Big Brother's Eric Is Fired Up
by Angel Cohn
Eric Littman
Turnabout is fair play. Big Brother's Eric Littman learned that the hard way when he went from ruling the roost as Head of Household on July 14 to being most recently evicted houseguest on July 28. The married father of two, who is employed as a firefighter in Las Vegas, got burned by Kaysar, a former cohort who staged one of the biggest upsets in the show's history by flipping Eric's dominant alliance to his advantage. TVGuide.com spoke to Eric the day after his ouster to see how he was handling his sudden change of address.
TVGuide.com: Are you a little relieved to be out of that chaos?
Eric Littman: There's always a part of you that, once you come to the realization that you may be going home, starts preparing yourself. To do that, I started thinking about the things that I would be able to do once I get home: coaching my son's baseball team, taking my daughter to ballet, hanging out with my wife in bed for three or four days... those kind of things. Once eviction night rolls around, you're looking forward to it.
TVGuide.com: Did the show make you appreciate being with your family more?
Eric: Oh, yeah. I always said that being a fireman was a calling, and I still think that it is, but the longer I was in that house and stayed away from my family, the more I kind of felt that I was meant to be on this earth to raise my children and just be a father and be a good husband. That's enough for me.
TVGuide.com: Do you think your family has been watching?
Eric: [Laughs] I think that's an understatement. If I know my wife Julie, who's very passionate, she was probably throwing things at the TV!
TVGuide.com: Are you going back to firefighting?
Eric: That will never leave me. I'll be going back to my station and doing what I love to do, what I was meant to do in this life.
TVGuide.com: Do you think there was anything you did that your crew will tease you about?
Eric: The worst thing you can do is give another firefighter ammunition to rib you a little bit. I'm sure I have given them a plethora of things to rib me about for the rest of my career.
TVGuide.com: Have you gotten over the shock of Ivette's announcement?
Eric: I guess that the look on my face was just priceless. I'm not normally the type of person to pick up on that stuff too quickly. My wife always says that I can't even tell when a girl's hitting on me. So I was shocked, but a fun shocked. I could care less about her sexual orientation.
TVGuide.com: So whose idea was it to go on the show, yours or Maggie's?
Eric: My wife and I have watched every season, and they once had a firefighter on whose demeanor I didn't like — let's put it that way. He didn't represent us very well. I was complaining to my wife — and she doesn't like to listen to that very much — so she said, "Stop complaining and apply!" I never thought they would call me.
TVGuide.com: Do you think Maggie will avenge you?
Eric: Avenge is a harsh word. Let's just say she's trying to give people a taste of their own medicine. I can only hope that things work out the way I wanted them to. If they do, there will be some people running around like a lot of long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs.
TVGuide.com: What instigated the fight with Michael?
Eric: I wouldn't call it a fight; it was an incident. Michael had this thing once, when he was put up for nomination, where he tried to stare people down. He was about 12 feet away and tried to give me the evil eye. I said, "You can stare at me all day long, but I don't get intimidated by anybody." Later, at the veto competition, he was staring me down again and it was not respectful to the ceremony, and people were picking up on that, shaking their heads, and again I walked away. Then when someone said he was saying things about my family, it was the last straw. You can only get called out so many times before you're going to answer the call. I'm not proud of the way I answered it, but I don't apologize for the message I sent.
TVGuide.com: After Michael got voted out and you realized he and Kaysar were partners, did you think Kaysar would come after you?
Eric: I thought there was a chance. When I sat down with Kaysar, I asked him ,"If you pull your key out of that nomination box, and you are not up for eviction, am I guaranteed to be safe the next week?" He said "Yes." I said, "Do you swear on your life?" and he said, "Yes." Of course, this is a game of deception and lies, but when somebody swears on their life, especially a man of religion... that's something that maybe I took for granted.
http://tvguide.com/News/Insider/
