When the cast for the second American iteration of Celebrity Big Brother was announced, one name stuck out in the sea of actors, athletes and reality stars: former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
While he’s not the first-ever politician on Celebrity Big Brother — Omarosa famously turned the house upside-down in Season 1 — Scaramucci’s casting seemed off somehow. Maybe that’s why, at the end of Week 1, Scaramucci suddenly disappeared from the house, with host Julie Chen-Moonves announcing that he wasn’t a “real” contestant after all.
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Confused? So were we. Global News spoke with Scaramucci over the phone, and he clarified that he did not abandon the game, and said he’s now a complete Big Brother addict.
Anthony Scaramucci: It was a lot of fun for me. Now that it’s over, it feels like it ended too quickly. The initial CBS pitch to me was, “Listen, we want to invite you on Celebrity Big Brother“… and I have to confess to you, I didn’t know anything about this show other than my friend Omarosa being on it [last season].
Then they said, “We do these twists and so forth, so we’d love for you to consider coming on the show and being one of those big twists.” I did a bit of research, watched some episodes, and it sounded like fun. I’m not saying that it prepared me, but it at least got me more familiar with the vernacular and how things operate.
There are conspiracy theories out there saying you left the house voluntarily, that CBS is covering it up. Thoughts on that?
It’s funny to me. Some people think we didn’t land on the moon, and some people think I quit the show, that CBS made up this air-cover for me. It’s totally not true. I’m in the public eye, so I know there’s lovers and haters, but c’mon. If that were the case, wouldn’t it have been more dramatic? Of course, that’s not what happened.
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Yeah, you didn’t really dig into the strategy.
I was there to have fun and spoof folks, and if you know Italians, we wear our hearts on our sleeves. It was super hard to keep that secret! That show is creative, unscripted, unpredictable and hilarious, too. They’ve turned me into a superfan, I’ve watched every episode now. My wife and I even watch the live feeds!
WATCH BELOW: Anthony Scaramucci compares ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ to the White House
I actually think Tom [Green]. In my observations, he’s playing the smartest game. He’s moving slowly, he’s thoughtful, I don’t think he’s overly pissed anybody off in the room, so I don’t think he has a gigantic target on his back. I think he’s got the lead… and of course, it’s hard to say because anything can happen.
I also don’t think you can underestimate Dina Lohan, because she’s non-threatening and has been slipping through evictions. If Dina gets into the final two or three, I wouldn’t be surprised.
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