Reuniting for one night, at Evolution Wonderlounge during Pride Week in Edmonton, best friends and Big Brother Canada season two contestants Kenny Brain and Andrew Gordon spoke with GayCalgary Magazine about how their lives have changed since appearing on the show, Kenny’s controversial decision to not reveal his sexuality for the majority of his time in the Big Brother house, and which other housemates that viewers and fans of the show might just be surprised to know the two have formed a strong friendship with post-show.
GC: Kenny, this is your second time here at the fabulous Evolution Wonderlounge in Edmonton. Do you enjoy coming back here?
KB: Absolutely! I had an amazing time last time, everyone was awesome. The city’s got a great vibe. It’s good to be back.
GC: Are you going to move here to Alberta?
KB: I lived here actually, in Alberta, once before. I lived in Calgary for a few months with my sister. But I just moved to Montreal so, I’ll see what that place is like before I decide I’m moving to another place.
GC: Andrew might be happy if you move out west.
KB: He better be!
GC: What has life been like post-show? You guys have been doing a lot of appearances. Do you have any favourite appearances or things that have happened to you since the completion of the show?
KB: Yeah I definitely do. I just did a tour across Newfoundland and when I was in my hometown, in Grand Falls, I had a woman come and she made these beautiful cupcakes, and she said that her nine-year-old son, I was his absolute idol. And he wrote me this letter, made me ball my eyes out in the middle of the bar. They were the most amazing people. His father and his mother both messaged me afterwards and told me how much of an inspiration I had been for them. Just what I had done for their son; so it was a great feeling actually to feel that.
GC: That is wonderful. And yourself Andrew?
AG: Well, for me, in regards to appearances and events, I have been thrown back in to real life in a huge way. So for me, I’m now managing a Craft [Beer Market] here in Edmonton, and I haven’t had time to even think about Big Brother. But I guess a favourite thing for me is coming home and all the stories your friends and family have to tell about you, and talk about what you did on the show, and see how much of an impact you really made on people you were already close with. Or complete strangers that will come up to you and share stories [with you]. That has probably been my favourite.
GC: Have both of you had a chance to go back and look at all the film and things that you weren’t privy to, being in the house, that the audience saw?
KB: I have watched most of it. I haven’t seen the whole show yet, just because I haven’t had the chance to really sit down and dive into it. But I have seen most of it and it’s so funny to actually experience it and then see it from a viewers’ standpoint, and what the other people were saying behind your back; the whole outlook of the show from what you guys saw. It has been interesting. I really do want to sit down and dive into it to see exactly what everyone has been saying about me behind my back.
GC: Andrew, anything that was surprising or shocking to you to find out?
AG: Well I have just recently started catching up on the last two trips back to Calgary. I have been hitting up my parent’s PVR. I went for a long time without watching any of myself on TV. I did a few of the online videos – saw a few things on there that I didn’t expect to see. Obviously you’re surprised by some of the things people said...
KB: Me coming out!
AG: Yeah well, for me that was the most mind blowing thing. Obviously being evicted and then sitting down, and my mind was absolutely blown. They asked me What was the most surprising thing? Allison being locked in a room? I’m like like What? Room? Kenny is gay! I had no idea about that! I couldn’t even sleep that night. So the realization of what has actually been going on from a viewer’s perspective is mind blowing.
GC: Do you wish that Kenny had been upfront about his sexuality from the beginning, especially with yourself, or do you understand what his reasons were for holding that back?
AG: Yeah, I feel that Kenny, no matter what, was comfortable enough to tell me, and the only reason that he didn’t was for the game. So really that was a thought that I dwelled on for maybe a second and a half – it really didn’t bother me. It would have been secure for him to tell me, and it wouldn’t have gotten out, I think he knows that. But at the same time, here we are in the outside world, real friends and no secrets, like zero. So it doesn’t change anything at all.
GC: Kenny, your reasoning behind going in and wanting to keep that a secret – did you want to let Canada, and specifically our readership, know why you used that as a tactic and whether or not you think that was successful?
KB: Well, I went in there originally because I felt that, going in there and telling everyone I was gay right off the bat, would have shut down certain avenues that I could have pursued that could have furthered me in the game. So by kind of leaving my sexuality a question mark, but them assuming that I was straight, because I never, ever straight up told them I was or wasn’t gay or straight, I just told them stories about my life and my background and they just assumed that I was. So that kind of let me flirt with the girls and kind of bring me forward in the game. But in that specific group of people, I feel like honestly it didn’t really hold much bearing at all. Like, I know Sabrina and I know Rachelle kind of had a thing for me, and it carried me forth a little bit because they did things I wanted them to do. But honestly, it came down to who you were paired with in the house, and I felt like that group of people that I was paired with, it didn’t really hold that much bearing. So I feel like it was a good strategy but just not the right group of people.
