Interview with Tallahassee's Big Brother 8 Houseguest Zach: Part 1

"Big Brother 8" Houseguest Zach Swerdzewski returned home to Tallahassee this month to decompress before returning to California, where he's lived for the past six years. I caught up with Zach last Thursday at Tallahassee's Pockets Pool & Sports Pub to get the low down about this season's "Big Brother" and find out about his surfwear line called Dolphin Crash. This is Part One in a two-part series with the reality TV star.

JA Huber: What's it like being back in Tallahassee?

Zach: It's nice to be back. It's relaxing. It's weird walking through the door and people are like, 'Oh my god!' I'm just a normal guy, a Florida State Seminoles fan. It's been pretty overwhelming.

JA Huber: So, is Pockets your favorite hangout in Tallahassee?

Zach: My brother [Thadd] loves this place. We're meeting up with others later.

JA Huber: What are your favorite Tallahassee hangouts?

Zach: Back in the day Poor Paul's and Potbelly Thursdays were pretty fun. I'm grown up now so there are different crowds of people. I still like Potbelly's, Paradise on Fridays is fun. I do like Pockets.

JA Huber: Do you talk to any other "Big Brother" Houseguests?

Zach: I talk to Jen, Mike and Nick all the time. Danielle flew to Minnesota and got in a U-Haul with Nick. They're dating and he's moving to California, which is cool, because he was my best friends in the house, I'm going to keep in touch with them. I talk to Jen all the time even though she's a little out there. Overall, those are the three I'll keep in touch with the most because I'll be able to see them. Jameka and Jessica I'll keep in touch with e-mail.

Rainbow Cruises is doing a celebrity reality cruise for reality players and a bunch of us from "Big Brother 8" were invited to go to that in March. So I'll get to see Dustin, Eric, Jessica, Jen and Jameka. They don't want either of the Donato's because they hated their game play. I told them I wouldn't go if they were on there because I may throw Dick off the ship.

JA Huber: Have you watched any of the "Big Brother 8" episodes?

Zach: No, not so much.

JA Huber: Were you surprised about Eric being America's Player?

Zach: You know, I had a hunch there was something different about him because Jen knew. Jen found a card in the diary room that said he was America's Player. She started telling everybody he was playing for America. I said, 'Jen, you don't know what you're talking about.' Everything Jen told me in the game was true and I didn't believe her for anything because I thought she was out there. Everything she told me was true. It pisses me off because I wish I knew that.

CBS will probably shoot me for saying this, but I think America's Player was a poor creative development on the production part because it threw the game play completely off for everybody. If Eric would have voted Dick out against Dustin in that moment, it would have been a huge thing. It gave a very unfair advantage. Dick and Danielle in the game were very favored because of the way they instigated peopled in the game. People watching the show get off on violence.

I'm grateful fans got to participate but thought it unbalanced the game play for everyone in the house. If you're playing in the game like I was, I like to think everyone's on the same plane. Eric made $40,000, almost as much as Danielle.

JA Huber: Would you do reality television again?

Zach: Yes. I've been asked to do the second Big Brother All Stars. But that's five years from now. A lot could change, I could be married with kids and it could be totally different.

JA Huber: How about "Dancing with the Stars?"

Zach: No way, I can't dance, you saw that, I can't do that!

JA Huber: Was "Big Brother 8" the only reality show you auditioned for?

Zach: I tried out for "Survivor" when I was going to college here. That's what I really wanted to do. It didn't happen. I was on Craigslist looking for a used couch and I ran across "Big Brother 8" auditions. So I submitted my pictures and told them if you grant me the interview, I guarantee I can sell myself because I'm the typical frat-boy- Aries-competitive-asshole-guy but I'm a Southern gentleman and I have a lot of charm and charisma with my game play. And I play competitive online chess, that's kind of what hooked them. Those were my selling points. I got lucky, I got on.

JA Huber: How long did the "Big Brother 8" casting process last?

Zach: I was the last guy they threw on. Went to the audition on a Wednesday, the second one that same Wednesday, filled out all my paperwork on Friday, found out I was going on the show on Saturday, called my work and told them I would be gone for three months. Did the initial taping for my mailbox on Sunday and they took me. Within four days they did that.

