‘Big Brother’s’ Kyland Young Slams Xavier Prather’s Gameplay

CBS Kyland Young in the 'Big Brother 23' house

In his exit interview, evicted “Big Brother 23” houseguest Kyland Young defended his confrontation with Xavier Prather that Kyland instigated on the way out the door during the September 23 live eviction episode. He also told Heavy that he had no regrets for how he played the game and weighed in on his lowkey showmance with Tiffany Mitchell.

Kyland Felt Good About His Gameplay

Heavy: Did you really think that Derek was going to send Azah home? Why?

Kyland: No, I think that more of my focus was on Xavier using the Veto on me, which I knew would definitely be a possibility that he wouldn’t, that’s the nature of the game. I was much more counting on that than I was counting on Big D to send Azah home.

My conversations with Big D, even towards the end, were telling him straight up that it would not be a good game decision for him to take me over Azah. I told him that very explicitly three times and I was asked, “Are you sure want to tell him that?” and for me, it just came down to as soon as we solidified that there was going to be a Black winner of ‘Big Brother,’ I wanted that gameplay to go off in a certain way.

I knew I had a good chance of getting to the end and being only one competition away from getting myself there, I feel good about choosing not to lie to Big D and just pacify him by telling him that our final two [deal] was still solid and lying to him. I knew there were some emotions there I could manipulate, and I knew that if I did that, I would have been able to secure his support, but I also knew that there are more important things as far as I believe how you win, when you are being representative of something bigger than yourself, rather than just winning by any means.

Kyland Said He Was Not Disrespectful to Xavier or His Family

Heavy: That confrontation with Xavier on the way out was intense. How do you feel about him now and do you feel like bringing up his nephew was over the line?

Kyland: Personally, I love Xavier. I think that the confrontation was intense, but I am a competitor in every sense of the word and I have no issues standing toe to toe, going head to head with my competition in any game. I love games, so for me, that was more fun than anything.

As far as bringing up his family, I think to disrespect someone’s family would be in poor taste, so that’s why I invite anyone to look at the actual words that were said ’cause those were words that I had prepared for that exact moment and that exact situation. What I did was I specifically brought up things that Xavier and I had specifically discussed as far as the types of competitors that we idolized and the types of competitors that we would want to be represented at the end of this specific season of ‘Big Brother.’ We had talked about people … who take their biggest challengers head-on. You can always go an indirect route, a tactical route to take the easy road, or you can go the hard road.
The hard road was something that I was committed to, as everyone who saw me speak on the show and saw the actions that I took knows for a fact. So he had stated that that was something that he and his family also believed in and then his actions showed differently. And me bringing that up objectively isn’t disrespectful, it’s just true. If somehow they feel a personal offense, due to their own interpretation of those objective statements that I made, of course, that I can apologize for. But as far as the words that I chose, I’m very good with those.

On Keeping Xavier over Tiffany and Hannah

Heavy: Why on earth did you save Xavier last week? Why did you want to take who you perceived as the “strongest” player to the end?

Kyland: I told people in the house as early as week one that I believe in going to the end with strong competitors. That being said, that was a tactical move. I knew that depending on who made it at different points in the game, that that may change as needed. But as soon as we solidified the final six being the members of the Cookout, I knew that we had an opportunity not just to make history of having the first Black [winner] of ‘Big Brother,’ but I had the opportunity to decide how that winner got there, to the end of the game.

So having that power at final six and then again, that veto at final five, I saw an opportunity to take the easy road and just get out Xavier by saving Chaddha instead … but I knew for me, I would feel much more satisfied with a victory sitting next to the strongest player in the house and people said that was Xavier and I agreed with them. And I said straight up to people, ‘Hey, even if I knew Xavier was coming after me, it was the move I would’ve made.’ I’d say if anything, the only thing I would’ve changed is I would’ve won that last Head of Household or that last Veto at final four, but you know, I didn’t and that’s the way it played out this time. But I’m OK. Getting one competition away from potentially winning the game in the way that I wanted to, on my own terms, is something I can be proud of. That’s something I’m pretty grateful and feel proud to have done.

Heavy: Do you wish now you had kept Tiffany and Hannah and gotten rid of Xavier?

Kyland: I hold no regrets for the decisions I made in the game … as far as Tiffany, who I think is potentially an equally strong competitor to Xavier, she by her own admission, had made moves that she said were selfish and moves that were disloyal and we were looking at having the first Black winner of ‘Big Brother’ and for me, I wanted to make sure that we had someone who didn’t make those types of moves, someone who was more consistent with their actions and played at a higher standard.

Of course, all those moves are perfectly acceptable. It’s ‘Big Brother,’ it’s an individual game, you’re allowed to do that. But for me and the things I personally value, especially once she admitted that those decisions were those way, I decided to go with the more consistent person, that was Xavier. ANd it turned out he had a different value system than myself and that’s the way the game goes sometimes. We all have things that are important to us and for some people, they just make different choices.

Kyland Said His Showmance With Tiffany Was Platonic

Heavy:What was going on with you and Tiffany? Was there a lowkey showmance there?

Kyland: Tiffany and I definitely had a strong relationship together in the house. I would say that I knew that I wanted to avoid showmances, so we definitely had some… a tight connection. I find her beautiful and intelligent and just overall amazing and so powerful, both as a mother, as a human, and as a player in this game, but as far as any sort of lowkey showmance, it was important for me to keep everything platonic, even if we did get extra cuddly, but you could see throughout the house that all of us, lacking any affection from the outside world, whether it’s me and Derek X, Big D or anyone else in the house, we all had our cuddles. Sometimes we were just closer to people that we spent the most time with.

“Big Brother” returns this winter with a third celebrity edition, then season 24 should return in the summer of 2022.

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