GC: Some people that are fans of the show watched last year and [with] Gary, they thought that being gay, and being kind of flamboyant and upfront with it, played to his advantage. Do you think that it might have helped even?
KB: Well, yes and no. I mean, it depends on the actual person and their personality. I’ve had this question before asked of me, like women love gay guys, why didn’t you just go in there and as a gay person you could have won them over? But I felt like it depends on your life, and who you are as a person, if you have that kind of relationship with women and that’s how you are. And yes I do, but I felt like, I was myself. The whole time I was on the show, I was myself. I may have not divulged a hundred per cent who I was. But I was myself. And I still developed relationships and got decently far. Not as far as I wanted to, but decently far in the end.
AG: A week further than me!
KB: So it could have helped me but as who I am, I did exactly what I set out to do and I feel that it benefitted me.
GC: Andrew, do you still have any felling of bitterness for the way you were eliminated, the fact that it was an audience vote?
AG: You know, there is bitterness in the house. Everyone in that position is going to feel [like] the entirety of your nation is coming down on you, and how have I been portrayed? How are people viewing me? Is that me? I know that it’s not, and I think a lot of the people that have seen me since have recognized that. I know that a lot of the people that I have met in person have come to that realization. But I don’t hold any bitterness, because the game is over; I’m back in my real life. I’ve got real worries, you know, things that I actually have to be concerned about. So no, I don’t. I had a great experience offered to me and I took it. I played myself the entire time. What you saw was 100 per cent Andrew – it just wasn’t 100 per cent of all of Andrew.
KB: Yeah, that is the thing. It’s like, they portray a layer of who you are. I mean, there are 24 hours a day and it’s recorded 24 hours a day, but there’s only three hours that are-
AG: Forty-five minutes [an episode], an hour including commercials, three times a week.
KB: So they can only show a certain amount of a person. He did get the loud, abrasive...
AG: Douche-bag [edit]. But I’ll be the first one to call myself a douche-bag! (laughs)
KB: Exactly, and that is who Andrew is. He’s a great guy and they just never showed everything and all of Andrew. And it is hard to do that with three hours you know? It’s the highlights, and it was edited.
GC: But that’s where the ‘After Dark’ and getting to watch it online comes into play, and helps, because you get to show more facets of your personality. It’s the real you and you’re not being edited to fit into a certain timeframe. That said, what is it like to have eyes on you basically 24/7, when you are in certain positions, or things that you might want to be private? How hard is that to get used to, and then how hard is it to get used to when it’s not happening anymore?
KB: (Laughing) I’ll let you go first on this one bud!
AG: Well, you know, I say this. People ask you if you ever get used to the cameras, or do you forget about them. You never forget about them. They are right there in your face all the time. They are always following; they are moving, they are pointing at you. So you don’t forget that they are there, but no matter what, at some point, you’re going to start acting like you normally act. You are going to start making the jokes and your real personality is going to start to show. You can only really camouflage to a degree, and hide, and really polish who you are for a small amount of time... When you’re locked in a place for that amount of time, things are going to happen.
KB: I do disagree a little bit. Because I did forget about the cameras a lot of the time. After like a two week or three week period, I found I did forget about them a lot. Like he said, your personality will come through because you just get comfortable with this setting and this group of people, and who you are comes though. But I know that I told a few stories about my family and stuff, and mid-story I would be like Oh yeah, I’m on national TV; I shouldn’t be telling this story! I gave out my actual address on TV! And then after I said it I was like Oh...!
AG: They are going to go back to the live feeds now! (laughs)
KB: See I’m doing it again right now!
GC: So if you want to stalk Kenny, now you know how to do it!
Maybe you don’t want to stalk Kenny, but want to hear more of what he and Andrew have to say. Watch the full interview at the link below to hear Kenny discussing his successful career as a model, the possibility of him pursuing acting and being approached to become a beard grooming product spokesman, his coming out process in his real life versus coming out on the show, the possibility of the two of them appearing on reality television again in the future, the state of Andrew’s current relationship with Allison, and which fellow Big Brother Canada contestant you might be shocked to learn the two have formed a close friendship with now that they are all out of the Big Brother house.
