Cynthia Bailey experienced every color in the crayon box during her time in Celebrity Big Brother. She tasted safety early on, only to lose one of her tightest allies. She laid low as the big players went after each other, but also got loud too in several confrontations. She made incredibly close allies, but turned some into enemies at breakneck speed. Ultimately, she became the final celebrity evicted from the house, walking out satisfied to a jury that was very much the opposite at the moment. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star felt peachy in the first few days of the game. She had become part of the first alliance of the game known as the “Formation” and was cementing quick bonds in particular with Carson Kressley and Teddi Mellencamp. Cynthia benefited from the first (and really only) twist of the season, getting the “Mon Won” hat to guarantee she would avoid her nightmare of being the first evicted. Teddi, however, was not so lucky. Feeling she and Carson were out on an island, Cynthia was able to survive as the opposition when the athletes’ alliance began to turn on each other. And even it looked like Cynthia may have been in trouble in the third eviction, Shanna Moakler drew a line in the sand when she used the veto on Carson, affirming her loyalty to their duo… …or so she thought. When Carson won HoH, Cynthia was ready to get some revenge on Miesha Tate. But Todrick Hall made a last-ditch effort to protect his closest ally, saying Shanna had been working with them and was playing both sides. Clouded by her relationship with Todrick and her previously existing suspicions on Shanna, Cynthia surprisingly bought into the pitch. She got Carson involved, and things built to a fever where they ended up backdooring their only other ally in the house. Cynthia, of course, wasn’t aware of the ramifications, ready to move forward with a new final four deal with Carson, Todrick and Miesha. And unfortunately for her, the contract broke fairly quickly when they finally successfully got Carson out the next round. Now a lone soldier, Cynthia tried to mount a campaign against the duo with Lamar Odom and Todd Bridges. But she was literally powerless, as the other two won nearly every single competition in the endgame. At the end, when it mattered most, Cynthia once again lost HoH to Miesha. And the MMA fighter chose her opponent in her ride-or-die, making Cynthia the last member of the jury. Now out of the house, Cynthia talks with Parade.com about her reception to the jury vote, why she turned so quickly on Shanna, and how she handled conquering fears inside the house. You explained a bit about why you voted for Todrick in your exit interview with Julie. But can you elaborate on what led you to become the only jury vote in his favor? I voted for Todrick number one because I gave him my word that I would vote for him. He was very good to me in the house. I have no perspective outside of what happened out of the house. I’ve not seen the show. My life for the past month has just been inside the Big Brother house. And I am going to be very I’m very interested to see the show now. Clearly, my cast was not happy tonight. And I am surprised. I know that there was some talk in the fandom in the days leading up to the finale, wondering whether Carson or someone would be able to get to you and let you know everything that was going on with Todrick before you voted. Did they not get that opportunity? So I went out, and Carson was like, “You have to watch the show when you get out of here.” And I was like, “Of course I’m going to watch the show! I was going to watch the show anyway.” And it just seemed kind of cold. And then the voting started. I was the last to vote, and no one voted for Todrick except me. That was a red flag. I was like, “What is going on?” I was very surprised that I was the only person that voted for him. Shanna told me in my interview with her that you had promised your jury vote to Todrick on the very first day. Is that true? Yeah. We made a connection pretty early on in the house. I thought he was super cool. And after hearing his story and the things that he stood for, I was like, “You know what? It’d be great if you won this.” Because honestly, at that time, I didn’t think I would go very far on the show, to be honest with you. So I was like, “Yeah if I’m gone, you have my vote.” But again, I’m very naive to the Big Brother game. So I was just like, “Hey, you seem cool.” And he said he would use the money to go towards the gay community and whatever, and all these different things that he told me about. I was like, “That sounds awesome. It sounds like you would make it to the end. Why not?” On that naivete, let’s talk about your bond with Carson. I know you two had worked together before. But how did it work to have that personal relationship become strategic in the house? Carson was such a blessing to me. He was the first person in the house, and I was the second person. So we connected immediately and pretty much decided to work together immediately. I went into the house thinking, “Oh, I’m gonna lay low and not think about alliances right away.” And as soon as I walked in the door, Carson pretty much was like, “We have to work together.” So I was like, “Okay, it’s happening. This is all happening.” But he was my ride-or-die the entire time I was in the house. And in the end, he was the most transparent with me and the one I trusted the most. It was really hard for me once he left the house. So then once he leaves the house, you found solace in Todrick, as you mentioned on the