Anytime two NLers meet, there’s an instant connection, but inside the Big Brother Canada house, one bond intensified into a delightful showmance
Samantha Picco and Adam Pike are adorable – with a capital ‘A’. Their gaga-for-one-another ways a guaranteed pick me up on a less than stellar May day.
Yes, it’s dreary outside, and snow is in the forecast – a weather warning to boot – but Picco and Pike bring their own special sunshine as they sit down for a chat. What’s life been like since Big Brother Canada? In a word? It’s been a whirlwind, they say, but the positive vibes and encouragement they keep receiving from fellow Newfoundlanders makes it all worth while.
“We’re just now getting a feel for the impact that I think Adam and I made on the show when it comes to representing Newfoundland. That is something that we are very proud of and we had no idea the impact that we made until coming out of the house. So feeling that love I think has been the best part,” Picco opens.
SOMETHING PRETTY SPECIAL
Pike, who has always been a huge fan of the show, agrees. “I loved it. We loved it. Being part of Big Brother Canada was great, and now being out and getting so much love and support? It’s overwhelming,” he adds.
But there’s something else that’s pretty special about their time on the hit NTV reality show. These two Newfoundlanders fell in love right before our very eyes during the making of season seven.
RELATED: LOCAL A Year With The Sheerrs Amanda's Big Secret NL's Adrianna Harris on TLC's Hot & Heavy
They smile at one another. Can they fill readers in on how, and how quickly, that connection happened? Part of the magic was the fact that both were Newfoundlanders, and part was the Big Brother Canada house itself; being ‘turned off and tuned out’ from the outside world and influences, they share candidly.
“Being away from your phone, we just had no worry about anything. That’s why our relationship built so fast, because there were no distractions. It was just me and her. That was it. I was focused on her 100 per cent.”
“And that’s why it’s like it blossomed quick,” Picco adds.
“Yeah. Very quick,” Pike interjects as the two share ‘a look.’
“Day two, I knew,” Picco says, as if it’s just the two of them in the room.
“Day one…” Pike counters and Picco laughs. “Yeah, day one, I was just trying to act like it wasn’t that way.”
‘HARD TO JUGGLE’
They were, after all, there to play a game. And the stakes were high. This season’s winner of Big Brother Canada, Dane Rupert, took home a grand prize of $100,000, and that was just the tip of the proverbial prize iceberg.
Speaking of the game, was it awkward when they actually had to play? All the alliance stuff? The back-dooring and the mind-games? Not really, they share.
“I knew nothing. Not until I actually watched myself (when the show aired)did I actually know everything,” Pike says.
Picco says there’s no hard feelings. “I think some people are saying Adam should have fought harder to keep (me) but I don’t think Adam was fully informed of what was happening and if he was he probably would have fought a little bit harder.”
There’s the dropping from the pipe thing before he had to in a challenge that makes Pike shake his head in hindsight. They can laugh about that now. After all, they have each other and the experience of playing the best they possibly could.
The two say they were always loyal to one another, though it wasn’t always easy. “It was hard to juggle Sam and the b’ys (the Pretty Boys alliance),” Pike admits.
They talk about their connection more than anything that could have placed a wedge between them.
“The fact that we were both Newfoundlanders definitely put things in hyper speed but I was like, wow, when she walked in and I hadn’t heard her speak, I didn’t know where she was from. I didn’t know she was from Newfoundland but soon as I seen her, I was like, that’s the girl, she’s one I would definitely go for, so without even knowing that she was from Newfoundland I knew that I was going to be with her.”
The two are obviously on a love high, but there’s something else too, a Big Brother Canada high perhaps?
“I would do it again. The best experience I’ve ever had in my life. We would go back tomorrow,” Picco says.
UNDER PRESSURE
They talk about the other Newfoundlander who almost made it into the house, Holly Noseworthy. Would the game have changed?
“Maybe Holly and I could have come together and created some sort of alliance and tried to take out the Pretty Boys. I mean that’s what I think it could have been. So I think there could have been some positives there with Holly being on the show, but things worked out how they should have I think,” Picco says graciously.
