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Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With Big Brother Canada 3‘s Jordan Parhar

Inside Pulse
Inside Pulse
Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With Big Brother Canada 3's Jordan Parhar
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There is no doubt that Jordan Parhar was my favorite Big Brother Canada player this season. The reasons are obvious. I certainly believe that we share similar backgrounds and his reality television knowledge and obsession with collecting stats and data certainly is a passion that I can identify with. I also believe that his take on the game is one that is quite similar to mine. While Jordan was in the house to win, he also appreciated all of the little nuances of Big Brother (getting into a showmance, participating in all of the amazing competition, making alliances etc.) that is something that we all, as superfans of the show, can appreciate. It is for these reasons that watching his game disintegrate in front of us was as traumatic as it was. Prior to Zach’s HOH, Jordan was sitting in a great position. He had his Newport partner-in-crime keeping tabs on the Chop Shop while he focused on keeping SSB in check. In the end, however, it was Jordan’s trust in Zach that led to his downfall. He overcelebrated his ally’s HOH win and then, to make matters worse, attempted to hide their alliance by volunteering to go on the block. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Jordan also decided to throw the veto competition and these mistakes all led to him becoming the first member of the jury.

I caught up with Jordan to discuss what happened, his pre-game strategy and reality television in general. Check out the interview below!

Jordan Parhar: What’s up Murtz?

Murtz Jaffer: How are you?

JP: As good as you can be after you get blindsided. No… I am doing okay. How are you doing?

MJ: Very good. Very good. I want to start by saying that I am a big fan of yours and appreciate all the shoutouts. I was heartbroken to see you evicted. You seemed to be making all the right moves up until this week. What went wrong?

JP: This entire week Murtz, it all started wrong in the Before & After competition. I stepped the wrong way and after that, I knew all the questions. I knew the tiebreaker. I would have won the HOH and just from there… it just was all downhill. I tried to overcompensate for my overcelebration and that caused me to volunteer myself as a pawn (which I thought wasn’t a terrible move because I knew Zach was HOH and I thought that I could trust Zach) and he would win the power of veto and pull me off. I would still be perceived as a weak player in the game. People wouldn’t think I was super close to Zach, beause he was willing to put me up on the block as a pawn. Ultimately he didn’t go through with the plan and that’s part of the reason why I am here talking with you right now. He didn’t use that veto on me and I guess the other houseguests realized that I was a threat in the game and they wanted to send me home. It is unfortunate but I tip my cap to them and I don’t have any regrets. Everything happens for a reason.

MJ: How much do you blame Zach for your eviction and why do you think he changed his mind about using the veto to take you off the block?

JP: Well, Murtz, the thing was, as soon as Sindy came back into the game, Zach definitely seemed to be less onboard with the plan to back door Bobby or Bruno this week. That changed his mind a little bit. Yes, he should have used the veto on me and saved me (if he was really loyal to Newport as I thought he was). I don’t know. Maybe he was playing me… I really don’t know at this point. I blame Zach and I blame Sindy coming back to the game as well because that put a target on my back (because her and I were obviously viewed as a pair and as a showmance in the game). I think that definitely played something into it as well.

MJ: Your reality knowledge is unparalleled. Can you talk about what you did to prepare prior to entering the house and how much of your pre-game strategy did you put into effect once you arrived?

JP: Well, thank you very much Murtz, I do appreciate that. What I did to prepare? I have seen… I am a superfan. I have seen every season of Big Brother multiple times and for me, I figured watching a lot of old seasons over again wasn’t going to, it was going to be miniscule like if it was going to give me that much more of an edge. I would watch particular seasons again. I’d re-watch Big Brother All Stars. I’d re-watch some of my favorites. Big Brother 8… Big Brother 10 to see Dan play again.

I watched Big Brother 14 again just to see some of the best games played and those sorts of things. I did some research on how to speak to a jury and stuff like that (if I was going to get to the final two). I watched like Todd Herzog’s speech in Survivor China again, John Cochran in Survivor Caramoan… that kind of stuff. I also read a lot of books. I read the 48 Laws Of Power by Robert Green. I think that is a really good book if anybody ever ends up on Big Brother to read before going in and also How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

In terms of my pre game strategy, my strategy was just to get to know everybody really well on a personal level and so that way they felt that they could trust me and build some rapport with me. I wanted to make it seem as if I was an idiot and not that smart and I was easily manipulated because I am young. I am 21. I wanted people to think that I was stupid but obviously I didn’t do that great a job of that because I got sent packing. I also wanted a final two partner (which I had in Zach and I had in Kevin). But ultimately that didn’t work out for me. I tried it. It didn’t work out so well and now I am here.

