BB8 Big Brother finalists talk about the experience

The Orange County Register
Dick Donato, who won the show's eighth season, and daughter Daniele both say they are happy with the outcome.

By RICHARD CHANG
The Orange County Register

One day after coming in second to her father on the finale of CBS's "Big Brother 8," Daniele Donato was in a terrific mood.

The Huntington Beach waitress missed the $500,000 grand prize on the reality series, but came away with $50,000 – and a reconciled relationship with her father Dick, with whom she hadn't spoken for about two years.

"I wish I could say everyone was a sucker and we actually got along the whole time," Donato, 21, said Wednesday. "But everything you saw was true. We didn't talk, and now we do."

After some awkward moments and tears, Dick and Daniele Donato proved to be a formidable team on the program, which put 14 people from various backgrounds together in one house for 70 days. Daniele won several challenges, while Dick intimidated people and cunningly strategized his way to the top.

"Of course it would have been nice to come in first," said Daniele, who works in Costa Mesa. "We wanted to be first and second in the final two, and that's what happened. So for us, honestly, we did win. We both won."

Dick, 44, a tattooed bar owner who also lived in Huntington Beach for three years, said he wouldn't have cried if his daughter had won, but was thrilled that he was the ultimate champion.

"I won, my daughter came in second, what could be better?" said the Long Beach resident.

Dick said he plans to use a portion of the $500,000 to pay for his daughter's college education. The rest will go toward purchasing a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, taking a trip to Dublin, and embarking on a trip around the world.

Contest rules state that two participants may not split the final prize, to limit the amount of deal making and conspiring.

The broadcast of the "Big Brother 8" finale was Tuesday's second most-watched prime time program, according to Zap2it.com.

Previously ousted contestants were present at the finale, along with a studio audience that included Dick's mother and son (Daniele's grandmother and brother).

"It was interesting and amazing and unbelievable," Dick said. "We could hear those cheers (from the inside of the house). It was really good to see both of them."

Father and daughter said they have both been longtime fans of the "Big Brother" series, and they both applied to be on the sixth incarnation of the program.

"I guess I was too young back then," Daniele said.

They applied again for season eight, and during casting calls, they saw each other but did not speak.

"I didn't know he was going to be on it, but I kinda had a weird feeling," Daniele said. "I just had a weird feeling. But at that time, I didn't know."

Daniele said she wanted to be on the program for the "excitement" and "to escape from reality."

"Coming into it, it was absolutely everything I never thought it would be," she said.

The waitress hasn't quit her job, but her future plans include going back to school and becoming a second grade teacher.

Contact the writer: 714-796-6026 or rchang@ocregister.com
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'Big Brother' facts

* Started in the Netherlands in September 1999
* Has been adapted in dozens of countries throughout the world, including Argentina, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
* Contestants live in a specially constructed house under the continuous watch of television cameras. In the U.S. version, live feeds are broadcast nonstop over the Internet and edited into three televised episodes each week.
* Participants – usually no more than 15 – periodically vote out one of the group over three months, until two are left. In the finale, the last seven evictees select a winner from the remaining pair.
* “Big Brother 8” featured 14 contestants, including “America’s Player” and three pairs who came into the house with previous, unsteady relationships. “America’s Player” secretly took orders from voting viewers, while the dysfunctional relationships included former lovers and Dick and Daniele Donato, a father and daughter who hadn’t spoken for two years.
* The winner in the U.S. version gets $500,000. Dick Donato, 44, won Tuesday night.