Interview with "Big Brother"'s Steven Daigle

Despite lasting only two weeks on CBS' most recent edition of Big Brother, gay rodeo champion Steven Daigle certainly made an impression on viewers. At first, we worried he might be yet another out contestant who would leave us shaking our heads in shame when a clip of him using a racially insensitive term was broadcast on the Big Brother live feed. However, Steven also showed a sense of humor and charm that was hard to resist.

Unfortunately, despite a solid pre-game strategy and some strong first steps, he was undone by his friendship with Brian, the San Francisco account manager who quickly drew the attention of the other houseguests with his aggressive moves. Perceived as a friend and ally of Brian's, Steven was similarly deemed untrustworthy by the alliance led by Jessie. Also viewed as a strong competitor by his housemates, Steven was evicted in a unanimous vote last week.

Still, Steven was an intriguing part of Big Brother 10 and we were happy for the chance to talk with him about his relationships with the other houseguests, his controversial racial comment and the gay rodeo circuit.

AfterElton.com: Once more we have a Big Brother gay contestant out of the competition pretty quickly. Why do you think that that keeps happening?
Steven Daigle: Gosh, I don’t know. You’re making me feel like a huge disappointment. You know, I watched season 8 and Dustin, he made it fairly far – he made it halfway through the season at least. I don’t really think this season had anything to do with the fact that I was gay, I think it was just some of the choices I made. I really wanted to stay longer, I really wanted to make a good showing for the gay and lesbian community. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.

AE: Do you think its harder for gay contestants to build alliances in the house?
SD: I though it might be going in. I was a little apprehensive about it. But a lot of what I don’t think you saw aired from my understanding – I haven’t seen the shows yet – is that me being a gay contestant really wasn’t even ... I wasn’t portrayed as gay very much and I went several days in the house without even telling anyone I was gay. They all became my friend before they knew I was gay and the fact that I came out to them didn’t change anything at all.

Steven (center) with Housemates Ollie (left) & Jerry (right)

AE: Why did want to be on Big Brother?
SD: I just thought it would be a lot of fun. I watched Season 8 very intently. Actually, me and the guy I was dating at the time we became obsessed with it. We watched every single episode and every night of Big Brother After Dark. I thought about applying for Season 9 because we were so interested in it, [but] other things in my life prevented me from applying for season 9, so I decided I would apply for season 10. I just sent my video in to see what would happen ... I’m kind of an adventurous person and I thought it would be really exciting and something fun to try out.

AE: Why do you think you got picked?
SD: That’s a hard question, I’d love to say I have a great personality and a really cute smile, but I think the whole rodeo cowboy [and] being gay – that’s sort of a little intriguing. I think it’s something people would love to know more about … I think that played into it also.

Steven with Big Brother host Julie Chen