Chatting Up Big Brother Canada’s Andrew Monaghan

Andrew Monaghan

Lucky me! In May I blogged about bumping into Liza Stinton, my favourite female cast member from the first season of Slice’s reality show Big Brother Canada. This summer I also had the pleasure of chatting up one of my favourite male cast members, Andrew Monaghan. By then he was back home in Nova Scotia, and as I’m based in Ontario, where Big Brother Canada is produced, we spoke by telephone. Big Brother 15 USA is wrapping up this Wednesday, and since the Canadian producers of Big Brother are casting for Season 2, the timing feels right to share my fun convo with Andrew about his experience on the show.

J: This is a thrill. I’m a huge fan of the BB Franchise. I’ve been watching the American Big Brother since Season One, wishing, hoping, and praying we’d get our own version of the show here in Canada. 

A: For sure. We all did. 

J: Andrew, you were probably in diapers when it first launched on CBS and Global TV. 

A: I was the oldest on the show, you know that right?

J: Yes, and you were my favourite of the guys. 

A: Oh, thank you very much! I actually watched the finale of the first one, when they had Eddy, the guy with one leg who won. I didn’t really like it but I heard they were going to make some changes so I watched seasons 2, 3, 4 5, and was still disenchanted with it. Then I moved to Germany, so I missed out on seasons 6 & All-Stars 7 which were supposed to be the best ones. My mom is German and I went there on my own to learn German and to work in a bar. 

J: Big Brother is huge in Europe. It started in Holland.

A: The one in Germany is massive. But it’s not the same as the North American shows. For instance they don’t have HOH’s (the nominating power position of Head of Household) or stuff like that. The German one is so different; they are always totally naked, with people having sex… (laughs) oh, maybe it’s not that different. But they are a lot less competition-driven and more like a popularity contest. 

J: In BB 1 USA, the public voted.

A: That’s exactly how it is all over the world, except the United States and Canada. Whoever gets the most votes from the nation is evicted. I think I would have done a lot better if it was that way. Because there are no game-twists, it’s just about who you are. And I’m very lucky; I believe I’m one of the ones who really represented myself well. And I think I had quite a few fans, even though I joke with self-deprecation all the time that I have no fans. I don’t have the most for sure…

J: If it’s quality over quantity, you’re doing great! (laughs)

A: Thanks, I think if it was just based on who you are, I’d have done a lot better. Because the show has a lot of twists, it’s a TV show. I mean who wants to see me telling a few jokes to AJ (Anuj Burman) when you can see Emmett and Jillian kissing? 

J: That got real old, real quick for some of us.

A: Trust me that got real old for me too. (laughs) If it was just based on popularity, I’d have done a lot better, although I did pretty well.

J: You did win something substantial.

A: I won a $10,000.00 gift card & home shopping spree from the Brick. I won that in a Veto Competition.  It’s the one where Emmett (Blois) got disqualified and Peter (Brown) showed his true colours as a sore loser. 

J: Were you very nervous in the beginning? It seemed to me that for the first week or so, you were constantly telling jokes and being silly and whatnot, but once you started to settle in there, and began having heart to heart conversations with your castmates, it was very endearing. 

A: In the beginning you don’t know anyone there. So you are trying to read everybody… I wasn’t 100% of myself on the show. Well, I was. But I toned it down a bit, because I’m so sarcastic and I’ll call people out. I’m brutally honest. But when you’ve got someone like Tom (Plant) there, and you want to say, Bro, I’ve met a million of you, and all the stories you are telling me, I’ve lived it, and I don’t care to hear it again. But you don’t say that, the first week, you just sit back and listen.  You don’t want to ruffle any feathers. 

J: This had to be surreal. Have you done anything else like this before? 

A: Me? I’ve done nothing. 

J:  For someone who is a total novice to the whole showbiz experience, I’m guessing it’s got to feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. I understand that your brother is the one who is the Superfan, who talked you into applying for the show.

A: Pete and Tracy, my brother and sister-in-law, are big fans. They watch every episode of Big Brother and they watch a lot of the live feeds. I was a big fan but I got disenchanted with it and had also moved away. I also worked nights in a bar and then switched to working in insurance. I switched careers because I didn’t want to be 40 and working nights in a bar. It was just no life.  I’m a trainer now. I can stand up and talk, which I like.  

So I was at home watching BB 14 and saw the commercials for auditions for Big Brother Canada. I know I have a rather large personality. I’m a jokester. Pete and Tracy were like, “You are perfect for this, you have to go for it, and with your personality you could do very well. You’re older, but act and look younger.” (Andrew turned 39 in August.) 

In the Big Brother world, I was ‘the old guy’. So Pete was really encouraging me to go for it and I thought - when am I ever going to have another opportunity for a big show like this? What do I have to lose? Nothing. So I just went for it. And a month later I was one of the lucky ones they chose! 

J: Like I said to Liza, no matter where you ended up in the pecking order of winners and losers on the show, you have won, by making history, being on the very first season of Canada’s Big Brother. 

