By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

Did she throwaway the Big Brother crown because she was convinced to do so or was she just loyal to a friend who would’ve been faithful to her?

Big Brother might debate Makensy’s finale decision for years to come but according to Makensy, this season’s runner-up, all the decisions she made were her decisions and she sticks by them.

John Powell: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. How are you feeling after such a crazy night?

Makensy Manbeck: I am feeling amazing on cloud nine! How are you?

John Powell: Very good. Thanks! I know it’s a little bit early and you’ve only had a short time to think about it but any idea how you are going to spend that money?

Makensy Manbeck: Probably put a lot of it into savings and bills because coming here I spent a lot of money and had a lot of bills that I still had to pay while not making any money, really. So put that back into what I’ve probably lost and then whatever’s left over into savings because I’m young and I’m sure I will go through some things, and then buy two or three, iced coffees! I miss some good iced coffees! (laughs)

John Powell: You have probably been asked this a million times but do you regret picking Chelsie over Cam?

Makensy Manbeck: People are surprised that I chose her. People are surprised that I don’t regret it. Choosing Chelsie was a testament to my game and to me as a player. It is something that I walked into the house saying I wanted to do which was be loyal and go against the best competitors in the house. That is exactly what I did and I stood by that. That shows a lot of integrity and character. Making that decision was a win for me because it gave light to another amazing player and woman that I respect a lot and she deserved to win. I’m not going to lie. If I was in jury I would have voted for her because she ate me up. She did great so I’m not mad about it. I’m very thankful and blessed for coming in second and receiving the prize that I did as well as receiving the validation within myself that I played a great game.

John Powell: Were you surprised at the at the final vote, that it was unanimous? Because I’m sure you were expecting some votes for some of your close allies.

Makensy Manbeck: I did hope that I would get one! I went through it in that house and I was like: Nobody?!? Nobody is going to give me any recognition about how much I did? None? None? That’s okay. I really thought that maybe I would get Leah or Quinn or Angela, maybe not all of them, maybe even Rubina, not all of them together but those are the people that I was kind of hoping or praying that maybe would lean towards me. They didn’t and that’s okay because like I’ve said this a million times I don’t need other people’s votes or validation to know that I’ve played an incredible game. Me getting to the end by myself is me playing an incredible game.

John Powell: Speaking of your game, I mean, at the beginning, competed in the competitions and you were a little bit tentative at first, even other people were saying maybe she’s getting into her own head. Then you found your rhythm and you had win after win after win. What turned that switch on for you? What happened?

Makensy Manbeck: I think that I came into this house and was pushed into a corner and I let myself be pushed into a corner. I listened to the ideas of other people and I felt very unaware and just not able to control myself and what I was doing. I was very nervous. I was very anxious, very stressed and I wasn’t as confident as I could have been. Through the first four weeks I held myself back because I felt that that’s what I needed to do because that’s what everybody else was doing…I just pulled myself back and I let myself try not to be seen as a threat. Don’t make any big moves, don’t make it worse than it already is. Then I had a realization that I don’t have to be in a corner. I don’t have to listen to other people and I can win by myself. When I had that perspective change that’s when I really allowed my true abilities to show because then I wasn’t scared, and I did what I wanted to do, which was win, prove people wrong and be a compass.

John Powell: You had a great success at the comps but on the other side of the scale we have cam who didn’t do so well. What was going on with him?

Makensy Manbeck: I honestly don’t know. I can’t tell you why he did so poorly. I wish I could because I wanted to know why he was doing so poorly. For a bit there I thought he was throwing them, and honestly, he might have been throwing them because I do know that there was a conversation between him and Chelsie where he had stated that he thought that he had Chelsie and I wrapped around his little finger. The thing is that’s not true at all. I didn’t keep him because he was flirting with me and giving me validation. I don’t need that. I’ve got that by myself. I know I’m great…I did want was somebody who would be a vote for me, who would listen to me and that’s exactly what I kept around. If he would try and spin that narrative, I would throw it right back on him, because, yes, he was laying in my lap every week.

John Powell: With Leah’s eviction you picked a path for your game going forward. Do you regret targeting her?

