Now, I know we’re not supposed to play favorites, but when Kayla Clennon was revealed to be the next casualty of Big Brother Canada Season 12, I wanted to throw my laptop. After playing an incredible game, Kayla’s allies turned on her in a week of absolute chaos. I got the chance to chat to Kayla from the Jury house to discuss her eviction from BBCAN12, what she’s looking for in a winner, and more.
On making Jury and choosing a winner
Daniel Falconer: You may be out of the house, but you have made Jury, so how does that feel?
Kayla Clennon: It’s a huge milestone. It’s funny, because I really walked into this, walking away from my volleyball team like, ‘hey, I’ll see you guys in a couple of weeks.’ I wans’t sure what to expect. The fact that I’m even sitting in this [Jury] house now, playing this game from a different side, is something that I’m really proud of myself for doing.
Daniel: What will you, as a Juror, be looking for in your winner of Big Brother Canada Season 12?
Kayla: I will really value the Q&A portion of finale night. I wanna see if people’s answers will – of course I need to sit and think about what sort of questions I wanna ask – but I really want to see if people’s answers coincide with how they actually were in the house. It’s not just for show, or in the moment of answering a question.
Daniel: Is anybody in the house embodying what you would want in a winner just yet?
Kayla: There are a couple of people who are winning competitions and playing a great social game. I think that’s really important in this situation. I think Avery’s playing a good social game, and she’s also competitive. Lexus is also playing a very good social game where she’s also winning competitions. So, I think well-rounded players are important to me in terms of what I want to see in a winner.
The chaos of Movie Night Massacre Week
Daniel: This week has been non-stop; what did you make of the whole Movie Massacre twist?
Kayla: I think for me, everything went down after that. It definitely was a massacre, and I don’t think it ended that night; I think it was an entire week of madness and mess. Unfortunately, I was just on the other end of it where it wasn’t so great for me.
Daniel: Once gameplay returned to normal, things didn’t slow down. You were completely speechless when named as the replacement nominee. What was going through your mind in that moment?
Kayla: It’s funny because when Avery was saying the speech, I kind of blacked out. Because I’m sitting on the couch, Bayleigh’s POV winner, Todd, and Tola are on the block, and there is nobody but Hot Chocolate sitting on the couches. In my head, I’m thinking, ‘Lexus is a pawn right, but who’s she talking about?’ I thought she was putting on a really good show or something, that she didn’t want to tie us too close together.
And then she said my name and even in that moment, I still thought that somehow this was a show or I was a pawn. I wish I listened to the speech more now, because she was talking about me (laughs). So it wasn’t until I sat down in the chair and afterward, being like, ‘Can I talk to you?’ and hearing all that; I was like, ‘Oh, I’m really a target here.’
The emotionally-charged house meeting
Daniel: You then spoke with Avery, and things got pretty heated from that moment with a house meeting. How did you feel with so many people taking shots there?
Kayla: I totally take responsibility for even entertaining a backdoor plan for Bayleigh, and I knew I was gonna have that conversation with her, which is why, in that moment, I think I was brushing it off so fast, because I needed more time to think about how I was gonna communicate my reasoning as to why I wanted that without having to blow up Hot Chocolate. But in the moment, I was so tunnel-visioned with looking in the people I was working with – their eyes – and being like, ‘why are you doing this? I’ve been doing this for us.’ So in that moment, I think I was just on defense mode.
I can handle the heat. When everybody’s kinda at me like that. And it wasn’t everybody, there were some that were more quiet in that scenario, but I just wanted everybody in the room because I knew there were things [being said] that I know I didn’t say, and I wanted everybody to hear that.
Daniel: Did you ever think about exposing Hot Chocolate during that house meeting – why or why not?
Kayla: I did, but at the same time I was like, ‘if there’s any chance of me coming back from this, it would be because I didn’t blow up the game.’ So I chose not to blow up their game because, if there was any chance of me coming back and being able to stay in the house, I wanted to do it with Hot Chocolate still under the radar. So, I thought I was doing myself a favor in that sense.
The future for Hot Chocolate
Daniel: How do you think the rest of the game looks for the other Hot Chocolate alliance members?
Kayla: Well now, I’m wondering if – and even Spciy had a conversation with me about the concern that Hot Chocolate is almost done. I think now, on one side, there’s Bayleigh, Todd, Spicy, and Avery, and I think on the other side, there’s Lexus, Anthony, and Tola. Anthony was a bit worried about Lexus being a pawn up against Tola, because then one of the people that he’s very close with would’ve gone home, and I think he didn’t want that.
I don’t know what this means for Hot Chocolate. I hope that because their game wasn’t totally blown up they’re able to come back from this, but if not, I think it’s a bit of a different gameboard now.
Daniel: Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back at your game, are there any major moments you would change?
Kayla: I probably would’ve done more to keep things to myself. Maybe when I hear a secret, all I wanna do is share it with the people that I trust the most. To an extent, I did that, and I think that’s what really sent my game down the toilet a little bit. So, I probably would’ve done more to keep things to myself if I were to change anything in the game.
What if things were different, and who could go to the end?
Daniel: If you had stayed in the house and won the next HOH, who would you be targeting and why?
Kayla: If Tola would’ve gone home, again I was loyal to the soil for Hot Chocolate, so I probably would’ve ended putting Bayleigh and Todd up on the block because that was all that was left. I wanted to take Hot Chocolate to final five and that was the only way to do that.
Daniel: At this point in the game, who do you think is positioned best to get to the end?
Kayla: I think Avery is in a good spot, I think Anthony is also in a good spot. Socially, I think a lot of people are a bit afraid to take a shot at Anthony because of how many different ties and relationships he has in the house. On Avery’s point, I think she’s playing a good social game. She’s in good with the girls and Todd. And she’s a comp beast as well, she’s proven that she can play this game. So I think between the two of them they have a really good chance of winning this thing.
Big Brother Canada Season 12 airs three nights a week. New episodes broadcast every Sunday at 9 p.m., Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.
This interview has been edited for conciseness and clarity.
TELL US – WERE YOU SAD TO SEE KAYLA EVICTED FROM BIG BROTHER CANADA? WHO COULD WIN THE GAME?
