(Courtesy of CBS)

Celebrity Big Brother has hit the scene! After every eviction, Parade’s Mike Bloom interviews the latest celebrity to leave the Big Brother house.

“Big Brother is about having relationships, pivoting, and winning when your butt is on the line.” These were words for television host Ross Mathews to live by. A Big Brother superfan to the extent of touting how his head can be seen in the audience for the show’s very first season, he felt he had known the game well enough to follow these rules and wind up $250,000 richer. Indeed, Ross seemed to run his game by these commandments, be socially fluid enough to make connections with everyone in the house, consistently making deals and jumping to who was currently in power, and even winning multiple crucial challenges when those other tactics had failed him. But while those are his rules for Big Brother, they may not be everybody’s, especially those who made up the jury that voted between him and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Ross’s betrayals of his former allies had caught up to him, as six of the jurors chose to give Marissa a BB award trophy to put next to her Tony Award, making the RuPaul’s Drag Race judge a lovely first alternate. Ross certainly did not walk away empty-handed, though, as he won not only the $50,000 runner-up prize but also $25,000 from being crowned “America’s Favorite Houseguest” (a distinction that, as he’ll tell me below, was more important to him than the actual win).

Ross came into the house ready to weaponize his warm personality and become a “Care Bear.” When the house began to divide down gender lines, Ross found himself nearly immediately playing up his strategy of becoming that stuffed animal that everyone goes to for comfort. As a result, he got brought into the women’s alliance with some aid from his friend outside the house Brandi Glanville and his growing bond with fellow superfans Marissa and Shannon Elizabeth. But Ross did not feel warmed by all members of the group, as Omarosa had inferred he was at at the bottom of the totem pole. That gave him more initiative to make a move happen, and when Shannon came to him with a plan to keep house target James Maslow and blindside pawn Chuck Liddell instead, he jumped on the opportunity. Ross then found himself ascending further up the ladder as he laid down some strikes in the Head of Household competition, and decided to strike in turn at Omarosa and Keshia Knight Pulliam. But this season continued to prove that plans can change by the day. Brandi and Ariadna Gutierrez began to convince Ross that Shannon was growing too close to James and, having won the first two competitions, was far too big a threat to keep in any longer. Now he was faced with his first major decision: go through with a suggested plan of backdooring Shannon, or stick to the status quo? The deck seemed stacked for the poker player to go out until Keshia requested to leave, putting everything on hold. But the timeout was temporary, as Ariadna’s win in the next HoH competition had them finally carry out their scheme to fruition. Shannon was sent out of the house, feeling particularly betrayed by Ross, who had told her before leaving that he was truly supporting her the entire time.

Ross breathed a sigh of relief that his alliance’s plan to take out a threat had finally succeeded. But little did he know the hammers were being prepared to take down the next nail: Ross himself. Omarosa sat tight to become the next HoH, and aimed to throw a grenade in the middle of the tight foursome of Ross, Marissa, Brandi, and Ariadna by nominating Ross and Brandi. Ross was clearly her primary target, but he took the spotlight off himself by winning a clutch special Spotlight Veto. He had earned the America-inducted power to remove one or two people from the block, but the ability ended up null and void when Metta World Peace asked to be put up and sent out of the house. In the meantime, James and Mark McGrath were fearing a resurgence of the women’s alliance and solidified a “Roomie Squad” alliance with Ross and Marissa. With Ross now in alliance with everyone except his worst enemy, who would not be eligible for Head of Household, though Ross put up his shaky performance in the next competition, his place was anything but. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of multiple alliances is that there comes a time when one must prioritize, and those moments came during this season’s Double Eviction. First, having to choose between his “ride or die” Marissa and his legitimate friend Brandi, he said, “Caber-nay” to the wine lover and sent Brandi out. The next cycle felt like deja vu; Omarosa got into power, put up Ross to get him out, and Ross’s fake painting spotting in the Veto competition proved he was the real deal. With James now sitting next to Marissa, Ross was the pivotal vote and chose to squash the Roomie Squad. Now with the end in sight and a possible avalanche of a catastrophe building behind him, he tried his best to navigate the BB slopes nimbly. First, he bargained his way to HoH, promising Mark that he would be completely safe. Winning power for the second time, he put up Omarosa and Ariadna to break up the pair of new allies. His Big Brother knowledge then paid off when he and Marissa crushed the typical days competition, guaranteeing he would see some more days himself. He chose not to use the Veto, and with Omarosa finally out of the house, his place in the finals was all but inevitable. You see since he knew he was safe while HoH, he had gone to Marissa, Mark, and Ariadna, who all affirmed to him that they would want to take him to the finals. But if he had his druthers, he would have picked Mark, echoing the rock star’s earlier anxieties that the women’s alliance could seek to reward one of their own in the end. The element of choice slipped out of his hands when Marissa won the final Head of Household, but she chose to honor their tight relationship and seemed set on essentially giving him the win. But the jury had a different story; though Ross had done an impeccable job of maintaining some relationships and alliances, some felt burned by him breaking said alliances and voting them out. Ross tried in his jury questioning to explain the moves he had to make, and he earned the votes of Mark, Brandi, and Metta as a result. But everyone else regarded his game as too hairy, and instead opted for the Hairspray veteran in Marissa to take the first ever Celebrity Big Brother title.

