Unfortunately, you can’t win them all, and in the latest episode of The Anonymous, we watched Big Brother legend Xavier Prather get cut from the competition. It was just one of a few shocking moments in an episode appropriately titled, “Plot Twist.”
Although we definitely didn’t see Xavier’s elimination coming, he thought it was a little overdue. That’s why his immediate reaction when DANI shared the news was, “Took y’all long enough.”
In an exit interview with Reality Tea, Xavier walked us through the pros and cons of entering a game with such a huge reputation. Plus, he shared why he doesn’t have regrets about that bold, “Hail Mary” strategy of nominating himself in his final Anonymous Mode.
Xavier couldn’t hide his Big Brother past
On a show like The Anonymous, lying is part of the game. From Episode 1, we’ve watched players lie about their backgrounds. Robbi Jade Lew didn’t want anyone to know she was a poker player. Nina Twine hid the fact that she played Survivor Australia. Keeping secrets in this game made sense.
As the first Black winner of Big Brother, Xavier didn’t have that privilege. He quickly opened up about his history on reality TV shortly after entering the game. What we didn’t see is just how many of the players in the game had already recognized him.
“When I found out people on the cast already knew who I was, I was like, ‘I need to get ahead of this.'”
Xavier said that several of the other players were Big Brother fans. Nina had met members of The Cookout thanks to her connection to the CBS reality world. There was just no way he could hide his identity, but if he could, it would have probably helped his longevity in the game.
“If I was able to lie about myself, I don’t feel like I would have a disadvantage. Since I had to tell the truth about myself, I was surprised I didn’t go home on Day 1,” Xavier admitted.
How Big Brother Reindeer Games prepared Xavier for The Anonymous
Part of what we love about The Anonymous is how fast-paced it is. Even when DANI isn’t throwing the players for a loop, it seems like they are in a constant state of gameplay. Compared to Big Brother, Xavier said the pacing of this show felt a lot different. Fortunately, he got a little bit of practice at a faster-paced game when he competed in Big Brother Reindeer Games.
“Reindeer Games got me very acclimated to a more fast-paced game because on that game it’s sun up to sun down, doing like three competitions a day,” Xavier recalled.
“So [The Anonymous] was slower than Reindeer Games, so I wasn’t really out of my realm, but it’s a far cry from Big Brother,” he added.
Xavier said that on Big Brother, they would have a little bit of lounge time between making moves. Obviously, they’re always playing a game, but they at least had some time to chill. On The Anonymous, that can’t happen on DANI’s watch.
“Sometimes you’re debating on like, ‘Do I go eat this quick snack, or do I go have this game conversation? You really had to use your time as effectively as possible,” Xavier explained of his time on The Anonymous.
He continued. “If I hadn’t had Reindeer Games prior, the fast pace would have probably gotten to me more.”
The math puzzle that changed everything
Throughout the first few episodes, Xavier managed to maintain influence over the other players. He won the power of The Anonymous and sent Tyrenna Tolbert packing. However, things started to shift once DANI shuffled their handles and introduced three new players.
In Episode 6, Xavier’s fate in the game took a turn when he partnered with Jack Usher for that horrible math challenge. Jack pushed them to go for the more complicated puzzle, where they had to stack numbered pieces to try to equal $1,999.
Meanwhile, other players opted for easier sums and won the safety. Xavier knew they were making a mistake by picking such a tricky puzzle, and it changed his perception of Jack.
“Jack and I ran out of time because I was like, ‘Dog, I’m not going for that dumbass number. You all saw a snippet,” Xavier revealed. “I’m like we’re not going for $1,999. That doesn’t make sense.”
In Xavier’s mind, it made more sense from a strategic standpoint to take an easier puzzle and pull away safety from the players they wanted to target. However, Jack refused to budge, and DANI forced them to make a decision.
Xavier explained, “DANI was like, ‘You have to make a decision.’ We ran out of time. $1,999 happened because we ran out of time, and in my experience, if a duo can’t come to a decision, then they get disqualified.”
At that point, Xavier had two options: take the long shot with $1,999 or risk not competing at all. Either way, it wouldn’t work out for Xavier in the end, and the whole situation made him rethink his alliance with Jack.
Why Xavier’s perception of Jack shifted
When Xavier and Jack linked up for the math challenge, the Big Brother alum was well aware of how active Jack had been in the game. However, he didn’t know Jack had won the power of The Anonymous multiple times. Game recognizes the game, so Xavier gave kudos to Jack for his dominance so far. However, that math challenge opened his eyes to Jack’s broader gameplay.
“That competition told me everything that I needed to know,” Xavier explained.
“I was just like if we’re working together, I don’t care how active you are as long as you’re doing it to my benefit or doing it to our collective benefit,” he continued.
“That math competition told me that okay, you’re one of the people who’ve likely been throwing me at risk, and now it just became very clear that to some degree, you’ve been scheming against me. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m not the one to scheme against.'”
Xavier warned, “Even if you get rid of me, trust I’m going to plant some seeds of my own.”
Did nominating himself backfire?
Leave it to a Big Brother icon to give us the biggest power play of The Anonymous so far. It didn’t necessarily pan out, but you know what they say about missing the shots you don’t take. In his last Anonymous Mode, Xavier decided to throw a vote for himself in hopes that his identity would stay under wraps. It didn’t work, but Xavier doesn’t regret taking the swing.
“I feel like it was a really strong play,” Xavier noted. “I had been telling everyone days prior that voting for yourself is stupid.”
“Two reasons: In some respects if you’re not going to get any votes, if you’re not getting any heat in the chat and you just throw a vote on yourself to get The Anonymous. I think that’s dumb because if you don’t get it and you go home, you literally just sent yourself home.”
“But if you see the chat is going one way, and you know you’re going to get a vote, absolutely throw a vote on yourself. Sprinkle in some confusion as to what your handle might be.”
“And I already told them I would never vote for myself, so that was with the intention of having this last kind of Hail Mary with my back against the wall to be like, “Oh let me throw a vote on myself and increase the odds'”
Xavier’s Hail Mary didn’t work out, but he came close. That counts for something, right? Future contestants of The Anonymous, take notes. This strategy might work for you!
The Big Brother alum explained, “You see as the rankings are revealed, I was the last handle revealed before Lilly [Jenkins] and Victoria [Vesce]. So I was like, ‘I was this close!'”
Xavier continued, “I was this close to kinda getting it. I think it was an effective smokescreen but not effective enough, which happens. You give it your best shot and see what happens.”
The Anonymous continues on USA Network on Monday nights at 11/10c. Catch up with episodes streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE XAVIER GO HOME WHEN HE DID? DO YOU THINK HE MADE A MISTAKE BY TRUSTING JACK? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HIS ‘HAIL MARY’ STRATEGY AT THE END?