Neither did poorly on the show. Picco made it to the jury and Pike was the king of the challenges, making it to the final four. Pike says he even surprised himself. “I have no idea where it came from. I shocked myself sometimes,” he says laughing.
Picco, sweetly, says she never doubted he could do anything he set his mind to.
“You’re smart. You’re a hard worker in general. I’ve never seen someone work so hard or perform so well under pressure.”
Pike is grateful for the compliment. ‘‘I spent hours and hours and hours in the gym so I guess that helped me a lot before going into the show but it’s mental too. I mean this is a head game. You have a lot of downtime and I would just study every single day. I worked at it.”
Pike also made his momma proud, being dubbed the cleanest person to ever play the game. Between the dishes he washed and his creative construction of a mop-like object, Pike put himself on constant clean-up duty just to stay busy. The makin’s of a good hubby, perhaps? They laugh. So? Speaking of…how are things?
“Things are amazing,” Picco gushes. “We’re just so blessed to have had this experience together. And every single day I love him more and more.”
How freakin’ sweet! No doubt that’s something Newfoundland fans love to hear. Something else they share a love of? This place.
“We live in Newfoundland. We want to stay in Newfoundland. I think for us, we want to kind of give back the love that we’ve received and the support we’ve been given so that leads us into our first official public appearance,” says Picco.
GREAT SUPPORT
The lovebirds were at Club One on May 25th to give some of that love back. “Thanks to Newfound Promotions and Bryan Vaughan, he has been absolutely incredible helping guide us through the confusion and the craziness. We wanted to meet everybody there and wanted to get back to the people and keep doing things like that. We can’t wait to meet the kids too. There’s so many young fans of the show, so there’s going to be more of these public appearances,” Picco promises.
One group they don’t need to worry about introducing? Their families. Before they even returned, everyone had already become besties, they joke.
“That’s what I love the most about this is that not only are we able to connect, we’ve been able to connect other people,” says Pike.
Others they’ve connected with are past Big Brother alum, including fellow Newfoundlanders Jon Pardy, Will Kenny and Allison White.
“It’s great to get that support from someone who has been there, someone who gets it,” Pike offers.
Any final thoughts on their own fabulous connection?
“Adam and I are very much alike. We’re very, very similar. I think we just got a good combination of brains and brawn on both sides. I think there’s not one person that’s the brains and one person is the brawn. There’s just a good combination that works for us.”
Have the two made any life-long connections with anyone else? Well, chances are good that the rest of the Pretty Boys will be here for George Street, Pike says. 
“The connections that I have with those b’ys, you can’t describe it. It’s not like anyone in the outside world will ever know what kind of connection you make in that house. I’ll definitely be friends with all the boys.”
Anything they’d like to say to fans who rooted for them on the show and are still cheering them on now?
“I would say thank you for taking time out of your life to watch us on the show or the live feed, and then thanks for sending any bit of positivity our way while we’re in there. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that because that just takes energy and that takes time out of your day and we appreciate it,” says Picco.
BIT OF HOME
Pike would like to encourage anyone who wants to be on the show to keep trying. “If you try and you don’t make it, keep trying. It took me five times to make this show. Just don’t get down on yourself. Keep trying. You just have to be yourself every single year.”
As for plans for the future? The two are living together now and Pike, who usually works in the oil industry out west, plans to stay put if he can.
“We’re just having fun with each other. There was a lot of talk in the house of marriage. Yeah. That’ll happen,’’ says Pike with confidence.
Are they still dancing to the sing-song sounds of the end of the dryer cycle? They laugh.
“That was our favourite thing to do, dance to the dryer song. It was the only music we had in the house. We could be doing anything, and anytime we heard that, dance!” Pike laughs at the memory.
Another memory? Sharing their roots together on the show.
“Anytime we had a chance to say, like, ‘some day on clothes’, or, ‘have a yarn’, we just enjoyed that bit of home. It was another way to connect,” Picco shares.
The two hold hands. Again. Adorable!
Pike has the last word. “I guess we’re just so lucky to have each other to lean on. I can’t imagine coming out into the real world by myself and not having anyone that could relate to the situation I was in. We get to lean on each other and when things get a little hectic there’s someone in your corner that gets you.”