MJ: Would you define your relationship with Zach as more of an alliance or more of a friendship prior to his betrayal? In most Big Brother seasons where two male players make a connection (like the Sheyld, the Renegades, Chilltown), they seem to really connect on a personal level. Did you have that with Zach or were you both just using each other to advance?

JP: I don’t know about it on his end… how he necessarily feels about it… but for me, I definitely felt like I had that on a personal level with him. We had a lot of personal talks and although on paper we are completely different people (he is the All Star football quarterback while I am the nerdy guy who never plays football and is in class and stays inside all the time). In that perspective, yes, we are very different but on a personal level, we do have a lot of similar interests. He is a very big fan of Big Brother. He is also a very intellectual individual.

We did connect a lot and I felt that yeah, it was definitely… I wanted to align with a big threat (in case we did go on the block together people would go after Zach before me). I guess I did use him in that sense. That is how it started. It did grow as a friendship definitely as we progressed in the game together.

MJ: You made the Newport alliance with Zach and the Fortress alliance with Kevin relatively early in the game. It seemed like you were always more loyal to the agreement with Zach. What was it about him that made you choose to attach yourself to him instead of Kevin?

JP: For me, (I don’t know how it was edited on the show obviously), but for me… I felt like I was loyal to both of them the entire time. Yeah, I was probably loyal to Zach just because we formed it a little earlier (the Newport alliance was formed earlier then The Fortress was formed). I definitely did feel very loyal to Kevin and that is why (again I don’t know if this made the show), we had this alliance called the Bromuda Triangle which was the three of us together.  My plan was ultimately to ride with both of those guys and then eventually (later on in the game), have them fighting to keep me and fight over me as to which way I would go and then I would decide later on if I was going to go with Zach or if I was going to go with Kevin. From the early stages of the game, I would definitely say yeah, I leaned a little closer to Newport just because Zach and I formed that on day one whereas Kevin and I formed The Fortress alliance on Day 5 or 6.

MJ: As you don’t know who voted against you, do you have any guesses as to who did?

JP: I got barely any sleep last night because I had no idea! I was trying to figure out who did! My best guess is (based on the voting order), I figure it was the last person who voted was the fifth vote to evict me (just because that is how they usually do it historically on Big Brother). They will go back and forth with the votes and the last person is like the swing vote. Bobby was last. He voted me out. I am assuming Bobby and Bruno voted together. I am also assuming that Sindy voted to keep me.

If we look at it that way… Bobby and Bruno voted together, Sindy voted to keep me, I assume that Ashleigh, Kevin and Pili also voted to keep me and then Sarah, Brittnee and then I can’t remember who… Willow… those three also voted to evict me. Now I am assuming that those guys are working in alliance with Godfrey and the couples are in major trouble but who knows? Maybe I am completely wrong, that is just what I am… that is what I took from it though.

MJ: My new hypothesis is that despite what people think, superfans have a much harder time winning Big Brother than non-fans do. I find that superfans tend to overanalyze and overplay. Do you think this is the case especially on a season where almost all the houseguests are superfans?

JP: Yeah, I totally agree with you Murtz. It is so tough and for me going in… I have heard this hypothesis before and I though eh. You know what? I feel like as a superfan you have a huge advantage. You have seen previous seasons. You know how to play the game…but yes, when you are on a season where everybody is a super fan, you definitely (when you are in there), it is completely different. You overanalyze everything. You overthink things because you have seen so many seasons of Big Brother where you see certain people do things.

For example, for me, I see the Renegades in Season 10 when Dan nominates Memphis to cover up the alliance. That works out fine, so I think okay. Well I can do this… but you also see situations like in Big Brother 12 where Matt Hoffman volunteers to go on the block and then that kind of blows up his game a little bit. You overthink things definitely a lot and I think that in some aspects, yes it [being a superfan] does hurt you. You can look at the last three seasons of the US show. We had three superfans win. We had Derrick Levasseur, Andy Herren and Ian Terry and they were three big super fans.

