“It Worked, I’m Here, I Won” – An Interview with Big Brother 8 Finalists Dick and Daniele Donato

With the schedule being tight for the Big Brother 8 finalists, the father and daughter were even doing their interviews together. I knew what kinds of questions readers would want answers to, so I focused on those while we had time (besides, while I wanted to ask Daniele what she foresaw with Nick, I had a feeling she wouldn’t really answer anyway). Read on to find out what they had to say about their time in the house, their strategies, and Dick’s behavior.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Dick and Daniele, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions for RealityNewsOnline. What were your strategies coming into the game?

Dick: Coming into the game, my strategy was to make it through the first half. You have to change and be quick on your feet and willing to do whatever it takes and work with whoever is available. Things change so fast in the house, not just week to week but day by day and sometimes hour by hour. Things change quick. You have to be flexible and work with whatever hand you’re dealt and turn your cards in and take a new deal if necessary. Also, my plan was not to be a big liar, to keep things on the table. The less lies you tell, the less BS you have to remember.

Daniele: My strategy coming in was that I’m a waitress and I work with people. You have to deal with a lot of crap from people. You just put up with it with a smile on your face. That was my plan, get along as much as possible. Compete compete compete. I am a competitor, I hate to lose, I love to win.

RNO: How did it change once you got to the house?

Dick: It didn’t, really. Daniele used to say we’re playing as an alliance, but you’re playing your game and I’m playing my game. She didn’t like the way I was playing my game and there were some things I didn’t like about the way she was playing her game.

Did it matter? No. We were in the final two and we won. It worked and it was a matter of trust. It was trusting that the other wouldn’t turn on each other and there were things I did in the game that I would have never done had it not been for her being there. I wouldn’t have been in the position to vote Nick out or to campaign to get Eric out. That was Daniele, her decision and me backing her up on it was tough. It all worked out for the best.

RNO: As you will find out in the coming days, if you don’t know already, Dick was one of the most controversial houseguests in Big Brother history. Some fans loved his in-your-face style, while others think he went far beyond what should have been acceptable behavior with some of your comments. What do you have to say to the latter group?

Dick: It worked, I’m here, I won.

These same people [in the house, who were the targets of] some of the things I said and did, are the same people who voted for me to win. America cast Eric’s vote for me to win. Did I, as Kail said at one point, cut to Jen’s soul with the things I said? Maybe.

I was honest and straightforward as I saw it. Some people need a wakeup call. There’s too much bull$#!t in our politically correct society. It kind of makes me ill. If people would be straight up, it would be an easier place to live. They might not like my style but it’s only my opinion. I’m obviously not the only one who thinks along those lines. America voted to keep me in and for me to win. Everybody can’t hate me, the ones that do, it’s the same as in my regular life. There are people who hate me and people who like me – now there’s just a lot more people who hate me and people who like me.

RNO: Dick, while some of your comments can be chalked up to strategy or making sure the focus was on you instead of Daniele, why did you go even beyond that, with comments about, for example, wanting to feel the bones in Jen’s neck break as you crushed her throat, or how you were going to f*** Dustin until he bled, etc.?

Dick: Those comments were totally over the top and I explained that it was that people just needed to hate me, they needed to despise me in order to have the personal outweigh the strategic in the game so Daniele would stay. Throughout the game, Dustin was blowing kisses at me and constantly commenting on the size of my penis. Turning the tables on him, you know what, oh well.

RNO: Daniele, what did you think of all of this?

Daniele: Obviously, I’ve known my dad longer than anybody else in the house. I know what kind of person he is and how he reacts to him. I do feel I said a lot of his comments were below the belt. They were not things I would have done. I don’t condone it but I understand where things were coming from. It made it really hard for me to sit there – everybody wanted me to apologize to them for him but it was not me, he’s his own person, I’m not his mother and I’m not going to apologize for him. He’s playing his own game and I’m playing mine and it made it really hard to play when we’re so opposite.

Dick: The comment with Jen and some other comments were right before POVs when me and Daniele were on the block. A lot of my strategy was to throw people off their game. Obviously it worked with Kail and the pedestal competition, and she was out within 20 seconds. With Jen in the second week, she choked so bad, and a lot of that had to do with [the way I rattled her]. When two boxers are standing in the ring, they don’t look at the floor, they stare each other down. Did I really want to [crush her throat]? Have I ever done that? No. I’m sure my arrest record had been checked. It was a matter of getting in people’s heads. It was game!