When you watch CBS' “Big Brother,” you learn virtually everything about its contestants — their intentions, their backstories, their best qualities, and certainly their worst qualities. But unless the show's contestants explicitly discuss having sex in the house (like last season's “showmance” Amanda and McCrae), you rarely hear about how the contestants of “Big Brother” deal with sexual frustrations.
HitFix caught up with “Big Brother 15” winner Andy Herren to discuss a few burning questions about the show: his favorite cast members, his least favorite cast members, and how he dealt with being a single gay guy with no potential for a hookup in the house.
“I had two wet dreams when I was in the 'Big Brother' house. Yep, two of them,” he admitted. “And I'd never had one of them prior to going in. There were a couple nights when I'd be laying in bed, and I'd position myself — like, 'If I wanted to jerk off right now, I could.' But I was always so nervous. I'm a teacher. Like, what if I think I'm doing it discreetly, but then it's very obvious what I'm doing and there's a jerkoff video of me online? I can't have that surfacing. So I did not masturbate for the entirety of my time in the house.”
Luckily, he scored some relief after he won $500,000, left the house, and had some time in California to blow off some steam.
“I had a friend in LA — like, a friend. As soon as I got out of the house I called him and was like, 'Hey, I'm in this hotel room! Come over immediately.'”
Being holed up in a televised bungalow for three months forces you to become militaristic about your goals. Herren says he's glad he was the only gay male in the house because it forced him to take the game seriously.
“I was happy not to have a showmance available to me, because it kept me focused on the game,” he said. “You're in that house with a select group of people. I developed weird crushes on, like, McCrae and on Judd — like, people I feel like I normally wouldn't. If I had a love interest there, it could've potentially sidetracked me.”
See our extended interview with Herren above, in which he discusses new cast member Frankie Grande (Ariana's brother), his friendships with classic “Big Brother” villains, and overrated winners of the series. Click to 9:00 to hear Herren discuss hormones in the house.