The head of the Committee has been cut off: Memphis Garrett, the architect of Big Brother All-Stars‘ large alliance, was evicted from the house on Thursday.
When Nicole Franzel became Head of Household earlier in the week, she put Garrett on the block alongside Christmas Abbott. Franzel also won Power of Veto and kept nominations the same. Because Garrett had a “Wise Guys” alliance with Enzo Palumbo and Cody Calafiore, he believed himself to be safe — which is why it came as a great surprise that he received a 2-0 vote to evict.
Newly in the jury house, Garrett spoke to TV Guide about his initial thoughts on forming the Committee, why David Alexander was such a big target for him, and how he feels about that blindside.
You seemed fairly secure in the Wise Guys alliance with Enzo and Cody and were obviously blindsided last night. Why do you think they evicted you over Christmas?
Memphis Garrett: I did feel very secure with my Wise Guy alliance with Enzo and Cody. I think at the end of the day, the guys saw me as a threat. And this far down in the game, the more threatening people and the more competitors you can get rid of that you think you can beat, there’s a better chance that you’ll survive. So, I think at the end of the day, they just looked at me as a threat and not as an ally to their games, so they had to cut me loose.
Big Brother All-Stars: The Best and Worst Moments So Far
Since week 2 you were set on getting David out. As what you called a “rookie,” he didn’t ever seem like that big of a threat. Why were you so determined to evict him?
Garrett: The reason that I was going after David is he was a rookie, first off. [Laughs.] And second off, I didn’t watch him play the game. I had nothing to go off of. And every person in that house had something to go off of their previous seasons. David was short-lived in his season, and I couldn’t get a read on him at all and I had nothing to go off of. So for me that became a super wild card player, and that’s a threat to me.
You were the architect of the Committee alliance early on. What made you pick that group of people right off the bat? And why do you think it stayed together for so long?
Garrett: The Committee was very tough to get together and put together, and I like to take credit for the Committee. At the end of the day, I picked the players that I thought that I could manipulate — and that’s it. For me, I needed people that would listen to me, do what I say, I could control, I could keep under wraps, I could keep from going crazy, or going against Committee members, which is something that I had to do consistently to keep people from going after each other. I had to continue to calm people down, relax people. And it was tough. It was very difficult because they wanted blood against each other very quickly.
You had some pretty intense back pain this season. How did that impact your game play?
Garrett: My back definitely messed up a couple times through the season. I’m getting old, I don’t know. But at the end of the day, I don’t think it affected [my game play] too bad. I was lucky enough not to get picked for for the puppet master POV, which I don’t know if I would have even been able to compete in. I was really lucky in regards to when I had that pain that I didn’t have to compete in anything crazy.
Big Brother All-Stars Is Shaping Up to be a Big Disappointment
How much has the game changed since the first time you played it?
Garrett: The game has changed completely. It’s a different ballgame now compared to Season 10. The big alliances is something that I started to notice through the seasons, over the past few years, and that was one of the reasons that I created the Committee. Ultimately, I’m like, “This is the way the game is played today, and I need to be able to survive.” And that was the reason that the Committee came about.
You had a lot of deals going with various alliances — how did you keep it all straight?
Garrett: I had a lot of deals, a lot of alliances, and ultimately the only way for me to keep all that straight was I just had to act as much as myself as possible. I wasn’t putting on an act for anyone. I wasn’t saying too much. I was acting very normal to everyone. So for me, that was the only way I could just keep everything chill and keep everything straight. And I wasn’t going down a rabbit hole with one person that I wasn’t with another.
Big Brother airs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.