Carol Journey, Haysville senior, was the first cast member eliminated from CBS’s show “Big Brother.” Journey withdrew from a summer class at the University, and quit her role as a Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader to participate in the reality program.

Journey spent 14 days in the “Big Brother” house and was sequestered in Los Angeles for a week before the show started. The Kansan recently talked to Journey about her experience on the show.

Kansan: Do you regret what took place on the show, or even going on it in the first place?

Journey: It was an alright experience. Definitely the part that I enjoyed the most was getting off the show. I’ve had a lot of fun since I’ve gotten off this past week talking with fans and people who liked who I was.

Kansan: So you are coming back for the fall semester?

Journey: Yeah. I have to get my degree. I can’t wait.

Kansan: The premise of the show was to have an enemy from your past confront you in the house. Can you tell me what the experience was like and what you were thinking when you saw her for the first time?

Journey: It was very, very uncomfortable. I did not want her there and she took away so much of the enjoyment I could have gotten out of it. When I saw the enemy thing, I thought our story was pretty ridiculous compared to the other two sets of enemies on the show because their stories were so much more tragic than ours. I kind of feel like me and Jessica were placed on the show more for comedic relief, as a way of making fun of two little girls from eighth grade.

Kansan: What was the situation with your enemy?

Journey: Basically, all it is was we were really good friends for a few years in middle school and we got into a fight, I don’t even know what the fight was really about, she claims it’s over $5, but I don’t think that’s true at all, and basically we just never made up and went through high school completely ignoring each other. Then we graduated and she still lives at home with her mom and dad and I moved away to KU and never talked to each other again, I guess.

Kansan: Is there still bitterness then?

Journey: For me, I was over it. I hadn’t even thought about her in three years. She obviously was still bitter and angry enough that she would mention my name through the audition process. I’m not going to lie, leaving the show, I’m now a little bitter with her again, but I was over it so long ago.

Kansan: Which cast member are you pulling for now?

Journey: I’m really wanting Mike to win the whole thing, simply because he’s a good guy, he’s got a good heart and he deserves it. He really does. He works hard and I think that he’ll play the game in a decent manner. He won’t be like manipulative or deceiving through the process. I think he’s going to do it with dignity.

Kansan: Why do you think the other cast members singled you out and eliminated you first?

Journey: There were several different reasons. For one, I didn’t really want to be there in the first place and I whined every single day about how I all I wanted to do was go home. So they all knew I was homesick and I didn’t want to be there, so that contributed to it. Secondly, I was not a very good player. You really have to be strategic and know what you’re doing and I had no idea what I was doing on the show because I was recruited and had never watched the show before. I had the votes from what people tell me and from watching the show. I had six votes which is what I needed to stay but an alliance was formed and should they have all voted for me they would have exposed themselves so they didn’t vote to keep me simply because they wanted to keep their alliance a secret and they didn’t want everybody else to use that against them later.

Kansan: What were the best and worst aspects of the show?

Journey: The worst part about being on the show was the lack of privacy, always being on TV. When you’re in there, you kind of forget about the cameras and forget that there are people out in the United States watching you and listening to conversations you had. I regret a few of the things I said, but you can’t hold back everything you have. Honestly, this past week since I’ve been out of the house has been awesome. I’ve had so much fun doing interviews. I’ve probably done a few dozen TV programs so far and I did several days of radio interviews where I just got to talk to different radio stations across the nation that asked me about Big Brother. That was a lot of fun and getting to talk to people who watched the show has been great too.

Kansan: What’s next? Are you going to record an album?

Journey: Um, no. Actually, since being off the show I’ve gotten a few job offers because I’ve talked about being a marketing major. CBS kind of threw out offering me a spot on another reality show, but I don’t know if I want to do that. I don’t know. I have no desire to act or sing or do anything like that. I just want to get my degree and a job. There have been offers but we’ll see. I’ve been told the offers really pick up once the show gets over, so if something amazing gets thrown at me I might consider something else.

Kansan: Is there anything you would completely rule out?

Journey: I’ve had “Playboy” thrown out there a couple of times. I don’t think I could ever do that. That’s not gonna happen. Maybe “Maxim.”

—Edited by Ben Smith