Following her rocky departure from her high-profile White House role as Trump’s director of communications, Omarosa Manigault Newman returned to her roots in reality TV and joined this year's Celebrity Big Brother cast.
The show’s first episode aired last night, and with it one predictable question was answered: it would only take Omarosa one episode to spill the beans about her time in the White House. What’s less predictable is what she said: while tearing up, Omarosa appeared to express regret for her time working for Trump and, more alarmingly, warned that the country should indeed be worried about what’s going on in the White House. Turns out it really is as bad as we all think.
The Celebrity Big Brother cameras caught a backyard, intimate conversation (well, as intimate as a reality TV show broadcast to millions of people can be) between contestants Ross Matthews and Omarosa.
“I felt like it was a call of duty, like I was serving my country, not serving him,” he said, almost in tears.
“I was haunted by tweets every single day,” she said, as if she’s supposed to feel special. Look, lady, we’re all haunted by the president’s tweets every single day. Get in line.
“What is he gonna tweet next?” she added, echoing the sentiments of every single breathing person in the world.
Matthews asked her if there is anyone who checks him on his behavior and tweeting. “I tried to be that person, and all the people around him attacked me,” she said. “It was like, ‘keep her away from him, don’t give her access, don’t let her talk to him.’ Ivanka’s there, Jared’s there…” Omarosa then started to cry.
“I’m not there. It’s not my circus, not my monkeys,” she continued. “I’d like to say not my problem but I can’t say that because… it’s bad.”
“Should we be worried?” Matthews asks.
Omarosa, tears flowing down her face, looks straight at him and nods sternly.
“I need you to say it’s gonna be okay,” Matthews asks.
“No, it’s not gonna be okay. It’s not,” Omarosa says.
Although Omarosa seemed genuine, she’s no stranger to reality TV. She appeared on The Apprentice alongside Donald Trump himself for several years, and has also appeared in other shows like Say Yes to the Dress andFear Factor. Her reputation as a villain on that show didn’t earn her many favors after she accepted a job with Trump, first on his campaign and then in the White House.
It’s also strange that she would have waited until appearing on a reality show to finally come clean about a man who she has known for over a decade and she helped elect. Did it take that long for her to realize or that long for her to find a way to profit?
Whether it’s Omarosa’s own cunning or the expertise of the Big Brother producers—and whether or not Omarosa is even telling the full truth or not—this move this early in the season has guaranteed an extra, urgent layer of drama for the Big Brother show that is sure to spark even more headlines as the season wears on.
