'Big Brother 26's Quinn Martin Was 'Blown Away' By His 'So Dumb' Nomination and Eviction

Big Brother’s house is open once more! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will be bringing you interviews with this season's houseguests as they get evicted from the game.

Quinn Martin's game on Big Brother 26 was, in every sense of the phrase, "sick nasty." Throughout the superfan's roller coaster of 59 days, there were moments where he seemed to be one of the most powerful people in the game, making good headway on the long path to $750,000. But those moments of good were almost always followed up by moments of bad, with his position turning quite sick and nasty as some of his closest allies left on his own HoH. It only makes sense, then, that Quinn's killing blow in the game came from his own alliance. Despite feeling relatively safe with his former "Pentagon" member Chelsie Baham in power, a plan concocted behind the scenes saw Quinn get shockingly nominated and evicted, capping off a journey as hairy as the mane on his head.

Quinn walked into Big Brother 26 as one of its most deep-seated devotees. And, for the first few weeks, he was living a superfan's dream. He won a power on the first night, allowing him to take over any HoH reign from behind the scenes. And the nurse recruiter was being recruited for many different alliances in the house, between the five-person "Pentagon" and a coalition with T'kor Clottey and Kimo Apaka. Unfortunately for Quinn, his overexuberance was a large contributor to his immediate descent. He told both Kimo and Angela Murray about his power, which got leaked back to Tucker Des Lauriers. The power player used that as immediate ammunition to gun for Quinn, calling him out during one of many chaotic veto meetings. Quinn survived a nomination by America, and used his power the next week to become de facto HoH. Looking to get revenge on Tucker, he asked Pentagon member Cedric Hodges to go up as a pawn. But Quinn's decision to tell T'kor and Kimo about the Pentagon blew up in his face, as two of his tightest allies gathered everyone outside of the secret coalition to turn on them. It was the first of many times Quinn would leave eviction night stunned and confused.

Quinn went right back to the block again when Tucker won the next HoH. However, he was stunned to find his biggest enemy wanted to keep him, even using the veto to take him off. Despite his gratitude, Quinn did not shirk the opportunity to take Tucker out, working with the remnants of the Pentagon to vote him out the next week. When Quinn became HoH once more, he wanted to correct his previous mistakes, targeting Angela and hoping for a secure ride into jury. But he got thrown for a loop when Leah Peters, one of his tightest allies and the source of his crush (another thing Quinn had a tough time keeping secret) decided to use the veto on her. Caught between multiple allegiances, he put up Joseph Rodriguez, shocking one of his tighter allies.

Despite assurances that Kimo would be gone, Quinn was in for another reckoning. Chelsie and Makensy Manbeck both flipped at the eviction, leaving him shocked and devastated. But those two weren't done tanking his game just yet. Initially, Quinn was left off the block, as the target turned to wildcard Angela and Kimo's part in an ironclad trio. But a piece of paranoid propaganda from Angela planted the idea that Quinn was working once more with the other side. Seeing the opportunity to strike at a bigger threat, Angela was taken down once more, and he was put up in her place. Even Quinn's own eviction was a shocker, between his confidence in him staying and the fact that he walked out to talk to Jerry O'Connell, who was filling in for a sick Julie Chen Moonves. 

Now on his way to the jury house, Quinn talks with Parade.com about how he looks back on his surprising nomination and eviction, his choice to spill secrets, and his feelings for Leah.

Related: Everything to Know About Big Brother 26

Talk me through your thoughts on the events of the past few days, from the decision made to use the veto on Angela this week to put you on the block through your subsequent eviction.
For starters, Mike Bloom, huge fan of your work. Cool guy. I don't know if you know this, but I like DM you on Twitter for Survivor. I just think that you're very impressive, and you very clearly handle this reality TV world with a sense of journalistic respect that is to be taken seriously on any format. And the fact that it's being applied to something as dorky as this is hilarious to me. Huge fan. Your pr game interviews with Survivor players, I would watch those, pause it, and then answer it within the context of being a Big Brother hopeful. And so that really helped me get on the show. So genuinely, you seem like a nice guy. I think that your little saw that says "Full Bloom" in the background of your Zoom meetings is cool, and I'm happy to know you.

I think that taking Angela off the block was so dumb, dude. Oh my god. Makensy looks at me in the petal room, and she's like, "I had to do it because I need to keep someone in this game that I can control." And I'm like, "Oh, I'm sorry, Makensy. Do you think you can control Angela?! You are silly if you think that this lady is gonna do what you say. No shot." Tucker thought the same thing, and it didn't work out for him. So she is going to lash out at you if she has the opportunity. If you share anything strategic with her, she will share it with everyone, because she doesn't have much going on, which, as she should.

