By Shaniece Mason

 

Joey Van Pelt entered the house as the liberal from Seattle with goals of starting an all girl alliance. Unfortunately, things didn't go her way because those goals left her as the first person evicted from the Big Brother house. I talked to Joey about her eviction, crazy Devin and of course,Alex.

 

RW: Joey, you came in the house wanting to start an all girl alliance but now you're the first one gone. Looking back on it, would you have done anything differently in the house?

Joey: You know, honestly, I don't know because I'm sitting here talking to you. I really wouldn't [have done anything differently]. If I would have been given the chance to stay and not been voted out, I would have changed my strategy greatly. But I don't regret trying to start the girls' alliance, it was just the wrong group of people to start an alliance with unfortunately.

 

RW: Sadly, it was a 13-0 vote to evict. Did anyone's vote to evict shock you? Why?

Joey: None of them did. I know how the game works and you don't want a target on your back. Even my friends that were my genuine friends in the house, I even told them to vote unanimously. I didn't want them to be like a sore thumb and get voted out.

 

RW: You seemed to apologize to Caleb for attempting to start an all girl alliance. Why did you take all the blame when Paola actually started an all girl alliance, El Cuarto, in the first episode?

Joey: It wasn't that I was taking the blame. It was more that I was trying to get a clean record. Kinda make it into something funny and non-threatening. It was reverse psychology in a way.

 

RW: You were the first member of the Team America alliance and you kinda exposed it to Hayden. Was the plan always to expose Team America at some point or was that an attempt to get some votes to stay?

Joey: It was an attempt to stay in the house. I was pushed against the wall and that was one of the things I had. I didn't know if it was going to be an advantage or disadvantage.

 

RW: And if you had a chance to chose the other two members of the Team American alliance, who would you choose?

Joey: Hayden and Brittany.

 

RW: Off of first impressions, was there anyone that you felt wasn't to be trusted from the beginning?

Joey: Devin. Devin was not to be trusted. You know, I also had an off feeling about Frankie. He's one of those people that can make anyone like him and we're humans. We want genuine connections with people, that's what we rely on. It was a little different when he was going around saying I love you to everyone.

 

RW: By now, I'm assuming you know that Frankie is Ariana Grande's brother as well as a YouTube personality and Derrick is the cop. Were you surprised at all?

Joey: I can see the Frankie relationship, it wasn't a huge surprise that he's related to someone famous. But Derrick is a good undercover cop like I was way more surprised about that than Frankie!

 

RW: If you had to go back in the house and chose one person to take with you to the final 2, who would it be? Why?

Joey: Me and my girl, Brittany. I think we're equal competitors and we genuinely had a friendship in the house. Even though it's a show and it's a game, you can still be genuinely nice in the house and not isolate people. Frankie would avoid me, people would get up and leave or just stop conversation. That, to me, is being a mean person and I hated that. Brittany was a genuine, nice person.

 

RW: Who do you think has the best chance of winning the game right now? Why?

Joey: Derrick or possibly Donny. If Donny doesn't win, I hope he gets second place or some kind of prize like America's Favorite. You know, now he's on Team America so he can win prize money that way. He's a genuine person. I wish I would have gotten to know him a little bit more. Now seeing the past episodes, I was like oh my gosh, Donny is really just a simply nice person when people didn't think he was.

 

RW: Based off of what you know and what you've seen, who do think is the next person to get evicted?

Joey: If it comes to social game, I would say Devin. Devin, Paola or Brittany. I wish Brittany wasn't in the situation that she's in because she really doesn't deserve it. But I would hope for it to be Devin.

 

RW: Let's talk Devin. Devin comes off a little bit crazy and paranoid. Is he really like that in the house, was it editing or 100% real?

Joey: That was 100% real. He's a very emotionally unstable person. It's just the nature of the beast, you know. He just wasn't all there.

 

RW: He brings up his daughter a lot in gameplay. Does he really do it as much as it seems?

Joey: Oh, he does it all the time. You know, which sounds very sweet. But there are parents in that game. Brittany has three kids. She's a genuinely nice person and doesn't throw her kids in anyone's face for sympathy. He's not an honest player. In reality television, if you don't like a villain there's a reason you don't like them. You have every right to not like that person. They can edit all they want but they can only do so much, basically they're going off what's going on in the house.

 

RW: You brought out Alex and he was great. Do you wish you brought him out earlier?

Joey: I wish I did. But you know, things move so fast in that house and strategy has to change so fast that you really don't know what you're supposed to do next. Yeah, that was my last effort to kind of spread the message of the power and how it was uneven. It was one of my favorite parts of that experience because it entertained people and it got the message across. It stirred the pot.

 

RW: What's in the future for Joey Van Pelt?

Joey: I got some offers in Seattle to speak at some things and dinners. I've never been in a position to speak for a cause. I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.

 

P.S. I asked Joey what kind of hair dye she uses, it's Ion Color Brilliance from Sally's Beauty Supply. (You're welcome)

 

Photo courtesy of CBS