‘Big Brother 28’ star Rome Seymour talks tea party drama, more

Rome Seymour’s “Big Brother” showmance was cut short by his elimination, but he’s still finding ways to connect with Lyric Medeiros outside the house.

Rome, 28, became the second evictee of “Big Brother 28” during the Thursday, July 23, episode of the CBS reality show. During his short time in the game, he managed to form a strong romantic connection with Lyric, 25. The pair kissed on day two and said they loved each other on day 10.

In an exclusive interview with NJ.com, Rome revealed that he FaceTimed with Lyric’s parents two days after his elimination.

“[Lyric’s] friend reached out to me, and was like, ‘Hey, her mom would really like to talk to you just to see how she’s doing,’” he said. “Her family and myself had an hour and a half long conversation, just talking about her and talking about how I’m sorry for what you had to watch.”

Lyric’s dad is Glenn Medeiros, a singer whose 1987 cover of George Benson’s “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rome called Lyric’s parents “incredibly great people.”

“They’re an awesome family, and I can see where she gets her stellar personality from,” he said.

Rome told Lyric he could see himself marrying her one day, and his feelings about their future haven’t changed since his eviction. He’s unbothered by Lyric’s flirty behavior with houseguests including Kamu Kirk and Chuk Anyanwu.

“I told her, ‘You have to use that cute, innocent, damsel in distress type of personality to your advantage. These guys are gonna eat that up,’” Rome said. “As much as I love those guys in that house, they’re gonna lean into that hero role just because they can. And of course now it’s like, ‘Oh, Rome’s gone. She needs this helping hand to get her through all this,’ and she’s playing it perfectly. I think she’s doing an awesome job. I’m rooting for her 150 percent of the way. She can fake flirt and whatever, just because I know our connection was so strong while we were there.”

Rome may have been the lover boy of the season, but he exchanged some harsh words with Haley Thogmartin. When Rick Devens aired out Rome’s entire game at the nominations ceremony, Rome took aim at Haley’s snide reaction, calling her “insufferable” and a “snarky bitch.” Rome later apologized to Haley, and the pair buried the hatchet.

“It’s really out of my character to break like that,” Rome said of his tense interaction with Haley. “I don’t want to make any excuses, [but] I hadn’t slept, I hadn’t eaten, the girl I’m in love with is on the block. My best friend in the game [Jason De Puy] is on the block, my entire game just got aired out. Latrice [Verrett], my mother in the house, is bawling her eyes out over there. I held it in as much as I possibly could, and [Haley] was almost just the straw that broke the camel’s back at that point. … She’s really a great person, it was just me blowing up due to the circumstances.”