Michael Bruner explains his Big Brother speech attack on Brittany

Dalton Ross
·5 min read

Michael Bruner dominated at Big Brother. Which ended up becoming his biggest problem.

Michael set a single season Big Brother record with 6 Veto competition wins, along with tying a record with nine overall Veto and Head of Household victories, putting a massive target on his back. So once he — somewhat shockingly — did not win the Veto on Thursday's live double eviction episode, Veto victor Monte Taylor and HOH Matt Turner took their shot (after urging from Taylor Hale), and Michael was eliminated in a unanimous 3-0 vote.

But as dramatic as the move was, even more drama surrounded Michael's exit, with the 28-year-old attorney first pleading with Turner, then attacking his bestie Brittany Hoopes in his speech, and finally storming out of the house after saying "Everyone please stay seated, I have one thing I would like to say…" yet then saying nothing.

What was Michael telling Turner while the show was on commercial break? Does he regret going after his ally Brittany in his last-ditch effort? And how does he feel about sitting on the information that Kyle was worried about a diversity alliance? We asked the comp beast all that and more as he headed to the jury house. (Also read our exit interview with Terrance Higgins and weekly Q&A with host Julie Chen Moonves.)

Big Brother
Big Brother

CBS Michael Bruner on 'Big Brother'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You were an absolute competition beast, setting a record for most Veto wins. Is that ultimately why you are here now talking to me?

MICHAEL BRUNER: I do think that my threat level got too big, which was, in part, due to my competition wins. I think that's definitely fair to say. That's part of the reason I'm sitting here. I would rather be taken out of the game for being too big of a threat though, so ultimately I felt like the position I was in, I had to keep winning. So I don't necessarily regret winning all the competitions, but definitely is a big part about why I'm here.

What were you telling Turner during the commercial break after he put you up on the block?

During the commercial break, I was talking to Turner, maybe not my proudest moment, but Turner was really trying to justify himself, and I get the game move. I can respect the game move. What I was having a hard time with is last week when I was HOH, Turner came up to me, unprompted on my end, and started making me all these promises that he had my back going forward for the next week. Which, again, that's Big Brother. That's fine if you go back on that.

But he was trying to use the fact that we were both part of the LGBTQ+ community. He would never take out the only other person in that community, in the house. And I felt like that was kind of crossing a line. It was going beyond the game at that point. And it was just an unnecessary lie. And if you had no intention of sticking to that, I don't know why you even said that, why you brought that into the game. So I was calling him out for it, because he didn't mention it in his speech when he put me up. I wasn't gonna just sit there and be quiet. I wasn't happy about it, and I was gonna let him know that.

BIG BROTHER Thursday, September 8 - Brittany Hoopes and Michael Bruner
BIG BROTHER Thursday, September 8 - Brittany Hoopes and Michael Bruner

CBS Brittany Hoopes and Michael Bruner on 'Big Brother'

Brittany seemed very upset when you called her out during your final speech. Do you regret going after your biggest ally like that?

I love Brittany to death. I don't regret it. I was on the block. I knew I was probably gonna go home and I would've regretted it forever if I did not try everything to stay in the house. All of the information I shared there in the living room, people had been talking about it for the past couple of days. It wasn't like I exposed any new information or things that people were unaware of. I was trying to save myself in the moment, and as a Big Brother super fan, I hope she also understands if she had tried to blow my game up to save herself, I would've understood. And I hope that she can understand the same for me. But I definitely feel bad about it, but I don't regret it.

You sat on the information when Kyle told you he was worried about a diversity alliance for a few weeks and then brought it up once someone from the Leftovers was in danger of going home. How do you feel now about how you handled and dispensed that information?

Hearing from some of the other players in the game how they wish I had handled the situation, I do wish I had handled it differently. Looking back on it, I had the information that I had, and to be honest, I didn't know exactly how to go about it. And I tried to take in all the information that I could. I tried to make the decision that seemed the best at the time.

And I understand if people were skeptical or think that it was opportunistic for when I revealed the information. I felt like no matter when the information came into the game, people were gonna be skeptical, so I tried to do the best that I could and let people know the information when I felt that the time was right. And the time felt right at that point. And it hadn't prior.

Big Brother
Big Brother

CBS Michael Bruner on 'Big Brother'

Finally, how did you feel about the Zingbot making fun of your face?

It has actually always been my dream to be called ugly on national TV. So thank you, Zingbot! Just kidding. It's a Big Brother rite of passage to be Zinged by Zingbot. Leading up to it, I was like, "Make me cry, Zingbot." I didn't cry, but it was still fun to be zinged by Zingbot, even if I wasn't crazy about my Zing.

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