Our Interview with Ivette, 9/21/05

[hepcat]

Ending the season in the runner-up’s seat was Ivette Corredero, the outspoken 25-year-old waitress from Miami. Ivette’s journey in the house was filled with dramatic highs and lows, from her devastation at the Eric’s eviction early in the game, to butting heads with alliance member April, to her long-standing animosity with rival Janelle. She reaped the benefits of being in the dominating alliance, avoiding eviction by the perception that she wasn’t as strong a player as some of her fellow “friends.” However, in the final two HOH challenges, she proved she could compete and win when it counted, which put her in the most powerful position in the game, able to choose who she wanted to take to the finals. And yet, if she had let an enemy win that HOH, there was a good chance she would be finishing the game with ten times the money. Did she make the right decision? In this interview, Ivette discusses her final choice, and other tense moments in the house.

Congratulations on your win, it may be second place, but it’s still a win and a great achievement!

Thank you very much.

So, do you think you made a $450,000 mistake?

Apparently...well, what I now know, after speaking to my girlfriend and stuff, the people who I aligned myself with weren’t the friendliest, and weren’t the most supportive of me. So it’s sad to see that I was so loyal to them and they had nothing in return for me, except for Beau. It’s sad to me because I played for them, and I played all the way to the end for them. I believe that if I would have picked Janelle that she would have said that she came to me with a deal, and that I took it up, and everybody would have believed it and they would have voted for her. I don’t think Jennifer and April wanted to see me win, regardless. Everything that I hear that April has said about me, it’s not the nicest things.

I don’t know if she ever came clean with you, but as far as the week where you had a sense you were going to get evicted over Sarah, did you know that it actually started with April and Jen and not with Howie and Janelle? And that it was actually Rachel who told April she wasn’t going to change her vote?

Really? I hadn’t heard any of that. Wow. Yeah, you hear some nasty things now, you know. And all the time I had put myself out there for April so, it’s hard to hear things like that, you know? I defended her on a number of occasions. And you know, she’s 31 years old and she’s going to say that I manipulated her to say things? If you guys notice, I’m not the one who ever had conversations with Janelle, so how would I possibly know all those things about Janelle?
So, what about you and Rachel? It didn’t seem like you ever had a blowout with Rachel in the house - you complained about her behind her back, but on the surface you were civil...so why did you send her that goodbye message? There was no way she was going to vote for you after that.

I realize that now. (Laughs) I probably didn’t leave the best goodbye message but I also said I was never going to be a hypocrite for any kind of money or be nice to somebody for the money, and I did it. Maybe that was stupid of me, but that’s just the way I am, I’m as stubborn as they get. What happened to me with Rachel is that as soon as she became part of the Sovereign Six, she was still trying to come into our conversations and pretend that she still cared about our side. I started to feel very violated in the sense that, you’re coming into our group now, knowing us personally, and using it against us! I felt very violated, personally. So afterward, when Janelle got very nasty, she teamed up with Janelle. Maggie started to call her Ray-nelle, because she acted just like Janelle. Before, in the beginning, she would offer meals to everybody or she would help out - but after she was nominated she didn’t want to do anything, she became pretty much...horrible! And anytime her side didn’t win she acted like a sore loser.

Can you talk a little more about that, because if she was a sore loser, it didn’t come across that way. She didn’t complain about being nominated or losing the POV.

Her faces! Did everybody not see the faces, the smirks, the faces she would always make after something didn’t go her way? Always. Always. It was a horrible face anytime something did not go her way. When Beau nominated her, he said, before we didn’t know where you were at and we were okay with you playing grey, but then it became very apparent you were stark white or pitch black. And she was like, (sarcastic voice) “Oh really? Well which one was I? Oh really?” And she just became very sarcastic.

I’m not trying to defend Rachel, but I know personally I didn’t understand what Beau was saying - I didn’t understand the analogy.

I thought it was very clear. It was, you know, we would be in the hot tub and Howie would stretch out practically in the hot tub. Or we would be in the hammock and Howie would practically stretch out on the hammock. There wasn’t a place where we went where they wouldn’t stretch or talk two feet from us.

Yes, but what about when you were on the balcony spying on people, isn’t that the same thing?

Ah, they sent me out there. (Laughs) At that point, who cares? The house was so divided.

You are quite a talker - do you think your mouth got you in trouble during the game?

(Laughs)It’s never not got me in trouble but at the same time it hasn’t got me in that much trouble in my life so that’s okay, it balances itself out.

Early on, you referred to Kaysar in racist terms (behind his back, of course, not to his face). You also said he was Muslim one day and not a Muslim the next. Do you regret any of these statements?

