'Big Brother 10''s Jerry MacDonald: EW's exit interview

EW.com talked to Jerry MacDonald, the 75-year-old great-grandpa from Texas, about feeling lonely in the house, fighting with Dan, and how he didn’t really touch April’s boobs in the beginning of the season. (When you’re done reading, click here for Josh Wolk’s hilarious recap of last night’s episode.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How many seasons of Big Brother have you watched? More importantly, why watch Big Brother than say, C-SPAN or The History Channel?
JERRY MACDONALD: I’ve seen every season. I like the challenge of Big Brother, the excitement of it. I like to see people go at it, people who use their brains and their hearts to play the game.

How much were you sure that Dan would take you to the final 2? Were you 50 percent sure? 100 percent sure?
None, because of his relationship with Memphis. I knew I was out because Memphis returned two shirts I had given him that my daughter had sent to me. They were a little big so to test the waters, I gave them to Memphis. He wouldn’t try them on. Just before the vote, he brought them back to me and told me to give them to my son-in-law. That was a signal that he and Dan had made a deal.

Maybe he just didn’t like the shirts.
They were nice, expensive shirts. They were brand new.

Let’s be honest, though — for a good while in the house, you didn’t seem to like Dan at all and yelled at him constantly.
I don’t think he was friendly. He played a pretty nasty game over all, not just with me, but with other people. He’s not too well liked among the jury.

After the jump, Jerry talks about calling Dan “Judas,” wearing his military hat, and touching April’s boobs…

addCredit(“Sonja Flemming”)

You called Dan “Judas,” which means Jessie would have been Jesus.Why the biblical references? Why didn’t you just call him a miserablelittle putz and call it a day?
He was using religion. He kept saying if he confesses, all will beforgiven. He kept pushing the Bible thing so heavy, so I used Biblereferences. I think Dan’s a bright young man who is arrogant. And Ithink he needs to grow up. He’s like a child — rather, I think he’s agrandchild.

You lost your temper a lot in the house. Do you usually behave that way at home or was it just these kids who set you off?
I was never as mad in the inside as I appeared on the outside.Whenever I’d walk away from a fight, you could see me smiling. I knewwhat I was doing.

Big Brother watchers say the Jerry we saw in primetime wasmuch different than the Jerry we saw on the Internet. How would youdescribe your behavior in the house?
I was really polite to everyone. When someone won a competition Icomplimented them. When someone got nominated I shook their hand. Inever really got nasty or mean about anything. The only time I reallyhad a confrontation was with Dan and Memphis and when I suggested toMemphis that he was a womanizer. He told me he was going to become mybiggest nightmare. I looked up to him and said, “I don’t think so.” Idon’t fear people.

Were you lonely? We often saw you wandering alone. Would people talk to you?
I played the game alone. It seemed like people were afraid to alignto me. I had to zig-zag alone through there. Everybody I tried to makea deal with broke their word to me right up to the end. To get this farunder those circumstances was quite amazing.

A lot was made out of the fact that you were the oldest person ever to play Big Brother. Why on earth would a mature man like you want to hang out with a bunch of 20-something knuckleheads?
It doesn’t matter whether they were 20 or 30. I wanted to do it formyself. I like the challenge. I was in sales and marketing for 38years. I like games. I can carry my weight. I’m healthy and strong tomentally compete. I thought I did a pretty good job. Of course, if Ihad won the money I would have found something to spend it on.

You touched April’s boobs in the first week. Dude, explain yourself.
You know, that wasn’t me touching her boobs. That was her walkinginto my hands. That’s exactly what happened. She started walking up tome and pushed them into me to show that they were real so I put myhands up to protect myself.

That’s pretty funny, Jerry.
I meant it to be.

You talked a lot about bringing honor to the Corps. Jerry,really: How does appearing on a cheesy reality show where women runaround in bikinis bring honor to the Corps?
That has nothing to do with bringing honor to the Corps. I wore mymilitary hat and things like that to bring honor to the troops servingin our country. Because of them we remain free. The game has nothing todo with that.

You told Julie that this was your last hurrah. That’sso…depressing. If anything, shouldn’t this empower you? Why not do Survivor or The Amazing Race now?
You know, I may just try that, if I get home and get in bettershape. Half the people on those shows self-destruct early. I could justlie down, act passive and probably get halfway through doing nothing. Imay just do it.

If you enjoyed our chat with Jerry, check out our recent BB Exit Q&As with Keesha, Renny, Ollie, and Michelle by clicking the name of the contestant you want to read about.