Getty Frankie Grande visits SiriusXM Studios on January 15, 2019
Popular “Big Brother” cast member Frankie Grande recently took the show to task for the way it has cast its LGBTQ contestants in the past. Find out what he said and also the impact he saw himself making on fans after his time on the show.
Grande Said ‘Big Brother’ Typically Only Casts a ‘Certain Type of Homosexual’
In an interview with the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast, Grande said that he thinks “Big Brother” casting always goes after the same type of gay male.
“‘Big Brother’ has done a very good job of casting a very certain type of homosexual on that show every single season — they’re the meek, conniving, kind of backseat, like scheme-y gay and they want that.”
Grande said that he “truly” believes that the only reason he got cast was that CBS “couldn’t deny” that he brought “a certain level of fame” to the show.
“They were so obsessed with the fact that they were going to get a YouTuber and a personality on their show for the very first time — I was the first influencer to ever be on ‘Big Brother,’” said Grande. “They kind of let the fact that I wasn’t that type of gay go.”
Grande expanded on that by saying that most of the gay men cast on the show were not competition beasts like he was.
“I was more of a like comp beast player — like in your face, like try to beat me, like, come on, try to beat me. Like if you were going to beat me, then you have to put your money where your mouth is kind of kind of person,” said Grande. “And I don’t think that that’s always been the strategy that’s been employed. It wasn’t the strategy that was employed by other gay people prior to me, which was interesting.”
Grande is not wrong about being a competition beast. In case you have forgotten, he won three Head of Household competitions, two Battle of the Block competitions, and three Power of Veto competitions during season 16.
Grande Said Once He Was Off ‘Big Brother,’ He Realized What an Impact He Had Made
After being on “Big Brother,” Grande said that he realized he had “given the world such a different concept of what a gay man was.”
“Many people around the world were telling me, like, ‘wow, we didn’t know gay men could be like you,’” he said. “We didn’t know gay men were competition beasts. We didn’t know that they were aggressive, that they could stand up for themselves in situations and not just cower.”
He added, “I just kind of showed the world a whole different side of the homosexual Kinsey scale. People were so receptive … people come up to me and they’re like, you know, my family accepted me as gay when I came out to them because they saw you on ‘Big Brother.’ And I was like, that’s unbelievable.”
On the smae podcast, Grande also revealed if he would ever play “Big Brother” again and why he thought all-stars was “unfair,” even if he was “so proud” of his “Big Brother 16” castmate Cody Calafiore for winning.
“Big Brother” season 23 premieres Wednesday, July 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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