Fans of ‘Big Brother 6’ and the All Star season surely remember Howie Gordon. He provided much entertainment with his Jedi antics and his occasional verbal tirades. We had the chance to talk to Howie this week about his experiences in the Big Brother house, his opinions on the current houseguests and the charity he’s working on to help his girlfriend’s goddaughter who is suffering from a brain tumor.
I know that lately you’ve been working on that auction. Tell us a little bit about what the cause is.
Howie: Yeah my girlfriend of about a year now - I met her on a beach, my girlfriend with her friend Shannon. I tried to talk to her and she was like “Who is this guy?” and her friend was like “That’s Big Brother Howie! Be nice to him!” (laughs) Her best friend Shannon’s daughter Rabekah has a brain tumor – she’s a four year old, Sonia’s goddaughter. So if you go to www.HowieGordon.com, I have information on the Rabekah fund.
I have houseguests such as Janelle, Kaysar, Chilltown, etc – They’ve got phone calls going for $500 for fans to call in and that money’s going to the Rabekah fund to help with treatment for the brain tumor disease. I’m getting some ‘Survivor’ people involved. I’m getting some ‘American Idol’ people involved. They’re all very nice. They said, “Hey, we’ll do anything to help.” It’s been awesome. There’s been a great response from the Reality TV community and sometimes the real big-time celebrity community. They’re all helping out. Chicken George, Rachel, Sarah, Allie Irwin of ‘Big Brother All Stars’, a lot of people. It’s been great.
All these people on the internet, they battle with each other. Some of Reality stars don’t like each other but hey, when people need help in life they all kind of come together. It’s great.
I saw there was a phone call from Jessica up for auction.
Howie: Jessica in the house, currently in Big Brother 8? Yeah, her mother contacted my site, Tricia, my administrator and she said, “Yeah, I’ll sign on for Jessica for when she gets out.” I sure hope that’s later than sooner just for the fact that if she’s coming out with $500,000 or at least some more money because if she makes it to sequester she’ll be getting paid for every week she’s with ‘Big Brother.’
I’m in touch with all the past houseguests. I haven’t met the present houseguests yet because they’re in the house but the community kind of comes together. It’s kind of like a big fraternity. Jessica’s mom contacted my people (laughs) and she said, “Hey, when Jessica gets back she’ll donate her time with a phone call to help Rabekah. Hopefully we can get this little girl well.”
That’s great, it’s like one big happy family there.
Howie: It is like a fraternity I mean before this season started there were already 75 ‘Big Brother’ houseguests of all time. Now, obviously after this year there’ll be 89 so – they’re great. There’s less than 100 of USA ‘Big Brother’ people of all time. It is like a little, small, rich fraternity group, if I might say. It’s part of a cool bond. It’s like some of these people I’ve never met – I meet them for the first time and it’s like we’ve known each other because we’re part of ‘Big Brother.’
Howie: So did you think I was one of the most entertaining houseguests in ‘Big Brother’ history?
Oh, absolutely!
Howie: Appreciate it!
I was watching live when you tore a new one for April.
Howie: (laughs) That’s so funny because my buddy had sent me the link for ‘Big Brother’ when I’d never even heard of the show years ago. When I got out of the house I didn’t really know about live feeds and this and that. He told me, “I was watching live and you were in the yard going crazy.” We’re on a softball league so I went to ‘Big Brother 6’ I didn’t get to play in my softball league because I was gone for three months. I got out and had to start corresponding with my emails. There was an email from my softball team with something like “Howie will not be returning, he’s going into a psycho ward.” Or something like that. It was kind of funny. That was good TV.
Yeah it was definitely one of the best seasons for me
Howie: I’ve obviously watched the reruns. My opinion – two and six were the best seasons. I think two was even better than All Stars. I think two and six were just awesome.
Oh, definitely. Those are definitely my favorites. Two is what got me into the show. That’s when I first started watching it.
Howie: Great show man. Will’s getting his ass kicked all year and then this guy comes out of nowhere.
Yeah but the Hurricane Howie is what did it for me in six. That was just brilliant.
Howie: I know I’m really biased obviously but six – I enjoyed it more than All Stars. I gotta give it the advantage over two because I was part of six. But we had some great personalities. Good show. We had some great twists and great and all kinds of incidents that just blew up and just made it great, great television. It was a great show with a horrible ending.
Yeah, that kind of sucked at the end.
Howie: I got to the final four with Janie at the end. I really believed, when I got put up with April in the end – I thought “Summer of Secrets,” I thought America was gonna come on and just vote her off.
We would’ve if we could have.
Howie: Yeah it was a great season. There’s no question about it. Last season, the events were horrible. I didn’t even get to play in many events ‘cause they switched the Veto. The year before you picked your partners and I played almost every damn week and had a lot of fun and went a little farther, obviously. ‘Big Brother 6’ was good.
So what do you think so far of the houseguests and the way they’re running ‘BB 8’ this year, especially the “America’s Player” thing.
Howie: Well, this is my first ‘Big Brother’ that I’ve ever to watch live, while its going on on TV. It’s kind of surreal. They’re all out there in my fricken hot tub. What the hell?! Evel Dick is my favorite guy by now. Up to this point – I don’t know where we are – about 10 episodes season 8? This guy has had more airtime than anybody in ‘Big Brother’ history up to this point! First, he’s a ‘Big Brother’ All Star. The guy’s awesome. He speaks his mind. He’s a loud mouth.
