‘Big Brother’: Kenney Kelley Reveals Who Was Really ‘Running the House’

After three weeks on the chopping block, the house vote finally came for Kenney Kelley on this week’s Big Brother.

His particular nomination wasn’t unexpected, but there was a lot of chaos leading up to the live eviction vote. Tucker Des Lauriers teamed with Cedric Hodges to target Quinn Martin by saving Angela Murray from elimination with his own power of veto. Then, Quinn’s power-up was exposed, as he was voted in with America’s vote after Makensy Manbeck’s power-up was drawn out by their maneuver.

Ultimately, Tucker won his way out of the eviction vote, and it was down to Kenney and Quinn. With a 10 to 1 vote against him, Kenney, who’d already expressed some desire to go home and be with his family, was sent packing.

TV Insider caught up with Kenney Kelley to find out how he really felt about being evicted on Thursday’s (August 8) episode.

How are you feeling right now?

Kenney Kelley: I feel pretty good.

Were you surprised at all about the vote and the fact that Tucker was the one who wanted you to stay?

I wasn’t surprised by the vote at all. I kinda knew where things were lying every week. I was kind of nervous that they were gonna take the opportunity to get Quinn out. But I felt as though that’s the way the vote was gonna go. And Tucker wanted me to stay. He was begging me to stay, but I knew at the end of the day I didn’t have the votes to stay, and my head wasn’t completely in the game at that point. But I think if I had got out of that vote and into the HoH, I would have had a clear head again for the week and been good for a couple more days and then the missing home and missing the kids sets back in again when you have all that downtime.

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So when you were talking to Cedric about that, you seemed to be back and forth about it. Is that how you felt? That you weren’t sure if you wanted to go home or not?

Yeah, the house is a crazy place. And when you have that downtime and that’s all you can think about is like, what are your kids doing right now? What is your wife doing right now? I knew they were safe. I knew they were great. But I wasn’t feeling like I was being a good father by being there, and I always wanna be with my kids and I always wanna do things.

So those things crept up, and me being on the block and playing in the veto comps and playing in all the other comps, like that’s what kept me moving in the game and the relationship that I had with Cedric and Tucker and Matt at the beginning kinda helped that. And when those go away, it’s very difficult to stay focused on my end.

Have you gotten to talk to your family since you left?

I have not. I’m waiting patiently.

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You’ve been in the house since mid-July. Is it weird to suddenly be out?

I’m kind of just at the hotel right now. I got some good sleep. I finally slept with the lights out, which was different. Hasn’t happened in over a month. I picked the wrong bed in the house.

You formed a friendship with Matt pretty early on in the game. Do you think you’re gonna try and connect with him outside of the game?

I definitely will. I more than likely see him on finale night, and I’ll definitely connect with him.

It was kind of my plan when I went in there that I was gonna try and connect myself with a player that I thought was gonna be strong in the game and had a good social game, and it kind of lined up perfectly for me. But at the end of the day, I think Matt’s social game was too good, and he was trying to pull too many people in. And I tried to tell him that that wasn’t the best idea, but it didn’t work out that work out good for me on that end.

Do you think that if Tucker had not used his power of veto to save Angela that she would have been voted out?

Yes and no. I knew that Brooklyn was running the house. I knew she was running most of the girls. Although she would deny it to the end. But I could tell — the angrier she got when I called her out on it, the more true that it was. So I think it was probably 50/50 at that point because they really did realize that I was a threat in the house as far as I could win competitions. They knew emotionally I wasn’t in the game, which was kind of good for them.

But they did know that when the horn went off and it was time to play the games Kenney went hard and he tried to win every single comp that he was at, and I came in second in most of the HoHs, I won the one vote competition. I came in second in the other veto competition so they knew I could play, which I think that surprised them.

You were the only one who didn’t vote for Lisa. Can you talk about what went into that decision and why you wanted to keep her? 

Yeah, I knew the day before that the house kind of had flipped on Lisa. I was on the block with Lisa the first week. We kinda had a connection with that, and at the time I really felt Angela, you know, crossed the line. I mean, the house does crazy things. Angela is a really good person but she really was pushing too hard on some of the people, and just how I am in my life, as a police officer, I kinda always stand up for the people who can’t stand up for themselves. And I just think morally, at that point, I couldn’t cast my vote [for her] — I knew she wasn’t staying, but I couldn’t cast my vote for Lisa. I kinda gave you someone my word, and on the other end, I couldn’t vote to keep Angela in the house.

As a viewer, now that you’re gonna be watching as a spectator, what are you looking to see happen throughout the rest of the season? And who are you gonna root for?

I’m rooting for Cedric. I know that he doesn’t have a strong alliance right now. 

I was trying to get Tucker before I left to, rekindle our little alliance that we had. So I am rooting for Cedric. You’re never gonna know with Tucker because they can put him on the block and, I don’t know how long the three nominees are gonna last. If it lasts the whole season, Tucker can pull himself off every single time. Not only is he a comp beast; he’s super intelligent. He has skills that amaze me every single day and I think Tucker is gonna be very tough to beat if the game keeps playing the way that it’s playing. But I have to root for Cedric. He’s a nice kid. I really appreciate his friendship. He’s wise well beyond his years.

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