An Interview with Xavier E. Prather from ‘The Anonymous’

THE ANONYMOUS -- "Plot Twist!" Episode 107 -- Pictured: Xavier Prather -- (Photo by: Rico Torres/USA Network)

This week’s episode of The Anonymous on USA Network featured another surprising exit. Since Lilly decided, the time had come to send Xavier packing to better her chances of winning the game, and to properly bid Xavier farewell, we sat down with him to discuss his experiences on the show.
 
John Betancourt: I would love to know how you became involved with the show.
 
Xavier E. Prather: I saw a casting producer friend of mine kind of post about this new concept of a show. I was like, “Oh, dang, that looks brilliant.” So, I told him. I was like, “Hey, if this is something that actually happens, like, let me know. I'm not exactly sure what’s involved, but on the general concept, I kind of like it.” And then after that, you know, he comes back to me, like, a while later, and was like, “Hey, I know NBC wants you like for this show.” And so, we hopped on a call. He told me more about, like, the concept itself, and I was really intrigued by it. I was like, this is a very layered type of show. It's the duality of it. I really liked. And I was like, “Alright, well, let's see what we can make happen here.” And I was like, “Oh, if I'm able to lie about who I am, this is, this is a very dangerous game for me, because that means I'm gonna be, Xavier out here and in that chat, I'm just gonna be an absolute savage.” So yeah, the possibilities contained in the game definitely intrigued me. So, I was hooked. I was like, “Yeah, let's, let's make it happen. Let's, let's see how it goes.”
 
John Betancourt: Now it’s not every day I get to talk someone that has done so much reality TV and been so successful at it. And I'm very curious now, as a seasoned veteran of this genre of television, do you have, a preparation routine? Something that you do before you go into a show to get that edge.
 
Xavier E. Prather: Great question. Great question. So typically, before I go on a show, and like, the last three shows I've done have been shows that have never, kind of existed before, the challenge was a spin off. So, it's like, I kind like to have more precedent, but like Reindeer Games, and then this show, there's nothing to go off of, so you try to find things that are similar. Um, with this show, my preparation consisted of watching The Circle, um, The Traitors and The Mole. Those were three shows that I felt like elements of those shows are going to be heavily involved, here. From The Circle, you have the kind of chat atmosphere, from The Traitors, you have the adding money to the pot element, and then from The Mole, you kind of had that undercover need to be deceptive or be one way to people's face and kind of another. I took all those and tried to take as many notes as I could, not physical notes, but just kind of make mental notes on like, “Okay, these are things that I'm seeing working effectively.”
 
That’s typically my pregame strategy. I try to find some type of precedent and then analyze that. That's what I did for Big Brother before Big Brother, I watched probably 14 prior seasons, like all within probably about a two-to-three-month span, as I was getting ready to go on the show and I was analyzing, I wasn't watching it for the enjoyment. I was watching it like game film to try to figure out, like, “Okay, this strategy is effective. This isn't effective.” Just so that way, when I got into the game, if you look at my pre-season interviews for Big Brother, I said what I was going to do before I went on the show, and then I just executed that play preparation. Preparation is definitely a big thing, but some games you can't even prepare for, so you just got to go and give it that shot.
 
John Betancourt: Now what's really amazing is, I think we can safely say you kind of brought out the first strategy of the show, since we really didn't have it the first couple episodes. But you started kind of bringing the alliances together, you’re the one who figured out that focusing on someone might be helpful. How did you kind of arrive at that strategy?
 
Xavier E. Prather: So, the strategy you guys didn't really get to see kind of how intricate that was, the strategy that I had behind the group, I was trying to figure out a way to increase the probability that, like me or someone I'm working with gets power. Because up to that point, it seemed like I was just missing the mark. I was like, “I was coming close, but not quite getting over the hump.” And so, I found out, I'm gonna give you, this is a lot, so I need you to stay up with me. I need you to stay with me. So, I found out, if you can get a group of people, you can use that group of people to kind of influence the chat. I was like, “Okay, who are, who are the names that we want to see in the chat.” So that way these handles can have reason to vote for those people in the chat. After that, once we have those people at the chat, then what we can do is we can determine how we're going to kind of allocate votes for the test.
 
So, it's like, okay, I'll use Lilly and Tyrenna, as an example. So, we have Lilly and Tyrenna. What handles do we think they are based off the chat? All right, we, let's say we think Lilly is Pizza, Truck, Fish. Okay, you two, that we're working with, you're gonna vote for Lilly for Pizza. You two, you're gonna vote for Lilly for Truck. You two, you're gonna vote for Lilly for Fish, because Andy was in on it, too. And so that way all those guesses aren't going to be right, but if one of them are, it significantly decreases the probability that that person got The Anonymous because we correctly matched their handle. And then with the people, the Alliance member, if you think you know who they are, scramble it on our alliance members. You think you know their handle, scramble it, it because it increases the probability that any of us become The Anonymous so then the power is in our hands, not theirs. And that was the plan. That's how I ended up getting the power.
 
John Betancourt: That’s brilliant. I mean, hat's gamesmanship.
 
