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.
If there was one person most adept to riding the waves of a Big Brother season, it’s Kimo Apaka. The first Native Hawaiian to compete on the show, Kimo came into the house to both represent his community and honor his late brother. After lying dormant for the first month, the mattress sales representative rose, orchestrating the first house flip of the season. The move cemented him and T’kor Clottey as power players. Unfortunately, Kimo’s alliance failed to get into power for the rest of the season, and he was nominated for six evictions in a row. Unfortunately, his seventh time on the block failed to be his lucky one, and 79 days after he said “aloha” to the house, he said it again on his way out the door.
Kimo started the season in a far from ideal place, nominated in the first week as an outsider. But he soon proved his worth when he became the first winner of the new “BB AI Arena” competition, saving him from the eviction vote. After that, Kimo cemented an alliance with T’kor and Quinn Martin, then joined the majority “Collective” alliance. But when Quinn told them about the “Pentagon” group he had going on, the remaining “Visionaries” had a vision of what needed to happen. Behind Quinn’s back, they organized a flip on the Pentagon with everyone else outside the alliance. Half the house was shocked to see Cedric Hodges go, and the two got Rubina Bernabe closer to them after saving her in the flip. With their new alliance winning power the two weeks after, it seemed Kimo had taken over the game for the near future.
Kimo’s actions had set him up with a nice archipelago of allies. The issue, though, was it put the trio out on an island, the most visible group in the game. The group failed to win an HoH for the rest of the season. Those who did saw the trio as easy targets, and so Kimo continued to get thrown up as a nominee. Kimo’s game soon grew toothless, with his eating becoming the loudest part of his time in the house. Despite the situation looking grim, he would somehow always prevail, getting removed from the block three times (including having the Veto used on him twice).
At the Final Five, it was down to Kimo and Rubina versus the trio that had controlled the latter half of this game, and that control continued when Makensy Manbeck won both HoH and Veto. Despite how straightforward the vote was on paper, there was ample discussion among the majority, including the option of putting up Cam Sullivan-Brown for allegedly throwing competitions, and Cam and Chelsie Baham debating keeping Kimo as Final Four insurance. Unfortunately, they chose to stick with the plan, putting Kimo’s $750,000 dreams to sleep.
Now on his way to the jury house, Kimo talks with Parade.com about his choice to play so passively the past week, how emotionally and strategically taxing all his times on the block were, and how he would fared against the trio in the end.
This week, you chose to not approach Makensy about using the veto while you were on the block. Overall, what do you make of the campaigning you did this past week to stay?
Aloha, Parade! Yeah, there’s very little things I want to walk out of this house with regret for. But not approaching Makensy to use the veto on me this week is definitely a regret that I do have. I don’t think I handle that situation very well. I’m glad I got to talk with Makensy before I walked out of the house and just to kind of clarify things, you know. There was lots of confusion and miscommunication. And for me, I know better. I know that you should absolutely advocate for yourself every chance that you get. I think I just assumed, which you should never do in the Big Brother house or in life, because Makensy and I were fostering this relationship with each other in the game to trust each other. And she’s used the veto on me before, and she’s voted to keep me to stay.
I thought we were building something where, if I was saying something, that she would just kind of accept it and know that I’m being real with her–I mean, to a point, especially in in the Big Brother game. So from the first nominations of me going on the block against Rubina, to then the veto happening, and then her decision not to use it, I think I just, I just lost track of playing the game this week. It’s hard not to when you’re sitting next to your closest ally and bestie in the house. So I do wish that I had done a better job at advocating for myself, or at all when it came to using the veto on me. But things happen the way they happen. And if I’m ever able to play this game again, I know way better now.
You were not happy with Chelsie nominating you during the double eviction, and talked this past week with Rubina about how you felt she was a power player. Talk to me more about how your feelings developed.
Chelsie is one other person that I know is such a fan of this show. And the fact that she and I were the only two “superfans”, or really big fans left in the game, I knew that the traction that Chelsie had was one that would push her to the end. Because Chelsie, she’s playing such a great game, socially, strategically. So the second time she’d put me on the block, I knew the first time around that I was just a pawn. But you can’t help but think, “Am I that expendable to put me on the block?” And I know that there are other reasons for that, because it is an easy thing to do if you’ve already been on the block. You don’t want to get your hands dirtier than it needs to be. And that was something that we agreed upon. But the double is such a risky position to be in anyone’s at risk. So for sure, that kind of just changed my opinions. Because, out of fear, you know you start to say and do things and think things differently of people. Thankfully, I was able to pull myself off the block during that double winning the veto. But, yeah, I think Chelsie is doing such an amazing job. And I think that if she’s in the Final Two, she has a huge chance of winning.
After Tucker’s eviction, you were nominated six weeks in a row. How did all that time on the block affect your mental stability, as well as your position in the game?
Being on the block more than a couple of times is taxing emotionally. Being on the block six times after Tucker was evicted really did a number on me emotionally. I was trying to push through and be more optimistic and be positive. Because in this house too. it’s a lot about perception. And you don’t want to, even when you’re on the block, seem like you’re a rain cloud. It’s really hard to do. So kind of all of the mixture of that really made playing this game and being on the block so often very tiring. But I’m glad that I had people in this house that were able to pick me up and motivate me to keep pushing forward. Because without them, I wouldn’t have sustained as long as I did in this game, but definitely tough. Oh my goodness.
Talk to me about the tight relationships you formed with T’kor and Rubina. Were you intending to go to the endgame with them, and what do you think your chances were of winning if you did?
Yeah, I mean, T’kor and Rubina, they became my closest allies in the house, and also my besties. Because for me in this house, I needed people to lean on as just like a human existing, game aside. So for sure, I had every intent of going to the end with T’kor and Rubina and then just kind of handling business however that looked like at the end. Because in the real world, my friends, when they win, I also win. I know that’s a cheesy thing to say. But it really is true for me. T’kor and Rubina have become my very, very good friends. So, if the three of us made it, that’s amazing. And if one of us took home the prize, also amazing.
Finally, give us your rapid-fire thoughts on each of the remaining houseguests. Starting with Cam.
Cam is cool, calm, and collected.
Chelsie.
[Pause.] Brilliant.
Makensy.
I would say “perseverence.”
And finally, Rubina.
There’s so many words for Rubina. I love her so much. [Pause.] I would say…a light.