Big Brother 26’s Joseph Rodriguez stands by his gameplay.
“I started The Collective [alliance] and I was the first person to really put my neck on the line in that way, whereas everybody else who was in the alliance was just quiet in all the meetings and never wanted to stick their neck out there. I was the one who rounded up the people,” Joseph, 31, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, September 6, one day after he was eliminated from the CBS reality series. “I got Tucker [Des Lauriers] to use the power of veto on Quinn [Martin] when that wasn’t a good move for his game. I was playing hard from the get-go.”
Joseph said that if his fellow houseguests couldn’t see the merits of his game, that’s on them.
“I felt like had they not seen it at the end [of the game], then they’re stupid,” he said. “And maybe it’s, like, a little too nuanced for some of them, but I think [competitions] and stuff like that, yeah, it’s cool, it’s nice you get a shiny medal or whatever, but that’s not what the game is.”
Joseph rubbed some of his houseguests the wrong way with his confidence at times. During the Wednesday, September 4, episode of Big Brother, Chelsie Baham was incredulous after Joseph compared their styles of gameplay and said that he could’ve beaten Tucker, 30, in the final two.
“You thought you would win against him? Tucker at least played the game, you have simply been taking up air,” Chelsie, 27, said in a diary room confessional. “You think we play similar games? Our games are like water and oil. I’ve won an HoH, I’ve gotten myself off the block and won AI arena, I gathered my troops to get your biggest ally Tucker out of this game. What have you done? Tell me!”
Joseph did admit to Us that his “hubris definitely got to [him] a little bit” in the house, but he doesn’t think that’s what cost him the game.
“I think that anybody who’s cast on this show probably has a huge ego and has a bit of hubris,” he said. “I don’t think that’s why I’m here. I think it’s more so just not shoring up things that should have shored up a little bit. I feel like this [BB AI arena] twist screwed me over. If there were just two nominees, there would be no way I’d be on the freaking block. So, I feel like it was a series of things. I don’t think my hubris was exactly what did me in.”
Joseph also acknowledged that his habit of telling other players he was intentionally throwing competitions and thought he could beat certain houseguests in the end wasn’t the best game move.
“I don’t think it was ultimately that good [for me],” he said. “My thought process though was that … I had a quiet game, so I feel like I needed to illustrate to some people, ‘This is what I’m doing.’ And I also felt like being honest was a strategy of mine.”
Joseph felt that his honesty is one way he played a similar game to Big Brother alum Dr. Will Kirby, although he made it clear that he was “prompted” in the diary room to compare himself to the legendary winner and did not bring it up “for no reason.”
“[Dr. Will] told people, ‘Hey, I’m a liar, but at least I’m admitting that I’m a liar.’ I didn’t go quite that far, but [I had] that same type of mentality where it’s just like, ‘Yeah, we’re all doing dirty things in here all the time,’” Joseph said. “We’re all sinners here. Let’s not try to act on our moral high horse about certain things.”
Joseph was named as Head of Household Quinn’s replacement nominee — even though the duo were working closely together — after Leah Peters used the veto to take Angela Murray off the block. He lost to Rubina Bernabe in the BB AI arena and was voted out over Kimo Apaka.
“It’s so dumb on both of their parts,” Joseph said of Quinn, 25, and Leah, 26, placing him in harm’s way this week despite his close relationships with them. “I love them both as people, but I feel like Leah’s reasoning of doing it so she has one jury vote from Angela is just crazy to me. Like, I’m the one person in this game who has your back more than anybody — because I thought I could beat her in the end — but still.”
Joseph and Quinn both seemed to be crushing on Leah throughout the season, but she viewed the relationships as more platonic. Still, Us couldn’t resist asking Joseph who he thinks has the better shot with Leah.
“Definitely me, but I’m sure [Quinn] would say the same,” Joseph said. “I actually don’t think he would say the same thing, now that I think about it. Because he said at one point that she definitely liked me more.”
Big Brother airs on CBS Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
