Paul Abrahamian came a long way this season on Big Brother 18 after starting as the loud mouth target before working his way to end the season as the, oh wait, loud mouth target! Well he kept many of us entertained and even if he lost to Nicole, Friendship.
It was a surprise outcome for me when Da’Vonne gave her vote and the game to Nicole last night, but that’s the way things go when you take who was likely the wrong opponent with you to the F2. However, Paul doesn’t think he made the wrong choice and now believes he would have lost to James as well if he couldn’t even beat Nicole’s game with how this Jury ended up making their decision.
Read on to find out what Paul told me about his experience on Big Brother, his moves, and those final Jury votes.
Big Brother Network (BBN): You went from being a first week nominee to five more trips to the Block while being a confrontational Houseguest. How did you possibly make it to finale night??
Paul Abrahamian: That’s what I’m preaching, dude. I thought that was impressive by itself, but clearly not enough. I was high when I needed to be high and I was low when I needed to be low. I was in your face when I needed and not when I didn’t. In the end I cleaned house and won all the competitions, but I guess that just wasn’t enough for this sweet, sweet Jury.
BBN: Speaking of the Jury, which lost vote surprised you the most?
Paul: I would say Day’s was the most surprising. Natalie, I didn’t not expect it because I did kinda called her out her last week and I wasn’t the nicest, but Day was a little bit surprising because I knew she had somewhat a distaste for Nicole and as a previous game player I would have expected her to understand that the house wanted her out and I just so happened to be the HoH. I don’t know why she did that, but the word on the wind is she just wanted to see a girl win. I should have cut my nuts off and thrown them in a lake.
BBN: Did you ever consider that maybe you needed to take James to the end to win?
Paul: Before knowing what I know now, my argument would have stood really well against both of them. I thought I was going to win against both of them. BUT, knowing what I know I think I would have lost to either of them no matter what I did. I know everyone is saying “if you took James you could have won” but I really doubt that because the two votes I needed, Da’Vonne and Natalie, and there’s no way they were voting for me over James.
Regardless of if either James or Nicole were sitting right there, I probably would have lost either way. Before all this, based on the sheer work I did all season I thought I would have won, but things don’t always work out that way.
BBN: When you were counting votes against Nicole and said you thought you each had one vote, were you concerned about Paulie and his pre-existing relationship with Nicole since she’s a family friend through his brother, Cody (BB16)?
Paul: I did think of that but I was really deadset on Day and I know based on what James was telling me about Nat and how she really didn’t want to see Nicole win, I was kinda banking on that too. I guess things didn’t work out that way. I’m not surprised that Zakiyah and Paulie voted the exact same way.
Our interview with Paul continues on the next page…
BBN: You told Nicole if she blindsided you at the F2 that she’d lose your vote.
Paul: Absolutely. I put her in check and told her she wouldn’t have my vote and probably wouldn’t have Victor’s vote.
BBN: Did she end up saying anything to you after the Feeds went down and going in to the finale show that was was considering a flip against you?
Paul: Oh yeah, she did say that. She did say she was thinking of taking James, but I definitely had to do some convincing to at least secure myself a little bit. But I knew it and called it from weeks before, that if I wanted to get to F2 I wanted to win myself there and I did exactly that. I thought that no one would take me because they didn’t stand a chance when standing against a new player who escaped the Block six times and won all these comps. I didn’t think anybody wanted to be sitting next to that.
I had to do something because she was a strong mental competitor, but clearly not better than me! (laughs jokingly)
BBN: After the incident in the backyard where you heard someone shouting that James and Nicole had a F2 deal, did that give you concern over letting those two stay together in the game?
Paul: Honestly, I take everything like that with a grain of salt. I think it’s unfair so I didn’t really let it influence any of my decisions. That was kind of a bunk move to have someone shout things in to the backyard. It could be true, it could be not. I didn’t want to make a mistake based off something I didn’t know to my own knowledge.
I wouldn’t say it was a mistake. If I had kept Corey in the house then I’d be up against a couple and had to work even harder.
BBN: What was your very best move of the season?
Paul:: Getting Corey out of the game.
BBN: Why do you think the newbies let the Vets stick around. Out of starting with 4 Vets half of them made the F3! Why did you try to get them out right away?
Paul: Cause they’re stupid! These guys have experience. Now as I could consider myself a Vet if I ever went back in the game I have exponentially more experience and my game would be so much stronger. I thought that was clear for most newbies to see, but I guess some newbies backed out or some newbies were afraid or some were superfans or whatever their excuse was.
BBN: What’s going to be your favorite memory of the entire season?
Paul: I would say a really, really good memory for me would be when I won that insanely weird close HoH comp to secure myself in the F3. It was the weirdest. I was only eleven seconds off [in the tie-breaker question] after my ride or die had just been clipped. It was a very crazy moment.
BBN: Congratulations on getting to the F2 and thanks for all the entertainment this summer!
Paul came close, so close, to winning Big Brother 18 but ended up losing by just one vote. Although he doesn’t think it right now, I do believe he would have won handily against James. His fear that Day would have voted for James over him didn’t match what she said last night in her backyard interview. Then Nicole told us even she would have voted for Paul and wouldn’t have been bitter. Hindsight is 20/20 and our vantage point lets us see things the Houseguests can’t so these mistakes can happen easily if they’re not careful.
Overall I am disappointed that Paul didn’t win as I found his game much more dominant to the season’s storyline, but he definitely had to work harder and perhaps that’s a testament to the approach employed by his F2 opponent who instead tried to lay low and avoid what she could. Maybe we’ll see Paul back one of these days though.
What do you think of Paul’s take on his Big Brother 18 experience?