“God Ordains Different Things” – An Interview with Big Brother 8’s Jameka

Jameka was walking a fine line in the Big Brother house – trying to stay true to herself and her beliefs while also trying to play the game. Here, she talks about how difficult that was as well as explaining some of the beliefs we saw her talking about during the game. Of course, she also has opinions on other aspects of the game as well!

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Jameka, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions for RealityNewsOnline. Going back to the beginning, what was your strategy coming into the game?

Jameka: I think Eric said it best when he said you look at a strategy and then you realize that it comes down to there are 13 other houseguests in the way of you potentially earning $500,000. I didn’t really have a concrete strategy, I just figured I would do what I had to do to advance myself in the game.

Once I entered the house, I was just overwhelmed and humbled at the same time. At that moment I said I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my chances for advancement, so I took the humble approach.

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

Jameka: Basically, looking at the houseguests, I became genuinely interested in learning who they were and looking at them as individual people.

RNO: You probably haven’t had a chance to see anything yet, but your religious beliefs were featured quite a bit on TV. One thing you said many times was that you believed the results of Big Brother were pre-ordained by God. With that in mind, why do you believe you were evicted when you were?

Jameka: I still have not come up with a concrete reason as to why I was evicted. I feel I played the best game I could have played. I don’t know if you all saw it when I was a little overboard. I wanted them to not typecast me and I was concerned they were trying to make me into this person and only cater to these areas that were Biblical. I hope they got the other stuff and did not confine me to this one person. When I clapped my hands at Dick, I couldn’t contain my anger at that point.

RNO: With what I said earlier in mind, why do you believe Dick, of all people, won?

Jameka: As we know in life, God ordains different things. I don’t take anything away from ED. I feel he earned the money in that regard and played the game, and took a lot of stress. He would have had my vote if he hadn’t attacked me with my personal values and morals. If he approached me and said, “you’re ridiculous and you have shady issues,” and attacked my character personally, that would have been better than because of what I believed. That didn’t fly with me.

That was a big reason why I didn’t vote for him in the end. I work with children and don’t want to send them mixed messages saying it’s okay to behave this way. I was more concerned with the message that would be sent if I did give him that vote. I do think he played a wonderful game and that his game worked for him. It’s a contradiction, I know.

RNO: Other people feel similarly. Indeed, at the same time I posted articles on Why Dick Won for his strategy and also inducted him into the Reality TV Hall of Shame. But moving back to our questions, do you feel lying in the game is okay, or is it the same as lying outside the house?

Jameka: I actually tormented myself many a night trying to decipher that – really early on when I was trying to determine what game I was going to play. It was difficult to fathom the concept that this is just a game and it’s okay to lie. If you are accepting of the fact that you have a life outside the house, how do you want to be portrayed? It was difficult, but I decided if I could make it through the game without lying, that’s how I wanted to play it.

RNO: One more religious question. One thing many people have questioned is why you think God would take an interest in a reality show competition, down to the nitty gritty details of who wins what competition or whose ping pong ball was pulled out, which we know you took a lot of grief about. Can you explain your thinking?

Jameka: Actually my beliefs are my beliefs and the relationship I have with God, including those times, is more or less that I was blinded and didn’t know what was fiction what was nonfiction. I was looking for Him to direct me and make things transparent for me. As I began to play the game, certain things were being revealed to me and I interpreted it. If my ball is chosen, the magic ping pong ball came about and I totally laugh about it now. Not to say I didn’t believe I had a purpose. It’s funny the way ED mocked me for that; it’s all good.

RNO: How shocked were you when Dustin was eliminated?

Jameka: I was livid. Jessica basically took me into the room prior to the live show and said Dustin’s leaving. I said, “oh my gosh.” I knew that whole week that Eric was being more shady and basically had a heart attack when Dustin was thinking about not going up as the pawn. He just lost it and I knew Eric definitely could not be trusted in this game, with the whole backstabbing component in that Dustin kept him in seven days ago.

RNO: Now that you know why Eric acted that way, what do you think of the America’s Player twist?

Jameka: The America’s Player twist – kudos to whomever created that twist, I think it was an excellent concept. They got the most perfect person to play that role. Eric is phenomenal at what he does. He is definitely a shady character at times in the game and he did not fool me, I just could not pinpoint what it was that I didn’t trust in Eric.

RNO: Is there anything else you want to tell us about your time in the Big Brother house?

Jameka: Just that I really enjoyed my time there and I’m just so honored to have been one of the thousands who applied to be selected. The person who I was on the show, that is me but in a much more private sector. I don’t feel I was portrayed to the best of the genuine me. But everything worked out and I have no regrets.

RNO: Thanks again, Jameka!

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