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Fields was not only playing for his mom while on “Big Brother,” but his hometown as well. When CBS announced the 25-year-old Norwalk resident had joined the show’s cast in July, Mayor Harry Rilling assured Fields his hometown was rooting for him.

“I want to congratulate Norwalk resident Jared Fields on being selected as a contestant in the upcoming season of ‘Big Brother,'” Rilling said in a statement sent to Patch. “I hope he knows that everyone at home here in Norwalk will be cheering him on as he competes for the grand prize.”

Fields said hearing the mayor had wished him luck was “amazing,” and it was an honor to be given the chance to represent Norwalk as he competed for the $750,000 grand prize.

“It was an honor to be representing Norwalk,” Fields said. “I moved into Norwalk kind of late, so I always was trying to get my way to really see how I can kind of do my part for the town.”

A Competitor

Fields was among the 16 houseguests who entered the “Big Brother” house on Aug. 2.

At the end of the 90-minute season premiere, the players entered the house and were met with the surprise that Cirie Fields would be making history as the first former “Survivor” contestant to compete on “Big Brother.”

“I never expected for me to be playing a game, let alone [‘Big Brother’], with my mom, so it’s a dream come true,” Fields said. “Honestly it’s ridiculous. It still feels so fake walking into the house and seeing my mom’s face and knowing ‘I’m in your world now.'”

The pair immediately decided to keep their relationship a secret to avoid being targeted as a duo by the house. Only one houseguest, Izzy Gleicher, figured out the two were related and kept the pair’s secret, even after she was evicted from the house in September.

Fields later revealed their relationship to houseguest Blue Kim, who also kept their secret safe. She was ultimately evicted on Oct. 26.

Though the chances of someone figuring out the pair’s secret was always high, the Fields duo quickly came up with unique ways to hide their relationship.

“I do have a specific mannerism when I’m at home,” Fields said. “I’m the kind of guy that says ‘yes m’am’ and ‘yes sir,’ and my mom raised me to never really call any of my elders by their first names; so especially my best friends’ moms and dads, I’ll call them ‘mom’ or call them ‘dad.'”

When Fields encountered 63-year-old houseguest Felicia Cannon, the first woman over the age of 60 to ever compete on “Big Brother” in the U.S., he quickly asked if he could call her “Momma Felicia,” which quickly became a habit for most of the people in the house.

This enabled him and the other houseguests to be able to refer to his mom as “Momma Cirie.”

“It worked out absolutely perfectly,” Fields said, “because I’m like, this is going to work for me so whenever I do slip up and want to say her name, it seems super normal because I’m calling both of them ‘mom.'”

For the first few weeks of the game, the Fields family played a dominant game, with Fields winning his first Head of Household competition on Week 5 and sending houseguest Red Utley out the door.

He won the Golden Power of Veto the following week, which he ultimately did not to use on either of the two nominated houseguests to ensure his mother remained safe.

As her son won competitions, Cirie Fields played an excellent social game, often being at the center of major decisions amongst the houseguests regarding evictions and other special powers.

Fields won HoH again the following week in a brutal endurance competition called “The Wall,” during which the houseguests all held onto a large wall that tilted forward as various objects hit them.

Fields noted this was the hardest competition he won all season, if not one of the hardest things he has ever done in his life.

“I’m not the most fit guy at the end of the day,” Fields said, “but I’m like ‘hey, I can hang onto a wall that’s tilting.’ Oh my goodness, it felt like my arms were going to fall off, and then you try to transfer the pain but it just doesn’t go away. So I have to say the wall was one of the most complicated competitions that I won. It’s super hard.”

Field’s second HoH reign resulted in one of his biggest physical competition threats, Cameron Hardin, being evicted. That same night, however, Fields was evicted from the house in a surprise double eviction after being nominated alongside Kim by houseguest Cory Wurtenberger.

Fields said it was an emotional rollercoaster as he walked out of the house and was greeted by a cheering audience and host Julie Chen Moonves after being sequestered with the same people for so long.

“At the same time you’re sad that you left the house,” Fields said, “but you still have the piece of you that’s like ‘wow, it’s over now.’ I don’t have to worry about scheming in the morning, I don’t have to worry about trying to strategize and figure out who the next HoH is going to be and who’s going to be the best next HoH. It’s that weight lifted off your shoulders, so it’s a rollercoaster of emotions.”

That sadness would not last long due to a new twist that resulted in both Fields and Hardin returning to the house moments later as “Big Brother zombies.”

As part of the twist, the typical head of household and veto competitions were put on hold for a week while Fields and Hardin competed against each other in a “zombie battle” for the chance to “resurrect” their game.

