The Dungeon Master has advanced to the attic.
At the end of Sunday’s Big Brother season finale, host Julie Chen Moonves announced that Keanu Soto was Season 27’s recipient of the coveted America’s Favorite Houseguest honor. Evicted in fifth place, the Texas native now receives a special $50,000 check for being America’s top choice. BB viewers spent the last week voting online, and the top three finishers were Keanu (with 65 percent of the vote), Rachel Reilly, and Will Williams.
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“I wish I had a sexy answer, but I’m going to be responsible with the money,” Keanu told Gold Derby after winning the ultimate popularity contestant. “I’m probably going to take a vacation and treat myself for being in that house for almost 90 days, but I’ll be responsible. I’ll invest.”
When asked what he’s missed the most, the Texas native says, “I’m a very regimented person. I have a scheduled out week. One of the things I’m looking forward to most is this breakfast spot I go to every Sunday at 10 a.m. I’m there religiously. I’m looking forward to some hashbrowns, because I haven’t had good ones in awhile.”
Read on for our full Q&A with Keanu (or watch the video above) to see what he says about his Big Brother 27 season, why he voted for Ashley Hollis to win it all, and if we’ll be seeing him on MTV’s The Challenge anytime soon.
Keanu Soto, ‘Big Brother 27’
Gold Derby: You were in the Top 3 with Rachel Reilly and Will Williams for America’s Favorite Houseguest, but you earned 65 percent of the vote. What do you think audiences connected with?
Keanu: When I get asked what I took away from this game, man, it’s that being your true, authentic self will always win the day. So yeah, I feel like people just resonated with that. I feel like a lot of those times when Vince got emotional — I haven’t seen the show yet, so I don’t know if he was duping me with all those tears — but maybe the way I just handled him in those human moments, people just saw that and we’re like, wow, that’s real.
I think there was a collective moan across the country every time you went back to Vince. Why were you so hellbent on making that alliance work?
Man, you know what it is, is that on day two, I had a really emotional and vulnerable moment with Rachel. But I also had one with Vince. So it was ultimately those two moments of vulnerability and I guess crying it out on why I was there in the first place, why I wanted to win the money. That really connected me with them two specifically. And I did have a moment of weakness where I kind of turned on Rachel, but ultimately I did want to honor that final two. But Vince was the same thing. I wanted to work with him as long as I could. And that’s ultimately what bit me in the butt.
You’re America’s Favorite Houseguest — who was yours?
I was really close with Rylie and Vince, but my favorite has to be Will. What a great human being. Oh my God. We called him Pop-Pop. He just gives that great calming dad energy. When I had my personal moment of weakness yelling at Ava Pearl, because I just had so much frustration, it wasn’t even because of her, it could have been anybody standing up there and I would’ve said the same thing. But when I had that moment of weakness, he took me to the side and he was like, “Hey, man, what kind of game did you want to play? Who did you want to be coming in here?” That really changed the trajectory of my game because I was like, man, this isn’t the kind of game I want to play. I didn’t want to play with my back up against the wall every week and being a lone wolf. I wanted to rely on my ability to connect with people. So after that conversation, Ava put me up, I got the Butler costume, and that was the thing that really humbled me because I went from being this big competitive guy to walking around with this huge butt on me all the time. And it’s hard to take somebody serious when they’re walking around with a costume. And I just had a lot of fun with it, and it allowed me to really show my nature, my witty, funny side. So I always appreciate Will for that talk that he gave me.
Why did you ultimately cast your vote for Ashley to win, and what impressed you the most about her finale speech?
Well, dang, Ashley can talk. Boy, she’s very good at talking and it seems like her words are unlimited. If we didn’t cut her off, who knows how long she would’ve been there. But what impressed me the most was I said at the jury round table that if she’s able to win the last HOH and make the biggest move of the season by sending Morgan out that door, she’s got my vote.
Not only did she win a super important HOH, but she won a super clutch Veto because she wouldn’t have even won today. She was out week one. So she won the two most clutch competitions when she needed to win. And then on top of that, she had a phenomenal social game and she never told unnecessary lies or burned bridges. So she encompassed what I believe a champion entails to me, which is integrity and honesty. And she got my vote because of that.
Was jury management Vince’s downfall?
I think jury management lost Vince the game in this scenario. I feel like had he won and sent Morgan out the door — that was his whole game, was being dishonest and disloyal. And it would’ve been dumb for him to take her anyway because he definitely would’ve lost. So if he would have won the final HOH, took Morgan out, he would’ve taken the two biggest competitors out — me and Morgan. The only problem was he burned a lot of bridges on the way there, but if he would’ve gone scorched Earth, won and sent Morgan out the door, he would’ve had my vote. Especially with the way he answered the questions. He owned up to all of the things he did, which is what I was looking for, to cast a vote for him. But unfortunately for him, Ashley won the final HOH and made a huge move and she got my vote.
Would you want to do more reality television? And if so, what?
I had a talk with Rachel early on when I asked her why she was here and she told me, “This isn’t going to last forever. You’ve got to take every opportunity that you can get.” And I didn’t know what I was going to get leaving this, but any opportunity that seems right for me, I’m going to take. People seem to think that I’m going to be on The Challenge. I definitely would love to do something like that. Amazing Race — I’d love to do that. So anything that I could be a part of, I would love to.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
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