Xavier is sharing how being a lawyer helped shape his game strategy, his thoughts on Kyland, and more in his exclusive interview with AfterBuzz TV.
Just as Claire and many others predicted, Xavier Prather won Big Brother! The 27-year-old attorney took home the $750,000 grand prize in Wednesday night’s finale after winning the final HOH against Azah and taking Derek F to the final two.
Despite being a major threat this season, Xavier managed to stay protected and stay out of the jury, making it all the way to the final two seats. Now, Xavier is sharing how being a lawyer helped shape his game strategy, his thoughts on Kyland, and more in his exclusive interview with AfterBuzz TV below:
AFTERBUZZ: Did you expect the vote to be unanimous for you?
XAVIER: I didn’t. I definitely thought Big D could potentially pull out at least one or two votes with certain jury members that I think he had a closer personal relationship with than me, but they respected my gameplay and voted in my favor, so I’m appreciative of that.
AFTERBUZZ: Did you ever have a moment you doubted you would make it to final two?
XAVIER: I would say that either the first or the second double eviction when I was nominated during those double evictions, I was nervous that if something went the wrong way, it definitely left the potential for me to go out. But luckily enough, things went in my favor, so it all worked out apparently.
AFTERBUZZ: Are you surprised that Kyland voted for you to win?
XAVIER: Yeah, I wasn’t sure how Kyland was going to vote. I wasn’t sure if he felt some type of way about the last time I’d seen him or whether or not he was still going to kind of evaluate his vote from a purely game perspective, and it seems like he did that. He did that, which I give him nothing but respect for in that aspect.
AFTERBUZZ: When Kyland asked you what factors the jury should consider in picking the first Black winner, you said that you didn’t make the game personal or intentionally belittle anyone. Was that in response to how he left the game?
XAVIER: No, not necessarily. I think the first Black winner for BB U.S. needed to be someone–I discussed this with other members of The Cookout–just that we wanted someone who was going to represent the season well. I am not necessarily saying Kyland; I’m just saying generally it needed to be someone who maintained good personal relationships with other people and wasn’t gonna be coming out of the house and be like, oh man, he attacked this person or this person or crossed any lines from a personal standpoint. From a game standpoint, we talked trash about every single one of us like that. That’s just what we did. That’s part of the game. That’s part of our competitive nature. But I feel like it should be someone who not only played the game great but is also a great representation for the Black community.
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AFTERBUZZ: You accepted a lot of deals in the house that were proposed to you, but you didn’t go out of your way to make any. Was that intentional?
XAVIER: Yes, absolutely. I think when you intentionally make deals, that can always get brought back to you, and people are like, ‘Oh, you have a final three with this.’ Well, yes, in the Big Brother house, when people ask you for a deal or offer you a deal, you accept it. I didn’t want to go up and make deals with people. I wanted them to feel incentivized to want to work with me. That’s something that I kind of do in my everyday life just through networking in the legal community, so I wanted to bring that skill set into the Big Brother house, and I feel like I did that.
AFTERBUZZ: Tiffany said in the jury round table that she credited you for not giving out a lot of information but being able to receive information quite often from people. How were you able to discern who to tell what and how much to show your cards?
XAVIER: I definitely used the concept of selective honesty. If I was telling someone information, it needed to be someone that I knew they were in a position to where if I told them this information, they couldn’t tell other people, or they couldn’t tell the wrong people. It’s like, if I tell this person, they have to kinda keep it a secret because otherwise, it almost forces them to show their cards. If they were to disclose the information I’m giving them, it would put them in a worse position. So I just made sure that if I was going to let people know certain facts within the game, it was at a time that it was beneficial to me because if they revealed it, it was going to be detrimental to them.
AFTERBUZZ: You were very even keeled throughout the season when you were dealing with drama, putting out fires, even mediating between some people. Was it ever difficult for you to keep your composure?
XAVIER: I think that the only time I really felt pressed for keeping my composure would maybe be Kyland’s eviction. But other than that, I think that’s just naturally kind of who I am for the most part. I try to keep a level head. I try to have a good grip on my emotions, and I think that that was shown in my gameplay.
