The first live eviction has come and gone on Big Brother Season 26, and it looks like Angela Murray got her wish: Matt Hardeman was sent out of the house by a vote of 8 to 3. In the eviction, Matt faced off with his friend and father figure Kenney Kelly, and despite being given a bit of time to campaign by host Julie Chen Moonves, Matt declined to work against his buddy.
Matt became a major target of Angela, who was seen on the live feeds on Saturday (July 20) screaming at Matt in a wild rant about “crazy eyes.”
After the eviction, TV Insider caught up with Matt Hardeman, who revealed a very surprising detail about what we didn’t see of his feud with Angela and more.
How are you doing today now that you’ve had a little bit more time to digest?
Matt Hardeman: Yeah, I’m extremely grateful. I’m reflecting on the experience top to bottom, just so blessed. It’s such a fun game. I did not play it well. In terms of gameplay, I was pretty bad player. But man, getting the opportunity, I’m so thankful. I’m such a fan. The experience has been so fun. I’m so blessed. I hope I represent what I represent well, but just extremely grateful looking back,
Were you surprised when Julie read out the vote count?
Absolutely, absolutely… I tried to hope that I had certain votes, but what I didn’t know was I had my first offense votes, and this could be an opportunity for anybody to flip. I tried to be confident in what people had said, that I feel like that was the best I had being on the block. But I also knew in the back of my mind, that any time I was gonna be sitting in the chair that it was gonna be an opportunity to think, “Let’s get him out in this moment while we’ve got it.” I think that was the case. I was very thankful watching back a lot of everybody’s goodbye videos for them to say, “Hey Matt, you’ve got a really big heart. I really do believe you’re a good guy, but we have to take this chance at you.” I can go out with my head held high.
Is that a compliment in a way that they’re like, “You’re the guy who’s gonna win, and let me take the shot”?
Absolutely. And I felt like I had some people throw that in my ear: “Maybe that’s a great strategic move, you know.” But to throw it in a naive kid’s ear — I mean, Kenny did it in the first couple nights. He was like, “Your ability to corral people, sit, and people just come,” and I knew I was coming in hot because everybody’s in this awkward situation, and I wanted to contribute to everybody feeling comfortable. So I tried to start a conversation and ask questions that could go around the table, which I do in my real life, you know? And so I knew that was going to make me a threat. But I’ve had multiple opportunities to take myself off and not capitalize on those. I have no regrets looking back and to walk out with everybody just commenting on my character being in a positive light means a lot.
Speaking of not taking opportunities, you didn’t really campaign too much when it came down to you versus Kenny. Do you think if you were up against someone else, you might have tried harder in that moment?
Maybe. I know for the most part, I tried to play the game with my cards shown. My cards were shown on how if I was going to play the next week. I had said I wanted to see us back to ground zero. I felt like we did not have the opportunity to get there. That was going to be my goal for being in the game next week. Everybody knew I was going to target Angela. I didn’t want that to be a question. And for the most part, if I got to win HOH, when it comes to next week, I was just gonna tell everybody, “Take the week off. We already know what’s gonna happen. We know what my plan is.” I wouldn’t change that. The game is hard because it can give you the opportunity to pit you against people that you love. Kenny was there for me night one, day one, a fatherly figure. I really struggled ever to go against him and campaign against another.
What are you looking for, as a viewer now, throughout the rest of the season, and who are you rooting for?
It’s hard to pick. So far, obviously, I’m rooting for Makensy. Obviously, I’m rooting for Leah. There are amazing people. I hope that they’re as fun to watch as they are in real life. I wanted to work with people that I enjoyed, and I thought that if I didn’t get to win the game, to look back and say, “Man, I just had fun with who I got to work with, and got to laugh. And I think that we had things moving, even if we didn’t.” And I do feel like that was my experience.
So with my small “Thromance Alliance,” I’m looking back and being like, we would stay up every night ’til 4 a.m. just laughing and recounting everything that we were experiencing and then opening up about who we were in the real world, I would regret nothing playing with Makensy and Leah. They are phenomenal human beings. I hope to see them go far.
Things I’ll be looking for as a viewer? Man, our people — I just found out today, Kenny’s a cop. So, like, I’m so glad I didn’t get up and be like, “Kenny, I’m so excited to eat your bratwursts and sausage in the real world!” I don’t even think he’s doing that. Maybe he is? … But yeah, I’m interested to see everybody’s true colors. I think that there even was some sense of that in some goodbye videos. But again, for at least to see some true colors, but then, if you followed up and softened the punch, people think that at least at the end of the day, I’ve got a good heart, and I’m a good guy, I’ll take that to the bank any day.
About Audrey, can you talk a little bit about where things just went wrong, and what do you think is next for her, and now that she doesn’t have you as a lightning bolt?
Man, I mean where things went wrong, that she felt threatened by me saying that if she were to put me up, I would put her up. In my eyes and my perspective, that’s the game, and we can play. And so I did not mean to communicate that as a threat…. What’s crazy about this experience, besides my eyes, is that, literally, if Angela had waited maybe five minutes before she came down when she did, I was going to go upstairs to tell her we wanted to work with her. I needed time to talk to this “Thromance” to ensure that is what we wanted to do. And if she had just waited a couple of minutes, we would have aligned with her and Joseph, and then we could do whatever we wanted to. So it’s crazy those two extremes live within just 10 minutes of each other.
So I wanted to play the game with Angela. Angela is a good player. She knows a lot about this game, and it’s why people view her as a threat. Angela’s apology to Makensy, when she’s like, “You guys think I need to go up, and that I’m threatening,” and Makensy was like, “Yeah, you are a good player.” And so I think that that anxiety knowing that you’re good at this game, can either drive you to act in a way that you wouldn’t or maybe hope that you did…
I felt like I very well could be a threat. I don’t want that, so to mitigate. I have been building strong relationships with people to walk out and be as much of a threat socially, competitively, and physically that I could have been, to watch people and them in their goodbye messages still offer like, “see you after,” and “to hang out after,” I think, was a testament to how I wanted to play. And even though it didn’t leave me in there longer than this week, at least I can have my head held high.
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