I’m a very opinionated person and sometimes I’m too harsh for people. My girlfriend personally doesn’t like it sometimes, she says I open my mouth when I don’t need to. I refer to anybody who came to somebody with a cheap offer to put yourself up for a team, I refer to anybody making that offer as tying a bomb to themselves.

What about what you called him the same evening that the big fight between Michael and Eric happened?

Oh, right, but Howie and I both were calling him [edited]. Howie called him a [edited] all the time, but I get the crap for it. Nobody remembers when he called me a ghetto Cuban. Nobody remembers when they called me all kinds of thing.

Didn’t you call yourself ghetto?

I didn’t call myself ghetto. It’s one thing to call something you put together out of nothing ghetto, then to call yourself ghetto. If I made pudding out of things no one ever thought pudding could be made out of, I called it “ghetto pudding,” because what else could you call it? It just was a funnier name than “made-up pudding” or “scrap pudding.” It was just funny to call it “ghetto pudding.” It was funny to call it the “ghetto slide” instead of the “slip and slide.”

I thought it was interesting that one night you had a long conversation with Kaysar about religion, and I commend you both for getting it out there and talking about it instead of letting things rankle, but I did wonder why you said that because he was religious he didn’t belong in the game.

Because he said all these things that the Muslim religion does not allow him to do, and yet, he’s in a game that breaks all of these rules. As well, he went to the highest person in the Muslim religion at the mosque and he had a session with the person there. But he didn’t exactly tell him what the show is about. So, that told me that he knows the show is wrong and doesn’t belong with his religion, and that’s why he couldn’t say exactly what the show is about because they probably wouldn’t have given him the blessing to go on the show. So to me, it was like, are you or are you not? Do you believe or do you not? You don’t just bend the rules for this game!

Did you think Maggie threw the endurance competition?

I don’t think she threw the endurance competition at all. I don’t think she threw it because the next day she could barely walk, and I was running around the house. After five days, Maggie still could barely walk. I was massaging her calves every night up until two nights ago.

But I mean, do you think she stepped off on purpose?

No, my mother and my girlfriend have made it very clear to me that she slipped - she fell off.

But did she lead you to believe that she had thrown it, though?

Yeah, she did. She kinda did lead me to believe that, but she said that she didn’t. I’ve got a big heart, although people don’t want to see it, I’ve got a really big heart. And I am very unselfish, so it’s very easy for me sometimes to bite the bait and be a sucker for people.

It did seem like you got manipulated in the game. There were some other moments too, not just this last manipulation by Maggie. Like when James came to you early on said something about Janelle not liking you - that changed the game right there.

Yeah, well it’s the second or third night and you hear that somebody wants to get you out, you’ve got to get on the defensive. That’s why I was able to understand when James went to the other side. If there’s anything, I’ve said it a number of times, it’s that I feel that I was blessed with the ability to step in other people’s shoes. That’s why I’m able to say I’m sorry to people, that’s why when I know I’m wrong I’m able to say I am. I can relate to why people do things. I was able to relate to why Janelle is the way she is, and that’s because Janelle is too big for her town. Too big, too beautiful for her town, so she just learned to always be on the defensive. I can honestly step into other people’s shoes.

I can always take blame for my actions, and there’s a lot of people in that house that have to blame everything they do on somebody else. I’m a big girl. I can say that I wanted Kaysar out. I said, Kaysar needs to go on Week One because he’s going to come back and bite us in the butt. And what did he do? He put a whole spin on the game.

April was one that constantly talked and always went back on what she said. Jennifer and April want to blame the whole Kaysar thing on me. You know, last time I checked, we were all adults here, we all have degrees here, we all have jobs, we are all individuals, and if we don’t like something, we don’t do it! That’s it! It’s my HOH, I do what I want to do.

I wanted to talk to you about Eric, because you only knew him for a short time. Can you explain your connection to him?

I honestly connected with Eric because he reminded me a bit of my brother. Maybe because of his age, and just the way he was sometimes, he did remind me of my brother. Now, I’m not hearing the best of things about Eric so I’m a little disappointed, but that just goes to show you how much heart and how much passion I have for people.

What was your favorite moment in the house?

My favorite moment in the house had to be beating Janelle! I mean, nobody could do it, and that was my greatest victory. She was an amazing player, and she gave me a run for my money. Literally!

Was she such a good player, or was it more of a mental image you had of her as unbeatable?

