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

Big Brother is often compared to a marathon, but the game can still be lost in the first couple of weeks. While getting used to living in a house with 15 strangers and being on camera 24/7, it can be a challenge to stay on everyone’s good side, especially in a game where power can change hands so quickly. Chris “Swaggy C” Williams entered the house with a plan, personality and a pseudonym and accumulated power early on. But a series of blindsides turned Swaggy’s game saggy, as his shocking backdoor by former ally Kaitlyn Herman sent him out of the house, back to day trading and swimming lessons.

Swaggy C had a bold goal in the pre-season. He wanted to win the first couple of competitions, then fall back under the radar. When the house was divided to compete for a spot in a Safety Challenge, he saw his opportunity. After winning his heat, he felt the heat from the other houseguests, giving them “death stares” despite the warnings of Bayleigh Dalton. Perhaps that gave him the focus he needed to win the final round of the Safety Competition. With safety came power. He was able to choose two move-in groups to keep safe for the week, giving half the house immunity in one fell swoop. All had been going according to plan until Swaggy started to deviate from his strategy—he went back on his promise to keep Angela Rummans safe and became part of one of the first alliances of the season when he joined FOUTTE. He was also part of the first “showmance” of Big Brother 20, when his sibling-like relationship with Bayleigh turned salacious.

While Swaggy thought he had the game on lock, one man was watching his every move through his mane of blonde hair—Head of Household Tyler Crispen. He hatched a plan to oust the man with the plan, using information Swaggy had told him in confidence along with a bit of jealousy toward Haleigh and Faysal Shafaat to get life coach Kaitlyn to turn on FOUTTE serving as the swing vote to get Steve Arienta out of the Big Brother bath (and leaving Swaggy and Baleigh visually shellshocked). But when Kaitlyn won the next Head of Household competition, things got more complicated. She wanted to maintain secrecy about her turncoat status and played the part of the loyal ally, initially nominating Winston and Scottie Salton. When Tyler suggested they backdoor Swaggy, she initially was receptive to the idea, but then became flighty, not wanting to turn so quickly on her friends. After Tyler won the veto and used it on Scottie, Kaitlyn decided to pull the trigger and, through sobs, sent her former ally to the block, once again blindsiding him. With his branded T-shirts now sitting against the nomination chair, Swaggy made emotional pleas to Sam, Tyler and Kaitlyn, talking about his vulnerabilities and his desire to make it to the jury with Baleigh. But it ultimately fell on deaf ears; while his former FOUTTEs and Bayleigh voted to keep him, the rest of the house (including Scottie, adding some insult to injury by casting his vote wearing a “Swaggy C” T-shirt) ended Swaggy’s braggy game.

Now out of the house, Swaggy talks with Parade about whether his pre-eviction pleas were sincere, who he was planning to take to the end, and his reaction to not getting a Power App.

You’ve had almost 12 hours to process your eviction. How are you feeling today?

Still the same energy. Still pissed, still don’t know what the hell happened, still don’t know who’s in what alliance. Nothing has changed, even though it’s been 12 hours. Still upset about this whole thing.

I want to start at the end. In your eviction speech, you essentially said that the house sucked for not playing the game. What were your intentions behind those statements?

Before the eviction, I sat down with people individually and let them know they were on people’s radars. Those weren’t lies, that was actually the truth. When I was in the house, I withheld the information. But since my back was against the wall, I felt like I needed to tell everybody individually how people were coming after them. In my speech, I laid it out that people are doing nothing this game. They go outside, they tan, they look cute for TV, and then they make it far in this game. I’m actually playing. People promise safety when they haven’t won a single competition yet. I’ve won two out of the four I’ve been in, so I can actually promise you safety. I wanted to make everybody see that and try to swing some votes.

That interestingly contrasts with the pitches you were making to Sam, Kaitlyn and Tyler, where you were playing up more of the emotional angle. Were those pleas sincere?

