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BB10 contestant Jerry MacDonald

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RealityFreakWill:
Exit interview with ew.com

EW.com talked to Jerry MacDonald, the 75-year-old great-grandpa from Texas, about feeling lonely in the house, fighting with Dan, and how he didn’t really touch April’s boobs in the beginning of the season. (When you're done reading, click here for Josh Wolk's hilarious recap of last night's episode.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How many seasons of Big Brother have you watched? More importantly, why watch Big Brother than say, C-SPAN or The History Channel?
JERRY MACDONALD: I’ve seen every season. I like the challenge of Big Brother, the excitement of it. I like to see people go at it, people who use their brains and their hearts to play the game.

How much were you sure that Dan would take you to the final 2? Were you 50 percent sure? 100 percent sure?
None, because of his relationship with Memphis. I knew I was out because Memphis returned two shirts I had given him that my daughter had sent to me. They were a little big so to test the waters, I gave them to Memphis. He wouldn’t try them on. Just before the vote, he brought them back to me and told me to give them to my son-in-law. That was a signal that he and Dan had made a deal.

Maybe he just didn’t like the shirts.
They were nice, expensive shirts. They were brand new.

Let’s be honest, though -- for a good while in the house, you didn’t seem to like Dan at all and yelled at him constantly.
I don’t think he was friendly. He played a pretty nasty game over all, not just with me, but with other people. He’s not too well liked among the jury.

After the jump, Jerry talks about calling Dan "Judas," wearing his military hat, and touching April's boobs...

You called Dan "Judas," which means Jessie would have been Jesus. Why the biblical references? Why didn’t you just call him a miserable little putz and call it a day?
He was using religion. He kept saying if he confesses, all will be forgiven. He kept pushing the Bible thing so heavy, so I used Bible references. I think Dan’s a bright young man who is arrogant. And I think he needs to grow up. He’s like a child -- rather, I think he’s a grandchild.

You lost your temper a lot in the house. Do you usually behave that way at home or was it just these kids who set you off?
I was never as mad in the inside as I appeared on the outside. Whenever I’d walk away from a fight, you could see me smiling. I knew what I was doing.

Big Brother watchers say the Jerry we saw in primetime was much different than the Jerry we saw on the Internet. How would you describe your behavior in the house?
I was really polite to everyone. When someone won a competition I complimented them. When someone got nominated I shook their hand. I never really got nasty or mean about anything. The only time I really had a confrontation was with Dan and Memphis and when I suggested to Memphis that he was a womanizer. He told me he was going to become my biggest nightmare. I looked up to him and said, "I don’t think so." I don’t fear people.

Were you lonely? We often saw you wandering alone. Would people talk to you?
I played the game alone. It seemed like people were afraid to align to me. I had to zig-zag alone through there. Everybody I tried to make a deal with broke their word to me right up to the end. To get this far under those circumstances was quite amazing.

A lot was made out of the fact that you were the oldest person ever to play Big Brother. Why on earth would a mature man like you want to hang out with a bunch of 20-something knuckleheads?
It doesn’t matter whether they were 20 or 30. I wanted to do it for myself. I like the challenge. I was in sales and marketing for 38 years. I like games. I can carry my weight. I’m healthy and strong to mentally compete. I thought I did a pretty good job. Of course, if I had won the money I would have found something to spend it on.

You touched April’s boobs in the first week. Dude, explain yourself.
You know, that wasn’t me touching her boobs. That was her walking into my hands. That’s exactly what happened. She started walking up to me and pushed them into me to show that they were real so I put my hands up to protect myself.

That’s pretty funny, Jerry.
I meant it to be.

You talked a lot about bringing honor to the Corps. Jerry, really: How does appearing on a cheesy reality show where women run around in bikinis bring honor to the Corps?
That has nothing to do with bringing honor to the Corps. I wore my military hat and things like that to bring honor to the troops serving in our country. Because of them we remain free. The game has nothing to do with that.

You told Julie that this was your last hurrah. That’s so...depressing. If anything, shouldn’t this empower you? Why not do Survivor or The Amazing Race now?
You know, I may just try that, if I get home and get in better shape. Half the people on those shows self-destruct early. I could just lie down, act passive and probably get halfway through doing nothing. I may just do it.

