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.

Big Al the Alien certainly made an impression in the Big Brother house. Throughout his time there, he was controlling and condescending, earning a negative reputation. It only fits that his victim was Jack Matthews. What the videographer and personal trainer experienced for 24 hours he arguably instilled in the house for over 50 days. After weeks of being in power, his wave crashed this past week, and the Jason Momoa lookalike was hung out to dry.

Jack hit the ground running, forming a slew of alliances across the house. The most vital was “Gr8ful” (and the “Six Shooters” within them), which held control for the first month of the game. While their stature grew, so did Jack’s head. His insistence on targeting Kemi Faknule both strategically and personally wore on his alliance, especially Christie Murphy. The attitude was not helped by his initiative for the house to disregard those in “Camp Comeback”, which included Kemi and personal target Ovi Kabir. But despite his behavior, Jack was sitting in a pretty position. He had close partnerships with Jackson Michie and Analyse Talavera, and a tight trio with Christie and Tommy Bracco.

Then came Day 44. When Jackson told Jack about Holly Allen and Kathryn Dunn knowing each other outside of the house, he took that information to Tommy. Shocked at the reveal, the two tried to plan a last-minute flip to evict Kat. Though their gambit didn’t go through, the intention still hung through the air, leaving Jackson crushed at his bro’s betrayal. When outsider Jessica Milagros won HoH, she exacted some revenge on Jack, who had nominated her back during his reign in the robe. Despite not winning the Space Camp Veto, he still figured the stars were aligned for him, as Jackson had become the house pariah. But the underdogs had different plans, as they banded together with Holly to let Jack start filling up shaker bottles in the jury house.

Now out of the game, Jack talks with Parade about what inspired his strategy and behavior in the first few weeks, his wavering trust in Christie, and his reaction to being confronted about his statements inside the house.

You started the game forming several alliances, including Gr8ful and the Six Shooters. What encouraged you to be that aggressive out of the gate?

From watching last season, it seemed as though making alliances in the first few days is what held throughout the season. And that longevity, rather than quality, is what stood at the end of the day. It turns out, I was wrong.

You were not afraid to speak your mind on some issues, like suggesting not to talk strategy with the members of Camp Comeback and confronting Kemi about putting her shaker bottle in the fridge. Were you ever afraid you were sticking your neck out too far?

I would have rather stuck my neck out than build resentments. I think resenting people and not communicating in life leads to more conflict. However, you learn this house runs on a different format than life and that maintaining a level opinion about something, which can sometimes be as easy as refrigerator etiquette, may be a better game plan.

Speaking of Kemi, you certainly had your disagreements, and you also did not have much regard for Ovi or David. Why did you feel that way?

On Day 2, Kemi mentioned to someone comments that I made to Michie. They seemed to be in a judgmental fashion, judging what I said about Jackson and his cooking. Looking back at it, I should have confronted Kemi immediately and asked why she said those things. But I just talked about building resentment, and I did just that. On the other hand is Ovi, who perhaps is one of the most stand-up, bright, gentlemen I will ever meet. I was under the impression he was building alliances elsewhere and was playing a multisided game, and I was very true to the alliances I had made in my early days.

You ended up revealing what Jackson told you about Kat and Holly to the others before Sam’s eviction. Why did you choose to disclose that, and what prompted you to want to flip and risk your alliance fracturing?

I had been battling with the information that Michie was giving to me earlier all that week, which was information that was incriminating Christie. It led me to believe that Jackson could have been manipulating my game. When I told Tommy, Tommy got excited, and the wheels got rolling. From there, it was a machine that couldn’t be stopped, and everything happened so fast. It’s hard for me even to explain what happened from there. Looking back, it seems that what Michie had told me was mostly true, which is unfortunate because I should have trusted him. It’s a decision I have to live with and stand by, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it once or twice.

As part of your pitch this week, you threatened to throw Kat under the bus by outing her as a spy for the Six Shooters. Why did you choose that tactic?

The tactic I originally had was to offer Cliff immunity for a certain amount of time in the game. Tommy came up with the idea withholding information over her head to have her influence the other side of the house to vote Jackson for eviction. It turned out that when I offered Cliff his deal, it seemed like it was much more enticing to him, which made me postpone that Kat plan. It turns out Cliff was playing me the whole time and wasn’t even remotely interested. But in a last-ditch effort, I did bring up to Kat that it was a possibility that Michie could bring it up, and that I tried to form an alliance with her. But in all honesty, from the jump, I wasn’t a big fan of using blackmail to better myself in the game.

If you had survived, would you have kept that promise of safety that you offered Cliff?

100%. Cliff is an incredible game player, and I would have been honored to play alongside him.

While Christie was one of your tightest allies going into this week, you were telling others that you no longer trusted her. Talk to me about your relationship.

I fell for Christie within the first five days of this game. Our personalities meshed, and she reminded me a lot of a really good friend I have. It made me really want to trust her. Coming out of the Six Shooters fallout and finding out that most of Michie’s information actually was correct, I began to connect dots and find out that Christie was playing a double-sided game. In trying to move forward in the game, I attempted to form new connections to stay alive. Though I did trust Christie, I struggled to trust her down the line in the game. Outside of this house, I can’t wait to hang out with her. She’s awesome.

You came out of the house to see Julie address some of your more controversial comments. Did that take you by surprise?

Yes and no. At the time, I did not believe my comments were controversial. As far as the first statement with Kemi [where I threatened to “stomp a mudhole” in her chest], in retrospect, that was an ignorant statement. At the time and in the moment, I thought that phrase was expressing frustration. But I can see now how that could be seen as an aggressive statement. As far as Bella, [where I referenced her with the term “rice pudding,] when I had made that statement, it had no correlation to her ethnicity. Knowing coming out of it that it has been tied into that, I will never be able to apologize enough for the interpretation that was given upon what I said.

The reference to what I said was based on comments earlier in the evening. Tommy, Christie, Michie, and Kat were on the slop diet. Recipes were being created of all different sorts, and pudding was a new dessert that was brought up. A rice style pudding that was actually slop pudding. Looking back at it, with now the mentioning of Bella and the rice pudding, I never made a connection until I came out of the house. I am incredibly sorry to Bella if she was offended in any shape or form, as well as anybody else that was offended by my statement at the time.