Now out of the house, Ross talks with me about why he feels like he didn’t truly lose, how he was able to navigate relationships so well, and what Arnold Schwarzenegger movie reminds him of him and Marissa.

So it’s safe to say it was an up and down night for you, culminating with you losing the jury vote, but winning America’s Favorite Houseguest. Now that some time has passed, how are you feeling?

Oh my God, I am so happy. There’s no negativity at all here. I could not be happier; I really couldn’t. Winning was going to be tough because the jurors could see the game the entire time. Once they were kicked out of the house, they weren’t sequestered. I just knew I wanted to play my strongest, best game ever. My goal was final four; anything else was frosting. I’m over the moon.

On that note, in my interview with Marissa, she said that between the two of you, you were playing Big Brother, while she was playing Celebrity Big Brother. What do you think about that?

I think she’s absolutely right. But I had no interest in playing Celebrity Big Brother. If I was going to come into the Big Brother house and play a game that I’ve loved since season one, episode one, I was going to play hard. I was going to play like any other superfan who won the golden ticket. I just expected some of the other celebrities to understand the rules! To take it not so personally.

Were than any jury votes in particular that you were surprised with?

No, I couldn’t control anything that the jurors did, so I let it go. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. I just knew that I played a great game, a strong game, and my game. Whatever they do, they did, and I was happy with [it].

Going into your final two speech a bit, you seemed to soften your approach, saying you didn’t necessarily tell lies but more so pivoted. Then, after the votes were read, you said something along the lines of, “This is Big Brother! You’re supposed to lie and cheat!” Looking back, do you think if you had taken more of that approach, that could have possibly helped you?

I don’t think so. I think they were pretty dead set in their ways. The women’s alliance was all about having a female winner. Historically, juries are sensitive and vote with their feelings as opposed to the best game player. I think celebrities and their fragile egos might be more susceptible to that than any other jury. (Laughs.) I just had to play my game, be proud of what I did, and stand behind it. It doesn’t matter how they voted, to me. The most important thing I could win was America’s Favorite Player. That to me says the audience was watching and the fans got what I was trying to do in the house. That was what was so important to me. So when I won that, I knew I was golden.

You had deals to go to the finals with everybody in the final four. Was there another person you wish you were sitting next to who you felt you can have stood a better chance against?

Listen, I didn’t have final two deals with all of them. They just all agreed to take me to the final two. (Laughs.) The only one who I said I would take to the final two was Mark. And I don’t if I even wanted to test that, because it would have been very hard to tell Marissa, “No, I’m not going to bring you to the final two.” But I didn’t have a final two agreement with each one. I just asked them who they’d bring, and they all said me. And I said, “Thank you!”

Let’s talk about your strategy of playing all sides of the house. Was that something you came into the house ready to do, or did it happen organically?

The answer to both questions is yes. My strategy was to have relationships with anybody so that I could, at any time. However the structure shifted, find a safe landing. That’s just the absolute truth. But it’s also my nature, just to have relationships with everybody. The relationships I had, the personal ones, were all legitimate and strategic.