RealityFreakWill:
Exit interview with buddytv.com

Give props to Jerry.  There may have been some minor floating involved in his ascent to final three on Big Brother 10, but the man is 75 years old.  He did something right to make it that far.  Despite being from a different generation than anyone else inside the Big Brother house, Jerry was able to interact with his fellow houseguests.  Jerry wasn't a great social player, but he probably did better than a typical man in his mid-seventies would have.  And, don't forget - the man also won two Head of Households.  That's nothing to sneeze at.  Only Dan had more on Big Brother 10.  Jerry was kind enough to answer some interview questions for us via e-mail after his eviction last night.  You can find his full, unedited answers below.

How does it feel to get this far, to the final three, and then be evicted?  I imagine it's rather frustrating?

It is not good to go so far and not win, but I will take the experience as a nice moment in my life that I achieved the best I could do.


How would you assess your play in the house?  Did you do what you set out to do?

I played my heart out. Two HoH's. Two POV's . I did not win but I could have. Close but no cigar.


What was most different about life in the Big Brother house than what you expected it to be and why?

The constant bright lights until midnight and the isolation that caused boredom beyond belief.


Are you excited to see any of the people in the jury house?  Who?

Yes.  Ollie, Michelle, and April.


What have you most taken away from your time in the Big Brother house and why?

I have left with a great sense of accomplishment.  To be the oldest Player in Reality TV at 75 and to make it to the final three was rewarding.


What would you have done differently if given the chance?

I would have slowed down in the beginning and played a little nicer if I could have gotten through the first HOH cleaner.


What are your plans for after the season?

Go home to Texas. Maybe speak at some senior organizations about fitness.  Demonstrate to seniors that staying healthy takes work

Play golf and a little poker.  I will go to Pennsylvania and see my 10 and eight year old grandsons.

RealityFreakWill:
Article from The Potpourri, a Houston based newspaper:

EYE ON BIG BROTHER: Magnolia’s MacDonald sent packing, but still has influence

Jerry Mac Donald, 75, a married great-grandfather and retired Marketing Executive from Magnolia, Texas via Willkes Barre, Pa., was the last Houseguest to be evicted from the BIG BROTHER 10 House by Dan, who won the final HOH competition, during the live broadcast Thursday, September 11 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. He will join Keesha, Libra, April, Michelle, Ollie and Renny as the sixth jury member to vote on the live broadcast of the season finale Tuesday, Sept. 16.

By The Potpourri Staff
Published: 09.12.08
Gerald “Jerry” MacDonald of Magnolia may be out of the “Big Brother 10” house, but don’t discount his influence.

The 75-year-old competitor, who was on the eviction block four times and lasted longer that 10 other Big Brother houseguests, survived physical, mental and political challenges and may have the final vote determining who wins the half-million dollars up for grabs on the CBS reality show.

Outside with the show’s host, Julie Chen, after being evicted, MacDonald said there could have been a plot to boot him out of the house between his opposing houseguests, Robert “Memphis” Garrett, 25, a mixologist from Los Angeles and Dan Gheesling, 25, a high school teacher from Dearborn, Minn.

Chen asks MacDonald why he thinks so, “Because I’m here,” he says. Then MacDonald told Chen he thinks Gheesling made a big mistake since he will be the deciding vote. So what will he decide? MacDonald said it is hard to say since both of the self-named “Renegade Players” played so well against him.

“It’s a tough thing,” he says.

Indeed Gheesling and Garrett did dupe the former Marine. The pair, working a planned strategy since they evicted California waitress, Keesha Smith at the previous eviction meeting, managed to capture the Head of Household for Gheesling who then chose MacDonald for eviction.

Immediately after leaving the house Chen wanted to know if participating in CBS’ reality show was MacDonald’s last hurrah. MacDonald’s answer was an emotional one.

“I am proud of my family and will remember this for the rest of my life,” he says.

The 75-year-old retired marketing executive now joins six previously evicted players as the seventh jury member at the mansion.

As Magnolia residents prepared for Hurricane Ike, MacDonald’s wife, JoAnne, said she is looking forward to her husband coming home.

“He doesn’t know about the hurricane. We did not want to worry him,” she said. “But he will be home at the end of next week and I can’t wait.”

JoAnne MacDonald was planning to ride out Hurricane Ike with her daughter, Linda Gonzales.

Gonzales, said she and her mother will attend the final episode of “Big Brother 10.”

