Though Xavier Prather walked into The Anonymous as the most experienced contestant in reality TV, he was in the same boat as the other players. That's because they were facing a brand-new game, one that took place both in-person and behind a screen and anonymous profiles. Though Xavier came clean about his resumé, including his historic win on Big Brother, his truthfulness helped cultivate great relationships, and he was one of the last people to ever get voted for in the game.

Unfortunately for Xavier, when the profiles reset, so did his game. A new opportunity to hide allowed people to gun for him harder, including newbie and BB superfan Wayne Nichols. By the time the sixth elimination rolled around, his target had grown too large. Half the group voted for Xavier, feeling he was the best player and biggest threat. And so the man behind "Fish" and "Scissors" was all dried up, getting clipped from the game.

Xavier talks with Parade about why he decided to sign up for The Anonymous, his reaction to Jack's strategy during the math challenge, and why he chose not to go after Nina Twine, the daughter of Survivor legend Sandra Diaz-Twine.

Related: Everything to Know About USA's The Anonymous

Your reality TV career has you mostly participating in tried and true formats like Big Brother and The Challenge. So what made you decide a brand new show like The Anonymous was going to be your next show?

The concept just intrigued me. I felt like it took a lot of different elements from other shows-some shows that I've been on, some shows that I haven't been on, but were interested in-and kind of just meshes them all together in this weird cornucopia of just drama and stress. And I was like, "What? Let me do that! That sounds fun!" But yeah, the concept was really intriguing to me. The duality of the chat world versus the in-person world, that was very interesting to me. It was something where I felt like, if I could lie about who I was, I would be able to do that duality very effectively.

But the concept is really what brought me to it. And I think the concept, in and of itself, is brilliant. It's one of the more layered concepts I've ever gotten the chance to be a part of. And I also like that, with a show that hasn't happened before, it kind of forces me to kind of elevate my game in areas that maybe I haven't had to before. I think people know me primarily as winning competitions. But here's a game where using physical prowess doesn't really get you anywhere because the challenges aren't based on that. So, you really need to elevate your game socially and strategically. So it was cool to kind of lean into more of my skill set in regard to those realms.

So, what surprised you the most about playing The Anonymous compared to your expectations?

I would say probably how many people did know who I was that weren't already in the space. Because when I went on Reindeer Games, Britney didn't know who I was. I was like, "Cool people might not know me at all on this show." When I tell you I was in my bed at night, just like, "No one's gonna know who I am." Didn't happen. Five people knew who I was before I even said hello, or at least were familiar with Big Brother. Dillian, Lily, Casey, Wayne, and Nina. Nina's actually met Cookout members before. We apparently have just missed each other, which was crazy to me. Because the fact that Jack told me she looks like Sandra, she's met Cookout members. But we've never actually met where, seeing each other, we would have been able to piece it together. It was kind of crazy. But having five people who kind of knew who I was was really like, "Oh, man, this game just got a lot harder."

Well, to that point, we saw a lot of people target you in last week's episode, saying you were the biggest competitor. Do you think, once the cat was out of the bag about your Big Brother win, it was only a matter of time before they took you out?

Yes, 100%. I think me getting ahead of it did help build trust. And then the way I played the game, after I revealed that, I was going to have to play a far more transparent game just to help kind of dilute whatever paranoia or doubt they're having about me. So I'm going up to people trying to be as helpful as possible. I'm giving them as much game insight as I can produce to show them that you need to use me as an asset, as opposed to just viewing me as this glaring threat. And so, in my opinion, that was working very effectively.

