There is no doubt Cameron Hardin stirred up drama in the ‘Big Brother’ game this season but his messy gameplay was necessary for survival.
During the Big Brother 25 finale, Cameron Hardin won America’s Favorite Houseguest. Although fans loved watching Cameron play the game, his fellow houseguests did not always like playing the game alongside him. At times, Cameron was perceived as having “dirty” game-play in hopes of helping him to succeed in the game.
Before joining the Big Brother cast, Cameron was the average 34-year-old stay-at-home dad. The Georgia native has a 7-year-old daughter, Stevie Rae. Cameron spoke highly of his daughter numerous times throughout the season. There is no doubt that Stevie is his everything. In addition to being a self-proclaimed super fan, Cameron was competing on the show in hopes of winning the money to help better his and Stevie’s lives.
Unfortunately, Cameron did not end up making it to the final two on finale night. From early on in the game, it was clear that Cameron was a competition beast. He won five overall competitions, including three Head of Household reigns and two Power of Veto wins. One of the many competitions Cameron won included the iconic Big Brother Pressure Cooker competition. Cameron held onto his button for 13 hours and 49 minutes to secure the win.
The most important competition Cameron won throughout his time in the game was the Battle Back competition during week 8. After being evicted in a unanimous 8-0 vote, Cameron gained reentry into the house alongside the son of Survivor legend, Jared Fields. Both evictees returned to the game as Big Brother Zombies. They competed in competitions throughout the week to earn a chance at re-entering the game. Cameron ultimately won all three competitions, allowing him to fully re-enter the game while Jared was sent packing. Cameron remained in the game for two more weeks before being taken out by the powerful Big Brother alliance, The Mafia, which was made up of Bowie Jane Ball, Matt Klotz, and season winner Jag Bains. Following his second eviction, Cameron became the first member of the Big Brother 25 jury. On finale night, Cameron placed his vote for Jag to be crowned the winner before later winning the $50,000 America’s Favorite Player prize.
Cameron Needed To Play A “Dirty” Big Brother Game To Survive
Following the conclusion of his time on Big Brother 25, Cameron had time to reflect on the personal game he played inside the house. He is not afraid to admit that it was pretty “dirty” at times. In an interview with US Weekly, Cameron went in depth about the reasoning behind his not-so-clean gameplay. He felt that it was necessary for him to cause chaos and havoc week after week in order to advance further in the game, especially during the week that Izzy Gleicher was evicted.
At the time, Izzy was working closely with Cirie Fields, Jared Fields, and Felicia Cannon. After Cameron won power in week 6, he chose to nominate both Izzy and Felicia. Neither of the nominees won the Power of Veto or had it used on them. Therefore, they both remained on the block on eviction night. Within this week of power, Cameron stirred up a ton of drama that ultimately caused issues within this group of four. Cameron believed it was “necessary” to cause this drama in order to “blow up that side of the house.” Before Izzy’s eviction, the group of four had been quietly running the majority of the game.
Throughout his time in the game, Cameron consistently kept getting more and more blood on his hands; however, he knew what he was doing. In private conversations with other houseguests, Cameron was always very mindful of his choice of words. He never revealed too much information or gave anyone direct answers to their questions. Simply put, Cameron was always very vague when talking about the game. On the other hand, he also knew exactly when to divulge information to certain people. Cameron always had the right choice of words for the right people at the right times.
By being so wise with his choice of words, Cameron was able to avoid being fully involved in a lot of the chaos that he caused. In fact, many times he would initiate the drama with just one conversation and then sit back and watch it all unfold. This is exactly what happened the week he sent Izzy home. In the early days of his Head of Household reign, Cameron planted seeds throughout the house, which ultimately caused issues between Cirie, Felicia, Jared, and Izzy.
Because Cameron was not only a good mental player but also very good at the competitions, he was a major threat in the game. From early on in the season, many of the houseguests wanted to get Cameron out of the house. They believed that if he was not evicted early on he would ultimately end up winning the game. Knowing how much of a threat he was perceived to be, Cameron’s only option was to fight for survival. In doing so, he had to play a messy game while getting a ton of blood on his hands.
Unfortunately, this game strategy only got Cameron so far in the game. Even though he swore his loyalty to Bowie Jane, she ultimately stuck with her Mafia alliance members by backdooring Cameron. Because he was such a strong competitor, a Big Brother backdoor was the only way to ensure Cameron would be sitting on the block on eviction night. Although he was given a second chance at the game, Cameron only got two more weeks of playing the game before being sent to the jury house. Luckily, fans at home were able to see how hard Cameron was playing the game and how badly he wanted to win. While he did not end up walking away with the $750k grand prize, Cameron did get to take home $50,000 for being voted America’s Favorite Houseguest for Big Brother 25, in addition to a Europe trip he had won early on in the season.