“I Truly Feel I Played a Better Game” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with Big Brother 11 Runner-Up, Natalie

Reality News Online: Hello, Natalie, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Reality News Online.

Natalie: Thank you for having me.

RNO: While in the house, you repeatedly talked about how honest you were. Was that all just part of your strategy or did you really believe you were playing an honest game?

Natalie: A little bit of both. I felt I was fairly honest with my allies. I thought I was really honest with them. At the same time, people really did believe I was being honest so I used that to my advantage. With certain people in the house, I was really honest with them.

RNO: At times, you criticized others for a supposed lack of loyalty and honesty while you lied about many things throughout the game. Were the criticisms also part of the game or did you really feel they had betrayed you and/or acted in a dishonorable manner?

Natalie: Some people I criticized, I would say in particular Michele, it wasn’t because – you have to lie and betray, it’s a game and that’s what a lot of people don’t realize. I just feel Michele went to another level because I truly believe she was the cause of Chima’s expulsion. I feel she played dirty and got a person kicked off.

RNO: That actually brings me right to one of my questions. Why did you continually blame other people for Chima’s exit instead of blaming Chima herself for her childish behavior?

Natalie: I don’t condone Chima throwing her microphone in the jacuzzi and was somebody who tried to reason with her throughout the game. I don’t not blame Chima for her own actions, I just empathize with her a little bit. I bonded with her and she was my friend. Michele had a big part of it and knew what she was doing – she mentioned it would take her over the edge. Michele actually pushed her. Yeah, Chima caused herself to be expelled and I would never do that, I am a fan of the show and I do not agree with that. But she is still my friend and I’m not going to turn on them, I’m going to stay supportive of them and talk good of them just as I would hope my friends would do for me.

RNO: Is that why you called Michele the devil and say she was a "dirty" player?

Natalie: I called Michele the devil and I stills stand with that. She tried to make a deal with me and I was having no part of that. I learned with Chima not to trust her because she would go back on it. She made a deal and swore on her husband, who she said meant more to her than anybody else. She swore she would never go back on the deal and she did. So I felt making a deal with her was making a deal with the Devil.

RNO: But you said you know people have to lie in the game.

Natalie: But you don’t have to bring somebody who you supposedly love the most and go back on that. She sat in that HOH room and said, “I swear on my husband, I will not go back on this deal,” and the first chance she had, she went back on it.

RNO: You do know that despite the fact that Kevin swore up and down that he would take you to the final two, he was not planning to do so?

Natalie: Kevin told me at the end and that would have been his fatal error if he had the option. With Kevin, I would even go to the diary room and say I’ve trusted him, but at the end of this game, I didn’t know if I could trust him and was rooting for Jordan to win. I’m aware he wasn’t planning on taking me and that would have been his mistake.

RNO: Speaking of lies, we have the one about you being only 18. Among your various slip-ups, you mentioned Barack Obama speaking at your commencement, you have been served alcohol, you claimed to be a fan of 90210, and you mentioned playing in the World Series of Poker, which has a strict minimum age of 21. Did you realize how difficult it would be to perpetrate a lie for so long?

Natalie: You know, I caught myself in a lot and had to backtrack a lot. You get comfortable with people and just start saying things that are normal. [Then you’re like] wait, I have to backtrack. Apparently, I backtracked very well because I had people fooled. People told me they had no idea. I played it off well.