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The Anonymous: Lilly's "Doom & Gloom" & Victoria on the "Vistopher" Showmance (Interview)
The final two women booted off The Anonymous tell us what happened to their end games.
In a surprise turn of events in the finale episode of USA Network's The Anonymous, two of the last three women competitors — Lilly Jenkins and Victoria Vesce — were sent home from the game, leaving Nina Twine to represent the ladies.
While Lilly lasted the entire show up to the finale opener, Vesce came in mid-game, along with Wayne Nichols and Bismah Ahmed, as the surprise additions back in Episode 4. In the end, Victoria's companions got sent home while she managed to stay alive in the game until the middle of the finale due to the strength of her ironclad alliance/showmance with Christopher Shulstad. Marcel Cunningham, as the Anonymous mode winner twice over, took them both out separately. It was a shock to say the least.
RELATED: How The Anonymous Creators One-Upped Their Players with That Big Twist
In our exclusive USA Insider exit interview with Lilly Jenkins and Victoria Vesce, the two women give their sides of the gameplay — from Lilly always feeling targeted for elimination from the very start, to Victoria's regrets about her alliance with Christopher.
Lilly and the "Grim Reaper" that always loomed
By Episode 10, Cunningham was openly teasing Lilly that she was the hidden Grim Reaper of the game, taking out some of the biggest players as the assumed Anonymous. But in truth, she was the Anonymous only once and was certainly on the chopping block for the majority of the game.
Lilly admitted to feeling excessively targeted, and that created a faux competition reality mask of sorts.
"For me, going into the Domain, I had the plan to operate in the shadows, to [imply]: 'Don't look down, don't look at me,'" she said of her initial strategy.
"Being a little short person, I really wanted to kind of slip away and just fall to the end, and that blew up right in my face, literally, the first hour and a half that I was there," she explained. "So from there, I feel like I was so shook up for the first handful of days that I didn't know what to do. I was living in a state of doom and gloom, like, 'What did I do? What did I get myself into? How did this happen to me?'"
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She said by the show's mid-point and the second handle change, she'd picked herself up and dusted off the gloom for a more aggressive game without a lot of alliances.
"Everything changed by the hour until you really didn't have confidence going into anything, especially because you don't know who has the power to eliminate you," she said of the blind nature of the game. "I think that's the beautiful part of the game, is that you have that hidden identity. For me, I made strong connections and friendships in the end, [but] sometimes it definitely felt like I was a lone wolf in the Domain. Also, other people did a little self-destruction and I probably did the same thing in the end."
The death of Vistopher: "I regretted that at the end"
On the other hand, Victoria entered the Domain in Episode 4 and it seemed like there was an instant romance/alliance between her and Christopher that remained impenetrable until the very last episode.
Asked if she felt trapped by the alliance at any point, Victoria admitted that by the back end of the competition, she did regret aligning herself too tightly to Christopher.
"I forgot who Victoria was," she said. "I was just so 'Vistopher' this, 'Vistopher' that, that I forgot who Victoria was. And I do regret that. I regretted that at the end."
Another regret? Voting out Robbi Jade.
"You're going to call me crazy, but I would have eliminated Christopher instead of Robbi because I wanted people to not think I was the Anonymous," she said of her vote. "I knew if I got the Anonymous again, I was going to eliminate Christopher because I was, like, 'That is going to be a baller move when the viewers watch. No one would ever think it was me.' I kind of wish, going back, that I did that. But I think my alliance with Christopher did take me far, so I can't just throw rocks [at] it."
RELATED: How Does The Anonymous Keep Its Players Truly "Anonymous"?
While there was plenty of chatter between the lovebirds about being loyal to each other's faces, there was also behind-the-scenes knowledge they would cut each other loose when it came to winning the game. And ultimately, Christopher ended hers.
Then DANI — the series' A.I. host and gamemaster — added salt to the wound by sending Victoria home without a chance to say goodbye.
What was her reaction to that moment?
"I actually walked off set," Victoria said. "I was pretty upset, I'm not gonna lie, like that was [a shock]. No, I didn't get to see anyone. It was, 'C'est la vie, bye, Victoria. You're flying home.' It was a crazy moment.
"I wonder if DANI was like, 'It's Victoria being eliminated. Let's not give her a goodbye,'" she added. "But maybe that's the springboard for this is not [being] the end of my story. Everyone else got an ending, and I didn't really. So maybe this is just the beginning of Victoria."
As for how she eventually got back in touch with her competitors, Victoria said with a smile, "I feel like women are social media sleuths. If you've got a first name and photo identification, I swear, I feel like we all found each other somewhat on social media like the week after. And then we held it there until the show started airing.
"But women are like the FBI, we can find out anything," she added, laughing.
As for the outcome of that hot reality competition romance, Victoria said it's now over.: "I was always a real one. I'm not sure about Christopher. I just have to say, Vistopher is Gone With the Wind and Victoria is here to stay. So that's all I need to say about that."
