Olympic champion Ryan Lochte may have six gold medals, but he didn’t last very long on the latest U.S. edition of Celebrity Big Brother.
The second evicted celebrity houseguest, Lochte was blindsided by O.J. Simpson trial witness and head-of-household Kato Kaelin, who managed to out-strategize Lochte. (Technically, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was not an “official” contestant and “left” the house — he was not evicted.)
Since the beginning of the season, Lochte had partnered up with Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett, and the pair seemed strong; unfortunately for them, they became too powerful and the rest of the houseguests knew they had to go. Without his right-hand man — Bennett was evicted last week — Lochte flailed and was ultimately voted out.
READ MORE: Jonathan Bennett says ‘Thank U, Next’ to the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house
Global News spoke with Lochte over the phone following his eviction, and the Olympian didn’t seem too bothered by getting the boot.
Ryan Lochte: Part of me feels like I’m still in the house. We always went to bed at like 3 or 4 a.m. … I woke up and was like, “Wait a minute, I see a TV in front of me. That’s not right! [Laughs] It’s also nice to not have a microphone attached to me.
Are you coming to terms with being backdoored? Are you OK with it now?
You know, it’s the game. I’ve played the game, and I guess I wasn’t that good at it. I kinda knew I was going to get backdoored, just based on how people were playing. It wasn’t a surprise to me, so … I was prepared. I was sad to go because, of course, I wanted to win, I have that competitive edge in me. But no harm, no foul. I loved it, and if I had a chance to do it again, I would do it.
I can’t say I didn’t have a great time. I walked out of the Celebrity Big Brother house with two friends that will be in my life forever: Joey Lawrence and Jonathan Bennett.
Do you think your alliance with Jonathan was what did you in?
I think me aligning with him was fine, but I think the two of us winning that first HOH competition basically put a big target on our backs. That was our biggest thing. We should’ve thrown that first challenge to fly more under the radar. My competitive edge is a problem, I can’t turn it off. It just screams “Go!” to me.
WATCH BELOW: Ryan Lochte reveals his ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ strategy
Who do you think is going to win it all?
I really think Kato. He has the best shot. He’s an athlete, a triathlon guy, and he plays a lot of poker, so he knows how to read people’s faces. He knows when people are BS-ing him.
The most annoying part has to be the lying, the manipulating and going behind other people’s backs. Scheming. That was the hardest part to grasp because I am not that. [Laughs] I’m very loyal, very upfront, very nice to everyone. I don’t do the drama, I’m a very positive person. Other than that, it was hard to stay sane!
Up next, the 2020 Olympics?
Yes! Lots of training. The plan is to win!
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