Big Brother 26 star Matt Hardeman hopes there will be learning lessons for Angela

First boots on Big Brother are often not that memorable, but no one will ever forget season 26’s first victim being on the receiving end of an epic rant. Matt Hardeman (aka “Crazy Eyes”) was just kind of minding his own business one morning when Angela Murray absolutely unloaded on him for threatening to come back at her if she nominated him for eviction.

Angela called Matt’s entire character into question and proceeded to tell him how embarrassed his parents would be to watch his actions on TV. That incident was merely the first unfortunate event for Matt, as he was later beaten by Kimo Apaka in the BB AI Arena, and then voted out 8-3 instead of bromance bestie Kenney Kelley.

What does Matt now make of Angela’s torrid takedown? How worried is he about his parents watching the entire thing unfold? And did he and his arch enemy interact at all on his way out of the house? We asked the 25-year-old tech sales rep from Georgia all that and more.

Matt Hardeman on 'Big Brother 26'.

CBS Broadcasting, Inc

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Before you entered the Big Brother house, had anyone ever told you that your eyes were, and I’m quoting here, “crazy?”

MATT HARDEMAN: Absolutely not. That's definitely one I've never gotten before. I think out of all of the possibilities of things that people may comment about me, my eyes, they're just brown! So I've never gotten that one before. That was new, but I'm like, “Do I need to merchandise that?” I never thought my eyes would be such a topic of conversation.

Hey, strike while the iron is hot! So what was going through your mind when Angela came down the stairs and just started lighting into you?

Well, I don't really know how it was portrayed, obviously, but from my perspective, Angela starts clapping, right? So she's walking down the stairs and she's clapping, and if you look over at me, I'm clapping. And then me and Tucker look at each other and we're clapping too. And then she turns and she goes, “Matt…” And I really thought she was going to say, “Can you dance for everybody so we can have a better great start to the day?" So I'm clapping, and I'm clapping at my own massacre. I'm sitting here doing this [claps hands], and it was a huge shock. I was very surprised, not expecting it in the slightest.

Matt Hardeman.

CBS Broadcasting, Inc

You've only been out of the house around 12 hours or so, and you mentioned you don't know how it played out. Are you looking forward to watching everything play back on TV, or are you kind of dreading it?

I'm definitely looking forward to it. Being in the house was a huge honor and a huge privilege. I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to do it. I went in and wouldn't have gone in without knowing that we're in a really high pressure, high stakes situation — that life in the house is not life outside of the house.

So I'm excited to watch it. I'm excited to learn and grow maybe on some things to watch it back, but I'm also really proud of how I tried to be an example to handle some of the situations from my perspective. Like I said, we're all on a journey. I think I have areas to learn and grow as well, but I am excited to watch it back and will definitely continue to be an advocate for the story of Big Brother 26 this season.

Angela Murray on 'Big Brother 26'.

CBS Broadcasting, Inc

What do you think Angela’s reaction is going to be when she watches everything play back on TV?

I don't know, but I do hope that there will be some learning lessons for her, and not just in her experience with me, but with her experience with a lot of people. There hit a point for a lot of people in the house where people were nervous to walk in certain areas where she was, and her presence was causing some fear in some people, and that was just outside of me. And I even felt guilt, like I contributed to that feeling for other people, but I do not want to be somebody who gets personal and throws out character attacks.

I think that there were some in the house that also caught some strays within what was happening. And with Lisa getting called Tinker Bell… I mean, some of the things thrown out at me I couldn't even be upset about. When I sat back and reflected, I was like: Man, that was really creative. Was that in a rap song? That was a creative dis. In the moment I'm processing, I'm like “Take the words out of my mouth and then shove them up…” and I'm processing the direction. I'm like, "Wait… so out?" But all in all, I hope that there's some learning lessons, but there's learning lessons for all of us being in this game and in this experience.

Kimo Apaka, Kenny Kelley and Matt Hardeman on 'Big Brother 26'.

CBS Broadcasting, Inc

We saw you get really emotional in the bathroom about your parents watching this all play back on TV. How much was or has that been really worrying you?

