Big Brother’s house is open once more! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will be bringing you interviews with this season’s houseguests as they get evicted from the game.
Every time Cam Sullivan-Brown cast a vote to evict on Big Brother 26, he’d sign off in the same way: A wide grin to the camera as he says, “Shout out to all my dawgs at the crib” to the camera. As odd as it is to say, that phrase and energy represent Cam’s 90-day journey through the game. Despite his tattooed exterior and competitive D1 background, he’s a plaintive, contemplative soul, one who was searching for a group to be loyal to. While he lost that group early on, he found a constant in Chelsie Baham, as the two worked together from the first to the last day. Unfortunately, Cam’s lack of competition wins kept him on the outside of the trio with Makensy Manbeck. Those strings of losses gave him the ultimate L, as Makensy’s tight relationship with Chelsie had her shockingly evicting Cam in third place.
Cam’s amicable personality and athleticism got him in a great position early in the season. Most notably, he formed up with his fellow C’s in Chelsie and Cedric Hodges, who were the majority in the five-person “Pentagon,” who were summarily the majority in the eight-person “Collective.” That all got blown apart, however, at the end of the game’s first month. Cam not only lost one of his closest allies in Cedric, but he was left out of the vote, and his alliance had been outed. Despite being on the ropes, Cam was able to survive an eviction vote, and won a clutch Veto to set up the eviction of one of the game’s biggest players Tucker Des Lauriers. Unfortunately, the momentum stalled out at the end of the prejury, when Chelsie did not clue him in on her building plans, leaving him out of yet another house flip.
Fortunately, Cam and Chelsie were able to still lock in despite the miscommunication. And while the narrative was focused on the power of a certain trio, another one was forming underneath their noses. Cam and Chelsie joined up with Makensy and, even through some flirtatious tension, worked in tandem for the second half of the game. Thanks to Chelsie’s scheming and her and Makensy’s competition wins, Cam lived in security. Though he was able to play a significant role in guiding his alliance’s targets behind the scenes, he unfortunately was perceived as the weakest of the group. It was due primarily to his surprising lack of competition wins, something that rankled his allies to the point where they nearly put him up, fearing he was throwing them.
Unfortunately for Cam, the trend continued through the finale, as he lost both parts of the final HoH. On an ordinary season, that would be an easy invitation to sit in the Final Two chairs. But Big Brother 26 is no ordinary season. Makensy, wanting to honor her loyalty to Chelsie, and her spirit as a competitor, got rid of the easier opponent in Cam. In a flash, he was suddenly out of the house, facing a dog pound of a jury as they awaited to give their votes.
Hours after the Big Brother 26 finale, Cam talks with Parade.com about his reaction to Makensy’s decision, his Final Two pitch if he made it to the end, and his decision to downplay his physicality midgame (and how it may have backfired).
Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 26
Let’s start with where things ended. You had walked out of the house saying you were always going to take Chelsie to the end. Did that carry over to your jury vote as well? Or did you consider Makensy at any point?
I would like to say that I am an unbiased juror. If Makensy’s speech did blow me out of the water, I could be swayed. But just through watching the game and being in the house the whole time, Chelsie has just played the most well-rounded game, so it would be hard for Makensy to get my vote. But if she blew me out the water with her speech, and she convinced me, I would have been unbiased for sure.
You had told Julie that you weren’t surprised to be evicted in third place. And you were a bit powerless, as you had lost out on both parts of the final HoH. So how much were you expecting Chelsie and Makensy to take each other to the end?
In the end, I knew that McKenzie had a very good relationship with Chelsea, closer than myself and makensy. So I knew if Makensy had won Part 3, she probably would have brought Chelsie to the final two. I hope that my campaigning last [week] about Chelsie having very good jury management and Chelsie being able to talk would have swayed Makensy to bring me in the Final Two. But once Makensy won Part 3, I kind of knew the inevitable, that my game was probably coming to an end. So I was really hoping for Chelsie to win and hopefully pull the loyalty pitch and get Chelsie to bring me to that final.
Let’s say you do get brought to the Final Two. What do you think your chances would have been, and how would you pitch yourself?
I think I would have had probably a much better chance with Makensy than Chelsie. The pitch that I would have pulled is purely social game and playing the perception in the house. Coming as an athlete, I used,the perception of me being able to win comps, to get into a lot of alliances and get a lot of protection. And then, once my alliance was blown up, I had the poise to pivot to actually not winning competitions, and using that to be a nonthreatening opponent, and getting all of my opponents out without being a threat to any of them. So that probably would have been my pitch to the jury, and I think it would have been a pretty good one. Especially if I put the loyalty pitch, with having T’kor, Rubina, and Kimo in the jury, as well as being an alliance with T’kor, Kimo, and Quinn, I would have definitely pulled that card, and hopefully that would have got me three votes. And then whoever got evicted, just sway them with the last speech.
