Paul Abrahamian may have lost Big Brother for the second consecutive year, but that doesn’t mean he’s done with spreading friendship in the house.
“I spent 191 days in the house, Lord knows I’m past the point of crazy,” he exclusively tells Us Weekly. “So I’d probably do another 191.”
The clothing designer, 24, lost again by just one vote during season 19 of the CBS series — this time against Josh Martinez. Last year, he was runner-up next to winner Nicole Franzel.
“It’s not that I’m annoyed, but I think Nicole strategized a little bit more. I didn’t just see much strategy in Josh’s gameplay and I know had it not been for me either guiding him, calming him down or showing him the ropes he wouldn’t have made it to certain points in the game,” he says. “Not negating either of their wins, but I think Nicole kind of had more strategy and pep in her step.”
The Tarzana, California, native joined the recent cast as a result of fellow houseguest Kevin Schlehuber giving in to a temptation on the first day. But that wasn’t the only shocker of the summer.
“I’m a little surprised,” Abrahamian tells Us after finding out that Christmas Abbott had a crush on him. “Christmas and Josh and I became super close throughout the game and I think Christmas is an exceptional individual but I mean, we bonded in the house and we gave each other companionship. I guess my mind was so caught up in the game that I wasn’t really looking at things in that angle. And I’m avidly against showmances. It ruins the way you think in the game and it ruins your decisions, your motives, your actions. So my brain is just not geared into showmance mode at any time that I enter Big Brother.”
He adds: “I’m all about friendship all around for now. I plan to decompress and do some real world things for a bit.”
For more, read the rest of his Q&A below:
US: Scale of 1-10 how pissed are you?
PA: I’m not pissed. I wasn’t pissed last year so why would I be pissed this year? It’s a little disheartening to put in all that work and lose by one vote again but I definitely wore the same shirt again so it could be my fault. It could be the shirt.
US: What was going on through your mind when Cody Nickson was the deciding factor?
PA: It’s never good to have Cody be the deciding factor in anything. To have my Big Brother win be the deciding factor — honestly I thought he would vote for me even though he had this weird thing about hating me from the get-go and battling it out with me. I thought that he would of least respected comp things and things of that nature over Josh’s gameplay. But I guess not.
US: Would you have considered working with him when he returned after the Battle Back?
PA: Nope! Absolutely not. He has no social game in the house, nobody liked him in the house, nobody wanted to work with him and he immediately went against me and hated me from the very beginning of the game. He made it a point to say how much he didn’t like me right off the bat so I don’t know if he thought he was gonna come back in here and we were just going to forget about what happened.
US: Was it awkward reuniting with the cast after the votes came in?
PA: I didn’t really care. It’s how people treat me in the real world is how I dictate how I treat them. But as far as what they did in the game I don’t need an explanation or an apology. It is what it is and they made the decision.
US: What votes were you surprised about?
PA: Alex [Ow], Jason [Dent] and Mark [Jansen] and Elena [Davies] were a little bizarre too. So was Cody. It all kind of threw me off. Alex said she was going to vote for me, she was going to vote fair, she was going to bat for me in the jury house, which is what I don’t think she did. I also heard that Alex pretty much told Jason not to vote for me. So I’m going to go ahead and assume that she didn’t bat for me. I think it was more so they voted to see me lose. That’s what was the goal.
US: Do you think this is the saltiest cast ever?
PA: I mean it’s easy for me to say that but I’m not going to. They are all entitled to their feelings and their emotions and decisions. Are they what I thought should have happened? No, but I’m not going to discredit how they felt. Sure, it sucks, but we all played the game.
US: Do you think you would have lost against Christmas?
PA: Oh, absolutely. I think Christmas played a way better game than Josh and if I lost to Josh than I don’t know if I would have even gotten any votes next to Christmas.
US: If you won the last HOH who were you bringing with you?
PA: Josh because again, I think Christmas had a better social, strategic — her story with her broken foot and pushing through it — she just had more to argue than Josh did. Yea, he got into people’s faces with pots and pans, but as far as strategy and winning competitions I don’t think that he pulled through in that aspect. But I guess he had better jury control.
US: Were Christmas and Josh annoyed that you made final three deals with other people?
PA: I don’t think so. And most of the time they knew that. I would be like, ‘Hey, I’m going to make a deal with this person.’ And they were like, ‘OK.’ So it was securing myself at all angles. They pretty much knew.
US: Did you ever think that Josh didn’t trust you because during the show he voiced his concerns with Christmas.
PA: I don’t know. Sometimes I would because sometimes he would freak out and do the complete opposite of what I would say or suggest and he would get all weird about it. But at the same time he did pretty much everything that I told him. So I guess he trusted me enough.
US: Which eviction were you the most proud of?
PA: I think they were all pretty crafty. It was funny getting Jason out because I got everybody to toss a race competition to [a girl with a broken foot]. I thought that was pretty funny. And that she got out a really strong player because of the veto that I won. I just think that the irony of that — she got out the guy who broke her foot. I was like, ‘I can’t believe that I just pulled that off.’
US: How many times were you actually pissed this season?
PA: Not so much. I approached the game at a different angle this season and I tried to empathize with people in order to understand what their connections with me would be. And I always tried to be a few steps ahead so that they couldn’t catch me. I guess they caught me in the end, but I made it to the end and I think that’s an accomplishment in within itself. I am more than happy with it.
US: Did any of the cast members come up to you like Cody and explain to you why they voted a certain way?
PA: I don’t think Cody says anything, anytime, anywhere. I definitely didn’t expect him to come up to me. I didn’t really have time to talk to anybody and I didn’t really care to hear. The game is over, it is what it is, and I’m not trying to spend my real life time focusing on a game that’s over.
US: Why didn’t anybody call out Raven Walton when she made comments that people didn’t believe?
PA: Raven is honestly super sweet and a sensitive person so it was really difficult to call her out on it because you didn’t want to sound like an insensitive person. But somethings that she would tell me would raise all the eyebrows that I had. Rough knee syndrome, inverted spine, members on the Titanic. It was Ripley’s Believe It or Not stuff. It was just gnarly.
US: Who is your favorite and least favorite houseguest?
PA: I enjoyed Josh, Christmas and Kevin pretty equally. Kevin kept me company with a lot of his stories, Christmas kept me company and Josh was just funny to watch. As far as least favorite goes I just don’t appreciate how Cody treated me right off the bat. He didn’t give me a chance and he was rude, brash. Outside the game I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt but as far as inside the game goes he didn’t want anything to do with me so I didn’t really want much to do with him.
US: What was your favorite and least favorite moment in the house?
PA: My favorite moment was probably winning that final HOH that secured my spot in final three again. That was super, super gnarly and very surreal. It was an incredible moment. My least favorite moment was when Mark threw pickle juice in Josh’s face. That was so bizarre and childish and didn’t see that coming. And some of the comments that some houseguests would make were just really over the top and not OK. A lot of things were said and done that put me in a weird spot. To have them all point me out as a bully in the end is just kind of funny almost. I implemented gameplay strategy to throw people off and put them on their rocker a bit so they don’t compete so well, so they aren’t as prepared. But as far as what they said and how they said it, do I have a megaphone attached to their brain? They are all adults, they all make their own decisions. To just blame it on me I feel just made them look foolish because they did it.
US: What song would you choose for your exit walk out?
PA: Probably the Titanic theme song. It would be hilarious. It says, ‘Once more you open the door.’ Celine Dion, I’m just down with it. Shout-out to Raven’s family members. It’s just a whole big bundle.
US: In one word, how would you describe your season of Big Brother?
PA: Serpentine I guess. [Laughs] Puppet master.