Note: "Big Brother 8" premiered four days later on Thursday, July 5.

JA Huber: What is the one thing you want people to know about you?

Zach: I'm a 30-year-old single guy trying to work things out with "Sweets," the woman I mentioned on the show. I had a very steady girlfriend that I love and care about but we had our differences. Not looking to date anyone, I'm very career orientated. I'm just a normal, stand-up, Southern guy from Tallahassee. I don't judge anybody. I was a nerd guy in high school. My older brother got all the hot girls. Did a 180 in college, joined a fraternity, acted like a jackass for a couple of years, dated around.

I'm just a normal guy that managed to play in a reality television show. I played it with the best integrity knowing my family would watch, my business would be on the line based on how I represent myself, same with my job. You can come to me and have a beer with me if you want. I'm grateful for everyone willing to watch. Grateful for all the gifts, letters, emails and tickets to the Florida State game. All that stuff is great, I'm very grateful.

Note: During the interview, a bar patron asked Zach if he'd be around later to play a round of darts, Zach said, "yes."

JA Huber: You were a nerd in high school?

Zach: I never went to prom, was never in the limelight, never went to parties in high school. In college I kind of broke that mold and got to find who I am. I'm a very outspoken person, very charismatic. Competitive in everything and love playing for something in everything that I do. Maybe I have a gambling problem when it comes to stuff like that (laughs).

Just a stand-up guy, grateful for being back here and hanging out, I missed Tallahassee. L.A. is very competitive, very plastic and difficult to meet real people but they exist. Out here it's real. It feels so good to be alive. That's why I love being in Tallahassee.

Note: the conversation turned towards how Dolphin Crash is being advertised and segued into the support of Zach's friends, family and fans...

Zach: Jameka was right. People think it was a line of bullshit but Jameka definitely gave a piece of my faith back. My family's Catholic and I don't go to church so much because me and God have been at war with each other for a while but it really gave me a piece of what's been missing in my fellowship and I'm grateful for that.

I learned a lot of things physically and mentally in that show that I couldn't have learned otherwise. It was a big growing up phase for me. Being able to hold that key for eight and a half hours against Dick was the hardest thing I've had to do in my life. I was so cold I had hypothermia. My hands were blue.

JA Huber: Ouch! Didn't you feel like giving up?

Zach: I told myself I'm either going to die, they're either going to call it or Dick's going to throw the key. And I'm not going to compete in the second competition so I'm going to stay on this damn thing as long as I can and when I'm ready to give up, I'm going to fucking stay on it longer and keep doing it.

When I left my body was so broken, I was so cold but there was no way I was going to be able to compete in that second event. I was done, I was ready to walk out that door if I didn't win that one. Just standing there finally retaliating a little bit on Dick, making fun of him and stuff, priceless.

JA Huber: How did you deal with Dick's verbal abuse during that competition? Note: The competition was crucial in securing the final Head of Household position and was called the "Bunny Hop."

Zach: I've been in a fraternity, I've been in Hell Week. I know what it's like. I don't agree with his tactics or morals or anything. I was talked down in high school because I was the guy on the outside. I've been picked on in middle school by bullies. He's a 44-year-old-12-year old. He's a bully. I don't need to deal with him. I could knock that guy out in a second if I had to. His tactics don't get to me, they never did. He threw that key in the end and I had an inner glow when that happened, it was like oh man! That was the best moment of my life. That's the one thing he has to live with, he threw the key and he knows I broke him on that. Whether he wants to believe it or not, he won the money that's fine but anybody in that game could not take him down and I actually did.

JA Huber: What are you going to do with the key? You're not going to sell it on eBay?

Zach: I'm not selling the key.

JA Huber: Are you going to display it?

Zach: My mom wants to frame it, I'm probably going to leave it here. I'm pretty sure it still has a piece of my hand stuck to it. It was a great moment, I'm definitely keeping the key. I can't get rid of it. No way.

Author's note: Part two of the interview will focus on Dolphin Crash, Zach's edgy surfwear line.