Fields said he was both shocked and excited when Chen Moonves informed him of the twist.

“Being a part of a twist, as a fan, makes you super excited,” Fields said. “Not only that, but knowing that I was going back into the house was like a dream come true because I thought I was going home for sure. I didn’t expect anything, so walking out and hearing that…it was one of the craziest moments of my ‘Big Brother’ career, if not the craziest moment of my ‘Big Brother’ career. Having that opportunity to go back in and fight for another chance was an experience that not many people had, and I can gladly say I was a part of it.”

Unfortunately for Fields, Hardin won out in the series of “zombie battles,” making his eviction official.

During an emotional exit interview with Chen Moonves, Fields expressed confidence that his mother would do well in the house despite him no longer being there. She ultimately was among the final five players left in the house but was evicted last week during houseguest Matt Klotz’s HoH reign.

“It was a super hard game,” Fields said. “I did not expect that game to be that complicated. I don’t know why for some reason I felt like it might have been an easy game watching it on TV; I’m like ‘yeah, I got this.’ Playing it is a whole different ballgame.”

Despite his eviction somewhat early in the season, Fields said he did not regret going into the game as a competitor, even if it eventually put a target on his back.

“I’m happy that I went in as a competitor,” Fields said. “I told myself going in if I was going to get voted out for anything, it would be defending my mom or somebody who I considered a close ally in the game or because people felt as if I was a threat. And hey, if I’m considered a threat in the game and I go down in the books as being able to be that guy who won HoHs and veto competitions then I’ll take it.”

A Houseguest

It’s one thing to watch your favorite reality show on TV in the comfort of your own home, but actually living in it every day for over a month is something else entirely.

According to Fields, there is not much a person can do to prepare for the experience of being in the “Big Brother” house other than watch previous seasons of the show.

“At the end of the day, ‘Big Brother’ is all about navigating 16 other people, and you don’t know who you’re going to get and whose personality is what,” Fields said. “People may be one way on Week 1 and Week 2, and then once they get comfortable they’re a different way on Week 3 and 4 and going on, so you’ve got to learn how to manage that in the moment. I don’t think ‘Big Brother’ is something you can really practice for, you just can watch it and try your best honestly.”

One unique aspect about living in the “Big Brother” house is the constant presence of cameras. The houseguest are filmed nearly 24/7, with numerous cameras catching footage of almost every conversation and moments both big and insignificant for possible use on the show.

Additionally, there are live camera feeds that fans can watch the houseguests on at almost any time of day, regardless of whether there is anything important going on or not.

Fields said the houseguests are pretty consistently aware of all the cameras and microphones around them, however they do start to become normal the more time you spend living in the house.

“It’s a lot of camera time, so you always see it,” Fields said, “but after living in the house for so long, you develop this [feeling] like ‘you know what, whatever.’ You start just getting used to them being there and just start to kind of forget that they’re there, but then every once in a while once you get that wake up call or once you hear the camera moving, you’re like ‘oh man, I’m still on camera,’ but…it’s super funny because you start to just feel like you’re at home, and then remember ‘oh man, I’m on camera right now.'”

Fields also had to deal with being a “have not” twice, a punishment imposed on a group of houseguests for various reasons each week that requires them to sleep in an uncomfortable “have not” room and eat only a food item provided by the show called “slop” for that week.

“I have a big pet peeve of eating the same food more than twice a week,” Fields said, “and for some reason after that second bowl of slop, I was like ‘yeah, I think I’m going to just stick with water and I’m going to just call this a fast for the week.’ I was the first person on slop my season. I volunteered thinking I was going to have some special advantage and, to my knowledge, no advantage, just a have not sleeping in a dog bed and eating slop for the week, my first week ever on ‘Big Brother.'”

For all the hard moments in the house, there were also a lot of fun ones, according to Fields.

One of his favorite memories from this season was when the whole house celebrated Utley’s birthday by dressing and acting like the self-proclaimed “chillbilly,” who often wore overalls and bandanas.

“That was honestly one of the funniest days,” Fields said.

It was one of a number of group bonding moments that made the show’s cast feel, despite the competitive nature of the game, like they were a big family living together under one roof.

“I was never a part of a fraternity at my college, but I would assume that feeling would be probably just like this feeling that we have from ‘Big Brother,'” Fields said. “It’s an alumni. CBS treats us so well and everybody in the community is so nice and so caring toward you, and everybody who’s cast on the shows is just a reflection of exactly what I just said. It was amazing being around them and being able to know after this, once we can take the weight off our shoulders of playing the game, we can actually hang out and be upfront about what we do…so I can’t wait to reconnect with everybody. It’s a family unlike any other.”