Then, you’ve got 13 other floaters in the house with the exception of maybe Jen. Jen doesn’t mind voicing her opinion. She likes to flaunt herself so she’s good TV. So really they’ve got two houseguests that are playing and entertaining us and you’ve got 12 floaters that are just scared to say anything. You’ve got twelve floaters and two people that are really stirring things up. Evel and Jen are keeping it going for me. They’re there right now.
America’s Player? I like Eric but if we weren’t doing the work for him and voting for him, he’d be sitting in the corner flip-flopping and not saying much. He only really gets involved with things like vandalizing someone’s clothing, vote somebody out, crying or jumping in someone’s bed. Yeah, these people are all afraid to make a move. You really forget they’re in the show until they’re in the opening credits at the beginning. It’s the Evel Dick and Jen Show. I’m enjoying it. I love Evel Dick. I think the guy’s funny.
I’m not watching live feeds. I’m mostly just watching the show. But I’m enjoying it. I think it’s awesome. Ten episodes in, I think it’s really good. It could get worse. It could get better but hopefully it stays entertaining for the most of the summer.
So do you think Evel Dick or Jen is a potential future Jedi?
Howie: (pause) I don’t know about Evel Dick – I love the guy. He’s got a big mouth that may get him tossed out early. He’s kind of wishy-washy all over the place. I think Jen could be a Jedi. She’s pretty disciplined. She got on that treadmill when they said she was looking heavy. She stepped up when she had to.
You know what? They are both potential Jedis, I’ll be honest with you. Jen needed HoH because she was going home. Evel Dick, he was in the big fight with Kail. He won it – the vindication thing. Those people have stepped up. Yeah, they’re Jedis. They definitely have Jedi potential. We’ll see what they’re all about when I meet them at the wrap party – the finale show. We’ll see if they’re worthy. (laughs)
I think that what you said about the house being full of floaters – That seems similar to other seasons. Your season – Season 6 was the only season that I can think of where the house was as divided as it was. There were set alliances. There weren’t people really floating from one to the other that much.
Howie: Season 6 was the most unique ever because you had a financial obligation. Whether you loved your partner, hated your partner, just met your partner or were related to your partner – you had to keep them. If you wanted a shot at the million you had to keep them. People say Will is the greatest player of all time and I really believe that. I think he is. And I think Janie’s probably right behind him. But I don’t think Dr. Will could’ve won season 6 for the fact that he never would’ve convinced me to vote out Rachel. He never would’ve convinced Cappy to Vote out Maggie so he would’ve had problems with his game there. Season 6 with the twist, took away from James.
I think James would’ve won any other season with his ability to manipulate, to create dissention and to win Vetoes but because he as stuck in the Season 6 twist, it took him away from winning. He couldn’t turn me on Rachel. He couldn’t turn Maggie on Cappy and so on and so on. That made it a very unique season. Early on – you could really consider me a floater. I mean, I spoke my mind but as long as people’s partners or yourself were out of harm’s way, you kind of just stayed back. So a lot of people were kind of floaters early on. But what happened is, when Ivette started getting too comfortable in the house and started acting like it was her kitchen and her pool, I said “That’s gonna change!” and I started looking for some allies to kind of say, “Let’s rip this house apart.” That’s kind of what happened until James informed of us. (laughs) Oh, Jamesy-Wamesy! Gotta love him!
Yeah, he had a strong game but I think it was a couple little things – crucial things that tripped him up in the end in both seasons.
Howie: Absolutely. You know one thing, one HoH there, one vote here. It’s like sports. It’s like football. It’s like a sporting event. It could go in any direction.
Do you know anything about whether or not Jen is a friend outside the house with Mike Boogie?
Howie: Yes. Boogie talked to me a couple days before the show. Maybe a couple of days before they even released the houseguests. He said “I know Jen Johnson”. I’m not sure if he said he went to the Bahamas with her. We text. I haven’t spoken with Boogie verbally in a while but we’ll text to each other five or six minutes back and forth to each other, which is just like talking in my opinion.
Well, I talked to Boogie maybe right before the show started – right before they announced the season 8 cast. I forget if he said he went to the Bahamas with Jen or he met her in the Bahamas. But he said, “I know her.” I don’t know anything more than that. If Boogie and Will claimed they have [spoken] with her, you know helping her strategize, I don’t know if that’s true. I’d like to find that out myself when I talk with Boogie and Will next.
I talked to Will a couple of weeks ago but we didn’t really discuss that. But Boogie and Will did know her before she went into the house. I can confirm that for sure. I don’t know how much they got to really get to her to say, “Do this, do that.” I think Boogie’s been on a date with her. I don’t think he got any action off her from what he told me. (laughs) But yeah, they did know her so how much she’s Chilltown’s protégé, I don’t know exactly. Hopefully I’ll find out for myself if you want to call me again in a week or two then I’ll give you some more info I know anything. I just don’t know.
Ok. Do you want to throw out the info again for helping out with the auction and your girlfriend’s goddaughter?
Howie: Yeah, I appreciate that. I’ve got so many people with their hands in there helping with several different sites but to keep it simple, you go to my site: www.HowieGordon.com and all the information is there about the Rabekah fund. You can donate to Rabekah. She’s a four year old with a brain tumor. Money goes to her research and treatment and whatever they’re doing for her now. So if you go to HowieGordon.com, please donate to the Rabekah fund. That’d be greatly appreciated.