Do you feel like that could have been a double-edged sword, though? For example, with Shannon, you told her that you were on her side and said she would see when she watched the tapes back home. But then she went on to see that you were planning to backdoor her only a few days earlier. Do you a potential consequence of being so personal and relationship-heavy is that it can come back to bite you when you betray them?

There are negative points to any strategy. If you’re totally upfront with people, they’re going to kick you out of the house because they don’t trust you. That’s the ironic part. But if you go behind their backs, they won’t know now to trust you. (Laughs.) This is just a game, and some of them are taking it more personally than others. It surprises me when superfans of this show are shocked and horrified by somebody simply playing the game. If I were a doctor, I would prescribe them a chill pill.

(Laughs.) Well speaking towards your superfandom, let’s talk about your knowledge of the game. Do you feel like being such a big fan helped or hurt you overall?

It absolutely helped me! Listen, you’re talking like I lost. I came in second and won America’s Player. I did not lose anything in this game, I won! So I am thrilled. The only thing that got me to the finale, and quite frankly, what got Marissa to the final two, is my knowledge of this game.

One of the downsides of playing all sides is that there’s a chance you’ll get caught easily. There were a few times you got back into the corner by Omarosa in particular, but you were able to work your way out of it. How do you avoid getting found out when you play that style of game?

I didn’t have one. I just thought, “Hey, it’s a short season. Let’s see what I can get away with.” And I thought, “I can play both sides for a while, and if the power structure ever shifts where one side gets all the numbers, I’ll go that way. Then the other side will have fewer numbers, so they can’t come after me.” The truth is that I had everybody in the loop too. Nobody was shocked with what was going on. I was in an alliance with Brandi, Ari, and Marissa telling them about my other alliance with James, Mark, and Marissa! (Laughs.) They all knew about each other. Except for Shannon. They were in the loop; it wasn’t a big secret in the house.

Let’s talk about your choice of alliance members in Marissa. Brandi said at the finale she’s surprised you two weren’t friends in real life. What was it about her that made her such an appealing partner in crime?

We just shared a brain. I knew that she was loyal to me to the end. She proved it. In this game, I think you need a ride or die who will always be a number for you if you ever find yourself in peril and who you can run ideas by. Opportunities would present themselves, and I would think, “We should do this!” I’d run it by Marissa, and she’s either go “Okay!” or “No way.” If I couldn’t convince her of it, then I knew it was probably a horrible idea. But Marissa and I are going to be friends forever after this. We live two miles from each other. I feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in Twins. We just found each other! “Oh, there we are!”

I can’t wait for the photo opportunity, then! What do you think was your biggest move in the house?

My biggest move was allying with James and Mark to secure my vote and sticking with them, even when Brandi didn’t go home because I won the Veto and we sent Metta home instead. I had positioned myself to be okay after Brandi’s exit. In fact, I would have picked sides then. But when she stuck around, I still had to sort of dance in between for a while. But securing those votes then was big. But the biggest move, I think, was saving myself from the block both times when I was on and winning three out of the four final competitions.

As a diehard fan who has now lived the experience, how are you now viewing the Big Brother franchise?

I always thought the game was entertaining as hell as a social experiment. But my respect for anyone who has not only won but played the game is significantly higher now. What you don’t see when you’re watching the edited show is [the toll the free time] takes on you, the crushing, the soulless boredom. (Laughs.) [You’d sit] for six hours at a time in a room with nothing to do, nothing to read, nothing to look at, no one to talk to. Because they have to shut things down for challenges. There are days where you’re sitting in a room alone staring at a wall for five or six hours. It’s tough; it is tough to keep your head in the game and not go crazy.

On that note, is there anything you can recommend to people who are looking to play the game? Would you advise your strategy for any future houseguests?

If you’re playing a traditional Big Brother game where the jury is sequestered, play as I played it and you’ll win.

Any final thoughts on your Big Brother experience?

I had the most fun. I relished every second of getting to play my favorite game. And I can promise you one thing: I’ll never do it again. (Laughs.) I have checked that box, and I don’t go in reverse, honey.