Nothing I told Kaitlyn, Tyler and Sam was sincere. I knew I had to pull on those people’s hearts specifically if I was ever going to change them. The whole “Swaggy C” thing is not a persona; it’s who I am. But [Sam] thought it was a persona, so I had to play to what she thought and act like, “It’s just a cover-up. I’m really Christopher.” No! Chris is Swaggy C. With Kaitlyn and Tyler, I knew Kaitlyn loves to love, so I had to play up the whole, “I just want to make jury with Bayleigh.” But I didn’t care about that at all. My goal was to say that so they could keep me this week, and then next time I won a HoH, get that out. I wanted them to say, “OK, let’s just keep him to the jury and then get him out.” If they did that, they’d forget there are three weeks until jury, and one of those HoHs I would have won and they would have gone home. All of those were strategic moves; I wasn’t serious in any of them.

Let’s backtrack to the beginning of the game. You mentioned winning the first two competitions right off the bat. Looking back, do you regret coming on too strong?

No. Who’s to say I would have made it to Week 2 if I didn’t win? Eight people were saved, meaning [I] would have to play in the Deletion Dot contest, where it wasn’t about how good you were, it was about how much of a threat you were because people eliminated you. Considering I would have been eliminated first, I would have had to fight for my life on the block. I had to do what I had to do to control what I control. I didn’t go home because I won the two competitions. I went home because of a petty argument with Kaitlyn and Tyler got in her ear about it. If I would have gone home because of Angela, Brett or Winston thinking I’m a strong threat; I can live with that. But I can’t live with the fact that my own alliance member did that to me.

After you win your heat, you come off as a bit intense to your fellow houseguests, which Baleigh cautions you against. You understand her message, but you still choose to send “death stares” to your competitors. Did that just come from your sense of competition?

When it’s time to compete, you get into game mode. When Bayleigh looked out for me and said people saw me as a threat and I was coming off too strong, I was going to take that into consideration moving forward. But at the end of the day, I still had to win one more competition against Angela, which I wasn’t going to throw. If they thought I was going to be a threat based off of the first competition, I had to win the second one. If I didn’t, then I probably would be on the block.

Tyler wins the HoH and FOUTTE forms. Did you realize at the moment that you were coming off as the alliance’s leader as much as you were?

No. FOUTTE is the dumbest alliance name ever, and I said that when we first made it. I didn’t even like it originally! I didn’t realize I was coming off as the leader until people started referring to my group as “Swaggy’s side.” That’s why, in the Diary Room, I was saying, “Oh, I’m the mastermind.” I kept hearing, “It’s Swaggy’s side.” I didn’t think I was the leader until I started hearing it.

Why do you think you were viewed as the leader so unanimously?

It was [partly] my personality, which is very large. On top of that, I won two competitions and made the first decision of the summer, choosing eight people to be safe. Once they saw all of that, and I made the decision of how to walk around and carry myself, they were like, “OK, Swaggy’s clearly a leader. His presence is always clearly felt, so we’re looking to him as either a leader or a threat.”

Speaking toward your big personality, you had a frustrated reaction to not receiving a Power App last round. What were your thoughts behind that result?

I think the whole thing is idiotic. I said millions of times that it’s based on a questionnaire. I could be the most trending guy on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube; my name could be everywhere over one person. But if my name isn’t entered in the questionnaire, then I’m not trending. I could be tweeted about a million times, and the person who won the Power App got tweeted about maybe 5,000 times. But if their name was used more in the questionnaire, they win it. That’s just idiotic to me. I didn’t get it, so I was pissed off. Sam got the power, and she was a robot all week. You’re not telling me people in America are talking more about a robot than Swaggy. I was upset and beside myself.

I want to get your thoughts on some of the people left in the game. Let’s start with Bayleigh. What was it about her that made her such a good partner for you?

She’s trustworthy, and she showed that she cared about me, and it wasn’t just game-related. She cared about the features of my life and making sure I woke up on time, ate the right foods, cutting my bad habits like biting my nails. That was the biggest thing that drew me close to her. It wasn’t just game; it was real life.

In retrospect, do you feel you may have spent too much time with her and not enough with the rest of the house socializing?

No. Like I said, I didn’t go home for that. If I went home because I was in a showmance, then I can go back and say yes. But I went home over a little, stupid argument. So if I was going home, I was going to spend as much time with her as possible. But I didn’t go home because of Bayleigh; that wasn’t even public information.

