“The Person Everybody Could Trust”: An Interview with Big Brother 5 Winner Drew

RealityNewsOnline: Congratulations on winning! Did you get any sleep last night?

Drew: I got about an hour or hour and a half. I couldn’t sleep with all the adrenaline. But I’m loving it!

RNO: What was it like to be stuck in the house for three months and then come out to a huge crowd of applauding fans?

Drew: It was totally amazing. Honestly, it felt like a dream. I couldn’t believe it. It was like a whirlwind, all these fans. It was just an awesome amazing experience to see everybody and my family and Julie, a truly amazingly insane adrenaline rush. Totally awesome.

RNO: Most viewers thought you had a lock on winning if you had kept Diane and evicted Cowboy. But you seemed to think you had a better chance against Cowboy. What went into your thinking?

Drew: Basically, I thought if I took Diane people might not vote for her because she was seen maybe as a bitch. But she had all these alliance member on the jury – Karen, Will, Nakomis. Plus Marvin was tight with her. I had my word with both of them but I had it with Cowboy first. It felt better for me to go with him. Plus, maybe with Diane in the jury she would put some good words in for me with her alliance, which is kind of what happened.

RNO: Whose jury vote surprised you the most?

Drew: Nakomis’ vote surprised me. I felt as though she would vote for me because Diane said Nakomis would vote for me over Cowboy because Cowboy hadn’t done much strategically. But she voted for Cowboy, maybe she was trying to make a statement because Cowboy voted her out. She made a statement that blood is thicker than water. But I don’t know what she was thinking.

RNO: Do you have any regrets about the way you played or anything you said or did in the house?

Drew: The only regret I have is the way we let Karen go that week. I feel really bad about that and have told her I’m sorry – just because she was so honest with me even when I was on the other side of the game. For me to not let her know, I still feel bad about it.

RNO: Often we saw people asking you questions about how you were voting or telling you what to do, and you would be rather noncommittal. Was that on purpose, or did you just not know how to react to people like that sometimes?

Drew: In beginning, I had never met someone like Jase or Holly before. They were the Devil figures of this game. Some of the times I was like yeah, okay, and I had to take time to digest it. This was the first time on my own. So I was thinking, am I crazy or are these people crazy? It took a while to figure out it wasn’t me. I finally built up some confidence in my decision-making and then knew what I wanted to say and was strong in my commitments.

RNO: What was your original plan coming into the game? How did it change once you got in the house?

Drew: I had a huge strategy sheet drawn up. It had notes on it and five hundred thousand at the top with a big arrow. It also had my motto, “Kill or be killed.” I had strategic notes for the first four or five weeks and then a big question mark after that.

Basically, my strategy was to be the person everybody could trust. I would be nice and wouldn’t backstab. One thing I had was not to get involved with a girl on the show – that got thrown out the window. I took notes from Season 3, especially what Danielle, Lisa, and Jason said. I followed their strategies a lot and that really helped me out.

RNO: What other sources did you use?

Drew: I used books. I bought and read The 48 Laws of Power – all about the history of power and ancient empires. I took a lot of notes from that book. One thing was that you don’t want to be known as the leader. [Editor’s Note: A rule similar to one in What Big Brother 5 Houseguests Should Have Learned.] I used that to talk to Diane about how she needed me.

I also read one on how to tell if somebody’s lying to you. [Editor’s Note: I’m not sure, but he might have been talking about Never Be Lied To Again : How to Get the Truth In 5 Minutes Or Less In Any Conversation Or Situation.] I learned a lot with body motions and gestures. After I got out, I realized how keen my senses were on reading body movements now. I also studied on human psychology and sociology.

RNO: You really studied up for this, didn’t you?

Drew: I am a college grad and saw this as big test. I had to learn more about human interact and sociology. Knowledge is power, so if I can find information on things, that gives me a step up.