Interview with "Big Brother"'s Steven Daigle

AE: You stirred up some early controversy when the live feed viewers saw you refer to Libra as “that colored girl”, a term many people find antiquated and insensitive. How would you respond to those who felt that wasn’t your best moment in the house?
SD: Wow. Again, I haven’t seen anything so I’m guessing that was taken out of context and I’d love to clarify that real quick. Not to condemn anybody else in the house, but basically the story goes Jerry kept forgetting Libra’s name and kept referring to her as “the colored girl” and I was telling someone – we were actually discussing the fact that someone needed to sit down with him and talk to him and tell him that he probably needed to watch what he was saying, that saying “That colored girl” was probably not a proper way to refer to Libra.

If he can’t remember her name he should not say anything. I hope I don’t come off that way. I’m definitely am guilty of sometimes stereotyping people but I would not have gone around calling Libra “that colored girl”.

[Editor's note: Clips from the live feed clearly show Steven referring to Libra as "that colored girl".]

AE: Were you aware of past Big Brother houseguests, especially gay ones?
SD: I mentioned earlier that the only season I really watched intently was season 8, so I knew about Dustin and Joe. Joshuah from last season, I saw one episode … the one where he yelled at some girl outside in the backyard and was really mean and hateful. Other than that, I was not aware of the gay contestants.

AE: What is the biggest misconception gay people have about you as someone who is a bull-rider and who is from the south?
SD: That’s hard, I really don’t know what people think of me at all yet. I’ve seen or read nothing about myself yet. So, I would hope that people see me as someone who is just a person first of all and a bull-rider second of all and a gay bull-rider third of all – and that was how I wanted to go into the house and present myself. Regardless of how – you know, it’s a show and it’s on primetime – that’s how it really actually happened.

AE: With macho guys like Jessie and Dan what would you say was the biggest misconception they had about you as a gay man?
SD: You know, it’s funny they really didn’t. I mean, it became a joke in the house – and I don’t think this really got aired – that they actually thought I might be straight. I’m a real big flirt with guys and girls and I flirted with the girls a whole lot in the house a lot. I mean, I had a lot of fun with it. The guys had nothing to say about me being gay. There were no negative comments, there was never any “I thought you would be this way. I thought you’d be that way.”

But it became a running joke that possibly I was actually straight and told everyone I was gay just so I would have a shot at sleeping with the girls. It was actually – seriously, I’m guessing it didn’t get aired much – but it was constantly a topic of conversation in the house.

AE: I’m not sure if I heard about that even in the live feed recaps.
SD: I’m real interested to see what people are saying about it. There’s actually one episode where I laid in bed with Keesha and Libra was in the room and Renny was in the room and Michelle and I talked about – I recounted sexual encounters I had with girls before I came out.

AE: In the beginning, Dan was billed as an opinionated conservative, but in the end he didn’t think of you as “gay Steven”, he saw you as his friend and you opened his eyes. What did you do and what do you say to that?
SD: Dan is an incredible guy, I can’t say enough good words about him. He potentially could have been the person who would have completely been that one that’s like “Well you’re gay and that’s wrong.” and everything. He teaches at a Catholic school and it ended up that me and Dan spend a lot of time together, reading the Bible together discussing what it’s like to be gay and he was so fascinated by me coming out and he wanted to hear all the stories.

He asked in a very respectful manner, which I really, really appreciated. He didn’t think of me as an oddity, he just thought of me as a different type of person he wanted to learn about and I really am thankful that he was able to spend time with me. If nothing else comes out of this show, I’m happy… knowing that I [helped a] conservative church-going person to understand that being gay is being just like anybody else.

Dan (right) admits Steven changed his attitude towards gays

AE: Jerry seemed a bit thrown by the fact that you are gay. What were your interactions with him like?
SD: Jerry, actually, with him – again, I don’t know how it came off — but Jerry he was one of the people I was most nervous about finding out, especially when I came to the house and he immediately became head of household. I really thought being an older man from a different generation, if he found out I was gay, I would immediately go up on the block and I was completely wrong.

Jerry told me one da y… I confided in him and said, “Yes, I was worried you were not going to like me after I came out.” and Jerry he told me, “Steven, you’re nothing more than just Steven. You don’t hurt me, I won’t hurt you. I’ll be your friend forever. It makes no difference to me whatsoever.” I thought that it shows a really good side of him.