Still the most special memories from his time on “Big Brother” will always be the experience of playing the game alongside his actual family. Though he acknowledged playing with his own mom in secret was both an advantage and a challenge, it was ultimately more beneficial to him having a built-in relationship of pure trust right from the start.

“At the end of the day, there’s nothing that tops being able to have a person that’s going to be there for you 100 percent, no questions asked, in the house because that doesn’t come often, if at all,” Fields said, “but on the contrary to that, at certain points I was willing to risk my whole entire game for her and she was definitely willing and did risk her whole entire game for me at points, so that element to it adds that factor of no matter what, we have each other. Sometimes in that game, that may not be the best thing to do when you’re trying to make it to the end, but ultimately it was a benefit to my game more than anything because having that person is just an advantage that people wish for every day.”

When Fields spoke to Patch in October following his eviction, he said he was still watching the show every week, sometimes with Gleicher at her home in New York, however he had not gone back and watched the previous episodes of the show with him in it.

“I’m a little nervous,” Fields said. “It’s one of those things where you’ve got to watch yourself, you’ve got to critique yourself, and I don’t know if I’m at that point just yet. I’m going to give it some time, probably wait for my mom to come home because I’m sure she’s going to have some funny pointers about being on the game, so I’ll probably watch it.”

Fields also admitted going from the constant pressure of playing the game each day to being back in the outside world was both jarring and relieving.

“When you first get out, it’s hard to kind of integrate back into normal conversations,” Fields said, “where you’re not looking over your shoulder trying to see who’s having conversations without you…in a sense you miss it, especially a person like me. I’m such a gamer. Every day I miss it so much, but it is a breath of fresh air to not have to worry about those little nuances. ‘Am I going to be voted out this week? Do I have to win HoH this week?’ You do miss it though.”

Fields is expected to return to the set of “Big Brother” and reunite with his fellow houseguests, including his mom, for the final episode Thursday night, during which the season’s winner will be crowned.

He also noted he would be more than happy to be asked to play the game again.

“It was such a fun game to play,” Fields said. “Besides the complicated element of actually trying to win the game, it was just such a fun environment to be in and they made it such a safe, fun space for everybody to actually want to play this game again, so I’d do it a thousand times over.”

Should that chance arise, he would also make a few adjustments to his game that he thinks could help him get farther.

“I would take a few pointers from my game that I played this year and definitely tweak a lot of other things that I did,” Field said. “Just like any sports game, you watch what happened, you may take a loss and then you go back, kind of go to the drawing board and say ‘hey, this is where we went wrong and next time we’ll implement this strategy’ and try to make it further.”

A Proud Norwalk Resident

Fields moved to Norwalk about 15 years ago and attended Jefferson Elementary School before moving on to Ponus Ridge Middle School and ultimately Brien McMahon High School, where he played football and basketball.

“I enjoyed McMahon,” Fields said. “It was so fun. It taught me a lot of things.”

He currently works as an exterminator for Mosquito Squad. Though most of his family is from other areas of the country, Fields said he has always felt so welcome in Norwalk and met most of his best friends here.

“It’s just so welcoming and so diverse,” Fields said. “It’s one of those places where you can really enjoy yourself and go have a good time; a nice safe environment for everybody to pretty much just enjoy themselves.”

He also highlighted the rich amount of activities and facilities Norwalk has to offer in comparison to other nearby communities.

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“Whether it’s hanging out at Vet’s Park or going down to the beach, you know there’s so many things that we can do in Norwalk,” Fields said. “That’s kind of what always gravitated my mom I guess to Norwalk because it was a safe environment for us as kids growing up and the sports were just so welcoming. As soon as I started going to these schools and playing sports, I immediately felt like I was part of a family.”

Fields said he was happy to hear Rilling had wished him luck and noted he was honored to have been given the opportunity to represent his hometown on a nationally-watched TV show.

“It’s everybody’s dream to be able to be that guy or that girl from the town that you [grew up in] and say ‘hey, this is what I did for Norwalk,'” Fields said. “When people say ‘where are you from,’ you’re proud to say ‘I’m from the area. This is what I’m known for in town and it’s something positive and something that people supported you in.’ Having that is just a dream come true.”

Overall, Fields said he appreciated every Norwalk resident who watched and rooted for him on “Big Brother” this year and hoped he would have a chance to compete for all of them again some day.

“I wish, just like you, that I made it further to the end,” Fields said. “Don’t worry, I’m trying my hardest next time if I ever get another shot, but I appreciate you all for being there with me. It’s much needed in that house and much needed even after, so thank you to all the Jared supporters and just know it’s not over yet.”

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