“Actions Speak Louder Than Words”: Interviews with Karen and Nakomis from ‘Big Brother 5’

When Karen was evicted, she was obviously not happy about it. On the one hand, she appeared surprised, but on the other she told Nakomis that she should have seen it coming. Nakomis left quite differently, saying she didn’t hold a grudge against anybody. After their evictions, RealityNewsOnline was able to ask each a few questions about how they played the game and how it ended for them. Karen was significantly more talkative – she had a lot more to vent, I think.

I asked Karen if she was playing an under-the-radar game as part of her plan coming in, or it just turned out that way. She said, “I was more about being myself in this game. And if that meant I was too normal to fight with or too ‘non-gossipy’ then I guess I just wasn’t in the ‘spotlight’ as much as others.”

Being married left me ‘off the market,’” she continued. “So only Nick [Nakomis] would sleep with me at the end. (But my feet were too cold and clammy for her! Even she ousted me from the HOH room!) But I tried to play the game with the same code of ethics that I live by, even when I had to look someone in the eye and tell them I could not keep them in the game. That is a lot harder to do than it seems. Everyone else just simply turns their back to a hard situation and hides until it goes away.”

While she didn’t specify, it seems to me that Karen is talking about the way Diane often treated people who were going to be evicted – such as twins Adria and Natalie – by pretending they were already gone long before it was official. Indeed, Adria said as much in her post-eviction interview with us.

I didn’t ask Nakomis how she played the game in general, but focused on one point. I noted that she sought, and got, vengeance on Adria and Natalie for breaking the pinky swear, but justified her own breaking of a promise with half-brother Michael, and wondered how the two were different.

All she had to say about that was: “I spoke with Michael before and made sure he was safe. He had the chance to say, ‘No, don’t put me up!’” Unfortunately, it really doesn’t answer the question. Nakomis put up Michael twice – the first time as a pawn, but the second with intent to boot him, especially after Diane won Veto and took Drew off the block. Basically, she continued to rationalize it even when asked about it.

When Nakomis left, she said she didn’t hold anything strategic done against people because it’s a game – but she also broke down in tears and lobbied hard to stay in. So now that she’s out, is she okay with everything?

Nakomis said she is “cool beans with the people in the house. I was just letting them know how I feel.”

Karen, however, does not seem quite so “cool beans.” I asked her if she felt like she was betrayed by somebody she trusted or if this sort of thing was to be expected at that phase of the game.

“Yes and no,” she said. “Because Diane made a promise early on, I went through the motions of protecting her. But I had many conversations with Nick [Nakomis] regarding the fact that actions speak louder than words and Diane’s actions were constantly screaming at me that she didn’t have a problem lying.”

Karen continued, “But this is to be expected. I was just hoping someone would have been honest and told me they were voting to evict me. Then I could have felt like ‘at least someone told me why.’ I guess it would have given me ‘closure.’”

Nakomis and Karen were partners throughout the game, but went out on very different notes with very different things to say. Now that Diane is not in the Final 2, they will have to choose between Michael and Drew. It should be interesting to see who they pick.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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