“It should be a wonderful experience. We are so proud of him, who would have thought he would make it this far,” she said.

Gonzales said a welcome home celebration is in the works for her father. She said the interview with her father that aired on “The Today Show,” Friday, Sept. 12, revealed the true Jerry. Moreover, viewers can vote for their favorite Big Brother 10 contestant to win $25,000 at www.CBS.com, click on “Shows” then “Big Brother.”

The final two episodes of “Big Brother 10” will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14 and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

“Big Brother” in its 10th year, follows a group of people living together in a house outfitted with dozens of cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day. Each week the houseguests vote someone out of the house. At the end, the last remaining houseguests will receive the grand prize of $500,000.

pledge:
EW.com talked to Jerry MacDonald, the 75-year-old great-grandpa from Texas, about feeling lonely in the house, fighting with Dan, and how he didn’t really touch April’s boobs in the beginning of the season. (When you're done reading, click here for Josh Wolk's hilarious recap of last night's episode.)

I couldn't find anything to click   :duno:     I love reading recaps that are hilarious   :lol:

Thanks Will

RealityFreakWill:

--- Quote from: pledge on September 13, 2008, 11:38:43 AM ---EW.com talked to Jerry MacDonald, the 75-year-old great-grandpa from Texas, about feeling lonely in the house, fighting with Dan, and how he didn’t really touch April’s boobs in the beginning of the season. (When you're done reading, click here for Josh Wolk's hilarious recap of last night's episode.)

I couldn't find anything to click   :duno:     I love reading recaps that are hilarious   :lol:

Thanks Will

--- End quote ---

I overlooked the click and went back to check, here it is....


By Josh Wolk

Josh Wolk is a senior writer at EW and the author of ''Cabin Pressure: One Man's Desparate Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor''

Watching the final HOH challenge on last night's Big Brother was like watching a recording of a baseball game where you already know the outcome; even though this was live, what other possible way could it have turned out? The only way Jerry could have won was if the competition had been "Who can be the biggest cranky, sexist jerk?" (As you can see, I'm still sucking up to the message-board regulars who were so angry at my recent empathy for Jerry. Boooo, Jerry!)

On Tuesday's recap, I wrote that Dan was playing Memphis by staging scenarios that made Memphis look bad: After Keesha got bounced, Dan yelled to his partner, "You're out of your mind if you think I'm taking you!" I've been rethinking that, and I've realized that it wasn't a bad thing for Memphis. The only person who heard it was Jerry, who was already grateful to Memphis for saving him. So Dan's rage wouldn't bother Jerry. In fact, Dan's open anger that Keesha left instead of Jerry would only cement his predisposition to vote for Memphis in a final two. Granted, that would have changed had Memphis been the one to later ding Jerry, but nevertheless, I wanted to amend my opinion. (As you can see, I'm still sucking up to any message-board regulars who thought I was wrong. Boooo, me!)

Later, talking to Julie, Jerry did sound like he'd caught on to their secret alliance, but when the episode began, he seemed like he was buying their rift. "If one of them wins the HOH, they'll take me to the final two," he told the diary room, and then stopped and opened his eyes wide and seemed to go into some sort of trance. What was wrong? Did he have the epiphany at that moment that he was being played for a fool? Or was he suffering from a sudden medical condition? I expected him to snap out of it and say, "Sorry, folks, my liver just shut down. Give me a minute to take off my hat, because I always swore I would never have any organ failure that might disgrace the Corps."

During the first round of the final HOH challenge, as everyone balanced on their plane, we were treated to a master class in overacting. First there was the forced anger. When Memphis taunted Dan with tales of his college days balancing on things with his frat brothers (and if you're wondering why he ended up as a mixologist, I think it may be due to the fact that the only thing on his résumé is "Special Skills: Balancing!"), Dan blasted back, "Did you stab them in the back, too?" When Memphis dropped (which was the plan between him and Dan), he lay on the mat, trying to look angry with himself. The only thing that could have made his performance less convincing would be if he'd actually said, "Now I am angry at myself." But Dan went that extra, obvious mile, falling off in staged victory and saying to himself, "Oh, my God, I did it." I'm surprised he didn't then walk up to Memphis, shake his fist, and say, "I have defeated you, man who is most definitely not an ally! We are such strangers that I'm not entirely sure of your name. Is it Mumford, sir?"

