TORONTO - Ousted "Big Brother Canada" star Tom Plant says he was bewildered to learn he's been seen as the villain on the first-ever Canuck version of the reality TV smash.

Still smarting from being voted out in the latest episode, the 25-year-old Edmonton firefighter says he stayed honest throughout the game — unlike other people.

Plant is the fourth contestant evicted from the Slice series, in which contestants live together in a camera-rigged house completely cut off from the outside world.

They compete in weekly mental, physical and social challenges to avoid elimination. The winner gets $100,000, a $25,000 gift card to The Brick and a Chevrolet Trax.

The latest episode featured a double eviction, with Plant's "showmance" partner Liza Stinton also getting the boot after appearing to pit her rivals against each other.

The Toronto tanning salon owner says she's happy to leave the show at the same time as Plant, noting that she would have been very vulnerable without him.

Plant, however, said he was still reeling from the 8-1 vote.

"I'm feeling pretty brutal about it — I did not want to leave the game this early, I wanted to win the game," Plant said Friday morning.

"I'm pretty hurt, I feel really betrayed right now. But it's a new day and I'm happy to be out in the world again."

Plant emerged as a domineering contender from Day 1, when he was nominated for elimination alongside pal Emmett Blois. He avoided that early exit by winning a contest that revealed his competitive edge and earned him powerful alliances, as well as wary enemies.

His inner circle included a tentative romance with the 29-year-old Stinton, who established herself as a savvy social player who bonded to varying degrees with most of the other houseguests.

Stinton credited the game's intensity and great casting with forging no less than three "legit, totally into-each-other showmances."

"The 'Big Brother' gods are a bunch of matchmaking geniuses," Stinton laughed Friday, listing the couples that formed within days.

"Alec (Beall) and Topaz (Brady), I think were Night 1. Tom and I were sleeping in bed together Night 2.... And the only reason that Jillian (MacLaughlin) and Emmett didn't appear sooner is because he was on the (elimination) block that week."

She said she didn't expect there to be a double eviction this week but noted that houseguests are generally aware that producers will throw in some kind of twist.

"We're always thinking something's going to happen," she said.

Plant said he had no regrets about the way he played the game, including a shower prank in which he exposed a naked Beall to the cameras.

"The jokes I played with Alec or the other houseguests, that was me, that's who I am and I feel bad and I apologized that I hurt someone's feelings but that's who I am," he said.

"I don't regret anything in the house."

He said he didn't deserve to be seen as a villain, suspecting he's perceived as the bad guy simply because he was the strongest player.

"A villain to me is someone that lies, cheats and steals. I never did any of those things. I was a strong character, I was honest and I was a threat," he said.

"People had to lie to my face to get me out the door. People told me not to even pack my things because I was so safe. I think people literally had no option but to lie to my face to make me leave."

"Big Brother Canada" airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on Slice.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013