Local "Big Brother 5" contestant Scott Long spent last night watching his fellow contestants from a new vantage point -- from a television screen.
For anyone without a television, the CBS prime time show features 13 housemates playing headgames as they compete for $500,000 in cash, with their actions detailed by nearly 40 cameras 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Long, 26, of Shadyside, was ousted from the competition last night, bounced by a 4-3 vote. Long said his eviction came as a surprise.
"I thought I had the whole house (behind me)," Long said, as he sat in a producers' booth watching his friend Cowboy, now sleeping in the bed he once occupied.
Long said his position of strength in the house -- built on brains and brawn -- made him a target. He also told lies about himself early on to try to strengthen his position.
Long and three other men in the house made an early pact to stick together, calling themselves "The Four Horsemen." Long was the first of the four to go.
"I knew regardless of what I did, I'd be a threat because of my (physical) size. And then people talked to me and they found out I wasn't some dumb jock," Long said.
Also on the block that night was Marvin, a mortician from South Carolina. Long didn't have a whole lot of love for Marvin, naming him as the resident with the most annoying habits.
"He doesn't have very many good things to say about anyone in the house. He'll stab you in the back," Long said.
The 'Burgh boy is disappointed to be moving on, but he said his friendships with the other horsemen will continue.
Long and two of the other four horsemen, Jase and Drew, have discussed continuing their roomie relationships in Los Angeles, where Long, who has modeled for Playgirl, hopes to make a go of it in La-La Land. The three men plan to attend Cowboy's Oklahoma wedding in December.
Before all of that, the axed contestant plans to relax in Pittsburgh. He arrives home tomorrow to a chauffeur-driven night on the town with friends and family to celebrate his return. Likely stops are an upscale Downtown dinner followed by bar-hopping in the Strip District.
He won't make the $500,000 prize, but Long said his time was well-spent.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything. ... I found the best friends in the world anyone could hope to find," Long said.
