“All the Sheep Were in the Jury House” – An Interview with Big Brother 10’s Runner-Up, Memphis

Headed into the finale, many people thought Memphis had a pretty good shot of pulling off a win – or at least making it close. So why does Memphis think he lost by a landslide? That’s merely one of the questions I was able to ask him – so read on to find out!

RealityNewsOnline: First, let me say thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at RealityNewsOnline! We know you said you had a business plan for this game – what was your strategy coming into the house, and how did that change once you got there?

Memphis: My strategy coming in was to pretty much look at everything from a business mentality – if it was a good investment to invest time in a certain person or cut a deal I’d made prior. I kept it through the whole thing. You can’t put emotion and business together. I tried to separate the two and I think it worked out for me.

RNO: Once you got to the end using your plan, did you have a specific strategy to win the $500,000?

Memphis: My strategy in the final two was I was going to be honest and straightforward with the rest of the jury house and hopefully they would see my game and I’d come out on top. I tried to play the game as straightforward and honest as I could and I hoped they would respect that.

RNO: You made a number of alliances – basically with just about everybody in the house at one point or another. Why did you choose to go with Dan as your final one?

Memphis: The thing about Dan is he played the Father Dan role early, but I could tell the way he addressed people and played the game that there was something more to this kid than meets the eye – and I was right. He’s a business man and a very smart guy. He’s a lot like me whether he likes to admit it or not, and I saw that in him. As we spent more and more time together, I could see us getting along. I could see this guy might have something up his sleeve that would benefit me if we joined together.

RNO: Why do you think the jurors turned against you so strongly?

Memphis: I don’t really know why exactly the vote went 7-0. I think they’ve kind of been like sheep this whole season – whoever the HOH wanted out went out. I was sitting through the season thinking, “Why do you vote for who they wanted?” All the sheep were in the jury house, so that’s what happens. They all went the same way. I think you had a couple people rooting in the jury house for Dan and it didn’t take much – somebody convinced the whole house to vote all Dan.

RNO: How did you manage to go so long without getting your hands dirty?

Memphis: I think I just kind of looked at everything like if I squeezed by this one week I’d be okay. I was trying not to put a target on my back because I thought I already had one. I tried not to make a big splash. I didn’t have to do too much dirty work – a vote here, a vote there.

RNO: Why did you agree to take the heat for Keesha being voted out?

Memphis: The thought process with Keesha was that hopefully she was a smart girl and she would figure out no way it was all Memphis’ idea – [Dan and I] had an alliance. Maybe she did and maybe she didn’t figure out. It was a better play for the Renegades to go with Jerry at the end. If she didn’t figure it out, I figured I’d give him that one vote – I never thought that one vote could swing everything.

RNO: Did you throw the final HOH competition so Dan would evict Jerry?

Memphis: Actually, I did not throw that competition. Definitely not.

RNO: Did you really only throw two HOH competitions?

Memphis: I only threw two – one was the eliminator, the other was the first part of the final HOH . I was just really bad at all the other ones.

RNO: You seemed to go into the final two content to just talk about yourself and not say anything bad about Dan. Do you feel betrayed that Dan fired at least one shot at you in talking to the jury, when he suggested you threw the final HOH competition?

Memphis: No. It’s all fun and games. All’s fair in love and war. I thought it was kind of funny. I never threw anybody under the bus or talked bad about anybody to get them to vote a certain way. I thought if he wanted to play that way, I didn’t worry. Maybe that would help them to appreciate my game.

RNO: Do you think you could have beaten Jerry, Keesha, or Renny in the final two?

Memphis: I think probably maybe I could have beaten Keesha in the final two. I don’t think I could have beaten Renny or Jerry.

RNO: You maintained a "strictly business" attitude throughout the game. How did you form friendships at the same time you knew that you would have to vote these same people out?

Memphis: It’s kind of like you make friends with the people you work with or who work under you, but if they’re not doing their job, you gotta clip ‘em, you gotta fire ‘em. It sucks because I did make some friends and I had to evict some friends, and I had to stay focused on my game plan, that was the only way I knew I could win.