Big D is revealing his strategy for concealing The Cookout, why he ultimately voted to keep Azah in the game, and more in his exclusive interview with AfterBuzz TV.
Derek Frazier spent this season of Big Brother amid some conflicting alliances, but one ally he stuck with to the end was Xavier, his final two from week one. The duo pulled it off, and Wednesday night, Xavier won the game with Big D by his side, taking second place.
With the season come and gone, Derek is revealing his strategy for concealing The Cookout, why he ultimately voted to keep Azah in the game, and more in his exclusive interview with AfterBuzz below:
AFTERBUZZ: I think my favorite moment in the finale was when you revealed your dad is Smokin’ Joe Frazier! Xavier’s reaction was hilarious.
DEREK: Oh my God, I didn’t even get a chance to really see it because I was like, ooh, this is gonna be a big reaction. I don’t know how everybody’s gonna take it, but I’m gonna go for it. It’s the best I can do at this point.
AFTERBUZZ: Were you nervous about revealing that?
DEREK: I was very nervous because I had been loyal to X, and we had been honest about a lot. Even though I said he was a lawyer, we had been honest a lot. So I was worried that, ‘Oh my God, this man brought me all the way here and I’ve been ride or die for him, and now I’m about to tell him this lie,’ and I didn’t want him to judge me. So just to have that moment when he’s like, ‘Hey, I got a secret too,’ I’m like, ‘Right. Got it. We’re good. Don’t worry. We’re good. Nope. I don’t care what it is. You can tell me that you’re a millionaire. I don’t care.’ I was just happy that we both had something and couldn’t judge each other, and it was great to finally let that out and be able to tell everybody.
AFTERBUZZ: I think you were one of the first people to figure out Xavier was a lawyer. How did you figure it out?
DEREK: I just had this gut feeling. I was able to really read people. And I knew that–especially growing up in the hood–how to have that mentality of how to read people’s body language and what they say, and if they’re lying or not. And I had this gut feeling that Xavier’s just too clean cut and he’s too perfect. And I was like, okay: basketball player, bartender, cop, government, you went to school for something, maybe a judge, something like that. And then I’m like, ‘You sound like a lawyer because when you talk, it’s just too perfect. I wanna hire you in case I get in trouble.’ And one day, I was like, ‘You’re a lawyer.’ And when he got upset and got angry, and he was mad, and he told me to stop talking about it, I knew he was. And I said, ‘It’s okay. I’m not gonna talk about it now. But I have a gut feeling that you are a lawyer.’
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AFTERBUZZ: Sarah Beth said in the jury round table that you did a good job of concealing The Cookout so that she had no idea it existed.
DEREK: Yay!
AFTERBUZZ: How did you make that happen?
DEREK: I am very happy that that happened, and I’m glad that Sarah Beth said that. Because of the fact that I was very good at scheming, manipulating, and lying, and keeping everyone’s scent off The Cookout. That was my goal. That was what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to entertain, make people laugh, babysit, and keep them from having conversations: ‘Let’s make up a song! Let’s do improv! Let’s do this!’ My goal was to distract, distract, distract so no one would ever figure out that there was a Cookout. That was my way of playing the game. I played a social game that I felt like was: cook, clean, make people laugh. Let’s dance. Let’s make songs. Let’s do improv games. Let’s play mafia. Let’s do a talk show–anything to keep people from looking at me as a target and also catching onto the scent of The Cookout. That was my game. And I played a whole different game than I think that players have ever played before. Who wants to wake up knowing, ‘I gotta cook. I gotta clean. I gotta make sure there’s order in the house. I have to make sure I do this; I have to make sure I do that…’ Like, who does that? That’s the game play I went with.
AFTERBUZZ: One of my favorite moments from this season was when you were at final seven, and Alyssa was like, ‘I think this is the first time the final seven is all minorities,’ and you were like, ‘I haven’t even thought of that.’
DEREK: Thank you! Yes, I love me some, Alyssa. She’s amazing, and she will be my friend for the rest of my life. And it was just so hard because if I didn’t have The Cookout, I definitely would’ve kept Alyssa. But she is a part of The Cookout. She made it to seven. That’s still history, too. It was one of those things where I’m like, ‘Alyssa; you are just so dim like Zingbot said.’ And I knew it, but you know, the girl is a competitor. And if she ever came back in the future, I would be worried about her. She’s going to take it all the way to the end.
AFTERBUZZ: Taking it back to the beginning of the game, you threw some hinky votes: voting to keep Alyssa over Travis in the first week and Britini over Frenchie in the second week. Was that more personal or strategy?
DEREK: So the first week was definitely strategy. I already knew in my head I was gonna do this, and then Frenchie was like, ‘I need someone to do this.’ But I already knew I was gonna do it because I like messes. Why not? This is Big Brother. I’m here to entertain America. I was like, ‘Let’s bring the drama.’ And how my personality is, it’s already gonna be in your face. It’s always gonna be like, ‘Did Big D just say that?’ Hey, Big D’s a jokester. He’s right in your face.
I like to think I’m a comedian, so I’ll say things that might be like, oh my God, that was really uncomfortable, but it’s funny because it’s coming from Big D. The castmates love that. And I asked permission: ‘Hey, do you girls mind if I call you the B word? You know, you can call me the B word.’ ‘Yeah, that’s fine. You know, we love you, Big D!’ And that was perfect throughout the season, where people probably on the outside were like, ‘Hey, he’s degrading women,’ and things like that, and that was never my case. Especially me being a gay man, I love women. Love them. And when it came to those rogue votes and things like that, I wanted to make sure,
‘Hey, I’m gonna play messy, and I’m gonna do rogue votes, so the scent is just even more off The Cookout.’ I’m trying to make sure people were just constantly like, ‘Who did that? I don’t know, who did that?’
AFTERBUZZ: What was the ultimate reason why you decided to evict Kyland over Azah?
DEREK: I had my love for Kyland. We had a really good bond, an emotional bond, and I still love him to this day. My thing was that Azah was my best friend, and I sat down and thought to myself, why would I get rid of, first of all, a best friend who I felt like was ride or die for me? Even though we had our times that we tiffed and whatnot, she still did everything I wanted her to do, and I did the same. I would never pick a guy who I know ain’t really riding for me, and that wouldn’t actually follow through. And I was like, no, Azah earned to be here. She definitely deserved to be here, and I would never want to take that moment away from her. And I knew her being there was very important. So that was my ultimate decision. I love Azah, and that was something where I was like, this girl deserves to be here. And she worked it, she worked it towards the end, but she did it, and she earned it.
Want more of Big Brother? Keep following AfterBuzz TV for more exclusive interviews with the rest of the final three!
