First jury member: ‘A lot of factors went against me’

By John Powell – GlobalTV

After being on the block four times the pawn finally went home. Elijah Kazlauskas, the ESL teacher from North Bay, Ontario, is the first member of this year’s jury. Before heading off to the jury house the perpetual pawn described what went right and what went wrong with his Big Brother game.

John Powell: Congratulations on making the jury! How are you feeling now looking back on the first part of your Big Brother journey?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I didn’t have the easiest journey. I’m just so grateful that I was able to scrape my way all the way to the jury. I feel like if the twist didn’t happen I think I would have made it through the week. There was just so many factors. If I had a vote I think I would have been fine. I think if I had a vote we would have just thrown up Tola and then me, Bayleigh and Kayla, with Spicy Vee as the tiebreaker, would have sent him home. I feel like a lot of factors went against me.

John Powell: You were that perpetual pawn. How did that feel for you?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I didn’t expect that and it was very difficult. The second time, it got a lot easier and I just did my best to play with the cards I had been dealt.

John Powell: It did get easier for you then?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I’m the kind of person that if I know I can survive something it doesn’t really bother me that much. After the first time I just knew that I had to keep on doing my best and trusting myself, my instincts and doing what I knew were the gameplay moves to survive.

John Powell: Why do you think THIS time you were sent home and not saved?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I think Spicy Vee is basically been running the house. She wanted to save Avery. If Spicy Vee wants something she pretty much gets it so that’s probably the main factor.

John Powell: What do you think you did right as HoH and what did you do wrong, in your estimation?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I was smart to make that final four that lasted like a day. I was smart not put up two Directors but I think where I went wrong was I knew who I trusted but obviously they can’t read my mind…I should have really not pushed my agenda. I should have just left Spicy Vee, Kayla and Avery basically run things. If I did all those things I think it would have been better for me but that being said I feel like I adapted pretty well considering how everything blew up around me.

John Powell: You alluded to this before but perhaps you can explain in more detail who do you think, based on your perception, is running the game?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I think it’s Spicy Vee. Look at how the Executive Veto turned out. Mostly, everyone Spicy Vee has wanted to go home went home.

I just feel like she’s so good with everyone…She is so well insulated. I couldn’t really do anything about her hold on the house. I even threw a hand grenade her way by saying she was going put Matt and Lexus up. She told me that and she got away with it! I was the one who took all the heat from that!

John Powell: You mentioned the Executive Veto. How did you feel about that being unleashed on your HoH?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I was really glad that it saved Todd because I really didn’t want him to go. Him leaving would have been detrimental to me. It was kind of a give and take situation for me.

John Powell: Looking back at the start of the game if you could have chosen to be part of the other entourage would you have?

Elijah Kazlauskas: No, I think I’d made the right choice because Anthony and I worked close initially. That was good for my game. We kind of ended up heading in different directions though. For the early game, I think that really helped me and I got pulled into the Directors because I got close with him.

John Powell: Why do you think you just couldn’t get the footing or the foundation in the game that you wanted?

Elijah Kazlauskas: I think that the beginning of the end for me was when Spicy Vee told me she wanted to put me up as a pawn or if not me, someone else from the Directors. I really should have fought that. I should have never have let that happen but I was worried that if I fought it too much it would just put me in a really bad position. In retrospect, me being on the block did kind of set me up to fail in the long run. Once you’re the pawn it’s easy to be the pawn again and I should have foreseen that.

John Powell: Now that you are a member of the jury and will have a voice in who becomes the winner of this season what are some of the factors you will be weighing as you make your decision?

Elijah Kazlauskas: The game itself. You have the competitions, gameplay, social gameplay and then you have positioning and control. I feel like so far the player playing the best game is Spicy Vee. If she makes it to the end it’ll be very tough for me not to vote for her depending on what goes down in the last stretch but those are the things I’m considering.