Americory has fallen.
After 79 days, an impressive collection of alliances, and one very wispy mustache, Cory Wurtenberger — the 21-year-old college student and Big Brother superfan from Weston, Fla. — was sent to the jury house during Comic Week.
The self-described “public speaking whiz” made it nearly three months without being nominated for eviction, but his day finally came when (not-so-invisible) HOH Jag Bains backdoored him and his long-running showmance, America Lopez.
On Thursday’s live show, Cory told host Julie Chen Moonves that he didn’t think his close alliance with America hurt his game “too much,” but he did spend his final hours in the house trying to convince Blue, Cirie, and Felicia to keep him over America. Why does he think that strategy didn’t work? Where did his game go wrong? And what’s next for Americory? We asked, and the newly minted, still-mustachioed jury member answered. Read the interview below or watch the video above.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You said you’ve been preparing for the moment you’d have to campaign against America. How would you describe your campaign strategy, and why do you think it didn’t work?
CORY WURTENBERGER: Yeah, the campaign was really difficult. I knew I had a decent shot of surviving against just about anyone other than America, which is why the way this week panned out was kind of tough. If it was just a plain old backdoor and I’m next to Felicia, I think I stand a pretty decent chance of surviving that vote. Against America, it’s really tough because the reality is we’re in a very similar position in the game, and I’m perceived as a much bigger threat in terms of winning competitions and how I play the game strategically. It’s a really hard pitch to make.
The route I was going, I had to think outside the box, and I think it was a cool plan. It obviously didn’t pan out. I was basically making Bowie believe that Matt and Jag formed a final four with Felicia and Cirie, and in order for that to work, I would need Felicia and Cirie on board selling that lie. I think Cirie was down. Felicia wasn’t, because I think Felicia’s feelings were hurt by some of the things I said about her in the house — which, look, it was all in good fun. I stand by the jokes I’ve made at her expense, especially considering that she called me out front of the entire house like seven different times.
Ultimately what it came down to is Matt and Jag. Jag couldn’t vote, but I couldn’t get Matt. Blue [has wanted] me out for a month. So then I only have three votes to campaign for: Cirie, Felicia and Bowie. Bowie is scared to go against Matt and Jag. I think I could have gotten Cirie, and then Felicia has this vendetta against me — maybe that’s too harsh, but she was not gonna vote to keep me. So in a world where I can get Felicia on board with my plan, I think I actually could stay. But the reality is me being next to America is always a tough pitch to make. I knew it was an uphill battle. I did my best, but it was never really gonna happen.
If you had to go back and pinpoint one decision that caused the biggest damage to your game in the long run, what would it be?
The Izzy vote I stand by. I don’t know if it was the right move. I think the Mecole-Felicia vote — again, I don’t think there was much of a reason for me to get rid of Mimi in that spot. Even when I was making the decision, it didn’t make that much sense. I don’t think it mattered much either way. I thought Felicia was someone who can be dragged along, whereas Mimi would be more of an active player, someone we’d have to get out.
The problem was my position in the game is I needed to be dragged along because I wasn’t winning competitions. So Felicia looked like a much more attractive option to Matt and Jag than I did. If I get rid of Felicia that week and keep Meme, I might have another week in the house because Matt and Jag feel like they need to get rid of Meme. Meme and Blue is too big of a competitive block. You would need a week to get rid of them, then I’d be in the house next week.
I think that would have brought me a little bit more time and I could have worked with Meme going forward. She was just kind of a tough person to work with cause she was so reserved and vague, and I just didn’t feel comfortable [with] her or Felicia [winning] HOH. So I thought, “Whatever, just get rid of the bigger threat.” Keeping Felicia after she yells at me is kind of funny, but that was probably a bit shortsighted.
Are there any players you’d consider a dark horse to win it all?
I don’t think Matt’s a dark horse, but I think he’s the best player in the house by a large margin. I think people are still underestimating him despite his stature. People still think Jag is the guy, but Matt is absolutely the guy. I think Cirie is someone who you really just can’t count out. On a one-to-one personal relationship level, she is the best player to have ever played reality television games. The problem is, I don’t know how she gets over the hump of these final couple of weeks, when competitions are king. So that’s always gonna be challenging.
And I think America has a really reasonable chance at this point. I think she has the right threat level at this point — she’s got the respect of the other houseguests, but also is not a massive threat that people need to deal with right away. She’s been horribly underestimated this season. Maybe because she’s a woman in a showmance, maybe because she’s little bit fiery. But she’s obviously extremely intelligent, and a massive fan of the game. If she wins a competition, it’s gonna be a nightmare for a lot of people in the house. I think especially with me gone, she has a great chance to make a good run.
Americory Nation wants to know: How soon will you be introducing America to your family once the game is over?
I don’t think I have much say in this. I think they’ll be at the finale and so will America. So there’s gonna be a lot of cold water in my face when I’m like, “Hey, Mom and Dad, this is America. I love her.” Like, it’s gonna be very awkward.
The thing is, they’ve already kind of met her though because they’ve been watching her for months, so it’s kind of a unique experience. I’m much more nervous about meeting America’s parents than I am about her meeting mine. Mine are easy. They’ve already had a kid on reality TV. There’s not gonna be that much whiplash for them. But that’s gonna happen on Nov. 9, everyone.
You lasted longer on BB than your brother Zach did on Survivor — but you were backdoored. Do you think you still have reality TV bragging rights in the family?
Well, let’s be honest. I think my mom has reality TV bragging rights over my brother. He was there for three days. He got 17th place. Much respect to you, Zach, you got screwed in your tribe formation for sure.
The being backdoor thing, everyone gets backdoored on Big Brother. Hisam was backdoored. Cameron was backdoored twice. I was double backdoored by two vetoes. That’s kind of cool.
I think when it comes to these kinds of games, my brother is better than me. He’s just a nicer, more extroverted, amicable dude. If he was on Big Brother, I think he’d actually do incredibly well, whereas I think this is kind of me maxed out. I definitely have the reality TV bragging rights. But let’s be honest, that’s more of a testament to Big Bro than it is to me. But I think I did a good job, relatively speaking.