Brent Champagne thought he was in for a straightforward flight on Big Brother 23. Despite some initial turbulence, he felt he had things right on course, confident a combination of his alliances and self-proclaimed charm would have him touching down on finale night $750,000 richer. But Brent didn’t know that his plane had been redirected to another location by the rest of the house. The former lotto man did not have a good handle on the numbers. And so, he spent the past seven days in the dark, as the entire house got in on a plan to blindside him and set course for his true destination: Back home. Brent came into the house touting his social game, touting his knowledge of Italian to woo the ladies. But he should have instead been focused on French, namely Brandon “Frenchie” French. The farmer made Brent his first “meathead” target, until a heart-to-heart not only got him out of Frenchie’s sights, but into a Final 2 deal. From there, Brent helped rule the roost in Week 1, not only becoming a part of the majority “Slaughterhouse” alliance but convincing Frenchie to nominate Travis Long. Even the next week, when Frenchie’s self-destruction caused Brent and the rest of the alliance to sell him out, he still was flying high, confident he was golden in his game. And that confidence is where things went awry. Brent’s egotistical comments about his game and romantic skills began to wear thin on the other houseguests. On top of that, his paranoia about a brewing women’s alliance put him swiftly back in the crosshairs. Head of Household Xavier Prather nominated him next to Britini D’Angelo, trying to convince him he was the pawn. Though Brent didn’t buy his argument, his body and intelligence both perceived that he would have the votes to stay. The entire house put on a weeklong acting master class, leaving him more spun around than he was in the Veto competition. Brent went out in the season’s first unanimous vote with his head held high, and everyone celebrating behind his back. Now out of the house, Brent talks with Parade.com about why he wasn’t blindsided by his eviction, his suspicions about a women’s alliance, and why he feels the other houseguests were more receptive to his flirting than we may have seen. Despite the days beforehand, you told Julie last night that you were not surprised by your eviction. Did a feeling or person tip you off that you would be the one to go? One of the biggest things on Big Brother is that time moves like no other. You can have a conversation with someone and feel great about it. Then, ten minutes later, you could feel a completely different way about it. You can feel great and have the utmost trust in someone. Then someone else is in their ear. It really does allow for situations to get messy or misconstrued, like a game of telephone. I was feeling hopeful, but I was also prepared for the worst. I do know the game, and I put myself in their shoes. I thought, “If I’m them, I don’t keep me.” Even with my team, I could understand why they would keep me around to help win some HoHs against Christian to win immunity. But the way everyone was acting, the proximity of people and them changing their habits and mannerisms and body language. With some people, their stories were slipping up. They couldn’t keep the same narrative going. Some things were “contradictive” of others who they were aligned with. All of that lines up to me thinking, “I’d be more shocked if I stayed than if I went.” And everyone saw that on my face. Had you stayed, what would have happened? You said you would have caused havoc. Great question. I would have definitely gone after Xavier and Christian. I would have looked Xavier in his eye as I nominated him and say, “I’m going to do what you couldn’t do. I’m gonna look you in the eyes, the windows to your soul, like a man, and tell you that you are my target.” I was pretty close with Alyssa, and Christian is very fond of Alyssa, and vice versa. It would have been very dividing nominations. I would have done what a lot of people were thinking, but afraid to do, going after big competitors. And the other side would have felt personally attacked because I was going after showmances. But Christian and Xavier are threats to be cautious. And everyone seems to think I am! I’m one of those people who could help destroy the power they had. I was just told Christian won HoH. That’s a Veto, a Wildcard, and an HoH in the first four weeks. Everyone’s pointing at me, saying, “This guy’s the biggest threat in competitions.” And I’ve done nothing! I’m not gonna say that’s part of my strategy. I actually did want to win the veto, even though I wasn’t upset that I didn’t. I would’ve gone after two big targets that would create a lot of confusion and paranoia. If you can go after two big guys like that, especially when you’re aligned with them and one of your Final 2’s is fond of one of them, you can go after anyone. I would have been evicted regardless, but I would have loved to look them in the face and tell them what they couldn’t tell me: That they were the target. You get targeted in the first couple of days by Frenchie. How much did that change your gameplay, and how were you able to turn that around to get into a Final 2 deal with him? My strategy going in was completely different. I wanted to stay more low-key; I wanted to observe. I wanted to be a little bit more mysterious and stay as hidden as possible. The heart-to-heart I had with Frenchie was genuine is who I am. I’m a very deep, passionate person. That was all real; it wasn’t an effort to try to get off the block. If he was to put me up after we had that conversation, so be it. At least we had a good conversation. But when you can see that someone’s honest and genuine with you, and you can relate, your