did Michelle have to say about you’re stay in the house? (I interviewed Michele and you’re friend, Robert, at the beginning of the season. Michelle’s adorable – you’re a lucky guy!)

Ronnie: My reception when I got home was incredible. I live in a small town so everyone already knew me anyway !! I help teach theatre at my wife’s high school and I have always volunteered at the local community theatre so a ton of people were watching the show rooting for me. A lot of the faculty at the high school are actually HUGE BB fans..and I had no idea.

The funniest fan freak out story I have is from when I went to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. I had just been home from my eviction like 3 days and whenever I was in line to ride the rollercoasters the people in line would try to sneak pictures of me on their cellphones. It was really odd for me because I mean, I am a really down to earth guy. I am just Ronnie as far as I’m concerned, lol. I kept thinking, “If you just ask I will take a picture with you!” lol.

Michelle had A LOT to say about my stay in the house lol. More than I thought she would. It seems she missed me just as much as I missed her. She even would turn on the feeds to hear me snore when she missed me. She would position the laptop with the feeds running beside the bed so it seemed like I was still home. She said she never got used to seeing me on television, it always seemed like I had been photoshopped into the show.

BBCraze: As I’m sure you know, one of the biggest problems houseguests have when they go back and watch the season is that they feel they aren’t accurately portrayed by CBS on the network episodes – the age-old conflict of the good edit vs. the bad edit. How do you feel you were portrayed on the show? Do you feel they portrayed the other houseguests accurately? And do you think houseguests will EVER get the memo that we live feeders see EVERYTHING, so they can’t pull the wool over our eyes once they get out?

Ronnie: You know I don’t want to say anyone was accurately or not accurately portrayed. Rather I would say there are certain aspects of each person’s personality that were highlighted. For instance, yes I used a lot of lies and manipulation in the house…BUT I also had a lot of fun and humorous conversations with Jeff, Jordan, Lydia, Natalie, well…everyone for that matter that just weren’t on the show. The flip side of that coin is also true. The people who had a “good” (only for lack of a better word) edit also had negative traits that weren’t shown. I just ask that everyone please remember that we are all people. We are more than the sum of our parts, you know?

In response to the live feeders seeing EVERYTHING….once it gets down to the final 6 or so…sure, but with 13 people living in a house and only 4 feeds making it to the air there is no way that EVERY convo and EVERY piece of strategy talk will make it to the feeds. I know for a fact there are a lot of wonderful convos that Lydia, Kevin, and I had that were never seen by anyone except us and BB, LOL.

BBCraze: Could you describe each of the houseguests for us – both as you knew them in the house, and any changing opinions since your eviction as you watch the show and hear of the house happenings?

1. Braden – funny, random, and always entertaining.
2. Laura – Great person and kind, wished we had gotten along in the house
3. Casey – funny, interesting, great spirit
4. Ronnie – that is me !
5. Jessie – good friend, misunderstood, owes me a rematch for beating me in the racing game in Vegas !!!
6. Chima – loyal, outspoken, never backs down
7. Lydia – one of a kind, extremely generous, and friend for life !
8. Russell – loud, actually has a really funny prank side to him
9. Jeff – funny
10. Michele – smart, kind of quiet
11. Natalie – played the game hard like me !! lol …totally the only one who actually tricked me.
12. Kevin – awesome, funny, unforgettable, and like Lydia friend for life !
13. Jordan – sweet, genuine

BBCraze: Had you made it to the jury and gotten to vote for a winner – would you have voted for Jordan or Natalie for the win, and why?

Ronnie: I would have had to vote for Jordan, only because i can support floating and throwing comps as a strategy but not in the final HoH. Jordan won when she needed to and Natalie did not.

BBCraze: While you were in the house, you were the center of a LOT of controversy outside, as I’m sure you’ve been made aware. The biggest brouhaha was over you’re audition tape for Solitary, and the admission of what many folks called ‘cyber-bullying’. One woman even dedicated a sight determined to have CBS do something about it (what she thought they’d do is unclear at best.). Would you like to address those allegations, the situation, etc?

Ronnie: I have absolutely no problem discussing this issue and I have already in several interviews. This very issue was discussed by myself in the house before my eviction.