The decision to put me on the block, I hope that there is a super deep conspiracy outside of the one that was provided to me by Chelsie, just because I thought it was thoroughly so dumb. Honestly [that's] the reason I like lost respect for [her]. Where I was, like, "Girl, if you want to just lie to me, just do that!" Not everything has to have this deep reason. And her telling me that she has to put me on the block because she's worried that I'm getting too close with Rubina. I'm like, "If you're worried about Rubina, why not put her on the block? Why me? Why is it at my expense?" I really don't think that it made sense.

And then as far as getting evicted, I just feel like it is such a strategic blunder by Makensy and Cam. No matter what it is that Kimo, T'kor, and Rubina promised or swore on or say they'll provide, it doesn't matter. Because why would they keep you around? Who else are they going to put up? I just don't get the logic behind that. And then, if there wasn't a deal made, how crazy is that? I just don't think that it makes sense for anyone's game to send me out over Kmo, especially because he is so good in these mental comps. And he did endear himself to the house in a way that I just couldn't. He is such a deeply sweet person, and his story is so beautiful. I feel like I can't keep up with that, because he is just on a different level. And so, as difficult as it is to put him on the block, as difficult as it is to vote him out, it's only going to get harder and harder as the weeks continue. So you might as well capitalize on this opportunity, since we missed our shot prejury to take him out. And then keep me a house pariah since Week Three in there so that I can go home before you. I really thought that I did a great job of providing strategic reasons. And so when I heard the vote, I was just blown away, because it didn't make sense to me. And I think that that's the most disappointing aspect of all of this. It just doesn't make sense to me.

You chose to be open to certain people in the beginning of your game about both your power and the Pentagon alliance, both of which got blown up. Talk to me about your thinking behind those decisions, and how being called out as a threat affected the way you approached the game.
Sharing the information about my upgrade, I wanted that to act as a concrete to my social connections being built. I felt deeply insecure, and so I knew, no matter who was HoH, I was going to tell them about the upgrade, and I was going to try to form a Final Two with them. Because the truth is, I'm just a coward. And with the opportunity to save my own butt from being the first evictee, I will gladly hop on that grenade. And maybe it's a testament to my ego, but I felt like I'll figure it out later on. I never expected it to get out of control in the way that it did. So sharing that with Angela, I felt like, was a great way to build upon that would last the whole summer. Especially because when she won HoH, she was the most well-liked person in the house. And so I thought, "How smart of me to create or to offer a genuine reason to keep me around, because I can provide safety next week."

And then with Kimo, I thought that it was wise to share that information. Just because he was on the block, he was down bad. He was so sad and disappointed with the way that his game started. And so I was hoping that, number one, us being a member of like the Have-Not sneaky boys–I'm not calling it whatever Tucker wanted to call it. Not a good alliance name. Just kidding! But I told him because I wanted him to feel good about me, and I wanted to show him, "Hey, there are material things I can provide you in this game, so please prioritize me in your formation of strategic structures."

Then as far as ratting on the Pentagon at every opportunity, I do think that that was a miscalculation. I was under the impression that T'kor and Kimo liked me as much as I liked them. And so by sharing the inner machinations of that., as a fan, I had no interest in being a part of the majority alliance, especially one with a core group where it's like, "We're going to dominate the whole game." It's so boring and lame, and all of a sudden, you wake up, and it's Final Eight, and it's like, what do you have to stand on outside of the fact that you cruise through the game? And so I did share the inner machinations, or inner workings–machinations, so pretentious –of that alliance. Just because I thought that it would buy me goodwill, especially in with the formation of the underdogs as that was coming together with Rubina and Tucker. I was like, "How genius to be at the center of everything where I'm everyone's good guy. No way this blows up in my face! I'm so good at the game!" And I really thought I was sick nasty that down to brass tacks. That's what it was. I thought I was sick nasty, and I thought I could get away with it.

And then being called out as a threat and "the best player in the game" just devastated my game. It ripped me open and left me open to the vultures that are the BB26 house guests. If I were them, I would have been prying at my insides too, man! It was such a insecure experience. It was as if it the sands of time [were] slipping through my fingers, and there's nothing I could do about it. Moving forward as the best player in the game, which is such a misunderstanding of positioning and things like that. Because my thinking is, Tucker, the best player in the game is the people that you aren't even considering a threat right now. You being upset at me for watching the show and having an upgrade, that doesn't make me invincible in the game. Just what a backhanded thing of like, "Hey, you got to understand, I'm going to send you home Week Three, but it's because you're so good." No, that's lame. 