perception or initial read on them can be wrong. And he even admitted it, so I respect him for that. It allows you to be like, “Okay, well, now we have common ground. Now we have something that other people in the house don’t have. So maybe we can build off this once the foundation dries.” So how did that opinion change as he began to assemble and then disassemble the Slaughterhouse? It was tough for me. Though I got out of his crosshairs, he was going after so many other people that kept getting saved. Christian won the Wildcard, and Xavier got saved. Then Derek X. won the veto, and he was going after him. I was willing to lose Derek X. because of the betrayal he did the first couple of days. I was brought last into the Slaughterhouse alliance, And when someone that was just coming after you offers you an alliance, you can’t just walk away from that. Then he offers me a Final 2, and I had no choice. I was like, “Perfect. Final 2. You definitely don’t have this with a million other people.” I had no choice in those regards. I even brought it to his attention that the Slaughterhouse didn’t make sense. He had Kyland, Alyssa, and myself, all people that he targeted. And you think they’re not gonna have some type of bad blood towards you? Granted, I was willing to be loyal because I was just appreciative that he didn’t put me on the block. But I told him, “Man, this makes no sense.” And it ended up blowing up. The Slaughterhouse slaughtered themselves. You were paranoid about a women’s alliance, which you went around and talked about, including to some of the women in the house. What made you feel like something was happening? It originally started off as a hunch and a narrative that I just created. The Slaughterhouse was trying to develop targets, and Frenchie actually was trying to create an all-girl alliance called “Frenchie’s Kisses.” I didn’t know what that was or that he was just throwing both Claire and Britini’s names through the mud. It was something that I reiterated along the way because it was the only information we really had to go off of. Hannah and Derek X. were both on my team but not in the Slaughterhouse. I had to build a narrative that kept every single person that was in my alliance out of their crosshairs. And that was only five young ladies and a couple of gentlemen left. Now, I know Derek X. really wanted to go after Christian, but Christian was in the Slaughterhouse. And I know that Hannah doesn’t know about the Slaughterhouse, and I didn’t want her to get spooked or feel betrayed. So I needed to make this narrative that maybe there is an all-girl alliance with girls that are not part of the Slaughterhouse. So you didn’t actually believe it was true? It actually started to come to fruition. Hannah was actually approached about an all-girl alliance. And I don’t know if that was a lie, but it made me think, “Okay, well, there’s actually a little bit of truth behind this. I can keep trying to build that off of what is going on and keep the Slaughterhouse clean.” But the Slaughterhouse couldn’t stop attacking their own people. Initially, it was just something to hopefully get Derek X. and Hannah off the scent of us being in an alliance without them. But Hannah kept fighting it. She kept saying, “I don’t think the girls can do this. I don’t think they’re smart enough.” She was very adamant that there was not a girl alliance, and she was the only one fighting that. But I found it weird she said there wasn’t one, despite being approached for one. It’s no secret that you were flirting with some of the women in the house. But we saw that they were not comfortable with what you were doing, to the point where Hannah and Tiffany were even poking fun at you in their goodbye messages. How do you look back on your behavior in the house? Now, I am naturally someone who likes to flirt harmlessly with both males and females. In my industry, it’s what I do. It’s usually received well, and it’s something that I can do organically. It doesn’t come off as me trying too hard or trying to do it for any other reason but a little fun. And I like to make people smile. That is genuinely who I am. So as far as strategy, I think charm is incredibly powerful. And I think the way you make people feel after you leave a conversation can have a lasting impact. Now, this is the thing, because it’s TV. Those females were very receptive. And we all had a lot of fun, and we all had a blast. They were flirting with me just as much as I was flirting with them. Even if it doesn’t look that way on the show. Especially Tiffany; Tiffany would kiss me all the time on the cheek. It wasn’t something where we had any type of bad blood or a bad taste in their mouths. The goodbye messages were funny because I know what it was really like in the house. And I know what they’re saying was for good TV. Let’s finish with some rapid-fire thoughts about your fellow houseguests. Starting with Alyssa. Funny. She’s very funny.Azah. Quiet.Britini. She’s a dancing machine, and so passionate.The new HoH, Christian. A competitor. Absolute beast.Claire. Goofy. She is so quirky and goofy. I love it. Don’t change, Claire.Derek F. Teddy bear. A strong and powerful person.Derek X. Funny. He makes Alyssa look like nothing as far as humor.Hannah. Mysterious, reserved, and intelligent.Kyland. He’s a sweetheart. He’s very sensitive and nurturing.Sarah Beth. The sweetest voice in the world! Have you heard her speak? She’s unbelievably talented.Tiffany. Sassy. Very sassy and flirty.Whitney. Headstrong. Her way or the highway. Can dish but can’t take it.And finally, Xavier. He’s a gentleman. Unfortunately, not much of an assertive gentleman. But a gentleman. Next, check out our interview with Brandon “Frenchie” French, who was evicted in Week 2.
