There is no denying the fact that I have been one of Adel Elseri’s biggest critics this season and that my opinion has been in the minority. Adel was easily Big Brother Canada 2‘s most popular contestant, evidenced by Canada rewarding him with the Buzzworthy power and the reaction he received when he finally walked out the door. My chief criticisms of his game were rooted in my belief that he played to Canada more than improving his alliances. Upon a deeper examination, even that point can be argued against as it was his popularity that gave him the power that he used to defend himself from being during the early part of the season (by lying about what it actually did). In the new iteration of Big Brother, popularity is often just as important as strategic acumen since popularity-based twists now often wield just as much (if not more) power than in-game moves themselves and it is in this regard where Elseri had no equal. Adel used the Buzzworthy Veto Card it almost as shield (sorry Peter) against anyone even entertaining the notion of nominating him. In the end, I felt it was his unwavering loyalty that ultimately led to his demise as his allegiance to the Sloppy Seconds prevented him from seeing the benefits of working with Rachelle and Sabrina to make a big move against the game’s power duo, Jon and Neda. With all of that being said, I want to make it clear that I have every confidence that Adel is a great person outside of the game and that my opinion might be jaded because I was a fan of the First Five. After his eviction from the house, I caught up with Adel to talk about a couple of interesting subjects including the idea of active players versus reactionary ones, his intentional nemesis strategy, and what exactly went down during his HOH speech to Rachelle and Sabrina. Check it out!
Murtz Jaffer: While other players in the house actively formed their alliances, it seemed like you basically pulled the Sloppy Seconds together not by choice, but because you had to react to what others were doing and make your own numbers. Do you think that the best Big Brother players are ones who actively make alliances or react to the ones that are made?
Adel Elseri: I just went by judge of character. Seeing how people acted and reacted and seeing who they were chilling with and sneaking away with. That’s how I picked who I wanted to align myself with. If I thought someone was aligning themselves with a powerhouse, I wouldn’t have minded aligning with them, but I think laying low could be a better strategy so you can feel the alliances out. When someone has HOH, the big alliances do get shaken up. I think it’s important to use judge of character.
MJ: In your SideShow interview, you said that your strategy was to have a nemesis this season and that you didn’t want it to be a girl. Would you elaborate on this and explain why having a nemesis was important to you?
AE: I just wanted a nemesis to fight and bicker with all season, but not someone who has a power player who could put me on the block. It was a plan where my nemesis had to make it to jury so my nemesis might consider taking me to the end over a close alliance so they think they have their votes secured. It was strategic for me because I would have needed to get alliance members in the jury to give me votes. I didn’t want my nemesis to be a girl because I respect women too much. In my religion, it’s all about the mother and I didn’t want to fight with a lady…then I met Sabrina! We had our differences and it played out so perfectly because she wasn’t a power player but was good verbally and I didn’t think that could effect my game. I have the gift for gab.
MJ: One of the biggest moments of the season was the speech you offered after nominating Rochelle and Sabrina. You said it was to show the remaining players that you would be perfect to take to the Final 2, but is there any part of the speech that you regret knowing that whichever Gremlin was evicted would probably go and tell the other jury members about it which would hurt your chances to win (if you did make it to the end)?
AE: No matter what, people are going to go to the house and tell people what has happened. If I made final two, I would have explained myself to everyone on jury. I played a game that involved getting the jury members to hate me. My alliance was already aligned with each other more than me. I don’t regret the speech. I think it was harmless. Rachelle, the poor girl cried, but I only called her a shadow to her best friend. I think she took it to heart. I felt like she was just floating around all season and she took out her best friend. I didn’t understand what she was doing in the game. She won HOH but used it to take out a best friend. They were The Gremlins! With Sabrina, I said she pinned me against religion which doesn’t mean she doesn’t like religion, she just played the religion card so hard. I love religion so I took it to heart, I respect everyone’s religion and views. If I could take it back, I wouldn’t. I probably would have pointed with two fingers instead of one.
