‘Big Brother 26’s’ Joseph: ‘My hubris got the best of me’

For the second time on “Big Brother 26,” Quinn nominated one of his allies as a pawn. And for the second time this season, that ally went home due to a vote-flip. Joseph Rodriguez, whom Quinn put on the block after getting blindsided by Leah using the Veto on Angela, was evicted 4-3 on Thursday to become the last pre-juror in one of the most suspenseful votes in “Big Brother” history. “I thought I was gonna stay,” he tells Gold Derby (watch above). “I was a little surprised by [how close the vote was].”

The 30-year-old video store clerk opted against grilling Quinn about putting him up because he wanted to focus on Quinn collecting votes for him. Quinn was always adamant that he didn’t want Joseph to go, but the move made Joseph wonder whether or not his final two was actually betraying him.

SEE ‘Big Brother 26’s’ Tucker: ‘I was a very appetizing target’

“I’m just like, ‘If I’m your final two, this doesn’t make any sense.’ I would go back and forth between whether he was lying to me and actually wanted me out or whether it was a genuine attempt at strategy,” he recalls. “It seemed like over-promised a lot of people that he would keep them safe and didn’t want to get the rest of the house upset with him and also didn’t want people to know we’re close, even though they already know we’re cool. I didn’t see the logic in that. I also didn’t see the logic in why he didn’t put up T’Kor instead of me, but he felt like that would’ve given away that me and him were close. But it’s like, ‘Dude, you’re not supposed to put your ally in jeopardy.’ I think he was just scared of the rest of the house.”

Joseph also made a habit of bragging about his game and abilities around the house, which rubbed houseguests the wrong way. He already had to eat his words and apologize to Angela this week after he had bluntly told her he didn’t see her winning and is amazed she’s made it to this point.

“I think my hubris got the best of me in certain moments for sure,” he says. “But also, I felt like the things I was doing were subtle where people wouldn’t get it. If I did make it to the end, they wouldn’t understand why I should win, so I felt like illustrating those things and also being honest with people — because everyone’s lying, you know what I mean? So if I’m telling them, ‘Hey, this is what I did’ or whatever, it could explain why I should win in the end. But I was thinking a little too far ahead and was a little too open with my strategy.”

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