Carson Kressley is used to having all eyes on him. The Emmy winner has decades of work in television as a talking head and style superstar. And in the Celebrity Big Brother house, that spotlight never faded. Carson was one of the first nominations, yet escaped the block multiple times. But the third time was not the charm for him, as he got evicted on Day 24, mere days after assuming the most powerful position in the house (and making some questionable decisions). Carson was the first person to enter the house and was happily surprised to see all the people he knew and worked with walk through the door. He tried to cash in on those relationships immediately to form the “Formation.” But fellow Drag Race alum Todrick Hall saw him as his biggest threat and used his newfound bond with first Head of Household Miesha Tate to go after him. Carson was able to win the first veto of the season and save himself, but it came with bad news. Miesha still dealt him a loss by nominating and evicting one of his tightest allies Teddi Mellencamp. The next time Miesha won HoH, she put Carson up once more, this time against his number one Cynthia Bailey. But Shanna Moakler was his saving grace this time, taking him down with her veto to formally draw a line in the sand between them and Miesha and Todrick. After surviving his second nomination, Carson surprisingly hung on long enough to win HoH. Many were hoping he would use the newfound power to change the course of the game by going after Miesha. And though he did initially, to quote Julie Chen Moonves, he “got Big Brothered.” As a last-ditch effort, Todrick and Miesha embellished Shanna playing both sides, hopefully getting Carson and Cynthia to target their own ally. And it worked incredibly well, as Carson fiercely turned his gaze onto Shanna behind stylish glasses. He was snowed into evicting one of his own but still felt relatively safe after making a deal with Miesha and Todrick. Unfortunately, Todd Bridges won the next HoH, giving Carson a third appointment with the block. Carson tried his best to talk his way out of elimination, even offering Todrick his and Cynthia’s jury votes. But he realized too late how crucial a mistake it was to keep Miesha in the house, and this season’s chef was cooked. Now out of the house, Carson talks with Parade.com about his regret for evicting Shanna, why he would have sacrificed his game for Cynthia, and his feelings on Todrick now that he knows how much he targeted him. You told Julie last night that you had a sudden realization before your eviction that you did the wrong thing in evicting Shanna over Miesha. Did that come from one particular moment? Friday was a really long day. You don’t do much in the house on Friday; you sit around. But I packed my suitcase on Thursday night, and I’m an excellent packer. On Friday, I did the finishing touches, rolling my suitcase into the storage room and leaving my toiletry bag by the front door with my last outfit. I was just like, “Oh, this could really be happening.” And I had dodged a bullet so many times, that eviction didn’t even seem like it was real. We had also had that conversation with Miesha and Todrick the night before, saying, “You should really keep us for X, Y, and Z reasons.” They never really faced us or came back and told us anything. I kind of knew that they had made a decision to stick with the game plan and get me out. Speaking of those pitches, you and Cynthia proposed a final four deal to Miesha and Todrick. Miesha responded that she already had a final four deal with Todd and Lamar. You seemed to have no reaction to that, which I find interesting, considering how angry you were when you thought they supposedly had a final four deal with Shanna and Chris Kirkpatrick. Were you truly fine with that? I was surprised to hear that they had a final four. They were telling me they had a final four with Shanna essentially when the whole blow-up happened. So I was like, “Wait, Lamar seems like he’s been a free agent.” And then we went out and asked Lamar, and he was still like, not really committing to it. But Todd seems to have agreed that he was ride or die with Miesha from the very beginning. So who knows? We have to talk about everything that happened on your HoH and you and Cynthia turning on Shanna. What was going on in your head that made you so easily believe Todrick and Miesha and decide to turn on someone who had just used the veto on you? It was a combination of two things, really. I really, really thought that from the very beginning, Miesha had always said, “I want to play this game with integrity.” And I was like, “Great, I want to do the same. So let’s be straight shooters with both sides.” So when she and Todrick so vehemently said, “No, no, no, she’s playing both sides. She’s been playing you,” I believed her because she’s been so transparent, or so I thought. That’s coupled with Shanna saying she had approached them for a final with her and Chris Kirkpatrick. And we’re working on a final four too. That sounds like someone’s working both sides! I shouldn’t have believed them. We were very, very duped. They did a fantastic job at it. And I guess that’s excellent gameplay. But I had a long-standing relationship with Todrick outside the house, and I just thought, “This guy’s not gonna lie to me that badly and get rid of somebody who was really innocent.” The biggest thing that I regret about this whole show is how it went down with Shanna. I would apologize to her 1000 times because I was responsible for that. I should not have listened to them. But I did, and that’s what happened. Talk to me more about your relationship with Todrick. As you said, he was someone you had a relationship with outside of the game, and you made a pact minutes into the show to protect each other. I’m not sure if you know this, but he was actually the one to push getting rid of you to Miesha after she nominated you. How do you react to your dynamic in the house? I’m disappointed. I could say I was shocked. But we’re on a game show with a bunch of other celebrities who are trying to win $250,000. I get it. People want to win, and they’ll do everything. I was naive about the show. I hadn’t seen that much Big Brother. When I have a relationship with someone I’ve known for years and worked on the same show for years. I’m gullible, I guess. I just think, “Well, this is the one person that I probably can trust the most.” And I have not seen the show yet. But from what I’ve been hearing, it seems like he was one of the people that was most deceptive. I want to talk about your relationship with Cynthia. This past week, you said you would use the veto on her if you were both sitting on the block, and you wanted to keep nominations the same so that she wouldn’t go up. Why were you so sacrificial over her in the game? I think that I probably would have used the veto to save Cynthia and not save me. We’ve always been a team since the very beginning. And that just happened organically. She was the only person I felt like I could trust 1,000,000% in the entire game. And if she goes forward in the competition, that’s like me going forward in the competition. So I thought she would have had a better chance because there had been a bounty on my head from day one. I didn’t know I was that popular! You were definitely one of the entertainers in the house. What was your reaction to how the mood has turned in the past week as the competition got more intense? It does get harder and harder as the group becomes smaller. When it’s a large group of people, no one really feels that targeted. So you’re kind of enjoying that communal living, and we hear great stories from people that usually would have never been in the same room or around the same table. But then, as the group got smaller, it got really weird. Miesha and Todrick were only playing solitaire with sunglasses on. I was like, “Is this normal? I haven’t seen enough of this show. Is this what people do?” They don’t want to talk to anybody. And then Todd started playing solitaire. And then, at one point, they were teaching Cynthia. I was like, “Guys, stop playing solitaire!” It was like turning into a cult. To finish things off, let’s get your rapid-fire thoughts on the remaining houseguests. Starting with Cynthia. Grace.Lamar. Confused, but he makes me confused. I’m not sure if he’s confused or if we’re all confused.Miesha. Intense.Todd. Sly. He was a sly fox in that first episode. He’s been very sly.And finally, Todrick. God, let’s see. I’m going to choose my words wisely here. (Pause.) He was very tricky. Next, check out interview with Shanna Moakler, who evicted from Celebrity Big Brother 3 on Day 20.
