Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With Big Brother Canada 3‘s Johnny Colatruglio

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Inside Pulse
Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With Big Brother Canada 3's Johnny Colatruglio
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The day after he was evicted out of the Big Brother Canada 3 house, I had the chance to catch up with Johnny Colatruglio to discuss what happened. We talked about a variety of topics including his comment about wanting to be the Neda and not the next Aneal (that he said when he was packing to move into the Big Brother house). We also talked about what it was like to compete in a veto competition where all the other houseguests made it clear that they were gunning for him. I asked Johnny to size up his competitors in terms of pure Big Brother fandom and asked him where he thought that he ranked amongst the others. Johnny also discussed Graig’s proclamation that he wasn’t a bully and offered evidence to counteract this point. The 26-year old IT Manager also outlined everything he did to try and save himself from eviction. Johnny discussed the nature of his relationship with Kevin and opened up about whether he would continue to work with him if he returned to the house. Colatruglio also speculated about what he thinks the First Five competition will be. I also asked him if he would have preferred Canada to vote in the returning player instead of being forced to compete to get back in.

As we now know, Johnny has the chance to potentially return for a second chance and I also asked him what his strategy would be if he returned to the house. Check it out!

Johnny Colatruglio: Hey Murtzy, what’s up?

Murtz Jaffer: Hey, how are you?

JC: I am good, how are you?

MJ: Very good! Are you ready to get started?

JC: Yeah let’s do this!

MJ: When you were packing to move into the Big Brother house, you said that you wanted to be the next Neda and not the next Aneal. Can you elaborate on why you said this and which former Big Brother player’s game do you feel your game most resembled?

JC: First off, I don’t feel like my game resembles anyone’s game from the past. I feel like I played my own unique game. I came in there and I did the best I could… when it came to competitions, I felt like I was a social player as well. I can’t say that I can compare myself to anyone in particular. I am me and what you see is what you get. I am not like anyone else. With respect to Neda and the calling out Aneal thing, I mean there’s no secret that a lot of the gays have not been my favorites in past seasons of [both] the US and/or Canadian versions. I mean Aneal played a weak game, I thought, and in hindsight I probably played a little bit of a weak game too so I can totally understand that. Neda played that amazing game social wise, and she was really calling the shots which was something I thought I could emulate. I feel like I still have that opportunity and once I get back in to the house… watch out!

MJ: Your dog is named Veto and in the last veto competition, you were literally targeted by everyone in the house. Why do you think everyone targeted you and how do you think your dog felt about the competition?

JC: [Laughs]. Oh Veto! I miss him to pieces… that little puppy dog! Yes that competition was ridiculous. A little disheartening when you know you are fighting for your life and you walk into the backyard, and you realize that it is one of these competitions. One of these dreaded competitions where people are going to take aim at you and it is going to be an uphill battle or a complete shutout (which is what I expected going out there). I was a little surprised. At first, I thought, you know there is four of us playing. Kevin, Brittnee, myself and Sarah and we can easily take out Bobby and Bruno but once Kevin went up first and made it very apparent that no one was going to stick their neck out because no one wanted to put another target on themselves (or put a target on themselves period), there was not much I could do. So what do I think Veto is thinking? Veto is probably barking at the screen! He is probably super upset but he is rooting for me now and he knows I am going to win the comp on Sunday and go back into the house and blow some stuff up!!!

MJ: There are many Big Brother superfans in the house this season. Where would you say you rank in terms of superfan knowledge and trivia inside the house?

JC: Absolutely! It is crazy ridiculous how many people in the house are super fans! This doesn’t happen very often. Not in the US, not in Canada… not like this, that’s for sure. Definitely added a really interesting dimension to the game. Super crazy to have so many people know so much; I thought to myself going in that I was going to tone down the super fan because I didn’t want to become a target because people thought ‘oh he knows the show inside and out,’ but I got in there and it was quite apparent that there are way bigger super fans than I am! I mean when it comes to knowledge of Big Brother and trivia inside the house, Jordan takes it hands down. JP that guy knows last names of people from like first seasons of Big Brother. I don’t know last names, I certainly remember people’s names and what seasons they are from but god that guy knows everything. Willow very smart when it come to the game as well. I would say she is probably second. I would probably put myself at 3rd or 4th. Sarah knows quite a bit, so does Naeha so I think we are all 3rd, 4th, 5th.

MJ: Gotcha. As a superfan, I am sure you know that winning competitions is always suicide in the Big Brother house. Do you regret winning last week’s veto competition that allowed Brittnee to backdoor Graig because while it accomplished what you wanted, it also flagged you as a threat to the others?

JC: So as a superfan, I don’t know if I necessarily agree with you (if winning competitions is always suicide in Big Brother house). I mean look at Jillian and Emmett. They pummeled all of those competitions. They were killing them and I mean we’ve seen competitors in the past who win competitions over and over again. Certainly it [puts] a target on them, but it is definitely a strategy that has been successful in the past so I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that.

At the same time, I don’t have any regrets with winning the veto. The veto is the only thing that you 100% know that you are safe with and at the same time, Big Brother has thrown so many twists at us this year, so you never know what could be coming your way and you never know when you might be in danger.

So with that being said, that Power of Veto necklace on my neck meant I was 100% surviving that week and it allowed us to accomplish the goal of taking out Graig which was amazing and I felt like it was my big game move. It was something that I get to say I did. I got to win the Power of Veto, use it and backdoor someone which is always something that a super fan dreams and prays of doing one day.

