Tyler Crispen lost Big Brother to Kaycee Clark by one vote, but the runner-up can think of two former houseguests he thought had his back.
“Honestly, I really thought I would have Fessy [Shafaat] or Scottie [Salton]’s vote. I thought I would have one of them,” Crispen, 23, told Us Weekly exclusively. “I also was surprised that Hayleigh [Broucher] voted for me. I knew she was a superfan and I knew getting across my game play would be key to getting her vote. I was happy I got her vote, but I was definitely shocked about Fessy and Scottie.”
The lifeguard did, however, know that his former alliance members Brett Robinson and Angela Rummans, the latter of whom he was in showmance with, would cast their votes for him, despite sending them home.
“I knew Angela was probably going to be a little upset I had that final two with Kaycee, but it was before Angela and I were really a thing, but I definitely always counted on her vote. I really did,” Crispen told Us. “I knew Brett would understand and I know Brett had a level head. I really did count on Brett’s vote. I knew he wasn’t going to be bitter. It was hard to do that to Brett because he was genuinely my friend. I knew I had to do something like that.”
One vote Crispen wasn’t surprised didn’t go his way? That of Sam Bledsoe.
“It actually really didn’t surprise me. Sam had told me a while ago, like middle of the game, that she would be OK with losing to someone like Kaycee,” Crispen explained. “She just really went on about how much she loved Kaycee and how good of a person she was. I knew Sam was playing an emotional game, I knew Sam was going to feel betrayed by me and I really, truly in my head, every time I counted the votes, I counted Sam voting against me.”
While the Hilton Head, South Carolina, native said he may have been able to sway more former houseguests for votes if he had more time, he also admitted he was a “nervous wreck” during the finale speeches.
“I know Scottie said it’s all about loyalty and respect for him. If I could have explained or expressed, just mentioned that I would have taken Kaycee because I had the final two with her since day one, that it might have changed Scottie’s mind and made him think about it different,” he explained. “I do wish I had more time, but there was a lot that I had on my plate and I was a nervous wreck, so I don’t know if I would have been able to explain everything if I had more time. It worked out how it should.”
Crispen also admitted that Clark managed her personal relationships with the houseguests better than he did during the game.
“I think I could have definitely laid out my goodbye messages a lot better and been just, a little bit more caring with the way I worded things, you know. That was something I remember from last season, that’s why Paul [Abrahamian] lost,” he said, referring to the season 18 and 19 runner-up. “That was always in my head, have decent goodbye messages and I definitely regretted a lot of them.”
He added: “That’s just how the game is nowadays. You have to be able to be good enough at both and I was not good enough at both and Kaycee deserves to win for that. 100 percent.”
Big Brother will return to CBS in 2019.
