Steve Moses – Big Brother 17 Winner Finale Interview

Steve Moses was crowned the winner of Big Brother 17 last night when he managed to best his biggest competitor, Vanessa Rousso, in a three-round competition and move on to face a Jury who sided in his favor.

Steve Moses wins Big Brother 17
Steve Moses wins Big Brother 17 – Source: CBS / Monty Brinton

Now with the season behind him and a half-million dollars in his pocket we got to talk with Steve about the experience, what he thought of the Jury vote, and what were his best and worst moves in a Big Brother summer that all came down to one last question.

Big Brother Network: Tell us about your reaction to Vanessa voting for Liz instead of you at F2.

Steve Moses: I was actually really surprised. If Vanessa had burned me, she would have had my vote one million percent. I acknowledged she’s a brilliant player, arguably the best female player that Big Brother has ever seen. She’s really, really good, but that’s the same reason I couldn’t take her.

But her vote, I mean, I was surprised with her vote. She made a promise with Liz and wanted to keep it. Why that trumps my promise? I’m not sure, but that’s her Jury vote and she’s allowed to do what she wants with it. If she thinks Liz better represented the season then that’s how she should vote.

BBN: When did you realize that Vanessa had to go and you couldn’t get to F2 with her?

Steve: The moment for me was when Austin was HoH and he should have put up James and Meg, but Vanessa was nervous about me being loyal to Johnny Mac over her so Vanessa got Austin to flip and put up me and Johnny Mac instead. I realized that’s just how powerful manipulator and influencer she was and charismatic she is.

BBN: If you had kept Vanessa, how do you think that vote count would have turned out?

Steve: I have no idea. My speech would have been very different. The only way I could have beat Vanessa would have been pandering to a bitter Jury. I would have talked about character, ethics, and how I maintained my morality. It’s funny because I had no intention of playing this game with morals or ethics but that’s the only way I could beat Vanessa.

BBN: Do you feel like you played the game with morality, ethics, integrity, etc?

Steve: Integrity and morality have no place in the Big Brother house. If you’re trying to prove what a good character you have, a reality show is not the place to do it. I came here to play a game.

BBN: You talked about your F2 deal with Vanessa in the DR and feeling confident you were her only F2. How do you feel finding out there might have been some more out there?

Steve: Kudos to her for getting me. She played a great game. She got me. It was the same thing Derrick did last year, but I knew I couldn’t take her. I guess Derrick had Cody more wrapped around his finger than Vanessa had me wrapped around hers.

It’s another piece of evidence on why Vanessa was such a great player and why I couldn’t take her to the end.

BBN: Let’s talk about the Final 4 Veto competition. We watched you worry over your decision to throw that competition. Did you really throw that and did Vanessa convince you to do it?

Steve: That had nothing to do with Vanessa. That was my own decision. I spent a lot of time questioning if that was the right decision. I even lied to Vanessa and said I didn’t throw it.

The reason I made that decision was because I was so worried that by winning both the F4 HoH and F4 Veto that makes me such a huge target and just asks for people to not take me to F2 if they’re the final HoH. I was afraid that’d put me in a must-win F3 situation with the final HoH. I didn’t want to do that.

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41 Comments

  1. Steve played the best game of the season. He was the underdog from day one. Steve deserved to win. Congrats. I am so proud of you, Steve.

    • I think he was smart enough not to be part of early game and when he needed he started to make moves he was definitely a underdog

  2. I am very very happy that Steve won. All things considered, he did play he best, most balanced game.

    • Totally agree. I started watching in the middle of season 4, and got Ian, Andy, Derrick and now Steve. Derrick was the best of the lot obviously, but the other 3? Nothing ultimately except an annoying dork fest. People complain about Van, but I think Steve always played the victim, and other HG were too afraid to call him on it.

      • I disagree overall with your assessment…and specifically, I disagree with the victim sentiment. When he sent Jackie packing, I think he was genuinely hurt that he had to send someone he didn’t dislike to jury. He was emotional….yet by his own admission to the live feeds shortly after, 50% of the waterworks was acting. I respect the fact that Steve took his own social awkwardness and played it up to advance himself in the game and, more importantly, owned up to it. Even after all is said and done, Vanessa refuses to admit she played the victim card the entire time to her advantage.

