Sometimes, the best plays in Big Brother are often the ugliest ones. And beauty queen Shanna Moakler was keenly aware of this. As the house this season became starkly divided from the jump, she proceeded to do her own jumping, wanting to make sure she was good on both sides of the line in the sand. When she finally committed to one group, she felt confident she could see things through to the end game. But the past four days were full of big moves and big arguments, as the opposition successfully turned Shanna’s allies onto her, shockingly leading the veto queen of the season to be backdoored and evicted. On the very first night, Shanna became part of an alliance with Carson Kressley, Cynthia Bailey and Todrick Hall—all of whom would ultimately play major roles in her downfall. By the end of the first week, she realized her alliance had all become safe except for her. Desperate to avoid being the first evicted, she approached HoH Miesha Tate and offered her loyalty, a gambit that worked when Teddi Mellencamp was put up instead of her. The deal also got her in good with the new athletes’ alliance, alongside her No. 1 ally Chris Kirkpatrick. The two were set to play the middle while the other two sides continued to take shots at each other. Even when Shanna won her first veto on Chris’ HoH, they decided not to go through with the proposed move of backdooring Todrick. What a difference a week makes. The next round, Shanna had the veto once more, and Carson was in trouble. Chris approached her with a risky maneuver: Use the veto on Carson, and officially declare war on Miesha and Todrick. She did so, and it got Chris put up and booted in the process. But both he and Shanna were still satisfied with what happened, as she could continue forward as part of a strong trio with Carson and Cynthia. When Carson won the next HoH, everything spelled TKO for MMA fighter Miesha. But now it was Todrick’s turn for a Hail Mary. He told the other side about Shanna working with them, embellishing that she had no loyalties and was playing everyone. And stunningly, the power couple bought it hook, line and sinker. Despite what Shanna had done recently, they were convinced she wasn’t on their side. And so the entire house got in on a new plan, turning their weapons away from each other and onto Shanna. But despite the frustration and devastation she experienced this past week, Shanna walked out with her head high, yelling to Todrick behind her that she’d make sure the jury didn’t vote for him. Now out of the house, Shanna talks with Parade.com about whether she could have done anything differently over the past few disastrous days, whether she came in wanting to play both sides, and her response to both negative comments made by her fellow houseguests about her, and the support from the Big Brother fandom. I want to start by checking in with you. You’re a big fan of the game, so you must have loved playing. But obviously, your last few days in the house were a lot. How do you look back on the experience as a whole? The experience was amazing! Being a super fan and being in the Big Brother house and playing all the games was just an incredible experience. I never thought I’d get the opportunity. It was very, very cool. And the way that I went out, I mean, I guess I’m still just like, “What just happened?” [Laughs.] Everything just spiraled out of control so quickly! At one point, I honestly thought that they had a four-person alliance that I just wasn’t aware of or something, because it obviously made no sense. But that was one of the frustrations for me playing the game. I was playing with people that really did not understand the game and didn’t know what was going on. So it made it very, very difficult to navigate through the house because there were some people that just didn’t understand what they were doing. Well, I’ll have you know that you are still on the minds of the remaining houseguests. I’m not sure if you’re aware yet, but there have been a lot of comments made about the wardrobe you wore inside the house, with Todrick even questioning whether you’d be a good “role model.” Did you know those types of things were being said about you? I still don’t know what they were saying! If they were saying anything bad about me in the house, that’s obviously sad to hear. However, I wasn’t there to be a role model for anybody. I was there to play Big Brother and play my own game. I treated everyone in the house with the utmost respect. I was nothing but kind to everybody. I picked up after myself. I cooked and cleaned for the house. I did everything in my power to be cordial and kind to everybody. And that’s one thing I look back on, and I’m very proud of. I never took personal attacks on anybody. And I definitely could, because there were a lot of people who were doing that. And that’s one of the reasons I made a lot of my choices in the game in moving forward with Cynthia and Carson. The personal attacks and things that were being said about other people in the house that I thought were unfair. Let’s go back to the beginning of the game. You hit the ground running from the first week, as you and Chris Kirkpatrick successfully played with both sides of the house. At what point did you determine you wanted to play that way? In the beginning, Miesha had a very long HoH, which helped her garner the “Miesha Mafia” and keep that power in the house for so long. So it was really hard to penetrate that bubble. And since Cynthia and Carson had safety, I had to get in the trenches, win competitions, and protect myself. I didn’t really trust anybody at first. You really do have that paranoia. So I was trying