By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

As a social butterfly, Daniel Clarke couldn’t be beat. His personality, sense of humour and big heart endeared him to the houseguests this season. From the very start Daniel wasn’t just on a mission to win hearts but to prove to everyone that you can never judge a book by its cover and there is more than one way to play the game.

John Powell: Congratulations on making the finale! How do you feel about your game and the experience?

Daniel Clarke: I feel so good about the experience! I couldn’t be more prouder of the way I played this game. I was 100 per cent genuine! All the connections that I was making they just kept working and drove the strategy in and it was beautiful! I loved it! I’m so proud about how I did and how I played!

John Powell: You seemed to have a really great attitude and sense of humor throughout the entire series. How were you able to keep things so light, despite all the chaos going on the house?

Daniel Clarke: I’m an empathetic person in general. I’m the person who tries to raise up my friends. I’m always trying to make the room feel lighter, just put smiles on people’s faces. It’s honestly just who I am and then I would go to my little corners in the house and cried when I was just overwhelmed. We know that I’m emotional person but the stress of the house it really gets to you, to all of us. It’s a hard place to be and it’s a pressure cooker in there but at the end of the day we just have to keep pushing. That’s my my outlook and my way of life. I just tried to laugh it off and just be the light.

John Powell: We have seen such amazing challenge beasts and such strong social games this season. What do you think is the lesson to be learned about the gameplay this season?

Daniel Clarke: There was so many different types of players this season and I think what we showed is one game is not worth more than the other. We all got to our places playing our games completely differently…No one thought I was going to come out there and compete. I was not winning the competitions but I was in second place! I think that’s the one thing, you can’t judge books by their covers. There’s more than one way to win this game.

John Powell: Obviously, you had an amazing social game. What do you think was the downfall of your game though?

Daniel Clarke: I think the downfall to my game was really the setup of who was left in there. At a certain point we all started to rely on Ty at the end of the game and we were using him as a pillar to push forward. I think that at the time we should have caught on to the different connections and tried to break things up. At the end of the day, I truly felt like I had a great shot going to the end with everyone that was there.

John Powell: You and Kuzie were so close for much of the game. What happened to the bonds? Are you surprised that there’s friction between Kuzie and Anika?

Daniel Clarke: Yes and no. The game gets very heavy. These people are your life in that house. We have nothing but each other so as we start getting further and further into the game there’s personal and then there’s game. The personal connection between me and The Crown was amazing! It was the best thing ever! But, when it comes to game and we’re getting to the end, there’s only going to be one winner. I think what happened was we were fighting for our lives and we were constantly put in a position where our allies were going week after week. It got to a point where it was the three of us and it was down to one of us having to go. We all needed to put ourselves first to move ahead in the game.

John Powell: If Claudia had taken you instead of Ty, who do you think would have won? Did the jury reveal that to you?

Daniel Clarke: I think that if Claudia would have taken me I would have won the game. I haven’t talked to all the jury members but from the couple that I have talked to since yesterday I have heard that the vote was most likely going to go my way. So, I can’t blame her but I think it would have still been more of a fight. We still would have had to pitch against each other. I don’t know. Maybe I would have stumbled in my final pitch and they would have went back the other way? Who knows?

John Powell: You spoke often about coming close but not winning competitions. Did you surprise yourself at how well you did do and what was it like competing against the likes of Ty?

Daniel Clarke: It hurt competing against Ty! I surprised myself every single day! I never thought I would come in into this game and compete the way that I did. Based on first impressions people wouldn’t see me as a competitor and I knew I was gonna work really hard to try to break that stereotype. Don’t just judge a book by its cover! I’m very proud of myself for doing that and coming so as close as I did so many times!