BuddyTV interviews Dan Gheesling, winner of Big Brother 10.
Dan cut his $500,000 check during the Big Brother 10 jury questions. He was poised and quick on his feet, while Memphis stammered and hurt his cause. My favorite answer of Dan’s was when he discussed how he purposely wanted to get Michelle and Ollie mad at him so he would ensure that Memphis would want to take him to the final two. Great answer, but was it the truth? W.s that really his Big Brother strategy? That’s one of the many questions I asked Dan, the Big Brother 10 champion, in the second part of our extended interview, which you can find below.
Below you will find the written transcript and full mp3 audio of our interview.
Exclusive Interview: Dan, Winner of ‘Big Brother 10’, Part 1
Now that you have that 7-0 vote on your resume, looking back, do you think any of the jury members would have beaten you in the final vote?
Yes. I think Renny would have beaten me. I think Libra would have beaten me. And possibly Keesha. I don’t know. I think Renny would have won because she was so well-liked, although I don’t know, maybe not because you saw in the competitions – if you go back and look at the Big Brother graveyard competition, when Renny puts her guess down for the snake you will see the most utter look of disgust on my face because she forced me to play right then and there. Renny did not do well in the competitions,but she was very well-liked, but I don’t know. The way this jury voted it might not have mattered, because they voted, I thought, based on gameplay and maybe I could have beat anyone else, though I don’t feel that confident I could have.
You made a lot of bold moves over the course of the season. Looking back, do you think any of those were unnecessary or did they all kind of work out as planned?
(laughs) You mean, like Replacement Nominee Roulette, are you asking if that was really necessary?
Maybe.
Is that kind of what you’re getting at? You know, Replacement Nominee Roulette, that is probably the one time I took it a little over the edge. One thing I tried to do in the house was be entertaining because what’s worse than watching this normal run of the mill PoV meeting. So I tried to spice it up a little bit, it got a little out of hand and…let’s just say it got a little out of hand in dedication to Brian. I never forgot – I didn’t want to make this about revenge and it really wasn’t. But, you know, Brian – Ollie took a shot at Brian and me and I wanted to take care of that for Brian and I think I did that. However, if you look back at the jury speech, I addressed the Replacement Nominee Roulette. Although at the time it didn’t have any strategy behind it, I just did try and pour some rhetoric over it and a little BS to make it seem like there was strategy. I don’t know whether it worked or not but it was sure fun trying to make it seem like it was strategy.
During the jury questioning last night you said that when you back-doored Ollie that you purposely did that as a strategic move to get them not to like you, so Memphis would take you to the final two. That was a great answer, but was that actually what was going through your head at the time?
So you’re asking me if I lied to the jury house about a question, is that kind of what you’re asking (laughs)?
(laughs) Yeah, kind of.
You know me, you saw what I did in the season. So, do you think that was real or do you think it was a lie?
I wouldn’t put it past you for that actually being your strategy, but it seemed to me like that probably wasn’t what was going through your head at the time, I’m not sure though.
I knew I had to address that. I knew I could not leave that un-addressed. I knew it would it be more effective, as opposed to me saying I got out of control. Instead of me saying I got out of control, by me saying that nomination roulette got spun out of control, it put a strategy piece to that. I thought it’d be more respectful and it looked like it worked. Yeah, it was a little lie. It was not true.
Since you got out of the house, I know it’s been like half a day, have you heard anything about the season from people who watched it on TV or watched the live feeds that’s surprised you?
A little bit. You know, in the house we thought that Jerry was going to come out looking like roses on television, because the fact is he’s 75 and a great competitor for his age, but he came up with some of the worst lies, most unbelievable lies, took a lot of personal shots at people and I know that a few people in the house wondered how he was going to be portrayed and it sounds like, from what I’ve heard, is how Jerry was in the house is how he was portrayed on the television show. And, I guess that’s the only thing you can ask for being on Big Brother is that everyone is portrayed fairly and in an accurate light. As long as that happens people shouldn’t be disappointed.
Was there anything in the house, for you, that you worried about your students maybe seeing?
Without a doubt. Obviously, I struggled a little bit coming in lying. As soon as the first lie came on it was like “This is why your here, Dan. This is what you signed up for, you know what its all about.” So, once I got over the initial first lie it was like riding a bike. Other than that, I tried to stay out of any raunchy conversations, but that’s my normal everyday life too. I don’t speak like that in my everyday life, about any type of interaction between males and females and what have you. I also knew the only thing I could control was my tongue. Meaning that I couldn’t drop f-bombs and get in huge shouting matches, because how am I going to tell two kids at St. Mary’s that they can’t get into a huge shouting match if I’m doing the same thing? So, you have to tell yourself, “How am i going to tell two kids at St. Mary’s not to lie?” W.ll, in the game of Big Brother there are no rules and I played the game as hard as I could so I’m going to tell the kids, “If you’re playing a game, play the game as hard as you can within the confines of the rules. If you’re playing football, you can’t cheat because there’s rules. If you’re studying for a test don’t cheat because there’s rules. Big Brother, there’s no rules, so do what you can to win.”
Last question. What do you have planned for the future? You thought about what you’re going to do with the money? You going to make it back for the start of school?
School’s already started, but I put a call in to see if I still have a job, I do have a job which is awesome. I’m going to take a little time off to enjoy this. The title of winning Big Brother almost means more to me than the half million dollars. Being a huge fan, you know how important that is. But, you know, the money – my girlfriend Monica is probably going to be getting a gift that will fit on her left ring finger pretty soon, don’t ask me when, cause I don’t know. Other than that, I’m going to help my mom with her mortgage and then invest the rest so that I can stay at St. Mary’s, because being a Catholic school teacher, you know, we don’t get paid very much, but if I make smart investments I can stay there the rest of my life, because it’s truly a job that I love.
All right, Dan, I appreciate you talking to us.
All right, Oscar, thanks for letting me on BuddyTV, man. Anything I can do in the future, let me know. Get in touch with me, I’d love to come back and talk to you.
Talk to you later, Dan.
Thanks, bye.
-Interview Conducted By Oscar Dahl
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