To what you just mentioned, you had to pivot your game after losing Cedric and Brooklyn, and you were even told that, had Brooklyn won the AI Arena, you would have gone. What did you have to do to make sure you didn’t follow them out the door?
I definitely switched up the social game for sure. I went way more introverted, I went way more chill, and I went way more for the nonthreatening approach, using the social game and getting close to [people]. Once I won that veto; it really opened up my game. After T’kor put me on the block, and I won that veto, and I won safety for myself, that’s when I really went to work socially and getting close to the other people that were on the block, especially Makensy at that time, which played a big part in my social game. As well as getting close to Rubina, T’kor, and Kimo at that time, who was also in the alliance with Tucker, as well as Joseph and Angela. So I really turned on my social game, and I pivoted to the point of me not being a threat. Because I would have went home if Brooklyn had won the AI Arena, because I was the “physical threat.” So I tried to make myself as non threatening as possible.
Talk to me about your relationship with Chelsie. As mentioned before, you were working with her in some way for all 90 days. But there were points when you had felt socially ostracized by her, Makensy, and Leah. What was it like navigating your dynamic?
Since, Chelsie was probably the first person that I worked with, we had a lot of ups and downs. Like you said, her relationship with Makensy and Leah was very concerning with me. And that is why, when Makensy was HOH, I worked very hard to get Leah evicted, to break up that relationship a little bit, and I tried to get into the division of Chelsie and Makensy by trying to weasel my way in that Final Three. I did get Ravina out when it was the Final Four, and I thought I weaseled my way enough. But inevitably, I got evicted. Um, but the ups and downs with Chelsie, that’s just working with somebody throughout this whole game. It is 90 days. There are ups and downs just emotionally outside of here. So, working with people, it is just sometimes difficult, and sometimes we have stress. And that just sometimes makes it difficult to work with. But inevitably, we stayed together throughout this whole process, and we stayed together until Day 90.
I’m not sure if you were aware of this, but there was talk, especially from Angela, about you being a “floater” in the game. Did you know about this perception?
I think I was very aware of that perception. But if I was to make it to the Final Two, I would have dispelled that. Because I would have broken up the two biggest players in the house by using my social game, and that would have been something that I could lynchpin on for being a big move for myself. They were the two biggest players in the house, Chelsie and Makensy. They have played both the greatest game throughout the house. So being able to weasel my way in between both of them, that is a huge move. And that speaks all to my social game, because I did not win any competitions.
To that point, I know you wanted to play possum after the Brooklyn eviction to show you weren’t a big physical threat. But what was your reaction when you couldn’t win another competition after that veto? To the point where Makensy was actually debating putting you up because she was fearful you were throwing competitions?
I think that I played it very well to my advantage. I definitely wanted to win a bunch of those competitions. And when I lost, I just was like, “Okay, how can I flip it to a positive spin?” That is by having targets up that benefited my game even if I didn’t win. So the reason why Makensy didn’t put me up was because Kimo and Rubina were both on the block. They were a trio, so then she wanted to break up the trio. So it would have not been a smart decision for her to keep either Kimo or Rubina and me get evicted at the Final Five. So I made sure that all my targets were in front of me. Literally the last possible option would be the Final Three, and that is inevitably what happened. I didn’t see my plan all the way through. But playing possum did play to my advantage.
Finally, I’m not sure if you know this, but you’re the source of a couple of memes from the Big Brother community. Of course, “shout out to all my dawgs at the crib” has become a key phrase, and was even quoted by one of Angela’s loved ones in her video. There’s also been this thing where people post your cast photo as a symbol of how unbothered you are, no matter how good or bad anything is. What’s your reaction to all that?
I’m hype! Hearing you say that, I’m excited. I just wanted to make an impact. The Big Brother community is a community that rides so hard for the Big Brother players, and I love that so much. So I’m glad that I can make an impact. And also the zen approach was the approach that I wanted to come into in the house in general. I wanted to be very poised. And Angela coming in, blowing up. Tucker coming in, blowing up throughout the house. Quinn having blow-ups, everybody blowing up throughout the house, I wanted to be a peaceful presence. Aand that’s why I leaded guided meditations for people in the house, because I wanted to be peace.
Next, check out our interview with Big Brother 26 runner-up Makensy Manbeck.