Makensy Manbeck: I was the middleman between two people that I loved. Really, I had Chelsea in one ear, Leah in the other and I was getting to a point where I was going to have to make a decision on which way I wanted to go. I had already been shown loyalty by Chelsie and I believed that her words were true to me. I knew where her head was at more than I knew where Leah’s head was at in a game sense. So personally, I did not want to make that move on Leah. I did not want to get her out. I did not want to have a bitter jury member in that sense, in a game sense, for my safety and for Chelsie’s safety, who in turn, Chelsie kept me safe, so I needed her there.

Making that move wasn’t for Chelsie it was for myself and Chelsie. A lot of people thought that it was just for Chelsie and that’s where I think that people forgot to realize that I was being a loyal player, a partner in this game, and that when you do play that game of loyalty and trying to get not just yourself but others to the end. You make decisions not just for yourself but others and that is exactly what I did.

Chelsie did not manipulate me into putting Leah up. Did she give me good points on why? Yes. Did I already know that before? Yes. I am not stupid. I could see Leah’s game but because of my personal connection to her, I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to recognize it but she allowed me to even more. I was like: ‘You know what? Screw personal decision. I’m going to do what’s best for my game right now and that’s sticking to my gut and sticking to somebody who I know where she’s at and that she will protect me.’ I put Leah up and that was, again, not by Chelsie It was by me. I’m the one that had the power that whole entire week.

Me changing my mind is not because somebody said some words. Me changing my mind is because I reevaluated my game and I saw where I wanted to go and that decision did benefit me the most because I won the final HoH and I got to make my decision. Choosing Chelsie, yes, people don’t understand, but I was the one that did it. I’m the one that got myself to the end.

John Powell: How were you able to balance your personal faith with the game?

Makensy Manbeck: It is very difficult to navigate and one reason why it wasn’t too difficult for me was because I started digging into my faith very hard right before I came into this experience. I had a long conversation with myself on knowing that going into that house would push your standards would cause you to turn into somebody else. Could maybe pay you in a bad light. I chose that no matter what, whether it meant losing or not, that I would play a game that I would respect and that I would leave knowing I did and played exactly how I wanted to play and for the glory of God. I played a very honest game, comparative to a lot of players in past seasons. In my season, I played a very loyal game and I did a lot of things that were unexpected due to the fact that it wasn’t the normal Big Brother move, and I will never regret that. Going into that house that’s what I wanted. I wanted to break the stereotype of that you had to go in there and be mean, be deceitful, be crazy and do all these things. No, if you know who you are and you know you can hold yourself accountable and play the game and win and do what you need to do in a manner that shows people that then you can still get far. And that’s exactly what I did.

John Powell: You were dragged into the entire Angela, Matt confrontation at the start of the game. What did you think of Angela’s behaviour towards him last night and did you and Matt have that conversation?

Makensy Manbeck: The interaction that happened between Matt and Angela, yeah, I would love to say that I’m surprised, but I’m not. She continually spoke about how she just did not respect him even after he was gone and that she never regretted what she did or the move she made or what she said. I’m not surprised by that. Am I hurt by it because I wish that she could handle it in a different way, absolutely. I do think that she has the capability of being a bigger, better person but you know, if that’s how she wants to handle it, then at least she’s staying true to herself and she’s the only one that was in that experience. I can’t speak for her whatever happened. I feel bad for if it was really that bad but what I do know is that I also walked into an experience of her getting absolutely yelled at and just degraded by Tucker in a game sense and the fact that she still has laughs and jokes and so much respect for Tucker over Matt is just confusing to me.

I’ll never understand it and I just hope that in her heart she finds some forgiveness or peace with the situation and they can go about their lives because I know that’s what Matt wants.

As for that conversation with Matt,  I have talked to him very little. It’s been a very, very busy night into the morning. I have literally gotten no sleep so…

John Powell: …to be continued?

Makensy Manbeck:…to be continued. I chatted with him a little bit about how his life’s been on the outside, just about how crazy everything’s been and that was just the surface we barely scratched so we are still to have conversations but what I will say is that he’s an amazing man. I do believe that in my heart anyone who ends up with him is a lucky woman and if that’s me amazing, if it’s not, I’m so excited to be friends with him.