      • I understand, but was referring to his overall image and the things he chose to play up, such as mummie, teddy bear, being ‘socially awkward’, and turning almost every conversation with female HG into a therapy session. Did I mention expecting women to always clean up after him. As evidenced by 3/4 of the part 3 seasons, we let these twerps get away with it because we’re too afraid not to. Congrats BB casting and production who made Steve feel so special you did it again.

      • You do what you have to do to win. He was legitimately awkward, and he used it to his advantage. There’s nothing wrong with that. He said it best himself…”Know who your character is, know who you want to portray,”

        As for expecting “women” to clean up after him….what did he ever do and say to insinuate he expected the female cast members to pick up after him? He might have poor manners (a lot of houseguests do) but to my knowledge, there was nothing inherently misogynistic about him.

        “As evidenced by ¾ of the part 3 seasons, we let these twerps get away with it because we’re too afraid not to.”…….I don’t know what that means.

        Production has a job to do: make sure the show has good ratings. So they create a character with the footage they have based on the characters the houseguests create…there was no problem in how this was done, nor was Steve doing anything wrong.

      • Production decided on final questions, but this was only the icing on Steve’s win. If you read Jokers, you could see how they would joke with Steve throughout the game. There are some who think it possible that the game was adjusted around his preferences and oddites. I don’t believe this entirely, but do think it was a factor.. Notice how the ‘twists’ just went away? Notice the huge lapses in live feeds that frequently seem to occur just when Steve was going do or say something ridiculous? And when he didn’t win dem apples, Steve got his crossword. Part of production’s job is also to insure a fair game. Good try Van and Liz, too bad you never had a chance.

    • Steve played the game beautifully. He struck the right balance of being weak enough to avoid the early grenades, and strong enough to take out some of the strongest players in the game, including the feather in his cap in the form of Vanessa.

    • Wow, I have watched every season and I could not disagree with you more. I was thrilled to see Steve win!

  3. Question: List all the winners(from season 1-17) from the most deserving winner to least? why?
    Just want to know………..

    • I didn’t watch 1 (doesn’t really count tho), 3, 4, 5, or 9. Only really watched some of 6 so I’m not going to elaborate on that either

      Most deserving to least deserving
      1. Dr. Will (S2 Greatest reality tv competitor of all time)
      2. Dan (S10 Perfect Victory need I say more?)
      3. Derrick (S16 almost completely flawless game, only blemish being the 2 missed jury votes at the end)
      4. Hayden (S12 dude was a competition beast and knew respected Enzo’s control game enough to make a $500,000 winning decision. Also went really deep in Survivor, causing the first rock drawing in over a decade that almost gave him the win.)
      5. Evel Dick (S8 A true monster manipulator and his performance in the final HOH endurance competition is something to really be respected at his age)
      6. Rachel (S13 One of the top 3 greatest female players imo up there with Janelle and Vanessa. She had a huge target on her back because of how hated Brenchal was, and without Brendan in the game and her only alliance member left in the game being Jordan she still won out and got the victory)
      7. Ian (S14 IMO Dan deserved the victory but the jury was too bitter. I like Ian, but he should have taken Danielle. Taking Dan should have cost him half a million dollars but he got lucky that the jury wouldn’t get their heads out of their asses)
      8. Steve (S17 I don’t care what anyone says, he floated behind Vanessa and did whatever she said most of the game. In final 4 HOH he wrote the wrong number down which gave him the win, and in Final 3 he won a guessing game. So overrated)
      9. Jordan (S11 Was the first season I watched live. I was happy for her but she rode Jeff’s coattails and I don’t think she really deserved the win)
      10. Andy (S15 is the worst season besides Season 1, and he floated his way to $500k. No respect for this little rat)

      • Wow Jason, you make me wanna watch prior seasons. I could not agree more about Andy, Steve and Ian though. Steve is especially full of himself having clearly been taught he is the center of the universe, and will take credit for all the Vanessa moves that he hid behind. There is a reason Van may have had to be portray remorse because BB doesn’t want a strong, assertive female to win. They cast jealous catty women who ultimately only serve as willing pawns.

      • It isn’t all Steve’s fault that he comes off obnoxious because he is clearly on the autism spectrum. Ian was in the same boat but he was in a house with much more competition (Season 14 was probably the strongest cast since All-Stars) and he wasn’t nearly as obnoxious. I actually would put him higher had he just taken Danielle. His argument “to be the best you have to beat the best” was garbage because if he was the one to evict Dan, that would be “beating the best”.