AFTERBUZZ: How did you strike the balance between keeping game and personal separate?
XAVIER: I tried to do everything I could to, from a personal standpoint, really just separate the two as much as possible. With my personal relationships, I was just like, ‘Hey, we’re friends,’ but at the same time, I need to make sure that I’m doing whatever I can for The Cookout. Never could any of my personal relationships compromise what I was trying to do for The Cookout, and I always kept that in my mind as I went throughout the game.
AFTERBUZZ: If it were Azah and Big D in the final two, how do you think the votes would’ve played out?
XAVIER: I think Azah would probably win. I think Big D did play a great social game, but I think Azah played just as good of a social game, and Azah won an HOH when she needed to. She never had a single vote cast against her on eviction night, and if she would’ve made it to final two, that means she would’ve won another HOH and two competitions. I think if Azah won that part three of the HOH, I think she had a strong case truthfully. And she played the game with a lot of honesty and integrity and had great relationships in the jury that I felt could give her a strong case if she was sitting next to Big D.
AFTERBUZZ: Do you think that your game and your strategy went how you intended it to go going into the house, or did it change quite a bit once you got in the house?
XAVIER: I feel like my game and my strategy, I pretty much stuck to it throughout the game. The only time I would say where things went a little off was when I got nominated by the Chopping Block Roulette, and then from there, it was just kinda like nomination city. That was the only time where I wouldn’t say it was a part of my plan to get nominated. It was my plan to not get nominated. It was going well until that point. But that was the time where, okay, I’m on the block, I got nominated by a power; it’s time to adapt. And that’s what I feel good Big Brother players do.
AFTERBUZZ: I thought it was interesting you said in your final appeal to the jury that you were the ultimate pawn because previously to your series of being on the block consecutively, you would’ve maybe thought that Big D was the ultimate pawn because he went up a lot of the time to protect The Cookout. Do you think that being a pawn was something you were able to use to your advantage to win the game?
XAVIER: I definitely think it was a strong argument. Even though I was nominated five times, to be nominated five times and only see the block on eviction night once and only have one vote cast against you, I think that’s a very strong argument–just because it says, wow, this guy was a threat from a competitive standpoint, which was evident by my competition wins later in the season, but for some reason, no one was ever convinced to vote him out over whoever he was sitting next to. And I think that just spoke to my social skills to kind of minimize my threat, but also because I had certain deals in place, people couldn’t vote me out. So I was essentially the ultimate pawn.
AFTERBUZZ: A lot of people guessed that you were a lawyer, a detective, or former CIA–the list goes on. But ultimately, do you think that hiding your career did benefit your game?
XAVIER: I do. I think there’s definitely a difference between suspicion and confirmation. There were conspiracy theories running rampant throughout the house. Yes, some people did hit it on the mark. I am a lawyer. And I was like, you gotta go–except for Big D. But yeah, I think everyone developing a bunch of conspiracy theories helped me because I think if they actually knew I was a lawyer, I don’t think I would’ve lasted long, and I don’t think I would’ve been able to go up to people and help make arguments for what was in the best interest of their game while also kind of underlyingly having my own personal desire for certain things to happen a certain way. I think they would always kind of be suspicious of that because they’d be like, ‘Oh, he’s smart. He’s gonna start thinking things through. He’s gonna have underlying intentions behind everything he says to you.’ And so, by not saying that I think I was able to kind of get away with some things.
AFTERBUZZ: What is your best piece of advice for any future Big Brother players?
XAVIER: To future Big Brother players: keep your mouth shut. If you’re in an alliance, if you’re making deals, honestly, confidentiality is key. I think a key thing that I saw this summer was that when people would talk too much game, it usually was to their detriment. And sometimes, it cost them their game. I mean, a prime example of that would be in the final three when Azah was contemplating taking me over Big D just because of some of the game that Big D was talking about in that last week and a half. I would say if you get information, kind of keep it until you have to use it; otherwise, just chill out.
Want more of Big Brother? Keep following AfterBuzz TV for more exclusive interviews with the rest of the final three!