Xavier E. Prather: Oh, I said in interviews that, like, I figured out how to hack DANI, and, like, you guys didn't really get to see it. But yeah, that's literally how I got power. It was funny because, like, I did it with the Connect Four board. When I first kind of came up with that, I sat Jack and Robbi down because I was like, look, I was like, my brain's smart enough, but you guys are big brained. Like, I just…  know this works, but I just needed to get verification. And I broke it down to them, and they were like, “Oh my God.” And I was like, “Yeah, I think this can really, like, ensure that one of us is going to get power.” So yeah, that was, that was kind of the strategy behind it. I wish you guys got to see more of kind of the intricacies behind it, because you see people in the in the hideouts, saying who they're voting for in accordance with kind of that plan. So, like, yeah, that was probably one of my prouder moments, is knowing that I kind of like figured out how to get power without jeopardizing the game for one of my allies.
 
John Betancourt: Obviously, this wasn’t the result that you wanted, so I’d like to know how tough was it to say goodbye?
 
Xavier E. Prather: Um, you know, at this point, it's just kind of like ripping off a band aid. I've been on four shows. I've made it to the end on two of them. Um, lost three of them. Like, it's one of those things that, like, you take a step back and you're appreciative for the experience. Um, you, try to maybe leave a nugget or two, which I definitely gave people a couple of nuggets on the game before I left, which I think the effects of that, you start to kind of see them in this episode. I'm curious to see if they continue to kind of snowball in the coming episodes. But yeah, you leave them a little nugget, and then you just kind of, you know, shake hands, give hugs, well played. And you keep it pushing, yeah.
 
John Betancourt: You know, I was just thinking that when you were talking about the strategies, like we're kind of seeing some of the impact you had on the others, it definitely showed up in this week’s episode.
 
Xavier E. Prather: I had a feeling that some allies were going against me, specifically after the Math Challenge with Jack. So, I was like, I didn't really… I wasn't sure if he wanted me out that day, but I had a feeling like he was plotting against me in some capacity. And I was like, “we shouldn't be doing that.” So, like, all right, well, if you want to play that way, that's fine. You might get me. I'm not the one to play with. Should just work with me.
 
John Betancourt: That entire challenge was pretty tense to say the least. I must say.
 
Xavier E. Prather: Oh, that challenge. We ran out of time. We didn't, we didn't even actually come to a consensus. It was just DANI told us we had to make a decision. So, in that moment, it was like, either we don't come to a decision, then we likely are disqualified from competing, as like, my experiences told me, if partners don't come to decision, they don't compete, or we go for the number he wants to pick and pray that we get it done. I was very pessimistic about our probability of getting it done. But it was like, this is, this is better than not competing at all.
 
John Betancourt: Obviously, you've been an important part of the reality TV landscape for several years now, and this is another big moment Because this is, such a unique and dynamic show. And I'm very curious what it means to you personally now to be a part of such a pioneering reality TV show?
 
Xavier E. Prather: It's crazy to still be kind of involved in the space as involved as I've been. It was funny when I was going through the interview process for the show, the producers said that I kind of reminded them, aspects of me reminded them of Cirie Fields. Arguably the most flattering compliment I think I've ever received. And it's just kind of like, you know, you see people like Cirie, you see people like Sandra, C.T., Dan Geesling like some people, Danielle Reyes, like people who are just really legends in kind of this space, and you hope that, like, you know, maybe someday you'll be in the same consideration of them, or like, you know, you're doing something to make an impact. So, to be considered for, like, a lot of these new and really funny, unique and exciting processes, I just feel like eternally grateful. It's really kind of, it's still kind of surreal. Honestly.
 
John Betancourt: So last question that I have for you today, what are you most proud of, what you accomplished with this tshow.
 
Xavier E. Prather: I was most proud of was figuring out how to hack DANI. I wish you guys really got to you got to see more of, like, how that all played out. But like, that was definitely the thing, because I was like, DANI, I like, I figured you out. Like, I figured out how to get power for either me or my allies and not have to, like, throw their name in the chat, or, like, throw them -- because, like, one, as you have already seen, one of the more effective strategies is like, be really close with someone in person and then just absolutely obliterate them. That that's not something I really wanted to, like, that was a very like, no disrespect. It was, like, kind of a surface level, like, obvious answer. And I was like, there's ways I don't want to throw my allies under the bus. So let me figure out a way to kind of get power without having to resort to that kind of last resort and figuring that out. I was just really like, wow, like I actually kind of was able to make this happen. I wish I hadn't gotten power that day, actually, because I think if my allies, if one of my allies, had gotten power, they would have had more faith that it worked, but because they didn't, I think a lot of them were skeptical about, like, whether or not it actually worked.
 
And I was like, “No,” I was like, “I can't tell you guys that I got The Anonymous but I'm telling you it worked.” So yeah, that was probably my proudest moment on this show, and also being one of the last couple of people to be put at risk, I thought I might have been gone first when I told them, when I had to tell them that I won Big Brother. So, ending up, you know, seeing it be me and Nina be some of the last people to be put at risk was kind of cool, given that we both had, like the experience. I was like, “Okay, clearly, we've taken our prior experience and are using it to our advantage here in this game.” So that was kind of cool, too.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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