By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

She was one of the most well-rounded winners Big Brother has seen in some time. Chelsie Baham, the nonprofit director from Rancho Cucamonga, California, had everything you want in a winner. She won HoH four times, was only on the block once and especially in the later part of the game controlled, influenced the path the game followed. Chelsie knows that her win will help not only her friends and family but her community as well.

John Powell: Chelsie, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today. How do you feel?

Chelsie Baham: I am on top of the world! I feel so great as a fan! This is a dream come true!

John Powell: I know it’s a little bit early. You’ve only had a little bit of time to think about it but what are you going to do with the money? Do you have anything it earmarked for?

Chelsie Baham: Oh my gosh! Pay the government first number one then give back to my community. That’s what I’m going to do, first and foremost, that’s what I do for my for a living and so that’s why I feel like this is a three months worth it. If I can take what I won and use it to help somebody else, and then after that, give me a nice pair of shoes, some ice cream and cuddle with my dog, that’s it!

John Powell: What are some of the charities or some of the things that you’re involved in it? Would you like to contribute to?

Chelsie Baham: I would love to contribute to my my local church. They’ve done so much for me as a youth and so I’d like to give back to my youth, specifically in anything that the department needs. I would love to help. I work with foster kids so having those finances now is a big thing. I would love to help foster kids in need financially and not let finances be a thing that gets in the way of them living out their dream. So, that is what I’m eager to do when I get out of here.

John Powell: When Makensy picked you over Cam that must have boosted your confidence going into the finale.

Chelsie Baham: Yes, oh my gosh! That was what I needed and losing and her taking me was also what I needed. I was going to use both scenarios to my benefit. So I was grateful for that move and I used it to further elevate the type of game that I played.

John Powell: If you had won the final HoH who would you have taken?

Chelsie Baham: Many people were banking on me taking Cam. He’s been my my ally since Day Two. However, if you guys look at how this game has been played since Day 45 and who’s been protecting who? Mackenzie has had opportunity to take me out. I’ve had opportunity to take her out and we’ve protected each other. She’s played a great game. At the end of this if I felt as confident as I did, to be Number One in this game, I asked who deserves Number Two, even at the risk of me potentially losing out, she was the one. I was going to take my girl to the final two with me. Love you, Cam but Makensey worked her butt off and I’m willing to risk it for the biscuit and if I lose against somebody like her. Yeah, it was worth it.

John Powell: Two of your biggest moves during the game were you were able to convince Leah on her HoH not to target you and you were able to convince Makensy to target people who were her own allies. Watching it, it almost seemed too easy. What was your whole approach and were you surprised?

Chelsie Baham: It was unintentionally easy. I thought I’d have to really work hard, a little bit harder in those weeks but with Leah I laid out straight facts. I said: ‘Hey, starting next week, the trio has numbers, so if we don’t get one of them out, then they will run the house.’ That was true. I just negated to tell her that I was a bigger target than all three of them.

When it came to Makensy I painted Leah as a big rival and she was. She went 10 weeks not touching the block. However, I negated to tell Makensy that I’m a better competitor than Leah. So I just chose to withhold some information and I didn’t know that the information that I gave to them, which was little, was going to work and make them she was making a decision that benefited me.

John Powell: You and Cam were close for the entire game. What is the status of your relationship?

Chelsie Baham: Being in this Big Brother house it just makes you go a little crazy at times. So Cam and I, right off the bat knew that we were going to become really good friends and being in that pressure cooker situation you really need to find safety and rely on people and we lean on each other. I know right now that we are great friends and we will continue to be great friends. We’ll see where a friendship leads.

John Powell: I assume it was a conscious thing but right after Zingbot made the comment they made, you kind of pulled away a little bit from Cam. I assume that was intentional.

Chelsie Baham: What the heck, Zingbot! Being messy, trying to blow up my game? (laughs) We both, I think, separated from each other and we had a conversation after Zingbot. He was like: Man, Zingbot is trying to mess us up. We both were aware and didn’t take it personal necessarily. The distance was really smart for us because people were painting us as a pair. Even though Cam was spending a lot of his time with other people in the house they just saw us as a thing. So, yes, I backed myself off because we see what this show has done to showmances and the girl is not about to get caught up in that.

John Powell: You talked about quite a lot about it. Faith means a lot to you. It means a lot to your life. Here you playing Big Brother which is a cutthroat game where you have to lie, even if it’s about who you’re voting for, even if it’s a white lie. How were you able to balance your faith and that you’re playing this cutthroat game?

Chelsie Baham: That was the hardest portion of this process for me. I had to constantly tell myself, Chelsie, this is a game, play the game! At the same time, majority of living in the Big Brother house is simply living, so you’re not playing 24/7 so there was a lot of times where I was just being Chelsie and my faith just exuded from me.That was natural. The hardest thing was having to compartmentalize and say: ‘Okay, this is not personal anymore. This is a game. ‘ If I was playing Uno, if I was playing any type of card game or anything where I had to lie, I would do the same thing with my family. We just straight up lie to win. I toldl myself when I’m playing the game it’s a game, but when I shut that off and have those moments where I’m just living as a houseguest that is where I could be truly me. So compartmentalizing was the thing that got me through in this crazy, crazy cool game.

John Powell:  You were known on the live feeds for your sermons. Do you have a final sermon now that you’re the winner of Big Brother?

Chelsie Baham: Oh, my gosh! (laughs). Day 91! Episode 91! Proverbs, 24/7. I told you, so your girl is going to make it to the end! All you’ve got to do is don’t have an ash attitude. Believe in yourself, encourage yourself, have a little faith! Point blank, period!