Devin Shepherd was evicted on Thursday night from Big Brother 16 after leading the biggest game of the season so far. Of course playing a big game isn’t always the smartest game to play in the house, but no one can say he didn’t keep us entertained.
After 28 days in the Big Brother house Devin walked out the door with a smile on his face and you can hear it still in his voice this morning when we spoke. He was the first to admit mistakes made in the game while maintaining he enjoyed every minute of his experience.
We ran through a LOT of questions and honestly I could have talked with Devin twice as long and still not covered everything there was to discuss, but I think we’ve hit the major points in our interview.
Matthew Boyer – Big Brother Network (BBN): You were riding high with your alliance in control of the game, but now here you are. From your perspective, what went wrong?
Devin Shepherd: Everything that you could imagine went wrong. I was at the top of my game. I was at the top of the hill and I came tumbling down really fast and hard.
Two big things and I’ve made them very clear through my stay in the house. If I could do things differently I would not have formed an alliance on Day 2. Yesterday on my eviction day I was just getting to know everybody in the house and what made them tick. It wasn’t smart to form an alliance with people I didn’t know. Eventually I ended up tearing it down because of paranoia and seeing some of their characters and realizing I don’t want to work with these people.
Second thing was I should have put up [as a renom] Victoria instead of Zach. I was in an alliance regardless and I knew by breaking down one person in the alliance that the rest of it would come crumbling down, but Brittany touched my heart and got to me on a parent level with some of her backstory. I couldn’t justify leaving her there as a father of a daughter.
If I had put up Victoria next to Paola I think Victoria would have gone home last week and I’d be in the good graces of the house.
BBN: If creating the Bomb Squad on Day 2 was your worst move. What was your best move?
Devin: I had a lot of great moves that were personal moves in the house. I made some amends with people I had torn down or went after. My best move was going out there and beasting every competition I was in. I didn’t get scared. I went after everything I could and I didn’t throw any competitions. I think it showed. It might have scared some people as well.
My best move other than that might have been bringing Brittany down off the block. I didn’t get the reception that I thought I was going to get. I thought by doing that I’d show that “oh this guy will put someone up but then you can really talk to him and he’ll think about some things.” I know a lot of people in the house wanted Brittany to stay so I thought that was going to go a completely different route. It seems putting Zach trumped what I did with Brittany.
BBN: We met Bold & Brash Devin in Week 1 & 2 but then an entirely different Devin appeared in Week 3. Cool, calm, and collected. Were you giving up on the game or was this just a different approach?
Devin: When you realize the entire house is against you it’s not a comfortable feeling at all. It kinda makes you tone down some things. You feel like a loner in the game. It’s not a comfortable feeling.
It was part of a strategy as well. I’ve seen a lot of players who were “boom!” in your face at times in past seasons be able to save their butts by toning down who they are, maybe showing a softer side. That’s what I was going for.
I was expecting Caleb to put his foot in his mouth this week with his obsession with Amber and it never happened. I thought if I stayed quiet and laid low something was going to fester and blow up. It never did, but I think that’s the only thing I could have done at that point after losing the Veto.
BBN: When you were in the house, who did you think was your most trustworthy ally and on the other side, who didn’t you trust?
Devin: Even though Derrick had nominated me I still thought *chuckles* Derrick was someone I could trust the most. Him having a daughter and being a little bit older. Donny as well. Being able to admit my faults with him and him showing forgiveness so easily I thought he was someone I could trust as well.
Somebody I didn’t feel like I could trust was Caleb and Frankie. Frankie was so outgoing and so all over the place that I couldn’t really pinpoint where he was coming from or what was his underlying goal was in the game. Caleb was just so emotional. He came in as this stone cold killer and then suddenly showed me this softer side which I really love about him. But with Amber it got a little bit too much. I mean, are you here to win a half-million bucks ore are you here to play The Bachelor?
BBN: Speaking Caleb & Amber, what’s your take on that situation? At first it seemed like you and the other guys were encouraging him but then you tried to give him the truth on it.
Devin: I thought it was a great thing if it was genuine. They’re both Southern. They’ve got their common interests. They talk about country music, hay bales, and white picket fences. They were dancing all the time together. So I thought, “hey, maybe she’s really in to him.” I just wanted to keep his morale high.
