After a season full of villainous antics, it was Safaree Samuels who got the last laugh — only, he was too stunned to laugh after the head-spinning events of the House of Villains Season 2 finale.
First, Wes Bergmann won the last redemption challenge against New York and Larsa Pippen and advanced to the finale alongside Safaree and Jessie Godderz, which meant the first alliance of the season made it all the way to the end to duke it out amongst themselves.
Wes’ willingness to make waves in the lead-up to this moment worked both for and against him. While season-long allies Tiffany “New York” Pollard and Victoria Larson stuck with Wes, and Richard Hatch and Larissa Lima admired his tactics enough, Safaree had the respect of Larsa, Teresa Giudice, and Camilla Poindexter, which left the house in a tie, with zero-vote-getter Jessie left to break it with his own vote.
Instead of just casting his vote, though, Jessie decided to pull the most villainous move of the season and tell Wes he’d have to beg for the win if he wanted it. And after The Challenge star did just that, Jessie still went and threw his vote to Safaree, earning him the $200,000 prize.
So how did Safaree feel about his victory and the dramatic events leading up to it? TV Insider caught up with the Love & Hip Hop star to find out.
Did you have any friendships or did you know any of these people before you came in the house?
Safaree Samuels: The only person who I physically knew was New York. Before that, I knew who a couple of other people were, but I didn’t know any of them.
Who did you feel like you actually became true allies with? Because I know you were kind of aligned with Wes at the beginning.
Yeah. Well, actually, the whole time there was really — I feel like it wasn’t really shown in the edit — but me, Wes, and Jessie, we had a pretty strong alliance from the beginning, once we did the first challenge, and I brought them on the reward with me. That was the beginning of us like, “Okay, hey, let’s do this.”
Were you surprised at all that it was you three at the end?
I was. I was surprised a little bit, and then it kind of was the plan and goal in the beginning. When we all first got together, we said, “Hey, look, if the three of us stick together, we can get to the end of this.” And I guess it’s the power of the tongue because it really happened.
Do you give Wes credit for getting y’all there, or do you think it was you who brought your own self?
No. I feel like everybody was definitely leading their own path. Even though we were allies at the end of the day, he never had the supervillain position to save or do certain things. He had his immunity pass, so that had him protected for most of the game. But I feel like what made us get to the end, too, was just certain people just not thinking out their moves and kind of doing it more on like an emotion thing than strategy.
Was there anyone who you were surprised that they didn’t make it to the end?
No. I actually feel like everyone who was in the end was exactly who should.
Were you surprised at all at how things fell apart so spectacularly between Jessie and Wes?
Surprise is an understatement. I was so surprised that I’m pretty sure that you could see at the end, I didn’t even really have a reaction to winning because the way things blew up with them two, him telling him to go on his knees, it was just mind-blowing, and it was just mind-blowing listening to other people in the back telling him, “Yeah, go on your knees.” I was like, “That’s not a friend. Y’all just voted for him? What kind of advice is that?”
A rant about how smart he is, that couldn’t have helped, right?
He didn’t care. He wanted to piss everybody off. He just pretty much was telling everyone, “Hey, I’m a genius. I ran circles around you guys. I got to the finals, and I didn’t have to do nothing.” And he got to drop his sack on that one. That was like a big place because he really didn’t have to do anything.
Trae Patton / NBC
Well, you didn’t have to beg anyone. So what was that like for you to get those votes without having to play the house?
And that was one of the things that I was saying at the end. That’s why I was like, “I would feel like it’s just such a fake person just going up to people asking them, ‘Hey, are you gonna vote for me? Can you vote for me, please?’” That’s not even in my DNA. So that’s why I never—as soon as I knew I was going to the finale, I didn’t once ask anybody if they were voting for me. I was who I was the entire time. Everyone knows who had a rapport with who. So you’re gonna vote for whoever you feel like you wanted to vote for. So I couldn’t bring it to myself to be that kind of a person and talk to people who I know are not gonna vote for me or people who I wasn’t really speaking to the whole time and ask them to vote for me.
Throughout the season, you did have a couple of flirtation situations with Victoria, Larsa, and New York. Did any of those pan out?
You know what? Yeah. There was some interesting things that I’m surprised that happened, and I’m surprised it wasn’t aired — just conversations and things that were said. But it was a great time. It was a great time.
No specifics?
No, nothing really happened…. It’s getting hot in here.
You were on the hit list a lot, obviously.
They were trying to get me out of there.
Did you ever really feel like, “I’m going home?”
I never felt like it because of who I was up against each time. Well, no, no. The first time I got put on the hit list, I’m like, “Damn, I’m leaving early because I’m going up against Jessie.” And with Larissa. So I was like, “Damn, I can’t believe I’m about to go home so early.” And then when I saw how the challenge went, when I was holding the dog blindfolded and how they went through it so fast and I went through so slow, I’m like, “Yo, man, I can’t believe I’m about to go home.” But then when it was just me and Hatch, I’m like, “Okay, I stand a chance.” Because all everyone kept saying is, “He won Survivor. We gotta get him out of here.”
Was there anybody in the end whose vote truly surprised you?
Yes, New York. I was livid. I blew up. I was so upset when it was said and done. I went off about it. They didn’t show it.
Watching the season back, do you see now why she made that decision?
Hey, I was bamboozled. I was boo boo the fool because I didn’t know that her and Wes had an alliance, and I didn’t — even when she said it there — I didn’t realize it. I realized it when I watched the show.
Was there anything else that you saw this season that was a surprise to you that you didn’t know was going on?
Yeah, it’s so much. I was surprised to see how much people were trying to get me out of the house in the beginning at some points. Like when I was seeing conversations with Jessie and Kandy and Rich. Just, when they hear him say, “Oh, we gotta get Safaree out of here, but we gotta get Rich first. We gotta get this person first.” I’m like, “Damn, I was never thinking like that.” But hey.
Do you think that’s maybe what happened, that there was always a bigger target than you even when you were on the hit list?
Sometimes. Yeah. When I was up for redemption, banishment, against Rich, everybody wanted Rich out because he was seeming so strategic …. Oh, you know what I was really surprised about? When Rich kept saying he had to get me out, out the house and when Camilla asked him, “Oh, but what about your roommate?” He was like, “Oh no, no, no, he has to go.” I was like, “Wow, ’cause I told him I would have put him up, and I didn’t, and I handed the power to him.” He wasn’t even a thought.
When you found out that Jessie was gonna be the tiebreaker in the very end, what was your first thought?
I didn’t think I had it in the bag because when he told Wes to go down on his knees, I thought he was really gonna say, “Okay, you’re good. You went on your knees. You apologized. Congratulations.” And I ain’t gonna lie. In the moment when that actually happened, I couldn’t believe it. And then watching it back, it just brought back the feelings in that room because I know for the people who are watching it, it’s like, I don’t know if they think that was not planned. That was real life. Nothing about it was scripted, and for it to play out the way it did, that was a season finale like no other.
Did you watch the first season? And if so, did you take any pointers from Tanisha on how to win?
I did watch the first season and honestly, I didn’t take any pointers from anybody. I just watched it to laugh. Actually, I didn’t pay attention to strategy gameplay. I wasn’t in there thinking about strategy or gameplay… I was like, “All right, cool. I’ll do the alliance thing.” But after that, I wasn’t doing things based on strategy and gameplay. And I feel like I should be a testament to just show that sometimes you don’t gotta go so hard to win. I never once said the word “strategy” while I was in that house. I didn’t once tap the side of my head thinking, “Hmm. What could I do?” No, I just had fun. I was myself and connected with who I connected with, and that’s that.