I think it’s a lot of mental image, but the girl knows the game. She truly knows the game. She went in there the best way possible. No attachments - or barely caring about the attachment that she had - not making any friends, I don’t think she shed a tear once. You know?

You don’t think she made any friends?

No, I said I don’t think she went in with any attachments.

I never quite understood the relationship you have with Beau. To the house, you said you didn’t know each other at all, that Big Brother matched you up as two strangers with similar backgrounds. Was that the truth?

No. I’ve known Beau for a year, but we weren’t that close. We definitely got close in the house. But Beau and I had such an instant connection, even knowing that we were going to come into the house together just bonded us even more. We didn’t need to constantly reassure each other of our partnership. We just knew it. I would have protected Beau to the end.

April and Jennifer were the only other pair to say they didn’t know each other; did you believe them?

April and Jen are two peas in a pod. That’s all I gotta say. I have heard the nastiest things from them. I would have been better off partnering with Janelle than with Jennifer and April.

Wow. I'm surprised to hear you say that.

I know, isn’t that sad? It says a lot right there.

Do you have anything else you want the viewers to know?

I want to apologize to anyone I offended. If I offended anybody, that was not my intention. It’s very difficult to even remotely imagine what it feels like to be in that house. It’s very easy to criticize someone or base their opinion on something they see, but they don’t sometimes understand what brings it out in people. But again, I want to apologize if offended anybody, and I hope that everybody was able to at least appreciate that I was able to make it to the final two by being truthful and not breaking any promises and just being true to myself.

Thank you for your time, Ivette, and congratulations on finishing second place!

Thanks to Ivette for answering difficult questions with the directness she is known for; it can’t be fun to face tough questions about yourself and she never flinched. Thanks, Ivette! Also, many thanks to CBS who kept us in contact with the houseguests through sequestrations (secret or otherwise). We appreciate it greatly!

[Google]

 

[Arsenal]

What an interview. Thanks a lot! Finally some tough but fair questions.

[Mariner]

Wowza. Great interview hep. Sounds like Tushie and Momma have been giving Ivette the what for.

[DCDiva]

Hepcat:

Another great interview. You need to be working for a magazine or paper! Well, the deprograming has begun. How great to hear her say the sthings she said about Eric! It's about time. I would like to personally thank Tushie for steering that girl back away from the kool-aid. theo ne disappointing thing is that she will not fess up to how awful the things she said about Kaysar were. That she is blaming it on Howie. I had the live feeds and I never heard Howie call him anything until they were in an alliance together and it sure wasn't something nasty like Evilvette said. Whe he teased him it was the whole Whaaaaaassssssuppp Kaysar!

I think Marcellas said it the best today on HC. Right now they are going to try and be like "Well you don't understand. YOu weren't in the house. The pressures made me do it" blah blah blah. But when they get to be 1 year out, 2 years out , 3 years out like he is, there are things that this experience in the house should make them look at themselves and say, I need to change and there are many mea culpas that they will need to say. I agree with him. She nees to start on the mea culpas cause there is never any amount of pressure that should allow the vile and foul things that came out of her mouth that makes it acceptable to be racist. She at least is on her way back from being a Minion!

Great job Hepcat. I know that it was tough to sit through this one too.

[hepcat]

Regarding Ivette's comment that Howie was using racial epithets along with her:

I almost deleted that portion out of the interview because her accusation is completely unsubstantiated. I don't recall that; I looked around at old transcripts and found nothing. My own recaps from that period mention Ivette's vitriolic comments but the most I said about Howie was that he was getting away with behavior that Michael was being blasted for (complimenting and touching the girls).

I'm leaving it to you (especially the feed watchers) to judge for yourselves. I thought her reaction of blaming it on Howie, then complaining that no one gave Howie any crap when everyone dumped on her, needed to stay in to see the whole picture.

[agamergirl]

Yet another great interview! You really should get paid for this. It sounds like she's at least coming to her senses a little. Glad she's realising Crappy is a jerk. I didn't have the live feeds in the beginning so I can't say either way about Howie. However, it doesn't sound like something he'd do. I can't believe she said she'd have rather partnered with JHO. Now, hopefully we never have to hear about the fiendship after the after show interviews are completed.

[Unklescott]

Great interview hep. You certainly didn't pull any punches. A very hearty thank you for all the interviews and fine job you've done this year!

[boredinedmonton]

big ups.

as marcellas would say - mea culpa

nice, ivette!

[barefootdyke]

I can always take blame for my actions...

sure you can ... that's why you are so evasive and start pointing fingers elsewhere when asked about them.

[Zaius]

Amazing interview, hep. Thanks a lot!