And moving forward, I felt like I just constantly had this big maroon target painted on my back, and I had to explain to people that I will always be a bigger target than them. And so by keeping me around, there's something to focus on as we get in the later game, just because I am a big target and you're not. So how great is that? And I'm working at your behest. Wow, how cool! It really just added this element of stress before getting called out, I had a million Final Twos. I was working with both sides of the house. Kenney had just approached me. And so I had that long-lasting alliance need like just so near and dear to my heart. And so for me to then be exposed as just the house rat, it felt so soon, so scary. And moving forward, I was not able to be as agile as I would like. It exposed that my word meant nothing and truly devastated my longevity in the game. I'm just happy to have made it this far, honestly. Super disappointing, but it's okay. It's part of the game.

During both of your HoH reigns, you ended up nominating your close allies in Cedric and Joseph, only for them to both go home in house flips. How do you look back on your time in power?
Looking back on my time and power, wow, I suck at Big Brother! [Laughs.] Who put this guy on the show?! Idiots, dude! Oh my god. I hate it. I don't love it. I hate it. It sucks, dude. And it blows. Me putting Cedric up, that guy volunteered for the book, okay?! I am absolved of all inclusion in that! That was his decision. And I was like, "Thank God." Because I don't want to put Rubina up off the rim, because I was hoping to not have to do that and expose myself as just a bad person to her in the game at least. And then, as far as Joseph, I think that it was so dumb. But my logic was, "If I want to last a long time in this game, I have to be willing to make decisions that appeases the house."

I should have put up T'kor. I think that putting T'kor on the block maybe would have bought me an extra week at least, because there was such a big target on Joseph. But my thinking was that I was much cooler and chill with the five people that flipped on Tucker, and I thought that they would respect my wishes as HoH. My fault, what a dumb expectation. And then secondly, I feel like my thinking was in order to show Chelsie just a dog laying on its back. Be like, "Yep, I trust you!" Whatever I was thinking that by doing that, she would trust me more moving forward, and maybe that would buy me way more weeks down the road. And so my thinking was, if I put T'kor up, she's the most well-liked person in the house. She's most well insulated. And she was HoH and she was gonna evict Tucker–I don't buy it. I felt like I had to prioritize my game. And the result was Joseph going home, unfortunately. I did not expect Kimo to whip out such a beautiful speech. And maybe there was a deeper conspiracy, and I'm just really the fool. Either way, I think it was a miscalculation on my point, and I'm sorry to Joseph, honestly,

You and Leah shared a close personal and strategic bond, which got complicated in moments like her using the veto on your HoH. Talk to me about your dynamic.
Leah and I did have a pretty cool strategic bond relationship. Starting on Day 10, I'm looking here in the eyes, and I'm like, "Look, dude, I want to make this work. This is going to be great." And then you flash forward to her trying to decide if she's going to use the veto. I want to surround myself with people who are bold, who are willing to make tough decisions, and aren't going to just agree with me. Because while that would be easier from a game standpoint, I don't think that, moving forward, [I wouldn't] get as much out of the game and be able to operate more efficiently if I'm just being told yes all the time. I genuinely appreciate that she was willing to prioritize her game, even though it was at my expense. It certainly sucked. I felt like I threw the whole kitchen sink. And whether or not her and I had a Final Two, whether or not we were hanging out in the HoH room, I think that she was going to make that decision no matter what.

And so after she did make that choice, my approach in the game became, "Okay, how do we accept what's just been laid out in front of us and move forward?" I think that the idea of rolling my eyes and then not liking Leah as a result would have only hurt me. Because she was loyal to me; she just had a funny way of showing it. Hopefully I'm not being played for too big of a fool as people did, try to pin us against each other. It's just a really interesting dynamic of two people who are going to do what they want no matter what.

I formed six other Final Twos. I was in two alliances or three, if you count Kenney and the boys. I left her out of so much that even the expectation for her to then forget about that and then prioritize me feels a little ridiculous. And so, egg on my face. She used the veto after I made such a big fuss of trying to get Angela out, just trying to hedge my bets with Kimo and Rubina. Truth be told, that's what I was trying to do. It was super cool. I appreciated our talks. I thought that she is so intelligent, and that applies to the game. And it was like an interesting insight into ways to carry yourself that I really did appreciate. That's all I could say about it. Honestly, I don't know.

Finally, give us your rapid-fire thoughts on each of the remaining houseguests. Starting with Angela.
Audacity.
Cam.
Suave. Or "Thameron." [Said with a lisp.]
Chelsie.
[Pause.] Shark
Kimo.
Aw!
Leah.
Cool guy, man!
Makensy.
[Pause.] Sweet.
Rubina.
Heartfelt.
And, finally, T'kor.
T'kor! Icon.

Next, check out our interview with Joseph Rodriguez, who was evicted in Big Brother 26 Week 7.