Shanna Moakler reacts to stunning Celebrity Big Brother turn of events

Dalton Ross
·10 min read

A superfan of Big Brother, Shanna Moakler knew what she was doing when she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. Unfortunately, her alliance partners did not. The former Miss USA winner was unanimously eliminated on a week in which her ally — whom she took off the block just days prior when she won the Veto — was the Head of Household.

That's because Carson Kressley and Cynthia Bailey were easily manipulated by the people that have been gunning for them the entire game, Todrick Hall and Miesha Tate. Naïvely not realizing that people on the ropes will say anything and everything to save themselves, Carson and Cynthia believed the sweet nothings that Todrick and Miesha whispered in their ears that Shanna was a two-faced player that was somehow more dangerous to keep in the game than they were. (????)

Carson and Cynthia bought it hook, line, and sinker, so backdoored Shanna and voted out their one ally left in the game. How does Shanna feel about the stunning turn of events? And what's with her promise to Todrick to make sure he does not win the game? We caught up with Shanna the morning after her ouster to get the full scoop.

Shanna Moakler
Shanna Moakler

CBS Shanna Moakler on 'Celebrity Big Brother'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, how did this happen? Why would Cynthia and Carson believe everything told to them by a person on their way out the door who will say anything to stay in the house, and her biggest ally? Why take their word over yours?

SHANNA MOAKLER: You know, it's a mystery to me too. I honestly do not know. And at one point, they were so mad at me. I couldn't understand. I was like, "What could they have possibly said to make you this angry?" I literally felt like I shot someone's dog or something. It was just really bizarre. And you know, the more I tried to talk to them they just wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen so much so that I actually thought that they had a four-person alliance that I wasn't aware of because it was just so bizarre.

At the end of the day, when it came down to it, it's like, I don't care if I was in an alliance with, you know, Santa Claus, two weeks ago. When it came down to it, I pulled you off the block, I saved both your games, and my partner in crime went home. So it was like, what is happening? And they just wouldn't talk to me! if I tried, they would say they didn't wanna talk game for the day. They just wanted to have a nice fun day.

And then it just got really awkward, like I was in eighth grade being bullied, so it just got so strange. So I was like, "Okay, well, I know I'm gonna go home." I didn't really honestly think they would backdoor me. I was absolutely in shock when they did that.

What was it like trying to explain you were on their side after Miesha and Todrick went to work on them? I have to imagine that was insanely frustrating.

It really blew my mind. It was like, "You're listening to the two people who have done nothing from day 1 but try to get you out of this house. So of course they're going to lie to you. Of course they're going to spin things. And I flipped the house. I changed the game. I gave you a fighting shot, but you're just choosing to believe them."

And I knew they were gonna do that. I even said to Cynthia, the night before, when we were in a really good place, I was like, "I really feel like they're gonna come to you and try to ruin our alliance and our trust." And I was like, "If that happens, if they come to you, if they say anything to you, please just come and talk to me first. At least give me that."

And they didn't. They yelled at me in front of the whole house. I was like, I'm not fighting in the kitchen. I'm not gonna get into a screaming match. I'm just gonna walk away because I wasn't gonna do a he said/she said. And, at the same time, I didn't wanna give Todrick and Miesha the satisfaction of seeing them destroy our trust. That made me sad.

Have you gone back and watched any of the footage yet?

No, I haven't done anything yet. I'm going to probably in the next couple days. To be honest, it was just so crazy to be outside and to see the sky and just do the little things that we take for granted like a shower in my own shower and sleep in my own bed and be around my animals. So I've just been home sort of soaking up my world again and decompressing.

Shanna Moakler
Shanna Moakler

CBS Shanna Moakler on 'Celebrity Big Brother'

Why did you take that big shot on your way out the door and say, "Don't worry Todrick, I'll get the jury to vote against you?"

