Welcome to Reality Derby, Gold Derby’s deep dive into all things reality TV, hosted by senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson. Watch the latest episode above.
All summer long, the “B” word has been used by fans to describe Big Brother player Chuk Anyanwu: “Boring.”
Following his live eviction in the Aug. 13 episode, the Dallas-based supply chain analyst addresses those allegations in an interview with Gold Derby — and does his best to defend his game.
“I wanted to lay low as much as possible,” Chuk tells us. “I was in a strong alliance that was cascading through this game for four weeks straight, so I felt like I did not have to do anything until we got towards the end, because I did not want to get any blood on my hands. So, for me, I will take that boring game. I really wanted to just have us steamroll through everyone, and then when we get to the end, now we’re struggling and we’re battling out.”
Chuk admits it “feels very strange” being back in the real world after 38 days in isolation. “I’m homeless now,” he laughs.
Big Brother’s Angela Murray and Survivor’s Dee Valladares and Rick Devens entered the game as reality TV icons, but there was actually a fourth icon: Jason De Puy, aka Salina EsTitties from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Chuk and the rest of the cast had no idea.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chuk now explains, “because Jason was very flamboyant and you could tell the way he would cascade around the house that this guy loves the cameras.” He adds, “We were going to have a drag show in the house. We were going to have even a Magic Mike night, but they were taking out some guys from the house.”
Chuk responds to Taylor Brown’s comment about how speaking with him was like “Big Brother for Dummies” by saying he hadn’t watched much of the show. “I loved that I had minimal watch time coming into the game,” he confesses. “I felt that I was going to go in the game truly with fresh eyes. I truly was going to be someone to where I’m only playing my game and I’m not trying to mimic anyone else from the past.”
He continues, “Being in the house and hearing certain conversations, knowing that everyone wanted to be looked at like this other person or that person, I’m like, ‘Why don’t you want people to look at your season and be like, hey, I want to be like this person?’ I wanted that. It was, for me, something I still stand on. I did not want to come in with this dictionary book of everybody. I truly wanted to just play my own game.”
Big Brother 28’s Haley Thogmartin and Chuk AnyanwuCBS
Now that he’s out, Chuk is personally rooting for his close ally Haley Thogmartin to win the $750,000 grand prize. “You guys see how close we are. Love the girl. She’s amazing, she’s fun, she’s fiery, and she’s a badass competitor. She’s won an HOH and she kind of steamrolls when she’s in these competitions. She’s always getting second or third. So, Haley, 100%.”
When Kamu Kirk failed to use the Veto on Chuk, he likened him to an “enemy,” despite the fact that they played together for the first four weeks. “I felt so betrayed,” Chuk reiterates. “He starts telling me that he doesn’t want to risk Dee or Devens being a renom. I’m like, ‘Dude, you are literally putting a line in the sand that those are the people that you are trying to take with you all the way, when we started it with you.’ Him doing that kind of just told me everything I needed to know.”
Despite the betrayal, Chuk hopes they can be friends outside of the game. “Truly, I walked out of the house and every animosity I had towards anyone … literally did not mean anything to me anymore. We’re literally going to be all friends outside of this thing.”
With Yash Patel being named the winner of the Week 6 Head of Household competition, Chuk now predicts who the finance analyst from New Jersey will nominate for eviction: “Yash was someone who we deemed to be in the middle of this house. He had no core alliance. He just had, ‘Hey, I got you.’ He’s definitely going to throw Melody up there because me and Yash were so adamant that we needed Melody evicted, and I’m so surprised that she’s still in the house. If he’s going to also take a big shot, he’s friends with her in the house, but I see him putting up Mallory. And I see him throwing Lala up there just because, hey, minimal blood on his hands. So, I think it’s going to be Melody, Mallory, and Lala.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.