MJ: Graig didn’t seem to think that he was a bully. Do you feel like he was in the house?

JC: Yeah, I don’t know why he doesn’t think he was a bully! He definitely was a bully in the house! He made Willow cry when he tried to flip the Risha/Pili vote right at the start and that was a bully. He wouldn’t let her express her opinion and when she expressed an opinion that was different from his, he started yelling and getting all up in her face. That is a bully (as far as I am concerned).

Graig had a lot of nasty things to say about people in the house and whether those aired or not, he was not a nice guy even to people that he was in a so called ‘alliance’ with. So yeah. He is a bit of a bully and then he gets all up in my face with his finger, calling me a liar and the whole nine yards when he was the one that has been lying from day one… even about his occupation.

So he is a little bit of a hypocrite, a bit of a bully, super emotional. Yeah, I stand by what I said. He is a bully. He was a bully in the house. I don’t think he is a bully in real life (don’t get me wrong), but in the house he was a bully… period.

MJ: Too often on Big Brother, when a player is put up on the block, they go out with a whimper and not a bang. You fought until the end and I especially liked your move to use the gummy bears to extract information out of Sarah to use against her. You also seemed to be delivering a message to the other houseguests in your speech yesterday when you said that they should vote for their own games and not play into someone else’s. Can you tell me what you meant by that and discuss everything you did to try and save yourself?

JC: Absolutely, thank you for tipping your hat on the gummy bears. I thought that was quite genius myself. I knew that I was screwed when I couldn’t win that Power of Veto and that it was hopeless for me to expect to be able to save myself so I did what I had to. I was not going out without a fight. I was not going to roll over and die. I was not going to seclude myself in the bedroom like Graig did the previous week which (as far as I am concerned) was pathetic. I wasn’t going to die. I went out there and totally tried to get as much info possible out of Sarah. Initially I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to use it, but I slept on it and I was like ‘I absolutely have to use it, this is Big Brother, this is what you do when you need to fight to stay.’

So certainly, using that to my advantage, dropping all of that information to Zach and then doing it all over again to Ashleigh in the hot tub (even though we were a little drunk)… it was still an opportune moment when you had a one on one to drop all of that information. I did the same with Kevin and I had hoped that it could turn some things.

As for my speech at yesterday’s eviction, that was totally meant to call out to people like Ashleigh, call out to people like Pili, call out to people who are sitting dormant and are maybe being used by some of the bigger players in the game that they need to start making decisions for themselves. They need to start making decisions that are good for their game and that are not good for everyone else’s game.

So absolutely that was calling them out and especially now (knowing what I know after being able to meet up with the previously evicted house guests and finding out about the Chop Shop and all of that), I certainly stand by everything I said. I think it was a perfect speech on my exit.

MJ: Do you believe that Sarah would turn on Kevin and the others as she told you during the gummy bear strategy session and do you feel like your alliance made a mistake by not keeping you?

JC: Absolutely, I think Sarah would turn on Kevin. She is really in a pickle right now. Sarah being left in the house, and now knowing what I know about the Chop Shop and the couples, Zach could sort of position himself in a way that he is sitting pretty with absolutely everyone. I really don’t think that Sarah has any other option other than to attempt to sell the fact that Kevin and Zach are huge threats.

If someone like Bruno wanted to take out a big threat like Zach who will be a thorn in his side moving on (despite the fact he is working with him), this is a perfect opportunity to allow someone else to initiate a target like that and go after him and maybe have her get blood on her hands. So I definitely think she would. Do I think that my alliance made a mistake by not keeping me? Absolutely…it would be again, on the flip side, a perfect opportunity for Zach to have someone like me stay in the house with my obvious target of Bobby and Bruno. Godfrey, that would have been a waste of a week but he would have been someone worth throwing up there in order to try to backdoor Bobby. So absolutely. I think t was a mistake on their part not to keep me.

MJ: You seemed to be quite fond of Kevin but he turned on you and has a relationship with Pilar. Can you talk about your relationship with him inside the house?

JC: Well my Kevvy Wevvy…I love that guy to pieces. I don’t blame him for what happened in the house. We had an interesting relationship…I went in to the house thinking that he could possibly be another gay and we could have our first gaymance and (of course), within the first 10 minutes, I just had to ask him straight out if he was gay and I got quite the interesting response. He said “no I am straight but everyone has a little bit of gay in them,” and sure now it turned out that way. We shnuggled a bit, we shared the bed, we had some smooching going on. I love Kevin to pieces, super fond of him, I get what he had to do in the Power of Veto and I get the fact that he did what he had to do to protect his own game so…will I work with Kevin if I go back in to the game? Absolutely! I think that he is on the outs, so I would totally go back to him.

MJ: You have the chance to come back in the game but will have to win a competition that has never been seen on Big Brother Canada. What do you think the competition will be?

JC: I have no idea what the competition is going to be. None whatsoever. I hope it is a mix of physical and strategy and/or mental.

MJ: Do you think your odds would be better in a vote to get back in or in a competition to get back in?

JC: Definitely better in a competition. I feel like Naeha is super popular with Canada. I feel like she would lock down the vote just on her own (if it was a voting thing), so absolutely. I am super pumped that it is competition-based because I feel like I have good chances.

MJ: What would your strategy be if you got to reenter the game?

JC: I am going to blow s*** up in the house when I go back in. Zach better watch out because I am going to call out his game in front of the entire house and make him expose himself, and if he is unwilling to, I am going to expose him to everyone.

MJ: Amazing Johnny! Thanks so much!

JC: Thanks Murtz!

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.