And then DANI threw in that wonderful twist. This really obliterated all the work that I put in thus far. Because with the new players, you're really just kind of going off like the resumés with there being no time. That's why you see Bismah kind of gunning for me from jump. Because she's like, "Lawyer, won Big Brother. What is the conversation even about?" Wayne, huge Big Brother fan, knows I won Big Brother. He's surprised that I'm still there. So I was like, "That's not good." Victoria didn't know my Big Brother history. But she knows Kat Dunn. And so I was like, "Oh yeah, I know Kat Dunn. I don't know if you guys talk about Big Brother at all." So it was just one of those things. I was like, "Oh man." This is when I found out I had to say who I was. Because Dillian told me he knew who I was night one, so I told him that next morning. I was like, "Yeah, this is going to be an uphill battle." But shockingly enough, being one of the last two people to be put at risk, I was like, "Okay, socially, that means I'm doing what I need to be doing." But I knew I had an uphill battle when I had to reveal who I was.

Related: The Anonymous Executive Producer Stephen Yemoh Reveals the Driving Force Behind the New Reality Series

Let's get into some of your key relationships that had your game going downhill into this uphill battle. You and Jack seemed to be working tightly together. But on the way out, you named him as someone who may have gotten rid you as the Anonymous. Talk to me about your dynamic.

I was like, "Jack's smart. He's going to see the benefit in kind of keeping me around." I knew he was a very active game player. I didn't know he got the Anonymous as much as he did, but I knew he was playing a very active game. You could just see him stressing about it. I was like, "You're only stressing that much if you're doing a lot." And so with him, I was like, "There may come a point where that starts to catch up with him. And if that happens, he's going to want me around because you can easily paint a bigger target on me than what they're ever going to think about you, unless you really just kind of mess up." That was kind of my relationship with Jack. We were getting closer, and it was going well.

But then, when Wayne went home and his handle was revealed as Lightbulb, that's when I was like, "Okay, there are a lot of handles here who have been voting for me." I was giving my allies the benefit of the doubt and thinking, "Okay, maybe it's the new players who are voting for me." Obviously one was revealed to be Robbi, but I know why she did that. She didn't actually want me gone. She was just trying to smoke screen. But then with the other ones, I was kind of like, "Okay, when Wayne's one of the new players, he didn't vote me at risk." I already kind of had an inkling Bismah was Eagle. So I was like, "So who are these two other handles? In the game that's left, who are the two savviest game players outside of myself? That's Jack and Nina. The new players coming in, the new handles would be a great guise for them to actually try to get a shot at me without really it being obvious." And I think, if our handles had remained the same, it would have been more obvious who's taking the shot. But, with the new handles and the new players, it gives them more of an opportunity to take that shot. Which you've seen; both of them put me at risk.

And then the math challenge. I was already skeptical of Jack. With the math challenge, that yellow kind of red flag went to blood red. I was like, "Oh, my gosh. This dude's doing way too much." Because hew as like, "$1,999." I was like, "Jack are you outside of your mind? You think we're going to solve 1,999 before somebody else does 50 or 100 or 140? No, that's not going to happen, buddy." And he was like, D"ude, I know exactly how to do this. "I was like, "How?! Did you get a cheat sheet? You get Spark Notes? How could you know exactly how to do that?" He said he wanted to go for Lily, Bismah, and Dylan. But then he's like, "Let's go for 1,999." I was like, "If you want them as targets, you need to make sure they're available. The best way to do that is to take safety off the table from them by us getting safety." And he was like, "Nope, 1999." I was like, "Okay, logically, you're just not making sense, unless you're doing a lot or you don't want me to be safe. If you don't want me to be safe, why is that? That way, if you're at risk, I'm standing next to you, or are you wanting me [to go]?" Either way, both of those are red flags for me, for someone who's supposed to be a very close ally.

Christopher was someone who was brought into your initial alliance. But he attracted a lot of attention with his showmance with Victoria, which had you and your other allies questioning how loyal he would be. Obviously, you know firsthand about the complications of playing with a showmance. So what was your reaction to all that?