When I realized she had whispered in to his ear that she wanted to take him to the finals he did the same. I was just like “hey, that wasn’t our alliance’s deal.” Then I saw her doing the same thing with other guys in the house. When I realized her game plan was to have someone carry her if she ever faltered I was just frustrated because I knew how much he cared about this girl. People underestimate how big of a heart he has sometimes. Seeing him break down and get tears over this girl that he had known a week made me feel bad for him. I was trying to give him some help and some advice to steer him.
BBN: As for the emotions in the house, we saw where you’d have talks with people and welled up some tears. Were those sincere tears or did you ever try to pull some heartstrings and fake the tears?
Devin: Righting some of those wrongs like talking with Donny and these House Meetings where I teared up, every time I teared up I was thinking about my daughter and what she would think of her father. So those were all genuine other than the time I splashed some Sprite in to my eyes in the Storage room. *Laughs* Yeah, I would carry a spritzer bottle of Sprite with me so I could get the waterworks going.
[Devin was laughing and joking about the spritzer bottle, though he did do the fake tears trick.]
BBN: Honesty and integrity was a big part of the game. How did you plan to use that in Big Brother where deception and misdirection are such a big part of the game?
Devin: When you and I talked before going in to the house I was set on that I didn’t want to compromise my morals or integrity. The moment you hit the stage and hear Julie say “Twist after Twisted Twist” it’s like “hold up!” Everything changes. I hit the floor. I walk through the door and I look up and realize I’m standing where Boogie, Dan, Rachel, Hayden, all of my favorite players have stood. They did not get to the point they did by always being the most honest person. At that moment my game plan went out the window.
At the same time, the people that I was thinking would be this and this, the prejudgment that I was putting on these Houseguests without even meeting them, that went out the window as well. You have this game plan that you’re building up and as soon as you walk through the door, meet these 15 other people, and realize they’re nothing like what you thought they were going to be. You have to reconfigure your game plan just a little bit. It’s tough. Watching from my couch as a fan is a lot different than actually being in the house and living it.
BBN: Name your early prediction for who you think is most likely to win Big Brother 16.
Devin: Can I give two? In my heart of hearts I think Derrick or Donny are going to go all the way and win this thing. I think Frankie will be close behind with Christine in the mix as well.
BBN: Which HGs do you think you’ll try and stay in contact with after this season?
Devin: I’m going to try my best to stay in contact with each and every one of them. Regardless of what happened in that house, they’re all amazing people and we’re all family after this and I’m going to do my best to stay in contact.
BBN: What’s next for Devin Shepherd? Where can fans find you next?
Devin: I shut down all my Twitter and Facebook accounts before going inside the house, but I’m going to pop all that stuff back up and get those going. Other than that I’m going to sit back and acclimate myself back in to life. My main goal in life is to finish up school and be the best father I can be.
BBN: Thank you Devin for being a wildly entertaining Houseguest this season. You’ll definitely be remembered.
I really have to know the truth Matthew. How hard was it not to laugh in his face when he said he had a daughter that many times? I wish him well he was entertaining.
Oy. He has come to terms with about 10% of his own idiocy in this game. He was not in an alliance with bad ppl, but he is still throwing them under the bus.
You forgot to ask him about his daughter!
Devin should not regret the Zach nomination. To be honest that would have been his best move had he campaigned harder enough to get Zach evicted. The votes were there to evict Zach. He should have talked to people more. Him giving up, outing the bomb squad, and isolating himself made it easier for people to evict Paola over Zach. Devin should have campaigned hard enough to send Zach home, band the outsiders together (including Paola had Zach left) and take down the other side. But instead Devin kinda gave up after hearing Zach was staying.
An alliance is worthless if it cant win comps. Isolated, the outsiders are dead in the water. United, they are just as dead.
Devin has a daughter?
Huh! Who woulda guessed! ;)
Matt, let us know if you find what is twitter account is.
DevinShepBB16
Another great interview Matt…nice job. I felt Devin’s game went out the window when alone decided to take it upon himself to bring two additional people into the bomb squad. That was the eye opener for me that he was too much of a wildcard to be trusted.
Devin was doomed from the start. No whites will be comfortable having a strong black guy lead the pack. They hated him so much that even when they got their half a million dollar chance to get Caleb out, they could not live one more second with a black man. See how they rejoiced when Donny beat him, see how they rejoiced when he got sent home. It took the whole house to kick out Devin. The purge will be complete when Jocasta and Amber are finally kicked out.
Really? This isn’t season 15. Grow up.