'Big Brother': Game Over for Nick

'Big Brother': Game Over for Nick
Hunky football player Nick Starcevic shares with EW.com his opinion of Evil Dick and Jen, his feelings for Daniele, and why he's willing to reveal his passion in front of millions of people

NICK STARCEVIC ''My strategy going in was to be a flirt with the ladies, and even maybe with some of the guys, but that changed as soon as I met Daniele''
Robert Voets
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By Josh Wolk Josh Wolk
Josh Wolk is a senior writer at EW and the author of ''Cabin Pressure: One Man's Desparate Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor''His passion for Daniele allegedly ran as thick as his Minnesotan accent, but Big Brother love wasn't enough to keep Nick, 25, in the house. EW.com caught up with the Mohawked football player after his eviction.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First things first: They label you a ''professional football player.'' Who did you play for?
NICK STARCEVIC: I played in Europe for Team Finland, part of the European Football League. I played free safety for probably two months, then I got injured last summer. Since then, I've finished up student teaching in Australia, and just got back probably three weeks before Big Brother started.

Okay, be honest: your soulmate status with Daniele, was that just a strategy?
No, not at all. My strategy going in was to be a flirt with the ladies, and even maybe with some of the guys, but that changed as soon as I met Daniele.

Your tender moments with Joe caused quite a flurry on the Internet. Guys, girls...would you have snuggled up with anyone to get ahead?
I wasn't going to do whatever it takes, but I could flirt with Joe and Dustin and have no worries about it. I'm pretty comfortable with my sexuality.

Do you worry that Daniele's boyfriend is waiting for you in front of CBS with a tire iron?
Who knows? That's not really any of my worries. I'm sure her boyfriend is fairly upset — I'm not sure what was shown and what not. But If I had a girlfriend inside this house, even if she didn't do anything, I'd be on edge.

Isn't there a Man Code that says you shouldn't try to steal someone else's girlfriend when she's sequestered on a reality show?
There's always that man code, but I don't hold it against myself.

It seemed like being on this show makes people do things they might not do outside the house. For instance, it seems like people are far meaner to other people's faces than they'd be in real life.
It seemed to me that Evil Dick and Jen's personalities are the same inside the house as they are outside the house. They weren't going to switch it up, and that's good. I like Evil Dick's personality. He might take it too far sometimes. I'm not a big fan of Jen's personality, and I'd rather not see her again.

As annoying as she might have been, Dick was pretty brutal.
Jen just shrugged it off. I don't think she really took his opinion to heart, or a lot of other people's, but there were certain people's opinions in the house that might have hurt in a certain way. There was a feeling in the house that Jen wasn't liked.

People — including you — really trashed her for some of the things she said. And yet Dick was beloved, even though he would be just as rude.
Yeah, but Jen was really pretty fake-y sometimes, and then really self-centered. I think that's the thing that got on people's nerves; she was so self-involved. People couldn't stand it anymore.

How long do you think Evil Dick can stay around? I know his strategy is to get in people's faces, but at a certain point, people are going to get sick of that, right?
Yeah, but it could take him to end, because certain people want to keep others who aren't liked around, like Jen, for instance. If they're around as the second person left in the house, the other person has a better chance at a half mil. I could definitely see him in the final two.

You bailed out of your initial Mrs. Robinson Alliance with Kail, Zach, and Mike pretty early. Did you ever have any intention of sticking with it?
I had all the intention in the world of going through with it, because I was cornered. They came at me the day after Kail got HOH, and I didn't have that good a rapport with Kail, so I figured I'd better get on that bandwagon, or I'm out.

When did you decide to back out?
Two or three days after. I didn't like the way I was cornered. I originally had wanted to take the first couple of weeks to see who I could trust and who I wanted to ally with.

Do you think your squirreling off in corners with Daniele hurt your game?
I think it definitely hindered my game. Going into the house, I had a way I wanted to play the game, and would have done pretty well with it. If I'd stuck with that [Mrs. Robinson] alliance, it would have gone pretty well. But I couldn't go against people I cared about, like Daniele and Amber.

Speaking of Amber, were you ever concerned about her getting dehydrated, what with all her crying?
There was a time I wondered, ''What's going on? Why is she always crying?'' But the fact is, she's a really emotional person. It got annoying to some people, but not to me.

NEXT PAGE: Nick on learning Eric is America's Player, who he thinks could win, and what happens next with Daniele