Winner Tanisha Thomas Spills the Tea on 'House of Villains'

Tanisha Thomas

The first season of House of Villains has come to end and after all the golf-cart driving courses, tanks for scorpions and tears shed by Jonny Fairplay, we finally have the first America's Ultimate Supervillain. After a nail-biting tie breaker, Bad Girls Club's Tanisha Thomas ended up besting The Challenge's Johnny Bananas for the win and $200,000.

Tanisha's win came as a bit of a surprise given how at the center of controversy she's been for much of the season. She got into a fight with Omarosa Manigault Newman early on at a bowling alley. She drew the ire of her fellow villains when she dropped out of a challenge that involved touching critters. And then there's the infamous tambourine incident where she allegedly hit Omarosa's hand, causing the latter to demand a restraining order from producers. However, when it came down to the wire, Omarosa, along with Jax Taylor, Tiffany "New York" Pollard and Anfisa Arkhipchenko all voted to award her the money.

Parade sat down with Tanisha after her victory to discuss the season, the feud with Omarosa and why exactly she likes Subway sandwiches so much.

Matthew Huff: Tanisha, I've been waiting all season to get to talk to you. 

Tanisha Thomas: Well, guess what, Matthew? I hate to say it. This is so cliché, but baby they saved the best for last.

Okay, so walk me through the emotions of that final Hit List Ceremony. Going into it did you think you were going to win? 

Oh my god, going into the final vote, I just remember thinking I didn't know. All of a sudden, my right hand, my homie in the house, Johnny Bananas seemed super confused and super conflicted. All of a sudden, he was super stressed out, but he wasn't telling me everything. So I had no idea how this was gonna go. Obviously I had a very tumultuous time in the house, but I honestly am standing on my business and standing 10 toes down on everything that I did, all of my decisions. I feel like I played the game with integrity, and I just played as me.

When it ends up being a tie and Anfisa has to cast the last vote, did you think that she was gonna vote for you? What was going through your mind then?

Well, when Anfisa has to cast the last vote, I was just there thinking, "Thank goodness I talked Johnny Bananas out of spending the night with her a few nights prior." Because he was trying to apparently seal his fate and I didn't know. He was trying to hang out with her all night. I didn't know if there is any type of connection there. Obviously this was all up to imagination because we see Anfisa chewing him out every chance she gets in the interviews, but I was so happy that I broke that up. It just looked like there was some sort of love connection between Anfisa and Johnny Bananas. I thought she would have voted for him. I was shocked.

I think the real shocker was the Omarosa vote. You guys were sort of on good terms early on, and then there was the tambourine situation and the fallout. What did you think when she cast her vote for you? What was that relationship like?

Omarosa must have left and started praying and found Jesus. That's the best way to put this. Praise God. He can do all things when you decide to let him strengthen you and knock some sense into you. I'm so happy that at the end, Omarosa came to her senses and realized when you can't beat them, you might as well join them. At the end of the day, I had no beef with her. I didn't know her like that. At the end of the day, there's no beef, there's no bad blood. I give her her props. She is who she is and ultimately it was my moment.

Related: Bobby Lytes Sheds Light on Omarosa's Mysterious Tambourine Injury

Going back to the pots and pans situation. How did you even get those people in the house, and had you rehearsed with them beforehand? 

I'm very impromptu. I had to do something drastic to try to stay in the house and my emotions were running high between all the drama and constantly being put up for elimination. And, oh my god, that challenge with the spiders and the rats and everything. Child, it wasn't my forte, so I knew I had to do something crazy and outlandish. It just came to me. Obviously I'm a bad girl, but I'm a reformed bad girl who has found the Lord, Praise God! Like I will read a verse, but I will also read you and put you in your place.

I knew of a friend who knew this choir. I had come across them a while ago on Instagram, and I just made it happen and the rest is history. Literally, these people came in the wee hours of the morning. We're talking about 4 a.m. And I'm just like, "Here is the song." I mean, I wrote it. I'm literally a magician. You guys gotta give me credit. No sleep. Stressed out. I just lost the challenge. I done packed up all my wigs. You know how hard it is to pack wigs, Matthew? I'm thinking I'm going home, and I'm like, I needed this money for me and my son. I had to do what I had to do, and I did it.

So then you and Omarosa have the moment where she claims you hit her with the tambourine. What was going through your mind while all that was happening?

You know, she just wanted to be a part of that moment. I mean, she clearly ran back to the room and told Anfisa, "You gotta steal a moment when you see it happening. Reality TV 101." I mean, it was desperation on her end. She wanted to be in the limelight. All she had to do was ask, the stage was big enough. You know what I'm saying? When you confident in your skin, you don't mind sharing anything, period. So at the end of the day, I just thought she was going out pretty sad.

Related: Omarosa Breaks Silence on the 'House of Villains' Tambourine Incident

The whole season, you were very close with Bananas. What has that relationship been like after the house? Are you guys still friends? Do you still keep in touch?

Of course, actually, he hit me up today. He misses me, wants me to come on the podcast. I helped him open up his gym, the Rumble Boxing in Boca Raton, and got some sponsors and put that whole thing together for him. He was so shocked and surprised. I was supposed to go, but there was a little bit of drama between me and my baby daddy. But we not gonna talk about that right now, Matthew, okay? But Johnny Bananas is just crème de la crème. I mean, he was just the biggest brother I never knew I needed or wanted.

Was there anything from the filming process that you wish had made it onto the show that didn't?

Yes, how much Omarosa ordered food. It was wild. It was like she was ordering for a football team or congregation at times. It was crazy. As soon as she left the house, we had an immense amount of space in the fridge and I couldn't be happier.

I also have to ask about the Subway sandwiches in the closet. Why were you eating in the closet?

Because I did not want to share with anyone at that time. Subway has stopped their five dollar foot long special. And there was no way I was going to share a $18.79 sandwich with anybody. With the exception of Bananas, of course. I had to eat it in silence. I was Ubering food constantly into the house on the low. It was great.

What do you order from Subway? What's your go-to sandwich?

The chicken teriyaki. I get it with bacon. I do a pepper jack cheese and Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, extra onions. I like sweet peppers and jalapeños, olives, a little bit of sweet onion sauce, a little bit of honey mustard, a little bit of ranch, a little bit of black pepper, jalapeño chips on the side.

Oh my gosh, we need to get you in touch with Subway for some sort of collab meal.

We need to do something, because clearly I'm the only person who loves them, but I'm a sandwich girl. I don't know if it's like a Brooklyn, New York thing, or if it's a greedy big girl thing, but I like it either way.

So last question. What are you gonna do with the $200,000? 

I'm gonna pay off my bills, Matthew. I'm gonna take my son to Disney World and I'm gonna figure out my life. I'm thinking I'm living the soft life and my best life when I realized that I don't know how intentional I've been living. I've been very blessed throughout this life. But the truth of the matter is, God blesses those who help themselves. And I've been kind of stagnant. And I know I've been a mom and I've had some roadblocks there with my son, but now I plan on soaring. I wanna be a business woman. I wanna start my own talk show. I wanna be a phenomenal mom and an amazing human. I think that's the ultimate flex, isn't it? Like we could have everything in the world, but if you're not a good person, man, you don't mean nothing. I just want to be better.

Next, A Breakdown of the 'House of Villains' Cast's Most Villainous Moments