The big twist for Big Brother 8 was the inclusion of three pairs of enemies in the house. And, now, after two weeks, two of the enemies have been evicted. This week’s casualty was Joe Barber, whose ex-boyfriend Dustin was placed in the Big Brother house without his previous knowledge. The two, putting it lightly, simply do not get along. The details are, well, go watch the first few episodes. In his time on the show, Joe was an outgoing, fun-loving infectious personality (maybe a little too infectious). He took some time earlier this morning to speak with us about his time in the Big Brother house.
Below you will find both the written transcript and full mp3 audio of the interview.
Coming onto the show, you’re in the house, you see Dustin come down the stairs, you had predicted it earlier, what were your first thoughts? Did you really think that he was going to be there?
You know, I knew the second they said rivals were upstairs that Dustin was going to be there. He’s a very charismatic interview, I know he must have done well for the interview and our story is too good not to be told: from cheating to deceit to gonorrhea to me stealing his best friend, everything. There’s just too much there that they wouldn’t have grabbed, they would have been stupid to pass up the opportunity. My initial reaction when he walked down the stairs was, “Get me the heck out of here.” I was done, I didn’t sign up for that, it was my first worst fear actualized. There was nothing I feared more than him walking down those stairs and it happened, so I came to grips with it, I dealt with it and I feel like a much better and stronger person now.
You talked about a lot during the show about how having Dustin in the house completely changed your game. What would you have done differently in a game play sense if he wasn’t here?
Well, you have to look at it from this way: every person is the person that they are. 90 percent of the time they’re great, they’re happy, they’re bubbly, they’re fine. But the other 10 percent, there’s somebody or something that irks them and they’re the worst person possible, the horrible angry bitter person. The thing is, when you have your worst enemy there, your worst rival, you’re that person a lot more often than you would be. My strategy moving in the house before I knew Dustin was there focused mainly on the positive aspects of my personality and accentuating those aspects. You know, getting everybody to like me, getting everybody to feel comfortable, I’m extremely good at making people feel comfortable, making people trust me, and from there developing these really strong bonds with everybody in house. With Dustin there, people began to see the negative aspects of my personality that I really couldn’t help. It was kind of like a knee-jerk reaction that you can’t help with this person there and you want to jerk your knee in their face.
It’s hard for viewers to tell from home, but was there a big underlying tension, how uncomfortable was it for you two in the house together?
It was extremely uncomfortable. I did my best to try to tickle him and poke him and make him more uncomfortable so that he would be off of his game too, and I think it really worked. He was extremely uncomfortable, I was uncomfortable any time I saw him. You know, we did our best. We had moments where it was fun, where we would laugh and be able to chum it up, but for the most part I’m in here with this person I’m completely disgusted by in every facet of his life, all the choices that he makes. It’s hard to be there, you know. I love the guy, I wish the best for him, but at the same time, having him in the house, it was just hell.
If you had known beforehand that you would be sharing the house with him would you have signed up for Big Brother?
Definitely no. Definitely, I would have waited till next season. I most definitely would have done it, I most definitely will do it again, I’m really looking forward to getting an opportunity to do it again if there was an all-stars or if there was some sort of “people who were voted out early and never should have been.” I would love to play the game, the game aspect is what really drove me to apply.
Moving on to the nominations, were you surprised when Jen replaced Danielle with you on the block?
I was not surprised at all when I became the replacement nominee for Jen’s veto when she had to use it. Jen told me from the beginning when she first made her nominations that I was going to be the replacement nominee, not in so many words, but she made it clear. The thing about Jen is you can read her like a book, not even a book, but like a picture book because she’s that easy to read. So, I knew that my butt was on the line. I wish I tried a little harder for the veto, but sure enough she followed through with her word, even moments before the veto meeting I asked if she was putting me up and she said point blankly yes, I am.
Sometimes CBS can edit people cruelly. Is Jen really that bad, is she really that self-centered?
I’ve gotten that a little bit today. The thing is that you viewers have seen, that you have no idea that she’s truly so much worse, so much worse, however they possibly could have edited it to even give you the inclination that she’s possibly bad, it can’t be as much as living in the house with Jen. There is only one world and that is Jen’s world. There is only one inhabitant in that world and that is Jen. Everything that has ever happened in human history and anything that will ever happen, again, somehow has to be with Jen. Jen thinks she’s perfect, she really does. This is not, like, I think I’m a pretty good person, I’ve got very high self esteem, sometimes I have difficulty being modest. But this girl seriously thinks she is perfect. One time she said, “Oh, my only bad habit was biting my nails.” And I said, “Oh, you don’t do that any more,” and she’s like, “Yeah, I don’t.” And I go, “So does that mean you’re perfect.” And she thought about it and goes, “Yeah, I guess it does.” And she totally meant it. So whatever impression people have of her can’t even hold a candle to truth that is the Jen.
I have to believe that Dick is going to put Jen up for nomination. Who do you think Dick’s going to nominate?
Well, Dick’s going to go one of two ways this nomination: he’s going to go the obvious route, put Kail and Jen up with Mike as the replacement nominee, or he’s going to totally turn everything upside down in the game. I could see him targeting Eric or someone else he didn’t feel necessary, like Nick, who he felt would take Daniele away from him. You know, he’d do something like that to just really turn things upside down in this game. Dick’s someone who goes for as much attention as possible, much like Jen, but he would do it one way or another.
Forecasting the rest of the season, what do you see happening? Do you have predictions for the end of the show?
For the end of the show, I could see Dick and Daniele both there, depends on how well they can play the rest of the house. Their relationship isn’t quite as strained as they make it out to be. Daniele’s a great little actress there. Mike’s going to go, just because he doesn’t open his mouth too much. Hopefully douche-y Dustin’s out sooner rather than later. Amber’s gonna cry her way out of the house cause they’re going to flood it and the doors are gonna be thrust open with her tears. And Nick, nobody trusts Nick anymore, I made sure that nobody trusted Nick.
Alright, Joe, I appreciate you stopping by.
Awesome, thank you so much.
(Interview Conducted by Oscar Dahl)
(Image Courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