 Bottom row, third from the left, Andrew Monahan

Bottom row, far right, in colour, Season One winner Jillian MacLaughlin

A: We all said that. Next year might be a more amazing season, but we will always be the first. We were the pioneers for Canada. No one can understand or relate to us because we are the original ones. Doesn’t matter if Kat (Yee) was the first one voted out, or if AJ was the first one in the Jury house, or if Emmett is the biggest star, or if Gary (Levy) is the biggest star, or that Jillian (MacLaughlin) won.

J: Probably this was on the live feeds, and not the show so much, but I wasn’t a big fan in the beginning when you were being kind of a Happy Jack, with the non-stop jokes. But for instance when you would sit quietly chatting with Talla (Rajaei) in the backyard, brushing or stroking her hair, sometimes for hours on end, I thought it was quite endearing. Although I know that by the end of the season, you were ready to practically string her up by it, when she got on your nerves.  (laugh) Anyhow, I remember thinking, what a sweet guy! 

A: Cool. She had soft hair! (laughs) I got a huge fan base from After Dark or the Live Feeds. On the show, you didn’t really see me much. There’s no funny Andrew, which is what I really am like.  

J: But you weren’t running around being a little hump-machine like some of the others. You managed to keep your dignity.

A: I hear that a lot. Everybody has haters, but I have very, very few haters. Now I was upset when Gary came back into the game. He was the one that I nominated and everyone voted him out. 

J: It wasn’t his fault. The audience voted him back into the game.

A: I would have been upset about whoever came back into the game, even AJ.

J: Plus you were badly blindsided by your own alliance. I was upset by that and was ready to punch my TV at that point. I was yelling at the screen, “No!!! These are your chums, and they are evil, evil people!” (laugh)

A: Joycie I made a mistake. I made a mistake. I’m playing a game and who am I supposed to play with? Peter and Alec (Beall) ? It was clear they were in an alliance with each other. They had their other alliances as well. So I had decided to hitch my wagon to my horses from the East. I often get people coming up to me, saying they liked me on the show, but WHY did I trust Jillian? I will be talking about this for the rest of my life.

J: The East Coast Alliance with Emmett and Jillian. The trouble is that she stabbed so many people in the back before you… Jillian was just picking off people, one by one. If you are the first one she does this too, okay. But by the third one, you’ve got to see it coming?!

A: It’s very simple for someone on the outside to see what’s going on in the house, but inside, you need to trust somebody. What was I supposed to do that late in the game? I thought I had a final two with her because she said she couldn’t beat Emmett, she wanted to go with me to the end. But she didn’t want to… let’s just say, bust things up with Emmett. 

J: Because they were in a Showmance.  In your opinion who was the bigger star, Emmett, or Jillian who ultimately won? 

A: Emmett! Who was nominated the first night with Tom? Who was in the Quatro Alliance? Who was in the Showmance with Jillian? Emmett. Who was always getting disqualified? (Laughs) Emmett was always on the show. For the first 3 or 4 weeks you don’t really see me, ‘til about week 3 when I have a dinner task. I started to make my appearances later on when there were less people.  

To be honest with you, Joycie, if I could change anything, I would NOT have set up a final two with Jillian, but with Emmett. Saying it’s you and me, buddy, ‘til the end. 

J: Yep, I think you might have had better luck that way. It seemed like ALL of the guys in the Showmances were prepared to cut their ladies loose. Anyhow, now that all the machinations are obviously behind you, and the show is now over, I gather the East Coast Alliance are still chums now. 

A: Yeah. It’s a game. I was on a TV show, playing a competition I was trying to win. Once it was over, that was it.

 

J: Some folks from the show are trying to spin this into a career.

A: Are you asking me if I’d like a career in Television?  Sure! I always thought I had a personality that was destined for more, but I’ve also got a laziness that trumps that. I’ve got a job so that I can live. I do not live to work. 

When I worked in a bar, people would always say , "You are so funny, you should become an entertainer." But I didn’t really think about it, or take acting lessons or anything. But after this experience, I do think I have a personality for television. I think I play myself quite well.” (laughs) I enjoy standing in front of the camera, and I’d love to do something where I’m dealing with people.

J: Where you work, are there some folks who are star-struck around you? 

A: The training process is about 3 – 5 weeks and they all start with a meet and greet. We’ve had a couple since I’ve been back, and there have been some instances where it’s like, “Hey, how ya doin’, I’m Andrew!” And they say… (sounding awestruck) “I know!” (chuckles) I actually had someone say “I’m star struck right now!” And I’m like, “Thank you, that’s great, but now let’s gets back to learning about insurance, and we can talk about Big Brother later, after class.”

Actually I don’t mind this. The only time it starts to get frustrating, is when I go downtown to the bars, and people come up to you…  that’s fine, I want people to come up to me. But on certain occasions, like say you’re talking to somebody, or you’ve met somebody, and you are really enjoying the conversation, and all of a sudden, you feel this hovering right next to you. You feel their eyes just on you, and you turn to them and say, “WHAT?!” And they want to get their picture taken with you. Of course I want that. It’s just that sometimes it gets a little bit overwhelming. 