to figure out who people were aligning with. People were shifting; Todrick was part of our alliance, and then he left, and he blamed Cynthia for that. So then he went with Miesha. I was trying to figure everything out and float. And then, when I finally did, I knew who I wanted to work with. And when I had my opportunity to strike, I did. But I never in a million years thought the people that I helped were going to come vote me out! [Laughs.] It was just so mind-blowing. I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. Looking back on your veto wins, what do you regret more: Not using the veto on Chris Kirkpatrick’s HoH to backdoor Todrick, or using the veto on Carson last week? Even if I tried to backdoor Todrick, I wouldn’t have had the votes. I mean, Miesha had all the votes, and so did Todrick. So that would have been very, very hard even at that time. Cynthia told me two times in the very, very beginning that she was voting for Todrick to win. So that made it hard for me to want to work with her. I’m like, “Well, why do I want to work with you? You’ve already given this guy your vote!” So looking back now, I would not have taken Carson down, sent him packing, and went on my merry way. I would have just tried to go head to head with Todrick and Miesha at a later date. That way, I would have still had my partner with Chris Kirkpatrick in the house. And I wouldn’t have been left alone out in the middle of the ocean. Replaying the end of your time in the house, do you think there was a particular thing you could have said or conversation you could have had that wouldn’t have resulted in your eviction? I would like to think that! So I knew that Miesha and Todrick were going to go to Cynthia. I said to Cynthia the night before, “If anyone comes to you, they’re gonna try to break us up.” This is why I didn’t respect them as not just players, but as people. I knew they were going to do this. So I was like, “Just please come to me and talk to me.” But then Cynthia was like, “Well, let’s go to Todrick, and you can confront them.” And for me. It wasn’t about not confronting them. They’re lying. I’m not just going stand there and have a “he said, she said” with them. And I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing Carson and Cynthia and I fight and have this discord in our alliance. We needed to be strong and stand up to them. And I didn’t want them to win by seeing us arguing over lies they created. On your way out of the house, you made a comment directed towards Todrick about how you would turn the jury against him. Considering you’ve been discussing him and Miesha together so far, why name him specifically? He started clapping and dancing while I was walking out the door. So that’s why I was like, “Oh, okay! Well, I’ll make sure all the jury doesn’t vote for you.” I mean, it’s okay that you won. You got your way. You lied and schemed; good for you. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. But at the same time, he didn’t have to be like that. And that’s who Todrick is. That’s why I took my shot when I could. At least I got to get my one shot in when I did, and I’m proud of that. So I know you haven’t been online that much since leaving the house. But I did want to let you know how much support you received from basically all corners of the Big Brother fandom. I know the past few days weren’t easy for you, but many people supported your gameplay and have even more support for you after everything that happened. That is really awesome to hear! And that means the world to me, thank you so much. It really was such a cool opportunity to get to even play and be in there. And I’m just really thankful for the whole experience. To finish things off, let’s get your rapid-fire thoughts on the remaining houseguests. Starting with Carson. Completely all over the place. Doesn’t really understand what’s happening. However, he’s good at competitions, so he’s able to save his game. Either he’s playing like he doesn’t know what’s happening, or he really doesn’t know what’s happening. He’s getting very lucky.Cynthia. Cynthia is the most frustrating because she does not know what’s going on. And she’s just riding the coattails of Carson. It was really difficult to play with her. And she’s not very good at competitions. So it was hard having a teammate that you were just dragging along.Lamar. Lamar is very similar. He’s just kind of floating. He’s a number for them. But he’s not great at competitions. I don’t think he really knows what’s going on in the game, either.Miesha. I mean, kudos to her! She definitely is a beast in the competitions. She’s super strong. She’s very calculating. And it’s very, very, very difficult to go up against her.Todd. He’s just a great guy. The funny thing about Todd is that he acts like he doesn’t care and he doesn’t want to be there. But he does. And he pretends he doesn’t know the game or that he’s sleeping, but he’s not. He’s absolutely gaming. He absolutely knows what he’s doing. He wants to be there, and he’s winning over the hearts of a lot of the people in the house. That’s why they’re saving him, and that’s why they’re doing all these things for him. So I feel like he’s playing like an honest, good game.And finally, Todrick. Todrick, to me, is just someone that constantly plays the victim. He’s said the most horrific and horrible things about every human being in that house. And he’s someone that is also riding the coattails of another powerful player, Miesha. I just really don’t have any respect for his game or him personally. Next, check out interview with Chris Kattan, who walked away from Celebrity Big Brother 3 on Day 15.