What about Faysal? I know Winston and Brett have been marketed as the “bromance” of the season, but you guys have a close relationship as well.

Aside from Bayleigh, Fessy was my No. 1 in the house. I trusted him 100%.

If things had gone perfectly and you stuck around, would you have ideally liked to go to the end with the two of them?

At the end of the day, I only cared about three people in the game: Bayleigh, Fess, and Haleigh. Everybody else was expendable at that point. Had I stayed this week and Scottie was the HoH, I would have been safe with him, even though he didn’t give me his vote. The next HoH in Week 4 would have been an endurance comp; Fess and I would have cooked everybody. If I had just gotten past this first week, it would have been smooth sailing the next couple of weeks. I would have never turned on Fess or Bayleigh. If it came down to the Final 3 with Fess and Bayleigh, I would have chosen Bayleigh. But I was never going to turn on [them].

Speaking of Scottie, how did you react to finding out not only did he vote to evict you, but he also did it wearing one of your shirts?

[Laughs.] He’s ruthless, man! He wore my shirt and voted me out. That is crazy, but in the game it’s smart. Nobody would have suspected him because he walked around wearing a Swaggy C shirt, so why would he vote Swaggy C out? I realized that when I laid in bed last night. I said, “OK, Julie [Chen] said Haleigh voted [with] me, and it wasn’t Rockstar who flipped, it had to be Scottie.” I realized that last night before anybody confirmed it.

Does that affect the way you view him, or does it translate more into respect for making that move?

It’s more respect. At the end of the day, it was out of his control. Scottie tried all week to keep me safe. Once he couldn’t, then he had to save himself. There’s no ill will against Scottie. Scottie’s cool, he’ll be with me after the show. Tyler and Kaitlyn, I hold ill will towards. But I knew [Scottie] had to do what he had to do. If it was a 6-6 vote, and Scottie was the one who voted [against] me, I’d be pissed off. But at that point, it was 7-4, and he just had to flip to the other side.

Let’s talk about those two you just mentioned. I noticed that, in his goodbye message, he tried to talk about the Level 6 alliance–

I don’t know who’s in that alliance. That’s a thing?

So it was him, Winston, Brett, Angela, Kaycee, and Rachel. Plus JC and now Kaitlyn as plus ones.

There’s like eight people in that alliance! It’s not Level 6. [Laughs.]

[Laughs.] So I saw that, while Tyler was talking about this alliance, you were looking off and seemed to dismiss him when Julie asked you about him. Was that because it was his plan to put you up?

100%. When I walked into the house, I realized there was a difference between the game and personal. If it was Angela or anyone else who got me out, I could look them in the eye and shake their hand. But the fact that countless times, Tyler looked at me and swore to me. Both of our dads died in the same way on the same year, and we were born three hours apart. [But then] I find out he’s plotting against me. I don’t respect that at all. That completely went way past the game.

What about Kaitlyn? She was the one who not only flipped on her alliance with you, but backdoored you.

Don’t like her either. She’s easily persuaded, and she doesn’t make her own decisions. I don’t plan on having a relationship with her after this [seaosn] is over. I don’t relate to her at all. She’ll probably be out soon because Scottie’s the HoH, so we’ll see how that goes. But I don’t plan on talking to her or Tyler.

As you said, Scottie is the new HoH. Who do you think is the most in danger at this moment, and who do you believe is positioned to go far?

Kaitlyn is in immediate trouble. Not just because she got me out, but because Scottie won HoH, and she put Scottie up last week. Before Kaitlyn was HoH, her and Scottie were going around saying if they won HoH, they would put each other up. Kaitlyn did her part, now Scottie will put her up and give her a chance to play in the Veto. And she probably won’t win, and will probably be on the block come eviction night. Now, he probably won’t put her up against a threat; he’ll probably put her up against JC or Kaycee, somebody small, and stay between both sides. I think Bayleigh’s sitting good right now. Her boyfriend’s gone, so everybody may be sympathizing with her. Also, she’s safe with Scottie. Next week is the endurance comp, and I think Fess will win it and she’ll be 100% safe [with him]. I think she’ll be alright.