Big Brother’s house is open once more! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will be bringing you interviews with houseguests as they get evicted from the game.

A week and a half ago, Nick Maccarone thought he had the last laugh on the house. After losing his closest allies, the New Jersey therapist had survived the past few weeks by playing all sides. But Taco Tuesday turned terrible for Nick, as Christie Murphy outed his game to the rest of the house and made him public enemy number one. A week later, the houseguests hit him in the face with a unanimous vote, as the Prankster prepared to join the jury house.

Nick was quick to make connections at the beginning of the game, becoming part of the “Gr8ful” alliance and starting a romantic connection with Bella Wang. But the duo’s double-dealing began to wear on their allies, and they decided to move forward with six instead of eight. Despite Nicole Anthony’s warnings, Nick and Bella were blind to the intentions of the “Six Shooters” group. They blindsided the two with the eviction of Cliff Hogg III, then took out Bella and Sam Smith. Nick was now left without his closest allies, neither bird nor bush.

The jury phase proved to be more favorable for Nick, with the Six Shooters breaking apart with suspicions about Holly Allen and Jackson Michie. He attempted to slip into the shadows as new rivalries brewed, promising his loyalties everywhere. But his game soon came into the light, as Christie outed his duplicity in a heated dinnertime confrontation. She accused him of being shady, forming an alliance of six and then declining to help them the very next week. Nick hit his boiling point with the boutique owner, while Christie’s words hit Jackson and Holly. They decided to target Nick for excluding them from his deal, keeping Christie as an asset. America then gave Nick the power to choose the nominee sitting next to him. But despite using the Prankster twist to exact some revenge on Christie, Nick’s target was no laughing matter, as his time was finally up.

Now out of the house, Nick talks with Parade.com about being transparent with his gameplay, who he would have targeted had he stayed, and his thoughts on the friends and enemies left in the house.

You had an up and down relationship with the Gr8ful alliance, nearly nominating them during your HoH and them surprising you by evicting Cliff. What were your thoughts on that group in those first few weeks?

Looking back, I am happy that I did not nominate them during my HoH. However, at that time, I did not believe that what Nicole was telling Bella and me was true. Little did I know, they were very skeptical of my gameplay, even though I was extremely transparent with them of what I was doing. The whole blindside on my own HoH was shady and I straight-up told them I thought it was a scummy move. They told me they were “hinting” to me throughout the week that Cliff was the bigger threat. But if they really wanted him gone, all they had to do was tell me that, and I would have been on board. There was a time in that week where Tommy said, “Now we have to get out Nicole because she pretty much knows everyone in our alliance now.” Good joke, Tommy, good joke.

You played both sides of the house for a portion of time but eventually outed your loyalties. How difficult was it to balance playing both sides while trying to maintain a good reputation?

You have no idea how uncomfortable and difficult it was to balance playing both sides of the house. I know on the outside, and from other players’ viewpoints, I was in a great position. But it was so hard to continually convince them I was loyal to people on both sides and not playing them. I had to be transparent toward them so they knew exactly what I was doing. It was great gameplay if you ask me. I was juggling so well until Christie decided to be jealous and blow up my game.

Did Christie putting you in the spotlight on Taco Tuesday affect the way you played the game or handled individual relationships?

Speak of the Devil! The Taco Tuesday fight was not what buried my game. She had told me earlier in the week that she was essentially going to out my game to everyone during her campaign speeches. I figured that I would have a better shot at blowing it up in front of everyone where I could defend myself than for her to lie and manipulate people’s perspective of me going forward. However, it did not help my relationships with Michie and Holly. It essentially secured me going up on the block when Holly won the next week. It also strained my relationship with Cliff. I should not have had to answer to what I would have done in hypothetical situations, but that was my fault for entertaining them in the first place. I take responsibility for that one.

Why did you choose not to tell anyone about you being the Prankster until after you made your nomination?

So I had two options. One, which is the one I chose, was to trust that if I put Christie up, I would have three votes. Two was to go up to three different individuals, tell them I was the Prankster and that if they did not want to go up on the block this week, they would have to vote to keep me if I went up. The reason I went with option one was for two reasons. Tommy had told me during the previous week that if I were sitting next to Christie, he would vote her out over me. And Cliff had told me right before the HoH competition that Christie was his target. I also already knew that I would have Nicole’s vote going forward. So I figured based off what I was told that I had three votes secured and I did not need to let anyone know that I was the Prankster.

You nominated Christie as the Prankster, after an emotional week of the two of you targeting each other. What are your thoughts on her?

It is hard for me to respect the game that she is playing. She was the one that planted the seed that Jack was going to backdoor her. She said she would not have used the Diamond Power of Veto on Jack or Michie. She stated that she did not want to go to six with showmances, that she did not respect Michie, and that Nicole would take a shot at Jack going forward. Additionally, and most importantly, she admitted that she was jealous of the position that I was in. She decided not only to blow up my game, but negatively affect Tommy, Sis, and Nicole’s game, with two of the three being her supposed “best friends.” It was dirty gameplay, in my opinion, and something that I do not respect. But on the flip side, she is amazing at lying and deflecting her lies during confrontations, which is part of the reason she has been able to stay in the game so long.

You promised Jackson and Holly you would be a loyal soldier for them moving forward if you had stayed. Had you survived the eviction, who would you have targeted?

If I had survived eviction, I would have nominated Tommy and Jessica. Tommy’s game is starting to frustrate me. He continues to vote based off of “what the house or HoH wants” instead of being loyal to people that were loyal back like Jack, Sis, or me. I would not have minded if he took himself down off the block, but it would have been a reality check that he needed to get himself together and stop pretending to be loyal when it was only convenient. Jessica would have sat next to him because she is not as big of a threat, so he would have possibly gone home. And if he did take himself off the block, she would still be good to go. By the way, how the hell did Jackson and Holly not take that offer?

On that note, what do you think about the moment Tommy approached you admitting he couldn’t vote for you to stay?

Tommy is doing what is convenient for him. Don’t get me wrong, he is trustworthy and loyal. But when it comes to the most important time of the week, which would be a vote, he is nowhere to be found. I thought Tommy had my back. If Sam had gotten nominated and the Prankster nominated Tommy, I would have never made that deal with Tommy that I would vote for him because I was scared I would be a replacement nominee. It was a cop-out by Tommy, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. Not very good jury management if you ask me.

You worked closely with Nicole for the past few weeks. What are your thoughts on her?

Absolutely love and adore Nicole. She is so loyal. I never had to ever worry about her vote or where her head was at. I told her not to vote for me this week once I realized I was not going to have enough votes because it would have hurt her chances going forward. I told her to link up with Jackson and Holly because Holly is really someone that can be trusted in this game and it will serve her for protection. At this point, Nicole has not done enough for me to win this game. But if she can pull a couple of competition wins together and get to the end, she will definitely have a chance to win depending on who she sits next too. I will be rooting for her at the jury house, and I hope that I do not see her again until finale night. Go Nugget!