show. But you also joined up with Todd and Lamar to take him and Miesha out. Talk to me about those changing dynamics. I connected with Todrick more than I did with Miesha. I just never really talked to Miesha that much, to be honest with you. And Todrick talked to everyone. I mean, he was very, very social with everyone in the house. I had a great relationship with Todd and Lamar, but I assumed they were working together. I wasn’t really clear about what was happening with them. And I knew Todd was working with Miesha. When you’re in the Big Brother house, you have no real perspective of what’s really happening except what you’re being told. My main focus was just to be loyal to my alliance until I couldn’t anymore. And basically, when our alliance fell apart with Carson, Shanna, and I, I was pretty much on my own trying just to figure it out. So Todrick really took me under his wing. Let’s talk about Shanna. You had just watched Shanna save Carson with the veto and show her loyalty to you. Then Miesha and Todrick, who had been gunning for Carson, came to you and said that Shanna had been targeting him as well. What made you so quick to believe him? And why did you cut things off with Shanna so quickly, even making personal comments about her wardrobe after she left the house? At that moment, there had been some things that happened that made me think, “I don’t know if I can really trust Shanna or not.” One of the red flags for me was when she flipped on Teddi’s vote. She was supposed to vote for Teddi, and then, in the end, she didn’t. She went with Miesha’s team. And as a member of her alliance, we didn’t know she was going to do that. So that kind of rubbed me the wrong way and made me a little cautious about whether or not we could trust her. The other thing that didn’t sit right with me was, when Carson and I were put on the block, I was told that she knew that we were going on the block. And as our alliance member, she didn’t give us a heads up. I didn’t think that that was cool. So then Todrick told me that she had a final four with them, and she was the main one trying to get Carson out of the house. And Miesha cosigned everything. She was a competitive fighter. I felt integrity-wise, I didn’t feel like she would lie to us; for some reason, I just felt she would be honest. And, again, I haven’t seen the show. But apparently, I guess the term is we got Big Brothereed. But if what I’m hearing is true, I feel horrible. Because I was really riding hard for Carson because Carson was so good to Shanna, and I was very protective of him. He was the one that I was the closest to in the house. And when you’re in that house, all you have is your alliance. It’s like your world. I know, it sounds crazy when you’re outside of the house. But at the time, we have to protect each other. So I’m like, “How dare you put Carson in jeopardy like that?!” So I was definitely disappointed and upset when I found out that information. You spoke a lot, including in your eviction speech, about playing with honesty and integrity. Do you feel that ultimately helped or hurt you more playing in a cutthroat game like Big Brother? Well, that was the only way that I could play the game. I didn’t want to win any other way. I didn’t want to advance any other way. And the only thing that got me as far as I did was the fact that people trusted me. I was a woman on my word. People were trying to grab me in different alliances all the time. And I was honest; I was like, “No, no, no. I’m in something already.” And I didn’t even know you weren’t even supposed to say who you were the alliance with! So I was pretty naive. But again, I played the game the only way I knew how to play it. And that’s being loyal to my alliance, trying to protect the people that were protecting me, and keeping my word. Many of your cast members have talked about how transformative this show was for them. You had a brief moment as well in the house, saying you’ve learned not to pass over the little things in life. Overall, how do you look back on your month inside the Celebrity Big Brother house? Oh my god, I cannot believe that this was my life for a month! I honestly can’t believe I made it as far as I did. I thought in some small way, by being on The Real Housewives of Atlanta for 11 seasons, I thought I would be prepared. I thought this would maybe be kind of easy. It was not. This is the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do. You have no privacy. We are on our own to do every single thing. And I think one of the things that helped me kill time was I just cooked and cleaned as much as I could. I was always cleaning and just trying to do anything to decompress. It wasn’t easy. Although I didn’t win Big Brother, I’m really proud that I even made it as far as I did because I did conquer some personal goals. Like I was afraid of heights. And all of a sudden, I’m on the wall, on a ledge. When I was up there, I was like, “I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go.” And then I realized the only way I could get down was to drop down. So to get down worse than getting up! But I was really proud of myself that I did it. I know my daughter, my family, they were watching me up there thinking, “She’s not gonna go up there.” And I did. So I had a couple of small victories with some of the things I was able to challenge myself with on the show. But I’m just really glad that at the end of the day, I really tried to make moves that benefited not just myself but my alliances. Next, check out interview with Celebrity Big Brother 3 winner Miesha Tate.
