Joseph Rodriguez (‘Big Brother 26’) exit interview: Quinn made an ‘idiotic’ move, but ‘I’m not mad at him’

Week 7 in the “Big Brother” house ended Thursday night, with another epic Head of Household fail from Quinn Martin. It was his second reign as HOH and the second time one of his closest allies was sent packing on his watch. A few weeks ago it was Cedric Hodges and this week it was Joseph Rodriguez, another supposed pawn who was blindsided by a 4-3 eviction vote over Kimo Apaka. The 30-year-old video store clerk from Tampa, Florida became the seventh houseguest evicted from Season 26. Joseph was the last houseguest evicted pre-jury.

“I’m not angry, I’m surprised though,” Joseph told host Julie Chen Moonves during his exit interview. “A lot of people told me I was good that I thought would keep their word to me, so I’m really not sure what happened.” In his final speech before he was evicted, Joseph encouraged his fellow houseguests to “stick to the plan,” but what was that? And who was he speaking to? “I was speaking to Cam, Makensy and Chelsie, specifically,” he confirmed. “I thought I had Angela and Leah‘s vote no matter what. Me and Rubina had made a deal also, where we would vote for whomever of us came off, or was still on the block.”

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What did Joseph think about Makensy turning her back on him? “I don’t know why she voted me out. That’s kind of strange to me,” he confessed. “I felt like me and her had a decent relationship, and I feel like she had almost no relationship with Kimo, so I really don’t know why she did that.” He was also disappointed to hear Chelsie voted him out and proclaimed, “We had a rocky relationship. I felt like I was gaining back some trust with her, so I am surprised.”

SEE Tucker Des Lauriers (‘Big Brother 26’) exit interview: ‘I knew when people got the shot to take me out they were going to take it’

Does Joseph feel betrayed?

“It’s ‘Big Brother.’ It is what it is. I’ve been lying to people all summer, so I would be a huge hypocrite to be like, ‘Look at you, you lied to me!’ It is what it is, good game to all of them.”

Joseph purposely lost competitions this season and really didn’t make any waves. So why does he think people voted him out over Kimo, who had won a competition?

“No offense to Kimo, but maybe they found me to be the more strategic player. I was good with everybody, so if other people saw that, maybe they found that more threatening than somebody who’s kind of a lone wolf at this point. I don’t really know.”

Joseph likens his gameplay to Dr. Will Kirby, who won Season 2. Does he regret playing that way?

“I feel like I made several mistakes this week that cost me. I should have gone to Quinn and been like, ‘Bro, do not put me up!’ I should have gone to Leah [after the Veto] and told her not to use it. I really should have been more emphatic with both of them that, ‘Hey, this is bad for your game if I leave.’ I feel like they both made pretty silly moves, to be honest. I should have been more on them to not do it. I honestly didn’t believe that Leah was going to use it. And I did tell Quinn, ‘Hey, I don’t think this is a good idea,’ but genuinely, I just didn’t think [Leah] was going to use it and sometimes when you press people super hard it makes them want to do the opposite. Maybe I should have tried harder.”

Is he mad at Quinn?

“I’m not mad at him. I think it was idiotic of him to put me up there in the first place. I genuinely had his back, but no, I’m not mad at him. I don’t think he did it on purpose.”

After mostly kind-hearted goodbye messages (except Angela), Joseph had some final words: “This has been a magical experience. I won the day. I got the key to come into this house. I thought I was going to be the first one out. I made it way further than I thought I would. On a regular season I would be on the jury too, so all-in-all it was a good experience. Only one person gets to win, 15 others get to lose. I’m one of those people, but just being here was amazing.”

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