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 house.

The Big Brother house can often be a whirlwind, going from highs to lows almost instantaneously. But it’s safe to say nobody has had a more eventful first 24 hours in the house than Cameron Heard. The microbiologist and superfan wanted to play his game like a long-seeded chess match, but found himself in checkmate quickly due to a series of twist-filled temptations that befell the houseguests on the first night.

The temptations began as Cameron and his fellow houseguests stepped into suspended pods, where host Julie Chen offered the first person to buzz in $25,000, in exchange for unleashing the first twist into the house. Several houseguests took the bait (with stay-at-home dad and malapropism factory Kevin Schlehuber earning the money ultimately), but their cost was the return of Big Brother 18 runner-up, fan favorite and catchphrase machine Paul Abrahamian. In exchange, Paul would end up taking someone’s place at the end of the night in the first ever “Big Brother Swap.” Julie next instructed the houseguests to make their best pitch to Paul, who would provide half of them with safety in the form of friendship bracelets, but Cameron’s attempts at friendship only ended with him pissed, as Paul seems to have never cared about his offer. Cameron then played in his first (and ultimately last) competition, which he purposely threw in order to not seem threatening, but found himself holding a poison apple due to a momentary lapse in memory. He looked snow white as he sat next to Christmas Abbott and Jillian Parker on the nomination block, especially after they outvoted him in asking the eviction be by house majority, rather than competition. In the end, Heard’s attempts at herding votes (including an effort at an erotic dance) were for naught, as eight houseguests showed his behind to the door.

If it seems like a lot to handle all at once, that sentiment clearly showed on Cameron’s face as he exited the Big Brother house in a much earlier position than he anticipated (and certainly earlier than previous winners and fellow nerds Ian Terry and Steve Moses, who Cameron had claimed he was better than). Looking to make history, he has joined the few in recent memory who have succumbed to leaving in the first couple of days, including season 14’s Jodi Rollins and season 18’s Glenn Garcia. Here’s his take on everything that happened on that fateful night, including who he was planning to move forward with in the game, whether or not he would truly have served as a Sitting Duck for Paul, and what else he did off the dance floor to try to convince his fellow houseguests to keep him.

Even though you were only in the house one day, what inroads had you made up to the point of the temptations announcement? Who were you ready to ally with or do battle against?

I was ready to battle against anybody. I may have been overconfident, which would have led to my demise, but I am ready mentally and physically for that. I would have started an alliance with the “bros” so we could keep winning competitions.

What pitch did you try to make to Paul for safety? Would you really be his Victor and stay by his side, or were you ready to turn on the vet?

No, I wanted to work with Paul. I wanted to be his Victor in the house. I actually wanted to work with any vet that came through the door because it would have been beneficial for me. There would always be a bigger target.

I have to ask about your apple-based brainfart. As someone who labeled himself the smartest guy in the house going in, what led you to forgetting the clues to the apple picking?

Yeah, I just, I don’t know…I jumped off. Mainly, I was thinking strategically of not being the physical threat in the house, but I couldn’t remember if Julie said “red serpent” or “red apple” and that one word screwed me up. The combination of the stress that I could potentially go home while trying to weigh future threats vs. present threats, it all made me goof!

What was the rationale behind your choice to vote for a competition to determine your fate? Were you banking on finishing in second behind Christmas, or was there a competition you thought you could beat her at?

(Laughing) OK, first off, I didn’t want it to go to a vote because I didn’t trust anyone’s first impression of me. People were telling me I was smart based on first impressions alone and I didn’t want to go to a vote. I also thought I could beat both Christmas and Jillian in any endurance-based competition. If it was a competition of how many crunches you could do, obviously Christmas would win.

What was your main strategy in gathering votes for the eviction? Did you aim more to prove yourself as an asset, or throw Christmas or Jillian under the bus?

So my only play here, because it was so early in the game, was loyalty. I didn’t throw Christmas or Jillian under the bus because they hadn’t done anything or said anything that I could use as ammo. I just talked about how loyal I’d be to them throughout the game.