The 'Big Brother 8' Winning Father-Daughter Team Sounds Off

Dick and Daniele Donato Dish on Their Fellow Houseguests, Family Feuds and Being Evel

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Sept. 19 -- When they entered the 'Big Brother 8' house at the beginning of the summer Dick and Daniele Donato had not spoken in over two years, a few short months later and these two power players are not only on speaking terms, but they also used their father-daughter bond to propel them to the final two.

On Tuesday night's season finale, Dick was awarded the top prize of $500,000 while Daniele earned $50,000 as runner-up. AOL TV's Angel Cohn spoke with the substantially wealthier duo, who still bicker (just a little more nicely), to find out what they really thought of the America's Player twist, their relationship and where that Evel nickname came from.

Did you ever imagine at the beginning of the summer that you'd end up in the final two ... and on speaking terms?
Daniele: No!
Dick: [Laughs] I had some hopes of us speaking, but being in the final two, I continually called it a fairy tale as we got closer and closer.

So this is real, right? The two of you are actually getting along? This wasn't just strategy?
Dick: Did I look like I was acting in the house? I shoot from the hip, man.
Daniele: I don't think anyone can act that good. If they could, they'd be Jen.

But in the beginning, partnering together was somewhat strategic?
Dick: We knew we could trust each other. But there were also times in the beginning that we had talked about bringing something up ...
Daniele: [Interrupts] No! You brought it up, I did NOT like that idea at all, about starting fights in the middle so it didn't look like we were getting along too well. Well, that didn't work out for you because we didn't get along too well. We had real fights. It just sucks because who wants to fight in front of all these people, let alone America. It is a personal fight over personal things and it is embarrassing and you don't want to do it, but you are doing it and you have no choice. It was a very rough situation.

Daniele, you had mentioned a couple times how miserable you were. Was it worth it in the end?
Daniele: I remember a time sitting outside with my dad, bawling my eyes out telling him, "No money is worth it. I don't want to do this. I want to go home. I hate this, I hate all these people." Looking back, I would not give up this experience. I would not trade it for anything. I called it an adventure. An adventure is what you make of it and look what we made of it. It is absolutely amazing. Of course there were hard times, but we got through them.

Dick, what's it like to know that America voted for you to win?
Dick: I keep saying that it is dumbfounding. I'm shocked. I thought I would be not just the most hated houseguest, but the most hated person on reality TV. Coming into this and going through the whole casting process I said from the beginning, "everyone will have an opinion of me." There won't be any, "Eh, I don't know about that guy." Everyone will either love me or hate me.

What did you think of the twist with Eric? You two were both onto him pretty early.
Daniele: Eric is a weird guy. We just thought he was a weird guy doing a lot of weird things. We knew he was a smart guy and he was playing a great game. All that we know about America's Player is what we saw on the finale, we haven't had a chance to watch the show and see exactly what happened, so it is really hard to say our feelings about it.

Was it the banner that tipped you off?
Daniele: There were just a lot of things that he was doing that just didn't sit right. Right before Nick left, he kept saying this weird thing about Nick doing these fist pounds with Zach. I know Nick better than anyone in the house and I know he's not going to stand up in the dark and do fist pounds with Zach. So I knew something wasn't right. When the vote against Kail [and] Nick went up, it could have been a set up for me and when the banner went by and I saw Eric's name, everything did fall into place.

Did the Evel nickname come before the show?
Daniele: [Laughs] He gave it to himself.
Dick: Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Daniele: Whatever.
Dick: I've had some nicknames in the past. Where that came from was online. It was my email address and screenname.
Daniele: That he made up himself.
Dick: Nobody in Hollywood has real names! Everybody just kind of grabbed on to that name and that's what it has been for six or seven years.

Dick, you said that you were going globe-trotting with the money. Are you taking Daniele with you?
Dick: Daniele is going trekking across Europe with an "unnamed tour guide." Fans online have raised $5,000 for "them" to do some trekking with. It is amazing and shows how much America's Sweetheart and America's Tetherball Player are really loved by America.

Daniele, what is going on with the boyfriend/Nick situation?
Daniele: I prefer not to answer that.

Any regrets, Dick? Anything that you did that was over the top even for you?
Dick: If anything were to change whatsoever, it could have had a domino effect. You just don't know how things would have panned out. I wouldn't change anything.

Daniele, do you think your tense response to Amber's jury question about you flirting with Nick when you had a boyfriend stopped her from voting for you?
Daniele: Honestly, by the question you could kind of tell she had her mind set. After she asked the question, she kind of giggled to my dad. I was happy with my answer. I'm sorry, but this is a game and if you come in to vote for a good person, then you are a waste of a juror and why are you even in here? She was a horrible game player and was left in the house because she wasn't a threat. If she was going to vote that way, then I don't want her vote. I don't want her vote because you think I'm a good person, I want your vote because you think I'm a good player.
Dick: Amber's question just show's what a b---h she is.

Who in the game do you hope never to see again?
Daniele: Amber, Dustin and Jen.
Dick: Everybody in the house.

Do you have any strategic moment or move you are proud of?
Dick: I thought I was really proud of the move that I made getting Eric to keep me in.
Daniele: But it was America! One of the most proud moments, was the last veto because I knew that if I didn't win that me or my dad would be going home that week.

Do you think your life has changed because of this show?
Dick: I think that my life is going to change in the respect that I'm going to have a good relationship with my daughter and that was the main focus and that's what I'm happiest about.
Daniele: And I 100 percent agree with that!

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