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Big Brother Canada Exit Interview: Neda Kalantar

big brother canada neda 2017

big brother canada neda 2017

Big Brother Canada faced its first double eviction of season five this past Thursday with Emily Hawkin and Neda Kalantar departing.

We caught up with returning houseguest Neda on the shocking last minute eviction which saw her alliance member Sindy put her up on the block, making her the first member of this season’s jury. Neda talks about why she couldn’t work with fellow favourites Cassandra and Gary, how William’s gameplay has impressed her and the tone she’d like to set for jury. (Click here to read Emily’s exit interview)

Do you think you may have felt too safe winning protection from Canada?

100% no! I never feel safe in that game, even when the backwards week started, the first thing I said to Arisa was “Please don’t make me give up my immunity!” I thought they were going to strip that away from me at any point! I definitely did not feel safe.

You mentioned to Arisa on Facebook Live that you regret not laying low until your protection had run out. Looking back, do you still agree that you should have gone this route?

Yeah, half and half. I think that maybe I should… But I was never really going to win this game, so I might as well have made some big ass moved while I was in there!

Why weren’t you able to work with Cassandra and Gary?

With Cassandra, it had really started early on. On Day 3, she and Ika cornered me in the pantry and got mad at me for talking with the newbies, because that seemed sketchy to them! So, really early on there was stuff like that. She threatened to backdoor me in week one, before I had my immunity. When someone threatens you, even if they come up and tell you after that they didn’t mean it “like that,” you have to break it off. She also said that she was done with working with the vets. All this was week one! So, our relationship went south from all that. We could never work on a game level. With Gary, during my HOH when Cass was up on the block, he was lying and throwing Dre under the bus. That’s what really made me start thinking of him as a huge target in this game. I started to see the social relationships that he had. He’s a great game player. He’s very manipulative. As a manipulative person myself, I know that those are the kinds of people that you’ve got to watch out for!

Did you think twice about turning your back on them? You three were big fan favourites, did not playing with other fan favourites make you fearful on how Canada would interpret things?

Listen, Big Brother Canada put in eight vets in this season. So that would have meant that I couldn’t go against eight people this season! They are all fan favourites, so I would have only been able to take out half of the house without Canada being mad at me. You know what, the first time I played this game, I tried to be as nice as possible and I was still called a really evil person! So, I went in this time and said “Screw it! I’m going to take out whoever I need to take out and I can’t be playing for the fans.”

Do you think your jabs at Sindy factored into Ika convincing her to put you up in the double eviction?

To be honest, the jabs at Sindy… that was just my horrible sense of humour. I didn’t realize that it came across that way. When I feel comfortable with someone as a friend, that’s when I feel like I can insult them. As horrible as that sounds, it was never anything serious. It was never meant to be personal jabs or anything like that. As soon as I realized that I had hurt her feelings, I apologized sincerely. It definitely could have been used on a game level though. In that game, you have to use whatever you can to influence people. So if Ika did that, good on her. It was a good game move.

Did anyone’s game play surprise you in a good way?

Yes! William has surprised me. He’s really good in competitions. He’s very smart. Even though he has won competitions, he has been able to remain low and develop really good relationships with people. He’s surprised me the most, I think.

Do you think that with William, his language barrier is a benefit to him?

100% it’s a benefit. In the beginning, people weren’t looking at him as a great game player. They just thought that maybe he was just not connecting with everyone in there. I think he may even be using it to his advantage.

Did anyone’s gameplay disappoint you?

Yeah, unfortunately, Cass really disappointed me. I went into this game really wanting to work with her. I really enjoyed her on her season. It just didn’t work out. You can’t be making threats against me in week one and expect me not to take it seriously.

The slop puck moment this season was very harsh. Do you have any regrets?

Here’s the thing. I was actually going to give all my pucks to Karen because I thought most people would be giving it to Gary and I thought that most people would have been giving to me. So I wanted to equal things out and maybe make Karen be on slop rather than me. But, being a huge fan of the UK series, I know that these moments are shown [to the other houseguests] and the only moments that are truly private are in the diary room, so I changed my mind last minute. I decided to give it to Gary because I knew that a lot of people would be giving it him. I didn’t really feel bad because when everyone else is on slop, he makes sure to eat their favourite foods right in front of them and make noises. He knows he does this! So, I didn’t feel that bad.

Did you have a favourite moment inside the house this season?

Definitely walking into the house. Those first few steps into the house! Even though you’ve done it before, it always feels brand new! You’re like “Crap! I’m in my dream. This is amazing.”

Was the house also a shock to you? It does look different this season.

So different! Even the two bedrooms are different. As was the staircase! It’s super pretty this season. I was so impressed.

Who are you rooting for to win?

I’m rooting for everyone to win. Honestly, if someone can pull out some amazing game moves and become an amazing game player, I’ll be rooting for them, no matter who it is.

Is there anyone that you would try to influence the rest of the jury against?

Absolutely not. I want to set a tone where there are no bitter jury members allowed in there. We’re going to vote for the best person who played this game. No grudges held.

Big Brother Canada airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global. Catch up with the episodes on GlobalTV.com, Global Go and On Demand. The live feeds are online at bigbrothercanada.ca.

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