Number one it was not “cyber-bullying”. That is a term that someone attached to the practical joke in order to sensationalize the prank. First cyber-bullying is legally defined as requiring all parties involved to be 17 years of age or younger and we were 19. Second, to be bullying the nature of the action must be derogatory, hurtful, spiteful, or intended to cause harm in some way shape or form. There was nothing malicious in the prank. I did not hurt anyone’s psychological state nor was anyone inconvenienced in any way shape or form. Yes, it was a cyber-prank…but cyber-bullying, no.

This was a prank that was done 11 years ago. Am I proud of it, no…come on you would have to be a incredibly cruel person to be proud of something like that. But as I said while still in the house…I lost a friend because of this prank, even though an apology was given at the time and accepted, it was one of the main reasons I changed how I behaved. At 19 we are still young and immature in some ways.

Something also that everyone who saw the video has to understand is that when you audition for a show, whether reality TV or otherwise, you have to sell yourself. Yes be yourself but you have to come across as dynamic and interesting. The question I was asked and answered with this prank story was, “What is the wildest lie you ever told?” So by mentioning this story does it mean I am proud of it? No..but is it an interesting story” Sure…

The bottom line is this… it was a stupid prank that happened 11 years ago when I first started college and the person I was at 19 has no resemblance to who I am today… We have all done stupid things in college and I really don’t think people would enjoy being judged based on one stupid mistake they made in their life..and yes we all have made mistakes, LOL

BBCraze: Knowing what you know now – if the cliques hadn’t had been a factor, who would you have aligned with and why?

Ronnie: If cliques had not been a factor, I would have aligned with Lydia, Kevin, Michele, and probably been more loyal to Jordan.

BBCraze: At this point, having been able to watch it all go down, what do you think was your biggest mistake in the game?

Ronnie: My biggest mistake in the game was not backdooring Russell in week 2. I should have simply asked for Lydia, Kevin, and Chima’s support and just backdoored him.

BBCraze: We saw you apologize to Michele during the finale, and her gracious acceptance of it. Were you two able to talk, and can you tell us what on EARTH she did to make all of you hate her so much? You guys were downright vicious at times, and as someone who’s been on the wrong side of that kind of criticism like yourself, how do you justify the way you treated her?

Ronnie: My apology to Michele on finale night was absolutely sincere. The thing that only those of us who play this game can understand is that when you are in the house, you develop these passionate feelings for people good AND bad. Michele simply refused to talk to people in the house about much of anything. I know that was her strategy, but it didn’t come off well. Even Michele herself admits she is a very socially awkward person. This awkwardness did not come off that way…rather it made the bulk of us feel like she was refusing to get involved and also that she was a little left of center.

Again, I would say that those of you sitting at home saying, “how could they say that?”..You very well could easily be on BB12 and having people say that about what you say and do. Like I said, when you are in the house you can only go off of what you actually see and hear and what you feel about the things you are told. My eviction speech was based 20% on comments made by Michele during a fight we had earlier that day and 80% on strategy to try and cause doubt in people’s minds even after my eviction.

BBCraze: And finally – though I know the answer to this, it’s the biggest question of all – would you do it again, and would you play the game differently if you did?

Ronnie: I would definitely do it again!!!!!! I would play the game differently. I have a much better strategy this time taking the lessons Ive learned from actually playing the game. I call it Ronnie V 2.0…The same hardware but much upgraded software and I promise it is a lot more user friendly !!

BBCraze: Any last words?

I would like to just say thanks to all of the fans out there, you are the reason Big Brother rocks so hardcore! Anyone who is able to, please support your local high schools theatre and speech and debate programs. These are wonderful programs that enable young people to become very loquacious and confident.

Also I will be attending the Toys 4 Tots in New Hampshire this December 4-7 with a lot of other houseguests. I also will soon be selling Ronnie theme t-shirts, etc on my own website. Details will be coming soon and you can follow me on twitter – @rjrobot or facebook – www.facebook.com/BB11Ronnie. Thanks for having me do the interview and thanks for reading !

BBCraze: Thanks so much, Ronnie! I appreciate the time you’ve taken to answer our questions!

Alright BBCrazies – Got comments? Have at it, and who knows, maybe Ronnie will stop by and answer any additional questions you might have!

PS – Other BB11 houseguests! We want to hear from YOU! If you’re willing to do an interview with us – please drop me a line at lessasdesign[at]gmail.com!

Category: Big Brother 11, Interviews by Lessa