As I started to walk out the door, he started dancing and clapping in the background and I just thought "Dude, come on. You won. You don't need to like rub it in my face, you know?" So that's why I was just like, "Oh, okay, well, you know what? I'm out on the outside. I'll be talking to the other jurors. But I don't even know if I have that power. The feedback I'm getting is positive in my corner. Not so much with the team of mean over there, or the Miesha Mafia, as I like to call it. So we'll see what happens.

You're a gamer. Do you think anything Todrick or Miesha crossed any lines in the house with anything they did or said?

Yeah, I definitely think going and blaming me for their schemes and backstabbing lying ways was I guess well played. They were able to convince them that I was the mastermind behind it all, which is hysterical to me. It's because I was never HOH. I never had Head of Household. Miesha always did. It was actually really hard because Miesha actually had like a 10-day HOH reign. So she was able to be Head of Household for a longer than normal period of time in the very, very beginning as we settled in. And that kind of set the tone for the house and made it almost impossible to break that power that she created in the very beginning.

You and Chris Kirkpatrick are super fans. So is Todrick. Yet you two are out of the house. Did he do a better job of influencing and controlling people that have no idea what they are doing in the game?

100%. Yeah. One thing about Todrick I'll give to him is he's very, very convincing. And the thing is, he knew that I did not buy his stories, and he would always come to me and say like, "I know you don't trust me and I want you to trust me." And for me it was just like, "I definitely don't trust you."

I just knew there was just something about him that I knew was not on the up and up and not to believe him at all. I couldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. And he knew it. And so in the beginning he wanted to work with me, but he knew I was onto him. And so I was definitely next in line for him and I was beating him in all like the challenges mostly. So that was really irritating him.

Let's talk about Chris' plan to have you win the Veto and take Carson off the block and then just kind of hope Miesha put Todd up instead of him. Miesha told Todd he would go up and told you that you could use the Veto on Cynthia. So what I don't understand is, why use the Veto on Carson. which all of a sudden raises red flags all over the place for Miesha, and not just use it on Cynthia, in which case Miesha probably doesn't think a lot of it and does put Todd up and then everybody is safe because you have the votes to send Todd out with you, Chris and Cynthia?

I guess at that point in time, it was more important to save Carson because he was just a stronger player. Cynthia is like, love her to death and all, but she does not understand what is happening in this game. She is so confused and lost and she's really awful in competitions. So saving her was just not really an option for us because they would've just voted Carson and they did have the numbers to do it. Lamar really was with them. So I couldn't count on his vote.

Shanna Moakler
Shanna Moakler

CBS Shanna Moakler on 'Celebrity Big Brother'

You've got Lamar and Todd who don't really know the gme, you have Carson and Cynthia who just got completely played, and you've got Miesha and Todrick who just blew you out of the house. So whom do you root for to win this game at this point?

I actually would really love to see Todd Bridges win. He's just a really nice guy. He actually is playing the game. His game is to say he's not playing the game and pretend like he doesn't know what he is doing, but he actually does know what he is doing and he's actually in the game, and I think would really benefit from this in life. I'm definitely not rooting for the other squad, so definitely Todd Bridges.

Do you think you'll hang out with any of these folks outside of the house?

I think I made really good friends in Teddi and Chris Kirkpatrick. I thought Chris Kattan was absolutely hysterical. What a lovely man. And Todd was really, really cool. So I would love to have a dinner one night with my Big Brother crew.

Finally, are you upset you never got to experience Otev or the Zingbot?

Oh my God. I was so bummed about the Zingbot! There were so many games and challenges that I was like, "Ooh, I hope we get to do this! Ooh, we get to do that!" And, of course, I would love to have experienced winning an HOH. That would've been the ultimate Big Brother experience. But I did win two Vetos and that was very cool for me.

So with that being said, being a super fan and just being able to walk in there and experience that… because you watch it and you're like, "Oh, what would I do?" So being able to do that and just seeing if I could do it, it was very challenging being monitored 24/7 and not having a phone or radio or TV or pencil. You're like, "Oh, I'm totally good." But it's a pretty intense experience. I'm really happy that I got to try it.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content: