Mediafiends.com Interview with Dan

Subject: Mediafiends.com Interview with Dan Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:45 pm

Interview with Dan

MF: Hey Dan. Congratulations.

DAN: Congratulations on what?

MF: On winning.

DAN: Winning what?

MF: Ha Ha. I need to know would you have kept Keeshond over Jerry?

DAN: Yes. Had I been HoH, yes. Or had I had the PoV, yes. Did I want to win that PoV? No. Here's the thing, when I got back from the trip w/ Michelle I knew, Michelle told me that I couldn't beat Jerry & I couldn't beat Memphis so that left one option. I had to take Keeshond cuz I would have beat her so I would have done that definitely. When I got back from the trip I planted 2 lies to Memphis. I said Jerry had been in a Pow camp & he's been faking these endurance competitions & he started acting up about the neck injury & I started saying that was fake as well cuz I wanted Memphis vote out Jerry & keep Keeshond cuz not only did I think I could beat her in the end, but I thought if she won the final HoH she would keep me as well.

MF: What did you mean in your final HoH blog that you have another trick up your sleeve?

DAN: That was the Platinum Power of Veto. I actually put that in my final Jury speech & I heard it didn't make the cut though. But I definitely would have showed it to the jurors & I had a little speech behind it as well.

MF: That was going to be my next questions, what was the deal w/ the fake PoV? Was that just for fun or did you intend to use it?

DAN: If you ever see a glass case w/ a red button, hit only in case of emergency, that's what this fake veto was. If I was up on the block & I knew the votes were against me I was gonna use it the last second pre-veto meeting & make up some BS story about the power of it. Did I think it would work? I don't know. I knew I didn't want to go out w/o a fight & I wanted to do something that had never been done before. So I thought it might have given me a fighting chance if my back was against the wall. Luckily I never had to use a piece of plastic wrapped in tinfoil to save my chances at a half a million dollars.

MF: I don't think you do but I have to ask, fo you have any hard feelings against Memphis or Keesha for making deals behind your back for Final 2?

DAN: Oh no, w/o a doubt. The one thing I didn't do in this game is take anything personally whether it was game moves or personal comments towards me. The one thing I prided myself on was controlling my emotions & I tried not taking anything personal cuz it is a game.

MF: So on that, Jerry's "Judas" comment. Did that bother you at all?

DAN: No not at all. It's like water rolling off my back. Anytime anyone took a shot at my personally I kind of laughed it off. & here's the thing I looked at, any time 2 people got into a fight in that house, 1 of those people went home. I did not want to be one of those people so I didn't get into any of those meaningless fights.

MF: What is your main reason for aligning w/ Memphis & thinking you can go to the end w/ him? What did you see there?

DAN: Definitely. When the chance came about to save Memphis I wanted to try to get something for nothing. Basically giving Memphis a vote I wanted to try to get something from out of it. I liked Memphis. We got along. I thought he was a pretty cool headed guy & could do well in the game. & w/ that I had a reason behind that to start an alliance. To start the Renegades I was voting for him to stay when in actuality I was probably the swing vote, Where America was the swing vote & controlling it. I thought if I could get something for my vote for Memphis, I took a shot & it turned into a great friendship & 1 heckuva alliance.

MF: If you were NOT America's Player, would you still have voted Jessie out?

DAN: At that point yes. I felt Jessie was a recluse. I felt he was too close to Michelle. I would always be on the outside looking in. Not to mention the fact that I got a long a lot better w/ Memphis & Keeshond than I did w/ Michelle & Jessie. Keeshond & Memphis were a lot like myself. They didn't get into a lot of fights. The reason you saw Keeshond get into fights is cuz she was attacked a lot & she defended herself. We were all very laid back & we enjoyed each other's company & the fact that I thought I could trust them as much as you can trust someone in this game.

MF: Do you think Memphis would have turned on you if he knew about you going to the beach w/ Michelle?

DAN: I don't know. I didn't want to find that out for myself & that's why I didn't tell him. I don't know. I don't think he would have but I thought he would be a little bit more weary of me cuz he thought by taking her on that trip that I had her vote locked up.

MF: Why did you BD Michelle if Ollie was the one you were breaking the deal w/?

DAN: A couple reasons. #1 Michelle but so much into this game. She put her heart, her soul into it & I know if she got to the endurance challenge or the Final 3 challenge she would stay up there till she died. I knew I couldn't beat her in that. & also April made a huge mistake. She made a personal decision to try to get rid of Jessie when everyone else in the alliance basically wanted to get rid of Memphis. I did not want to make that same mistake. I knew that Keeshond & Renny wanted to get rid of Michelle more than Ollie cuz Renny liked Ollie. So I could risk a personal vendetta against Ollie I had & risk Keeshond & Renny in the process. It was not worth it to me. I could put someone up but I couldn't vote them out myself. So I knew if I put Michelle up I could get her out & deal w/ Ollie later cuz in my opinion Michelle was a much better competitor than Ollie in competitions. Lucky for me we made the right decision as an alliance.

MF: Did you have any intention of ever keeping your deal w/ Ollie or were you just telling him whatever you needed to & then just set him up by doing the 2/3 of the deal?

DAN: Exactly. When I am hanging on that vine I had maybe 5 minutes left in me. I knew I had to win that one. So I was thinking whatever I could to get him down & that was probably the worst deal ever made in BB history. Who would win the HoH key & not use any of the power & transfer the power to someone? That's unheard of. For him to believe that, here's the thing. 1 thing I thought in this house, I don't think a lot of these HGs watched a lot of the other seasons cuz how many times in BB did you see someone take a deal in an endurance challenge & it backfired? It's happened time & time again.

MF: I have to comment on your Roulette. I understand why you did it but I just thought it was a little nastier than it had to be. It almost seemed to me like basically trying to make Michelle & Ollie look even dumber. Why exactly did you do that? You just wanted to set everybody off & take all notice off of you?

DAN: You know what Jacalynn? I really can't disagree w/ you on this. It did go overboard. It went a little further than I expected. When I did it I wanted to get some people to speak up that hadn't & also it was a little present to Brian. I wanted to put Ollie on the hotspot & put him out there a little bit. Did it go overboard? Yes. But he took a shot at one of my bestfriends & had a hand at getting rid of Brian & I didn't want to make this personal & I tried to keep it out of revenge & I did push it a little far. At the same time in this house I was trying to make an exciting, entertaining show. I didn't want it to be the normal Pov meeting that you see someone gets up there & you know exactly what is going to happen. I wanted to mix it up a little bit & it definitely went too far & I will be the 1st person to admit that.

MF: After you talked to the jury & got their questions, whose question or comments comments surprised you the most?

DAN: 1 of the questions that didn't surprise me but the answer surprised me was when Renny asked Memphis what he did for her in the game & he was stumped. If Memphis had prepared better for that question he danced around it & BSd her & if there is one thing you can't do, it's BS Renny. But he did & Renny saw through it & she wasn't having any of it.

MF: Whose votes did you think you had after that?

DAN: Going into this, right before the vote I said to Memphis I think it is a 50/50 chance. I thought I had Keeshond & Renny & thought Memphis had Libra & Jerry so I thought the vote was going to come down to Ollie, April & Michelle. I thought it would be 4-3 either way. In no way in my wildest dreams did I think it would be unanimous. It was unbelievable & totally overwhelming.

MF: I wasn't sure if April, Ollie & Michelle would take things personally so what are your thoughts on them that they were able to look at your gameplay & not vote personally?

DAN: That was my major goal of my speech. If I could do one thing that is to do like I did in this game. Try to put your emotions aside. Try to mask your emotions & look at the game for what it is. Who made the strongest plays? Who played this game hard? & if I could get them to put their emotions aside a little bit I knew I had a chance to win. If they kept their emotions in it I had no shot. So that's how every answer I had I directed around gameplay & not emotions.

MF: What is the deal w/ never washing your shorts? Were you trying to be Dr Will?

DAN: [Laughs] They say the highest form of flattery is imitation but here's the thing. The shorts were awesome. I wore them all the time. I probably spent 1000 hours in the pool so I figure why waste water & soap when the chlorine does just as good a job. I'm a biology teacher. I know there is no bacteria living in my shorts being in the chlorine all that time so why waste the soap & water?

MF: It just reminded me. They even looked like Will's shorts. I don't know if you were online during that season but there was even a website called willshorts.com.

DAN: Oh really?

MF: Yeah. So the shorts thing, I caught on to that right away & said is that just him emulating Dr Will w/ these shorts?

DAN: No, that's interesting. But you know what? If a very astute BB fan like yourself Jacalynn look back even closer you may find some more things that may be surprising to you so let's leave it at that.

MF: I saw a few but am sure there are ones I didn't catch.

DAN: [Laughs] No definitely that's the season I studied the most. That's the season I kind of fell in love w/ BB. I think I was 15 or 16 at the time. It's a real inspiration & to say I didn't model my game of Will & Boogie that would be a lie. That's where I started my game & I tried to build it from there.

MF: There's definite similarities in there cuz what all did you throw? Did you basically throw everything until you started winning?

DAN: Yeah I threw everything up until the Braveyard. I didn't want to win the Braveyard but when I saw Renny's terrible guess at the length of the Boa Constrictor I knew I had to play. I was actually mad at her cuz that move really forced me to play earlier than I wanted to but that's the thing. Once you win 1 competition you can't go back to laying on the side of the road acting dead like a possum. It just won't work. So once I won that 1st one I knew I had to go guns blazing & try to win from there on out. Let me clear up the fact, being a football coach it's hard as a competitor to throw competitions. I wanted to win everything but for the sake if winning the game I couldn't. When I threw competitions I tried to find humor in it & find fun in it & make it entertaining cuz I was really at times devastated that I had to give up some competitions like that.

MF: Is there anything you regret?

DAN: You know Jackie, regrets, I have a few but then again too few to mention.

MF: [Laughs] That's a good one.

DAN: But you know Jackie if I can ever do anything for MediaFiends.com look me up on myspace, send me an email, do whatever.

MF: [Laughs] You are already my friend.

DAN: Awesome. I would love to be able to help you guys out in any way I can.

MF: Sounds good. I'll take you up on that.

DAN: Thanks Jackie

» Mediafiends.com Interview with Keesha
» Mediafiends.com Interview with Memphis
» Braden Interview
» mooretosay.com interview with Dan
» An interview with Robyn Kass