Cameron Hardin Wants to Vote for Jag and Matt to Win 'Big Brother 25'

Cameron Hardin

Big Brother’s house is open once more! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will be bringing you interviews with this season's houseguests as they get evicted from the game.

Space cowboy. Chaos Cam. "Daddy." Lieutenant Loser. No matter what you call him, Cameron Hardin spent the majority of his time on Big Brother 25 with his name in everyone's mouths. After being used twice in a row as a pawn, he prevailed in the infamous "Pressure Cooker" competition, and proceeded to win safety for three weeks in a row. Even after he was evicted, Cameron's return via twist made the other houseguests believe he could never truly die. But, after 72 days, he was dealt a second lethal killing blow, done in by the people he was closest with in the house.

In the first week, Cameron was safe (voting in his first of ultimately two evictions he would vote in over ten weeks of the season). But he pinged on people's radar when he chose to reveal the majority alliance he had been brought in on. As a result, the "Professors" chose to use him as their block star pupil, nominating him as a pawn twice. The majority nearly flipped both times, and that would prove to be one of the biggest "what ifs" in the show's history. After winning the Pressure Cooker, Cameron's first HoH reign was deemed a success when he went after Jag Bains. But when Jag was saved from eviction by an anonymous superpower, all eyes suddenly were on him. Cameron had to win crucial competitions to avoid elimination. When in power, he tried to sow as much discord as possible. His methods, like his hair, were full of secrets, most infamously when he snowed the entire house--and the fandom--in nominating Felicia Cannon and Izzy Gleicher to break up the most powerful alliance in the game.

Unfortunately for Cameron, he eventually ran out of runway. In Week 7, Jag won Veto, allowing for a backdoor plan to go through to get Cameron up and out. But, while Cameron was spurned by a twist on Day 30, he was saved by another on Day 51. He immediately came back into the house as a "BB Zombie," and got his game resurrected with a clutch competition win. Following that up with yet another HoH, he cemented his "Fugitives" alliance with Jag and Matt Klotz, as well as his relationship with Bowie Jane. Little did he know they would all prove to be his undoing. When the DJ spun up an HoH, Cameron wanted to use the opportunity to do what he couldn't: Backdoor Cory Wurtenberger. But the "Minutemen" had different plans. Working with Bowie, they devised a plan to ditch Cameron as too big a threat. And it was deja vu all over again. Jag won Veto, Cameron was backdoored, and he was unanimously booted.

Now on his way to the jury house, Cameron talks with Parade.com about his reaction to Bowie Jane turning on him, his intention in trying to turn the house against Jag and Matt on the way out, and how he looks back on his return to the game.

Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 25

We have to start with the backdoor that sent you to the jury house. You were clearly upset with Bowie Jane for nominating you, feeling you had “protected” her throughout the game. How do you look back on her decision and your relationship?
I am now and always will be proud of my Bowie. I mean, she's one person that came into this game and has evolved. I will always say Bowie is a person that is bad at being bad at things. She will compete and work and practice and do it over and over and over until she's got something down where she gets good at something. And Bowie has gotten very good at this game. Do I feel betrayed by her? Now, after our conversations together, I know that she made the move that she made for the best interest of her game. And I am 100% proud of the fact that she could stand up and do that.

You formed the Fugitives alliance with Jag and Matt two weeks ago in the hopes of working together as competition threats. After being nominated this week, you then proceeded to tell everyone about their involvement in your HoH, and the games they had been playing. Why did you choose to do that, and how do you feel now about your fellow Fugitives?
I felt very wronged by them. At the time, I feel like I might have been a little wrong or off-kilter in my in my understanding there. It felt as though I had been lined up for a while. It didn't feel like a spur of the moment thought. It felt like something that they had been doing that they had lined up before I reentered the house. So once that happened, I felt pretty wronged and I wanted to go at least talk to the people that I could possibly talk to against Matt and Jag to see if I could get some favor and get back into back into the game. After realizing that it was probably not going to happen, I actually felt kind of bad about having done what I did because I love Matt and Jag. I definitely set up some obstacles for them for the remainder of this game. But make no bones about it, I really am pulling for those two guys. They have played their butt off this entire season. So how do I feel about the future moving forward? I am their biggest fan. I hope that I do not see them in a jury house. And I hope that I get to cast my vote for one of them.

During your last two HoH reigns, you planned to be secretive and cause as much chaos as possible, putting up Felicia, Izzy, and Meme. After both of those reigns, you also ended up getting evicted the week after. How do you look back on the decisions you made throughout your HoH reigns?
I mean, I guess that's kind of the trend. Whoever the HoH is has gotta go. Look, at both the decisions that I made in the game, I'm pretty proud of the Izzy week, as I call it. That one definitely was chaos stirred. And I'm proud of that week. I think not only did it make good TV, it was a hell of a lot of fun. As far as the Felicia and Meme [vote] going back, as I've talked about before, if I if I had a time machine, I'd have went back with my with gut, and I would have backdoored Cory, and I think it would have been a much more successful week. And I think I'd be in the house a little bit longer.

But I wanted to work with Matt and Jag. I wanted to not ruffle any feathers move forward with those guys. I have no idea about their ties to Cory or America or why Jag was so against me putting Cory on the block. But that was that was the gametime decision and it was something that I made. Do I regret it? Of course. Can I go back and change it? Absolutely not. Am I proud of some of the decisions that I made? Absolutely. Some of them probably weren't the best, but it landed me here. But I'm still overly grateful of having had the opportunity to even call a couple of shots in the house.

As just mentioned, you were evicted initially, but got to come back as a “zombie” the next week. Do you feel you were able to change your game at all upon returning, and how does that incorporate into your most recent eviction?
So coming back into the house, I knew that I had to have a different strategy. I mean, when I left the first time, it was just me coming out of a corner every week just throwing punches and trying my hardest to stay in it. When I came back into the house, I knew I needed a little bit of a strategy, some people that I needed to lean on and trust. And the first two people that I wanted to give a chance to was Matt and Jag. And we formed the Fugitives, and I loved every second of it, until I bobbled it.

I said the wrong thing to Bowie with the wrong thought. Like I said, paranoia creeps in those spaces in between moments in the house, and that's one of the hardest parts of the game is keeping your mind in those downtimes. So coming back into the game, the strategy was to form an alliance, to form something that only I could work with, and I found Matt and Jag. And had I not messed up things with Bowie, I honestly believe that that Matt, Jag, and I would still be running and doing our best honestly.

Let's finish with some rapid-fire thoughts on each of the houseguests. Starting with America.
Shifty.
Blue.
Entertaining
Bowie Jane.
Proud
Cirie.
Mentor.
Cory.
[Laughs.] Quirky.
Felicia.
Mama.
Jag.
Homie.
Matt.
Lovable.

Next, check out our interview with Mecole "Meme" Hayes, who was evicted during Big Brother 25 Week 9.