In one of the most stunning seasons of Big Brother Canada to-date, audiences watched as Tychon Carter-Newman was crowned as the winner of the show's ninth season, beating out runner-up Breydon White in a near-unanimous 6-1 vote from the Jury.
We caught up with Ty the morning after his big win - which saw him walk away with $100,000 - to chat all about his game, the friendships he built inside the house and what, if anything, he knows he'll be spending the cash on!
You and Breydon made history - two Black houseguests in the final two in one of the most diverse casts in Big Brother history, not just across Canada but the world! How does that feel?
It feels very special. To be honest I think it was about time something like that happened; to see how diverse our country is. I think it was necessary for that to be represented in a cast and I’m just really happy to be a part of that.
To see two Black houseguests in the final two is something that I was talking about pretty much all season. Or to see houseguests who were people or colour; just to see more diverse houseguests in the final two I think is something that I wanted all season.
Let’s talk about your game! As mentioned you were never nominated. Why do you think that is?
I think because I didn’t really have any blood on my hands! I was working with really big personalities who wanted credit for all their moves. In this game, credit equals blame and, I wasn’t really blamed for these moves.
If Jedson had made it back into the house instead of Tera, do you think you might have been nominated there?
I don’t think I would’ve been nominated. I don’t believe Jedson comes back and wins HOH, but I do think I would’ve been one of his big targets, so how that played out would’ve been really interesting.
I still don’t think he would’ve been able to get me out of the game because I won the next HOH and, I don’t know if Jedson beats me in those kind of competitions, but it would be interesting to see. I would definitely be a target - and a huge one - if he came back.
You did turn on Jedson towards the end of the game to send him packing! Why did that have to happen to further your game?
I knew there would come a time when I would have to take Jed out in order to win the game. Even though we were part of an alliance pretty much the whole time, I knew we would have to go after each other at some point.
I realised that our alliance started turning on each other before we originally planned to, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he came for me, so I knew I had to get him out of the game. He was a strong player and if we didn’t get him out when we did, I thought he had great potential to win.
He did vote for you to win in the end so I imagine your friendship is still very much intact! How did your first conversation with Jed go after the game?
It went really well! I thought he’d be hurt and upset by what I did but, Jedson’s an athlete and so am I; we understand that a game is a game and when you lose it’s over. He understood why I made the decisions I made and the shortcomings in our alliance and where it went wrong. So he really gets it and it was a great conversation. I think we’ll be friends forever, pretty much.
We saw the two of you and Latoya link up early on. What was it about Latoya that made you want to work with her?
LT! She was tough, strong, fierce and loyal. My thing early on in the game was finding people who I know would be loyal to the soil and she was one of those people; you know if she had your back, she really had your back.
The problem was, it was a little bit too much for some people and they wanted her out for that reason!
Once she had been sent home it felt like you really had to switch up your game, so what was going through your mind after Latoya’s eviction?
When she’d gone I was very hurt. I felt like the whole house was against us. When you see a vote that’s 6-3 and you’re one of the three, it means that everybody is against you. So going forward from there I knew I needed to stick with Kiefer, Jed and Beth and maybe Victoria and, try to play the game that way.
We didn't have anybody else. I knew everybody else was against us and I knew we had to just win at that point. That’s when we started to and we took out The Oddballs one by one.
What would you say was your biggest and best move in the game if you had to nail down one moment?
I would say the Trapdoor on Jed. I know people wanna give Tera credit for that, but in the end I believe I was the one who convinced him to use the Veto on Beth, and I think that was one of the biggest moves of the game, where I would have the deciding vote whether or not Jed stays or goes.
The vote for you to win was almost unanimous! Why do you think that was?
I think it was because the Jury did not make their decision based on emotion. In the end, they were like, Tychon played the best overall game.
I had the most HOH wins, I was never on the block, I was the least on slop… there were so many reasons in my mind why I played the best game. My game was not like anybody else’s, not even close.
So, I just think in the end they decided that, even though some people were a little bit mad at me, my game overall in their minds, from an impartial mindset, was the best.
Is there anybody you think may have beaten you if they’d sat next to you at the end?
So, Kiefer! If Kiefer was ever standing beside me on the stage in final two, no matter what I did, I would lose to him. There was no way I was beating Kiefer and I knew he had to go.
But standing next to Breydon, Tera or Beth, depending on what happened in the final comps would really determine who would win the game.
Feel free to tell me to mind my own business on this one! But have you got any early plans on how you want to spend your winnings?
I’m not sure yet! Honestly, part of me wants to just go shopping, I wanna go on vacation but there’s covid so I don’t know when I’m gonna be able to travel again.
I wanna buy a place too, Toronto’s very expensive but, I don’t know yet. It’s still very early!
You are undoubtedly an All Star of this game. Would you come back and do it all over again if asked to return for a future season?
As of now, I would not come back! That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It was draining to stab your friends in the back! I don’t know if I’d come back. Maybe if you asked me again in a year, I’d probably tell you yes!
Big Brother Canada Season 9 aired on Global.
MORE FROM BIG BROTHER CANADA: Beth discusses her relationship with Jedson and why she didn't give him a pity vote
Tagged in Big Brother