“Bonding With Your Family Is Priceless” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with There Goes the Neighborhood’s Chris Mullennix and Renee Hatcher

RealityNewsOnline: Hi, Chris and Renee! Thank you for talking to RealityNewsOnline today. How are you doing?

Chris: No problem!

RNO: What first comes to mind when you think about your family’s experience on There Goes the Neighborhood?

Chris: I believe it was absolutely wonderful.

RNO: Going into the game, did you think you had a good chance of taking home the money?

Chris: I think our chances of taking home the money was one hundred percent positive that we could do it.

RNO: Did you have a strategy for the game?

Chris: I don’t think so. Renee, what would you say?

Renee: I don’t think we really had a strategy going in. We just wanted to do the best we can.

RNO: You seemed to play the game very emotionally – very passionately – has the game effected your relationship with your neighbors now that the walls have come down?

Chris: I wouldn’t actually say that we played the game emotionally. It’s what they portrayed in editing. Our neighbors – we’ve been long-time friends, and will remain long-time friends.

RNO: You looked pretty upset, even distraught, the night you were up for elimination. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Renee: Yeah, I was very, very shocked. I’m the one who said, “I trusted you.”

RNO: What did you mean when you said that?

Renee: We had a pact with the Upshaws to go to the final two.

RNO: So, you had a final-two pact with the Upshaws and they had also made a pact with the Schindlers – which I assume you did not know at the time.

Chris: We did not know of any other pacts they had made. We thought that it was just us. We had made only one pact because our number one rule in our house is honesty. So, if you make more than one, at some point you have to go against your word. We were not going to do that.

RNO: So, when the Upshaws went against their word, that’s what made you so upset?

Chris: I would say that we had no idea they had made any other pact than with the Mullennix family. So, when our name came up that night and they put us up against the Schindlers, it was pretty obvious what was going on. I think that’s what we were so shocked about. We truly trusted Rick [Upshaw].

Renee: I personally know I would have 100% bet a million dollars that he would not go back on his word. I thought his word was as good as my word.

RNO: It seems like a lot of people I’ve talked to really trusted Rick Upshaw and thought that he was on their side. Is there something about his personality that makes you feel you want to trust him?

Chris: Rick is just an upstanding guy, at least for the most part. Renee’s probably only known him for three years and I’ve known him about eight. For the most part, if Rick gives you his word he’s going to follow through with it, and if he’s not, he gives you a reason why or tells you in advance why it’s not going to happen.

Just knowing him as a friend and neighbor going into the game, there was no reason for him not to trust him or doubt him in any way – or their family as a whole.

RNO: Do you feel like you know the newer families in the neighborhood better after going through this experience with them?

Chris: Oh, absolutely! We’d been in this experience for several months prior to the game, so my kids already had a relationship with the Schindler kids. The Southey family and the Bussiere family are the newest families. Of course we’ve grown closer to them.

RNO: If given the chance, would you do this show again?

Chris: Absolutely. There were a lot of unknowns going into it. We knew nothing other than it was going to be a family bonding experience. We didn’t know until after the first challenge what the winning entailed.

Going into it again, it’s just like any other show, you’ve experienced it. So, our strategies would be different. Hindsight’s twenty-twenty. Definitely, we would do it again. My family had a great time and we’ve come out of it stronger and very well-bonded. We have movie night every Monday night. My youngest, who’s a senior in high school, looks forward to it. We do dinner, have popcorn and a movie together.

RNO: It seems like your family came a long way towards that togetherness during the show. When it started you seemed more separate in your activities. But by the time you were evicted, you worked really well as a unit. It seems some of that closeness has remained.

Chris: It has. We’ve always worked well together when we needed. Ken Johnston made the comment we were very… What was the word, Renee?

Renee: Disconnected or something.

Chris: And we have different interests. We do go our own ways. I have three very social kids, Renee and I both have full time jobs, and we’re new in our relationship. So, it’s not that we were disconnected, it’s just that my kids didn’t understand how much I missed not being with them.

Now, going through this experience, they’ve realized that it does mean a whole lot. They actually have a good time when they’re with me. It’s just been so long with them going to school and me working late that it’s just been a routine. We’d come together for dinner and that was pretty much it.