Cedric: Changes were coming to The Pentagon
Cedric: Changes were coming to The Pentagon
Cedric Hodges and Julie Chen Moonves. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS.
By John Powell – GlobalTV.com 
He said it himself. He got sniped. The 21-year-old former marine, Cedric Hodges, was double-crossed by his own allies leading to one of the most emotional exits in Big Brother history on the live eviction show last night.
John Powell: It is great to be talking to you Cedric. How are you feeling after such an emotional night?
Cedric Hodges: I’m feeling good! I’m feeling, you know, sad. I’m evicted but at the end of the day, it’s a blessing. I am feeling good that I even got to play.
John Powell: I’ve been watching Big Brother forever. I’ve watched franchises from other countries, especially here in Canada. That was one of the most emotional exits I’ve ever seen in the history of the show. How did that have an impact on you, knowing that you had such an impact on all those houseguests even your rivals?
Cedric Hodges: You saw my in my interview with Julie. I was kind of emotional and it wasn’t because that I lost out on all the money or the title of Big Brother 26 winner. It was that I very much feel like those are some of my best friends and I had to leave them. So it was good that everyone liked me and that I liked everybody. We meshed well.
John Powell: Obviously a lot led up to your eviction. Looking back, who do you feel most disappointed in or perhaps the most betrayed by?
Cedric Hodges. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS.
Cedric Hodges: Most betrayed? I have to go with T’kor and Kimo just because they led the campaign to my eviction nwhich is crazy considering that I protected them in my HoH week and considering that I was going to take them all the way to jury, which isn’t very far off. Leah too. I can’t really be mad at Joseph. Joseph surprised me with this flip-flop vote just because he said even if it’s eight to one I’ll vote for you because you saved me last week. The game’s so volatile so I can’t expect much.
John Powell: Looking at your game overall do you have any regrets? Because one thing that seems to come to mind is that maybe you spread yourself too thin?
Cedric Hodges: I think I was one of the more fortunate people with alliances. I felt like I was kind of trusted in wherever I was at. The Pentagon is really what I needed to hold me down. That’s where I needed all my trust. Quinn losing his vote kind of forced all this to happen. So, there’s a reason why I volunteered to be a pawn and it kind of just blew up in front of me.
John Powell: (whispers) In case you haven’t read the rule book, one of the big things is, don’t get nominated! (laughs) I’m sure you’ve been asked this a thousand times but you volunteered to go on the block. What was your thinking?
Cedric Hodges: I got sniped! Playing into spreading myself too thin, I thought I had enough personal connections to at least secure a swing vote. The overall thing is I volunteered to be a pawn in order to test T’kor and Kimo because I wanted to see if their alliance was truly with The Collective or truly with Rubina.
That’s basically what had happened because if Quinn had his vote I was safe this week. We didn’t find out until late Wednesday night that Quinn unfortunately could not vote as the Deep Fake HoH. That really forced me to campaign super hard and to lead the charge from that direction which was crazy because if Joseph would have stayed his course and we could have all been honest and told Leah; The Collective was going to change. T’kor And Kimo were going to be dropped. We were going to bring Leah in. Quinn, the snake, we were going to cut him at the first double eviction, changing the Pentagon into a rectangle and making Leah one of the final five. It was supposed to work out really well. Unfortunately, it just worst case scenario on worst case scenario stacked that led to my eviction.
John Powell: Tucker was one of your biggest rivals in the house and at one point he accused you of going against the plan and betraying him. So for the record did you tell him to use that veto on himself?
Cedric Hodges: I’ll have to watch it back but I’m almost positive I told him to use the veto. I wasn’t trying to finesse him. I truly felt that. I told him: Don’t use it on Angela.
John Powell: On the feeds you and Tucker kind of buried the hatchet. Game respects game. Were you seriously considering teaming with Tucker?
Cedric Hodges: No, that was about as real as my final two with Quinn. (laughs) Tucker’s big thing was that he wants to get the strongest competitors out of the house first, right? He deems me as a strong competitor so I was going to sacrifice and blow up my game in my HoH week to appease somebody who didn’t want to see me in the end?
John Powell: You got blindsided pretty hard by what happened. Did you did you have any inkling though that it was coming?
Cedric Hodges: I did kind of know even going into the week, I knew worst case scenario for me is sitting next to Rubina in the eviction chairs. So that was like, literally the worst case scenario. Then I found out because Chelsie told Brooklyn and Joseph (I was in the room) that T’kor and Kimo were leading the charge to flip the house and send me on my way this week. I kind of knew which is why I started running around campaigning really, really, really hard in the last moments before eviction.
John Powell: You were the youngest in the house. Do you think that was an advantage to your game or a disadvantage?
Cedric Hodges and Angela Murray. Photo: CBS.
Cedric Hodges: I think it was an advantage, very much so. I was able to use that to improve my social game with “Young Cedric”. I need all the game I could get.
John Powell: Angela has been a very tumultuous force in the Big Brother house. You were very sympathetic to her though. You pulled her aside and comforted her. What was it like living in the house with her?
Cedric Hodges: To be completely open and honest, when it came to my game with Angela, pulling her aside and kind of reassuring her, it wasn’t game-related nor was it strategy. I felt like she was really alone and I didn’t want her to feel that way. It’s hard for everybody and we’re in a tough environment that I didn’t want her to stew in her emotions. At the end of the day, as much as we’re players, we’re all people and I felt like she needed a person.
John Powell: You were close with many people in the house. Who was your true ride or die?
Cedric Hodges: It’s got to be Big Sis my fellow mascot! Chelsie! We just kind of immediately had that connection. I think I was most close with her and coming up in second probably be Brooklyn. Surprise! I was getting really close with Brooklyn towards the end.
John Powell: Word is you were planning on sabotaging the AI Area competition. What was that all about?
Tucker Des Lauriers and Cedric Hodges. Photo: CBS.
Cedric Hodges: I hope there’s a clip of me saying if it’s a comp where I have to control my power I’m going to be screwed but that’s exactly what it was. It was a competition where I had to balance my power and finesse it to the right angle. I knew that I wasn’t going to win. So I thought, I’m not going to win this comp, let me make sure Makensy doesn’t win. It forced me to sit next to Makensy in hopes that the house sends Mackenzie on her way. Unfortunately, I didn’t do the sabotage routine but that was my thought process.
John Powell: Well, Cedric, I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to talk to us. And again, I’ve watched many episodes of Big Brother. It is rare that you see such a connection, somebody who has made such an impact on the houseguests just by being himself. So all the best to you, all the best to the future and can’t wait to see you on the finale.
Cedric Hodges: Thank you so so much! It was a pleasure talking to you. I appreciate the interview. It’s all love.