Christopher was the person I trusted the most in the game. Throughout my time in the game, I think the other people that came kind of close to that would be Robbie and, towards the end of my time, probably Marcel. Marcel and I's relationship, I would say from day three on, increased significantly to where we had a really solid working relationship. That's why you don't ever see Marcel throw me at risk. But with Christopher, when Victoria showed up, I was skeptical of it because of what had happened with Sydney. I was like, "Sydney was kind of playing you. Here might be someone who's doing the same thing. So just keep your head, be cautious." But I asked him straight up. I was just like, "Look, is she going to be a problem? I don't care if you're with her. But as long as she doesn't come between us, I have no problems. Go ahead. Knock yourself out.

"I mean, a couple's good for me. Y'all are threats. I'm not going to put y'all at risk. But if someone else put you at risk and I'm at risk, they might have more of an inkling to get rid of one of you. So that doesn't make sense for me to have an issue with it. I don't have an issue with it if it's going to come between us." Because I had that initial kind of thought process that most people have, which is like, "He's probably going to pick her over me. "And he just told me. "No, it's not going to be a problem." And Christopher, if you meet him and know him, he's very much someone who tries to does his best to keep his word, and he did that. I mean, never put me at risk, never said my name in the chat, never does anything to go against me. So for me, the couple was something that it's like, you would view it as a threat if you're not in good with the couple. If you're in good with the couple, there's really mostly benefits. And we see that Victoria has figured out a way to become the Anonymous. So, yeah, I'd rather have that on my side.

Talk to me about Nina. After Jack told you about his suspicions of her being related to Sandra, did you ever talk to her about it?

No. So for me, with that information, two things kind of come to mind. One, just because you're related to a reality TV legend doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be at the same caliber of that player. Now, granted, I viewed Nina as a threat, but that was purely because of my observations from Nina in the game. Tiffany Russo isn't Vanessa Russo. Jared fields is not Cirie Fields. You know what I'm saying? Tere are relatives that don't quite measure up at times. So that wasn't enough alone. If I had known she was on Survivor Australia, oh, I would have blown her up the first day! I would have blew it up that day. Are you kidding me? Survivor players are different, okay? If I had known she had that under her belt-two seasons-I'd have blown it up that night or that in the chat the next day. Either way, it was getting blown up.

But her being Sandra's daughter, also kind of, I will say, played a little bit on me. Because Sandra and I have a very good rapport. I have a lot of respect for Sandra. And so, for me, I have enough respect for Sandra where I'm not going to blow up her daughter's game for that reason. Sandra has always showed me love. She's always been respectful of me and complimented me on my game on Big Brother. I've done the same when she's been on Survivor; when she was on The Traitors I showed her love. So it was one of those things that I was like, "Your mom's already been putting in the groundwork for you. Luckily, your mom's already been going to work. You might be a problem, but I'm not going to come for you unless I have good, convincing evidence that I need to come for you. Other than that, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, because I have so much respect for your mother."

Finally, what one handle identity surprised you the most when watching the show back?

Lily as Robot has probably been the most surprising to me. Because, for the life of me, I was trying to figure out who would constantly be throwing Nina at risk. Because she was only getting one vote every time, and I really didn't think it would be Lily. Lily getting the Anonymous power was kind of twofold. She had a lot of things going for her to help her get power. Her constantly putting Nina at risk, I don't think a lot of people piece that together. And then Jack pretending to be her, which I don't think he realized actually gives her a ton of votes. If someone effectively thinks like he's being her, [they're] also not correctly matching her handle. So she's getting a huge boost.

I realized that was an ineffective strategy on the third day. You see me mentioning what I'm talking about Tyrenna and Dice. That's why, with Scissors, you see me completely abandon pretending to be Lily, because I don't want her to get power, because she might send me or Christopher, or even Jack, home. But Jack didn't realize that at the time, because he says he doesn't think Lily and Bismah are going to get power. But he doesn't realize that, in pretending to be them, you're actually giving them a great boost if you're doing it effectively. And then the lineup that we had, I was like, "You either send me or Nina home. And between the two of us, you're probably sending me home, just based off what Lily knew." So, yeah, it just made sense. It was just kind of the wrong person getting power.

Next, here's everything you need to know about the current season of Big Brother 26.