Joseph Abdin is talking about all things Big Brother including his thoughts on Daniel’s outburst towards Taylor, rumors suggesting that production pushed the jury to vote for Taylor and if he will ever return to law.
Though Big Brother 24 may be over, Joseph Abdin is still proving why he is loved by many by sharing his positivity and kindness with the world. His time in the house had a positive impact this season, especially when it came to being a friend to Taylor Hale, who was subjected to bullying by some of the houseguests.
Now that this chapter has come to an end, Joseph is looking back on his Big Brother experience. He talked withAfterBuzz TV about his time in the game, including addressing rumors that production played a part in the jury vote and his thoughts on the episodes he’s watched with Taylor.
AfterBuzz: You’ve been out of the game for two weeks now. Was there anything that you missed when you were back in the house?
Joseph: That would easily be my family. I haven’t seen my dogs yet, which is a huge one for me or any of my pets back home. But definitely my family. I miss the humor, the relationship, just everything, the love, the support, They’re not too happy, especially Baba that I’m still not back home after two weeks, but I’m making my way there, guys. Please, just be patient with me. It was so welcoming and loving to see, that they were waiting and supporting me throughout the process and that they’re proud of the game I played.
AfterBuzz: You seem like you’re having the time of your life out there. I always see your posts and whenever I see you, you have such a big smile on your face, you’re always laughing, I think that’s what America loves about you.
Joseph: Thank you. And I do appreciate that they acknowledge that and they know it. I love loving. I love love and I just want to be happy as an attorney. My life has faced a lot of stress and difficulties and I just found that responding with joy is always a better response than anything else. That’s why you always try to catch me smiling and laughing. I think they’ve nicknamed me, Mr. Unserious. I know when to get serious when I have to be, but if I don’t have to be, I’d love to take life easy, take it day by day and just live my best life.
AfterBuzz: Speaking of getting along with others, you formed a very close relationship with Ms. Taylor Hale. All of America knows she went through a tough time in that house. She went through a lot of bullying, and a lot of name-calling and the majority of the house guests went along with it. I want to ask you, how did you know not to buy into that false narrative of a Taylor?
Joseph: it was difficult because walking into the house we’re all strangers. So it is very easy to believe the perception of someone without really getting to know them. One thing I try to do and live my life by is judge people by the way they treated me. That was what I ultimately end up doing with Taylor because as much as I heard allegations or negative stories about her, I’ve not necessarily seen any of it. Until I do, it’s going to be very hard for me to treat someone negatively without having seen that or them making me feel it. I wanted to keep an open mind to everyone in the house, regardless of what I heard, and treat them based on how they treated me. I even tried to give some pushback, like, guys, maybe there’s some misunderstanding. Maybe something’s being misinterpreted. I just always want to give people the benefit of the doubt, and that might be from my legal background, but until Taylor treated me poorly, I didn’t want to treat her poorly. That was primarily my objective. Even after hearing a lot of negative stories about her, I just really wasn’t willing to accept it and act on it until I witnessed it firsthand.
AfterBuzz: And that’s how everyone should act. Completely agree with you.
Joseph: Thank you. I appreciate that. It’s not really in my nature to attack anyone or speak vulgarly. It’s just how I was raised. Even if someone did treat me negatively I try when I can, and when my patience allows me, to respond with kindness.
AfterBuzz: Speaking of responding with kindness, the whole Twitter-verse was talking about this. You and Taylor, are watching episodes of Big Brother. There is one part where you both are watching the episode where Daniel confronts Taylor and you say, Can you mute the live? I think everyone wants to know what exactly did you say to Taylor?
Joseph: Unfortunately, I didn’t love what I saw. Obviously. I was in the bathroom for the majority of that event. And even when I came out of the bathroom, I was picking up the pieces and being informed of the two stories, like, what’s going on, what’s happening. I’m starting to realize by the time I exit the bathroom, there was a lot of de-escalation. Now there’s no name-calling anymore. I think there’s a point where Taylor and Nicole are about to conversate, so just to make sure nothing gets outta hand, I can also see Taylor is in a vulnerable place, so I wait, I’m walking out to give them privacy, then I wait just in case it gets out of hand. When I mute the live, I wanted to share some frustrations with Taylor, and check in on her. I will never encourage further hate to anyone, and that’s another reason I wanted the live muted. I don’t encourage any hatred and I had some thoughts I wanted to share with Taylor that I didn’t think would’ve been very productive in an online setting. I also wanted to check in with Taylor a lot of the time, just remove both of us from the public audience, and check in on her as a person with no influence on what she wants to say so she can genuinely share her thoughts, and how things happened. For me as well, because not everything that is said needs to be for the public.