But then when you look at the first two seasons of the Canadian show, we have Jon Pardy and we have Jillian MacLaughlin. Two people who hadn’t really seen any of the show at all going in. It is very interesting and it is a debate that I don’t know. I don’t know if we have a definitive answer to it. You definitely have a very good point there, Murtz, absolutely.

MJ: Godfrey had one of the best veto ceremony speeches I have ever heard and you and Godfrey both offered great save me speeches in last night’s episode. Do you think that he was more active in campaigning to save himself whereas you chose to lay low?

JP: 100% and actually, this is something pre game as well that I looked into. I read an interview with Spencer Clawson from Big Brother 15 and he was on the block so many times in that season. I just wanted to figure out like how did he manage to get off the block so many times? One of the things he said he used to do is lay low, not talk game with anybody, and just remain likeable. That way, people wouldn’t be threatened by him or scared by him, and he wouldn’t come across as desperate or phony in his pleas to people.

I figured that after that veto ceremony speech, that Godfrey had blown up his own game. I figured ‘okay like Godfrey is an idiot… nobody is really going to trust this guy.’ I can just sit back and stay calm and nobody is going to,… everyone is going to realize that I am the better candidate to stay in the game. Ultimately, it failed because while I was doing that, Godfrey was campaigning hard to stay and it worked for him. I tip my cap to him and he did an excellent job.

MJ: Your decision to go up on the block and then throw the veto competition were the main factors in your exit. Do you feel like it was your desire to make an unnecessary big move that cost you the game?

JP: 100% and I think part of the reason… I was in the game (and I think this happened to Arlie last year a little bit), I was in the game for 28 days and I felt like I was running things with Zach. I hadn’t really had a chance to do much. I really wanted to make a splash and do something big so I thought ‘this is a big move, I can do it, it is going to be safe because Zach is the HOH, nothing is going to go wrong, he can take me off the block, people are still going to think I am weak and this will be fine, it will be great.’

This big move, (like Arlie last season when he kind of… he started coming out and showing his true colors), ultimately it failed relatively quickly for him and he ended up in the same position as me as the first member of the jury. I just had that desire to really start playing that I think ultimately cost me the game. Again that goes back to the superfan thing. If I wasn’t such a superfan, I wouldn’t have had that innate desire to do that.

MJ: I’d like to talk about your relationship with Sindy. Is it more than just a showmance?

JP: Honestly, Murtz, I thought she was playing me when she first kissed me in the first couple of days before she got voted out. I definitely thought she was trying to play me. As she came back and I got to talk to her a little bit more, I realized that, yeah, she actually had genuine feelings for me and I had genuine feelings for her. Who knows what is going to happen after the show? She lives in Toronto. I live in Vancouver. She is 26, I am 21. I don’t really expect anything to come of it but yeah, we had a definitely a great relationship and it wasn’t just for show. Absolutely not.

MJ: If you had the chance to instantly evict anyone right now, who would it be?

JP: Right now, Bobby is walking around like he is so cocky and that everybody wants to do what he does (even though he really is an idiot and he doesn’t know anything about the game) and it kills me that he is in there and I am not. I would definitely [evict Bobby]. It’s because I am jealous but I would definitely. He voted me out, yeah I would vote to evict Bobby right now if I can instantly evict anybody.

MJ: And finally, Being on Big Brother was clearly a dream for you. Can you discuss what this experience means to you?

JP: It means the world Murtz. You understand (as such a huge fan of Survivor and Big Brother too and reality television in general). It’s something that I dreamt about my entire life and for me, I grew up and I was always told ‘you are too small to do anything, you are not smart enough to do anything and you are never going to be success of anything.’

I don’t think people really understood it with me (that I was so into reality television) and I don’t think that anybody really believed that I could realistically ever make it on or do anything with it. I applied every single season. I thought I was going to be on last year and it didn’t work out for me and now I finally got on this season. It meant the world to me and it was such an incredible experience and it is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It was an honor to play the game and it means the world to me.

MJ: Amazing Jordan. Thank you so much!

JP: Thank you so much Murtz I will talk to you later.

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.

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