A lot. When you're in this game, you start to think that you put not only yourself in a vulnerable position, which is hard, but you put your story and your family and your community that you represent. I came into this game wanting to represent being the son of an immigrant. My mom for years and years just watched Julie to help with her English when she came to this country in 1993. So Julie has been a role model in our family for a long time, and so I wanted to tell that story how hard my mom has worked to give me a life to do and be anything that I could have ever wanted.

And so to come in wanting to tell that story, but that also in the first couple days being at risk was difficult, and I know how hard my mom has fought to give me an opportunity.  I did not want to fumble that opportunity, and to think about having to sit back and watch somebody else treat me that way and say some of the things and then also talk about how she raised me was kind of what hit me.

I can take the criticism. I've been called a lot worse than some of the things that Angela said about me, but thinking about it from my mom's perspective was definitely a breaking point for me and caused a lot of emotion to come out. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of forgiveness that come around despite where our world is at. That will always be where I choose to land. And I hope that my experience in the story of what happened is going to be an example that that is the best route for not only me, but for us as a country and us as a world.

Matt Hardeman and Julie Chen Moonves on 'Big Brother 26'.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

It was a bit hard to see with those giant mascot uniforms taking up half the screen, but did you and Angela interact at all or say anything to each other on your way out the door after you were evicted?

I don't think that we did, but I would've liked to. Angela hadn't spoken to me in a couple days. She was avoiding me throughout the house. She was avoiding Makensy throughout the house, and after the blowup with Lisa was avoiding Lisa throughout the house.

I would've liked that opportunity. I tried in my speech to know that you never know how long you're going to last in this game, but it was important to me in front of the house that I choose to forgive Angela despite anything that happened, because I do at my core believe, like I said, that that is the direction and that's a step forward for our country and our world as people. I wanted to model that because that's who I want to be and how I want to live my life.

And so, regardless, like I said, there's always areas for me to grow, but it meant a lot for me to stand up, and regardless if she was going to think she needed that forgiveness or she was going to accept that forgiveness, what I can control is me offering it and being an example that regardless of whatever happens, that's the best route to choose in life.

Kenny Kelley and Matt Hardeman on 'Big Brother'.

CBS Broadcasting, Inc

You got Makensy, Leah, and Lisa’s votes to stay. Were there votes you didn’t get that surprised you?

Absolutely. I think not getting Rubina's vote was definitely the one that shocked me a lot. I think we had both communicated that because of our heritage and our ethnicity that we represented something bigger than just the journey to win a lot of money. And so that was definitely a surprise for me. There's no hard feelings. Rubina is a firecracker of a girl and I cannot wait to hang out with her after this. And we were even joking about starting a mobile bartending company. But I was very surprised at that.

I did think last night that me and Kimo had a really great conversation. I thought there definitely could have been some rapport built up through that and the plan for the week. Mama B, Brooklyn, I was very surprised that she turned on her own son. I'm like, “Geez, Big Brother is cold!” But at the end of the day, we're playing a game, and I get it. I do think that I would've been a threat to everybody at some point in the game, so me being on the block on early is definitely going to be a good moment for them to make a move.

Makensy Manbeck and Matt Hardeman on 'Big Brother 26'.

CBS Broadcasting, Inc

You told Makensy your story was not over. What do you want that story to be?

I want that story to be that when we get out, we get to navigate whatever happens with both of us. I feel like even if me and Makensy did not want to be in that situation together, we came into the house and it was just like, “You, boom, Texas. You, Georgia, boom. Good looking. Showmance.” And we were like, “Whoa!” I didn't even know her name was not spelled a certain way it's spelled and is not even spelled how most people spell Mackenzie. So yeah, it was very quick, but at the same time we did get to kind of go about the game knowing that, “Hey, it's already on us so we might as well figure it out." So, yeah, definitely I'm excited to connect with her when she gets out.

I was excited to get more time with her in the game. Every moment of the late-night conversations we have are 100 percent real. We were both carrying in a lot of baggage of relational pasts. She had a lot of stuff in previous relationships, I had a lot of stuff in previous relationships, and even for a short period of time, it felt like we did get to walk and carry those together and give each other hope outside of being in the game where trust is a novelty.

So I think the story coming outside of this, I hope, will at least be that it's giving each other hope that there are people that are going to love us and be safe, whether that be each other or not, that that can continue to be our story.