For part 2 of the HOH battle, it was Memphis vs. Jerry in a contest to see who could pick the lineup of past HOH's and nominees for each week. (We got the extra visual treat of having Jerry and Memphis "knock out" everyone except their three picks by punching their cutout pictures; the extra audio treat was hearing a knockoff of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger." Wow, CBS, what you save on music-rights payments, you're clearly spending on boxing gloves!)

When the producers alternated Memphis and Jerry's rounds, it looked like the players were taking turns with each round. But then I noticed that Jerry's home base was more shaded than Memphis' each time, so I'm guessing the producers had each player do all their rounds, and then edited them braided together. If that was so, wouldn't it have made for a more exciting and difficult challenge to show each person do all 10 in a row with no breaks, rather than stopping after each one? Although, perhaps that would have been unfair to the 75-year-old Jerry. Sure, it would make for a colorful finale if his heart exploded all over the backyard, but it would be a bitch to clean the remains out of the hot-tub filter.

Even without any physical exertion necessary, Jerry landed an astonishingly low time. While it took Memphis 8 minutes, and 35 seconds to complete the task, it took Jerry 51 minutes and 22 seconds. Did he stop for lunch in the middle? A nap? Or did he just get distracted and start telling the Keesha cutout the unabridged story of Hissy the Snake? Perhaps he should have gone in with a keen game plan like Memphis, who said, "It's definitely my strategy to go as quick as possible." Sorry, Jerry, you were dealing with a mastermind!

After Jerry's brutal loss, the producers got in their last licks on him: After Dan and Memphis were seen high fiving in the sauna room, we cut to Jerry, alone, pulling his pants down and revealing his tighty whities while mumbling, "Ohhhh, embarrassing." Jerry, you don't know the half of it. Come on, all you Jerry haters: You don't think that it was a bit much to show the humiliated guy in his underpants? I'm surprised the producers didn't let a dog in the side door, trained to come in and pee on Jerry's leg.

Before the final HOH competition, we took a trip to the jury house. Frankly, at this point I'm more interested in seeing life there, now that all the drama has been sucked out of the game house. (Incidentally, why is Julie still touting the live feeds on CBS.com and Showtime's Big Brother After Dark? Who at this point is moved to watch five straight days of two guys puttering around the house? Will this become the hot porn site for people with boredom fetishes?)

I'm always frustrated with the jury-house segments, though, because they're so staged. BB contestants start to act crazy because they forget the cameras are there. But since there are no cameras regularly in the jury house, when they do arrive for these short segments, everyone seems very stiff. I want to see April and Ollie drop their defenses, so we can get a clear view of them realizing they actually have nothing in common.

I did enjoy seeing Michelle and April be unable to force smiles when Keesha arrived. And it was an added bonus to watch Michelle so smugly declare that she was going to blow Keesha's mind by telling her that Michelle went on the day trip with Dan, only to deflate when she found out that Keesha already knew. That's our Michelle: always firmly two steps behind everybody else. And, of course, I enjoyed my bonus dose of April's idiocy, like when she said she would vote for Jerry over either Dan or Memphis, because she didn't like the Renegades' cockiness. It worries me to think that people like April can vote in the presidential election, let alone BB: Whenever you see a particularly manipulative and blatantly misleading attack ad on TV, just know that somewhere out there, it is working on April.

For the final HOH, Dan won in the traditional "finish the houseguests' statements" competition. The only thing interesting that came out of it was learning Ollie thought that his biggest mistake was letting his heart get into the game. Considering he barely won any challenges, wasn't his biggest mistake sucking?

Dan quickly dispatched Jerry, who got choked up when conceding to Julie that this was his "last hurrah." Come on, Jerry haters, I'm trying to back you up, but hearing a 75-year-old sadly declare that his last hurrah is now over didn't move you at all? No? All right, I've gotta take my column over to AARP.com. They'll at least concede a tear or two.

Now all we have left is one clip show (hooray?) and then the finale. I can't imagine Memphis winning: At this point, everyone realizes that Dan played him or her, but most of them (even Michelle) don't blame him for it. Even with the crazy grudge voters (April, Jerry, possibly Ollie), I think Dan's got it wrapped up. As for the $25,000 viewer-decided prize, I wonder if there's any way to vote for it to go to Michelle, only to have the producers yank it away from her, giving her a unitard instead? I don't care who has to clean it up; watching her head explode on TV would be delightful.

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