        Andy tho. I legit despise him more than Frankie Grande. Both are horrible representatives of the gay community (Jason from this season, Reagan, and Kevin from season 11 were all pretty cool imo) and I hope I never see them on the show again. Rather I hope they bring back Andy for all-stars and he is evicted first

      • STEVE is full of himself? Did you see Vanessa, Austin, the twins? How about Shelli, Clay, Audrey, Jason, Jeff? How much more full of themselves were they?

      • I agree with your first 3. I just can’t get behind Evel Dick and Rachel being above Ian and Steve. You make a good argument, but putting yourself in a position where you HAVE to win in order to stay doesn’t deserve a higher spot than someone who didn’t have to win to survive. Evel Dick and Rachel were targets because they made themselves targets.

      • I think Jordan deserves more respect than she gets. I loved that season because of her, and because of the relationship she and Jeff had. She was truly hilarious and a genuinely good person. I know that isn’t how BB is supposed to be played, but if what they’re selling is entertainment, I found her very entertaining in a “no drama” kind of way.

  4. I always said Steve us playing a mich smarter game than we give him credit and everyone would argue with me. I said we will see cause I could understand their points and maybe I was just seeing it wrong. But no, he was and he won. Great job Steve.

  5. I wasn’t going to beat this dead horse any further but I can’t help myself. A few things have become very clear…

    First, I wondered if I had been giving Steve a bit too much credit for his awesome game play and now I see that I was right in my evaluation of him and that he deserved to win and am glad he did.

    Second, I wondered if we were unjust in too harshly criticising Liz and I have come to this conclusion…we did not criticize her nearly enough. After hearing her post BB interviews it is very clear that she was whoring herself out and has no intention of stopping.

    Third, Vanessa, I gave her credit for game play even though I didn’t like her bullying or bribing tactics but I thought she was a genuine gamer and couldn’t help herself (although she had no business being on this show)…now I see that she is a vindictive spoiled brat who could not admit that she got outplayed. The comments about her wanting a girl to win is something that a child would do, or an innocent like Meg. She didn’t play her butt off for three months and have that degree of paranoia to bring it down to wanting a girl to win without admitting defeat.

    Shock and awe…not.

    • Liz was chooses in a casting for Twinning a show from MTV she did not have any intention to apply to BB so you can tell she was just looking for “air time” luckily for her she got 50k at the end

      • Yeap she is laughing all the way to be bank while most deserving HG’s like JMac and Jordan (I love him) left empty handed…

        I just thing is not fair she get 50k when she did not spend 100% of the time in the BB house and start the show with an advantage

  6. How much in total do Steve, Liz and James receive. Since Liz was second place does she get the weekly pay along with the $50,000? Does James get the weekly pay plus the $25,000?

    • Last year I heard Derreck tell Cody that they were indeed getting their stipend on top of any prize. Cody was asking because he wasn’t sure. Derreck sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

      • I think that the winner and the runner up both gets their stipend along with the cash prize. Because James gets 25K for AFH and his stipend. So he is leaving with $64,000 for coming in 7th place. Becky gets 10K for her prizes plus her stipend, so she gets $49,000 for coming in 9th place. It wouldn’t be fair for the others to not make it to the final 2 but get more money than the runner up.

      • I believe Becky will leave with around $25K and probably just under that. They’ll get $1K/week + her $10K prize.

        Last year we did see Donny leave with more money than Cody, so it’s weird for the runner-up to make less than Jury members, but it can happen.

      • I heard that they get $3K a week. That’s what I heard James say during the feeds earlier in the season.

      • No it’s $1K/week, so Becky will get $24K and Liz will get $64K. Julia and other jury member get $14K. So the twins wil have $78K to start their new business. Depending what kind of business they start, they might be able to save a lot on taxes.

      • Oh I thought that it was $3K, maybe I heard it wrong. But do 1st and 2nd get their stipend? Last year I read from hamsterwatch that Donny made more than Cody last season and that the F2 don’t get their stipend along with the cast prize.

      • From what Derreck was saying last year, they do. And as I said, he was pretty definite about it, which lead me to believe he knew what he was talking about.

    • Steve and Liz do not get their stipend, they get $500K and $50K respectively. James does get his stipend in addition to the $25K.

      • That’s not what Derreck was saying last year. I don’t think that would fair if they didn’t get their stipend. BB can certainly afford the $28K involved.

  7. Just jumping in here so it may have been mentioned. Did the “dentist ” say why his teeth looked so bad? And more importantly, why he screamed in the diary room?

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