J: Do you feel like you’ve sold your soul a little bit? 

A: Yeah. It’s just non-stop. 

J: What were some of the highlights and some of the lowlights for you on the show?

A: I had a checklist: During the whole process you ask yourself, where am I and where do I want to be, do they match up? When the show starts, you want to be one of the people who are on the show. So, check. Then it’s like, well I don’t want to be the first one gone. Hey, check. Okay, now I just want to make it to the Jury. Check. I want to win. Uncheck!

So for me, when I was watching the first night of Big Brother 15 (USA) and they were waiting in the wings, I was nervous for them. I could understand cuz I was in their shoes. When you meet everybody, you are like… Omigod, I have to live with these yahoos?! People say it was FUN. Well fun might be a stretch. There were great times, other times it was miserable. But for me the best times were when you won stuff. For me, the highlights were winning the competitions that I won. 

 Andrew in the BB Canada Kitchen prepping the punitive slop meal. Slop is
a cereal concoction, with all the vitamins and nutrients added, that apparently tastes like dirt.

J: What went through your mind when your twin brother walked through the door? That, for me, was the most amazing moment! 

A: Oh yeah, Joycie, that’s the thing I get the most comments about.  

J: Do you wish you would have reacted any differently. It was a competition and everyone had to freeze in whatever position you were in, and you had tears rolling down your cheeks when you saw your brother appear.

A: Not at all. I showed who I am. I am very much my own person and I don’t care anymore what people think. Well not as much as I used to. So when I was standing there it was a very difficult task. To remain frozen as they brought in a sumo wrestler, and the Toronto Argonauts Cheerleaders, and you have to just stand still… it isn’t easy. When I looked out of the corner of my eye and I see that it’s Pete, and I’m thinking they are upping the ante here… I’m overwhelmed but I’m thinking don’t move. I think that’s why they brought Pete in, they know that I’m a major competitor and it doesn’t hurt that I have a twin brother who looks pretty darned good. (laughs) If I do say so myself. But then he showed me the video of my nieces, then I lost it and had tears rolling down my cheeks. I’m thinking, "I’m happy to see ya, thank you for coming, but get the hell out of here!" (laughs). I was thrilled for him to be there, because he’s such a huge fan. Then I’m thinking: "Okay, get out." I’m also thinking that everyone else’s family is going to come in. Little did I know that I was the only one selected. That was pretty heavy.

J: Now I’m going to be nosy: Has your romantic life improved, since you’ve been on the show? 

A: I have this bit of a complex now, Joycie. Where if someone says, “Omigod, I love you sooo much." I’m thinking do you love me because I’m Andrew, or do you love me because I’m Andrew from Big Brother, or do you love me because you saw me on TV? To be honest with you, I’ve had many people come up to me for pictures and autographs, but then they move on. When young girls, 22, 25 come up to me, most of the time they are asking where’s Emmett? Or a good section of my female fans are 40+. And also there are the twitter fans, who say they want to marry me. (laughs) 

J: You are still in the first blush of fame. You have this notoriety. Maybe you could spin this into a gig on The Bachelor show.

A: I’m not young and rich, so that’s not going to happen. 

J: Who are you still friends with now that the show is over? 

A: Jillian, Emmett and I all live in Nova Scotia. Emmett lives about 5 minutes from my house. His family farm is about 40 minutes from here, and Jillian lives about an hour and a half from here. 

J: I had the pleasure of meeting A.J. your best buddy on the show. Are you guys still chums? 

A: We tweet and such, but he lives in Toronto, and I’m in Halifax, although he’s welcome to come here, and I know I’m welcome there. But I’ve been off work for three months. And my next vacation is already planned. I’m going home to Newfoundland. But for now, I have to work. 

J: Are you still in touch with Talla? 

A: Everyone wants us to get married already. (laughs) I’m like "are you nuts?" But we do tweet, and she wants to come up and visit. 

J: What did you think about how Jillian’s win played out? Topaz (Brady) insists she accidentally voted incorrectly.

A: I’m just happy I was not in Topaz’ shoes. I’m glad I cast the last vote, and that was the one that won it for Jillian. 

J: What’s this about you, Jillian, and a pedicure? 

A: On week 4 the have-nots had to give us all pedicures. I was lucky enough to have had Jillian give me a pedicure. Now everyone thinks that I am in love with Jillian. She’s one of my favourites, and she’s also my friend. But she’s with Emmett and that’s cool. When I told her that I’m going to get a pedicure every month, because I really need it, she said we’d go together.  It would be a chance for us to once a month get together and have a chat, just the two of us, going for a pedicure, manicure, then for some drinks and dinner afterwards. When we made the final two deal on the show, we agreed that whoever wins would be paying for the first one. So once she obviously voted to get me out, and then she won, we agreed she’s responsible for paying for the first one.

Jillian paying up, photo courtesy of Andrew's Big Brother Facebook page 

J: What advice do you have for any future contestants on the of Big Brother show? 

A: Be aware of who you are and how you are being portrayed both on the show and on the live feeds. It may come back to bite you. Me, I was lucky. People respect that I played an honest game.