AfterBuzz: I respect that. What’s the most shocking thing that you’ve seen so far from watching these episodes?
Joseph: How Taylor was truly treated. It’s one thing to kind of hear it, but I noticed from a lot of the edits I’m not in many of the rooms if any when Taylor is getting prosecuted or attacked. It’s one thing to hear about it and have somewhat of a feeling in the house, and at the time she’s still somewhat of a stranger to me, and to know her now as the person that she is to me today and watch it back is difficult and a little heartbreaking. Knowing that a lot of people have apologized, held accountability, and mended those relationships with her is also encouraging. From a game standpoint, I was not aware I was a target. I did not think I was as big a target as I initially was. I had somewhat of a feeling I might be targeted, but I didn’t think it was that open of a discussion and that big of a consideration. I’m glad I worked with who I worked with and didn’t end up going home early on.
AfterBuzz: Another huge issue that happened in the house was when Kyle tried to form an all-white alliance because he thought the people of color were working together. We kind of saw him reveal what happened to you and the rest of the jury, but we didn’t see much after that. When Michael came into the jury house did he reveal more information?
Joseph: Michael didn’t necessarily give more information. Kyle had a lot of decompression to have, and he went through a lot in those upcoming days. He did, to the best of his ability, give us a full picture and hold himself accountable for what he did. By the time Michael came, there wasn’t much information left to give. Kyle did have some productive conversations with me after and started to slowly fill me in and give me the full picture. Michael didn’t change much of a perspective, at least other than what was going on in the game after when Kyle left.
AfterBuzz: Monty had an interview not too long ago where he insinuated that production played a part in the jury vote. The majority of America knows this is not true, but I want to hear in your own words what happened in that jury house when you all were deliberating on who to pick for the winner of Big Brother.
Joseph: We were all honestly deliberating, I had no intuition that production wanted Taylor to win. Taylor rightfully earned that win completely. We truly recognized and respected Taylor’s game. She did her work with jury management and she did her job as a player. I think as a jury, we had our opinions and fortunately, a lot of us just resonated with how she played the game. I don’t think that Big Brother will ever see a game like Taylor Hales. The game she played was truly one of a kind, the way she handled her circumstances, the way she went from the bottom to the top. I don’t think Big Brother has ever seen it or will ever see it. Fortunately, the jury recognized that, and it wasn’t a hard case to plead for Taylor. She played an amazing game.
One thing I would note is that I think you have people like Indy and me saying in the first week that Taylor has the potential to win this game. It’s not like she had to do much of any changing our minds because from week one, she was already playing in a manner that showed that she is a great player and she has a lot of potential to win this.
AfterBuzz: I 100% agree. What’s your relationship with Monty now, are you both cordial with each other?
Joseph: We’re cordial. I have not digested everything that has happened in this season yet. Monty and Taylor’s relationship specifically, is their relationship to handle we’re all individuals and will handle each circumstance differently. I still have not seen a lot of the things that Taylor has. Taylor has digested and was a lot more willing to dive into things this season than I was. That was her decision to make and I’m still gonna stand and support her in any way I possibly can. But we have both acknowledged that we’re going to have different relationships with people and I want nothing more than to support her. In my relationships with a lot of the house guests, I always want to maintain love and positivity. That’s just who I am as a person. Even when people make mistakes, I want them to, right that wrong and hold accountability and go forward with positivity. I think Taylor shares in that sentiment, now how close we’re gonna stay with certain house guests will probably vary between her and me based on all the circumstances that are gonna be presented to us.
AfterBuzz: Last question Joseph. You’re done with Big Brother, has the reality bug bit you, are you continuing in the realm of reality TV? Or Are you gonna go back into law?
Joseph: that’s a great question. I have a lot of following up to do with my legal career being frozen and gone for the last four months. I love the positivity and the influence. I get so many life-changing messages and it’s so hard for me to stay away from that because as much as I loved practicing law, I loved the difference I was making, the light I was giving to other people. I did not realize how much love and support I was gonna walk into and how much of a difference I made in certain people’s lives. To me, it’s addicting and it’s something I can’t stay away from. If I could stay on this route, putting myself out there, being a role model of some sort, or motivating others. I would love to continue doing so. Whatever opportunities fall in my lap to stay on that path, I plan to utilize them. I’m a little bit in limbo, stuck between law and this reality status. I’m just gonna wait to see what comes my way and take advantage. Long story short, how I can sum it up is, however, I can put more good out there, I plan to do.
Big Brother will be back for season 25 next Summer. Catch season 24 in its entirety on Paramount+!
