Tiffany Pollard Is The Nicest Villain You’ll Ever Meet

When Tiffany Pollard first joined the cast of VH1's popular celeb-reality series The Flavor of Love in 2006, she had no idea what to expect. At most, she thought, she would fall in love with the show’s quirky protagonist, Public Enemy’s Flava Flav, and even if she lost, she’d at least get her fifteen minutes of fame. Ultimately Pollard didn’t win Flav’s heart, but it didn’t really matter because she won ours. With her larger-than-life personality, lovergirl ambitions, and a tongue sharp enough to cut like a knife, the Flavor of Love villain very quickly became the people’s champion and the undisputed Queen of Reality TV. More than 17 years later, Pollard is still playing the anti-hero with a heart of gold, putting her villainy to the test in the ultimate showdown of the big bads, E!’s new reality competition show House of Villains.

“It’s been such a great ride,” Pollard tells Unbothered, happily cementing her status as a reality veteran. “It's such a great blessing, and it's so wonderful for me to receive my flowers now. I have so many of the younger generation of reality DMing me like, You got this started. You're the queen of it,” Pollard continues. “I get so much love and respect from the newer generation of reality television stars and also the ones that came up around my era as well — you know, the bigger ones like the Nene Leakes and Tami Roman, just to name a few. These are women that respect me. I acknowledge them, and they acknowledge me.” 

Though she’s participated in dozens of reality shows over the years, Pollard hasn’t grown tired of them one bit, and she joined House of Villains because it allowed her to lean into the dubious behavior that made her famous so long ago. In a reality TV landscape where almost anything goes, House of Villains has an especially unique premise. The whole point of the show, which premiered early October and is hosted by Joel McHale (former host of The Soup, whose legendary roasts were enough to make him a villain of sorts as well), is to scheme, finesse, and manipulate enough to be crowned America’s Ultimate Supervillain. You know how people don’t go on dating shows to make friends? In this new series, the cast has joined the ranks specifically to make enemies (or, at least, unholy alliances). To ensure the shenanigans, E! made sure to cast some of reality TV’s most unpopular or most controversial figures, including Pollard, Love is Blind’s indecisive shit talker Shake Chatterjee, The Bachelor’s resident flirt Corinne Olympios, former Vanderpump Rules “number one guy in the group” Jax Taylor, The Apprentice diva Omarose Manigault Newman, and more.  

Pollard is undoubtedly one of the most famous faces in the celebrity lineup, but when I remind her that her earliest stints on reality TV paved the way for the antics of her castmates on their later respective series, the self-described HBIC is surprisingly humble, accepting the praise with sincere laughter. 

“I definitely feel like I'm a villain, loosely defined,” Pollard says. “I don't feel like it's a full definition of a villain, but people do respect the fact that if need be, the claws can come out. For the most part, I'm easygoing and laid-back, and I want the best for everybody. But if you try me, I'm going to have to lay down the law.”

“I just felt like my personality would be respected and received with open arms because, you know, I have a larger-than-life kind of energy,” she continues of her decision to join House of Villains. “I've always been that way — very bold in my beliefs and everything that I have going on, and very misunderstood as a result. So to be in the House of Villains, I just felt like, Okay, finally, this is something I can really connect to. Being a villain, I definitely know how to do. The concept spoke to me right away.”

As much as she’s become accustomed to playing the antagonist, however, Pollard admits that her stint on House of Villains was one of the most challenging reality TV experiences she’s ever had because everyone was just so…bad. One villain is a lot to handle in a show, but 10? Chaos isn’t the word. With hijinks encouraged at every turn, Pollard always had to be on alert to make sure that she wouldn’t be the next cast member on the dreaded Hit List to get sent home. But as one of the most recognizable celebrities in the house, having a target on her back was pretty much inevitable. Her strategy? Toeing the line between friend and foe just enough to get people to trust her.

“It definitely wasn't easy for me,” Pollard recalls. “There was a point where [castmate] Johnny Fairplay told me, ‘Tiff, you can't be too nice because [the cast] is going to sense that you're doing that just to stay in the house.’ I had one of the hardest times convincing people that I was honestly being nice because they’ve always seen me being so savage. I'm telling you, girl —  trying to be friendly enough to stay, but at the same time keeping the claws out enough to where they knew that I was authentically being myself was the hardest thing for me to do.”

“There are just so many emotions when you're doing a competition show like this where your fellow castmates, not production or the audience, are the ones doing the elimination,” she says. “It’s like, Okay, is [my notoriety] going to work at my advantage,or is it going to work against me? Am I a big threat to people? There were other alliances going on in the house that I wasn’t privy to legitimately gunning for me.”

Still, that’s the fun of being on a show like House of Villains — of being on reality TV in general. You never know what’s going to happen next.

“Oh my gosh, it was so, so much fun,” Pollard shares with a smile. “I think the fear of the unknown to me is always like a fun flex. I love the butterflies. I love going to bed at night not knowing if I'm going to survive the next day! That all adds to the excitement of it. Like, you don't want to be 100% safe, but at the same time, you don't want to go home either. So you're just always on pins and needles, but it feels like such an amazing ride.”

Ultimately, that adrenaline rush has been a big part of why Pollard keeps appearing on reality television. That, and the fan appreciation she’s been shown (Yes, she’s seen the endless New York memes being shared across the internet; her personal favorite is the one of her sitting on the bed fully clothed with her sunglasses on), are what keep her in the game. But the Queen of Reality TV is also looking to expand her resume, a slate of career developments that fans might not see coming. Pollard is interested in working behind the scenes in production, and she’s also leaning more into more conscious work as a spiritual advisor and motivational speaker. A villain with her third eye open — it’s called having range.

While she’s working on her many other endeavors, Pollard hopes that fans enjoy House of Villains, teasing more twists and turns and debauchery than we’d expect. This show is intense, she says, but so worth it.

“I'm just grateful for the opportunity to participate in House of Villains,” Pollard concludes. “It well exceeded my expectations as far as the overall experience and seeing the general interest from all the people all over the world loving the show.”

“House of Villains is just kicking off and heating up — the goose is not fully cooked yet,” Pollard promises. “This is going to be such a rollercoaster ride that you have to buckle your seatbelt and wear a helmet for, because the amount of backstabbing that's about to go on and alliances where you think that they have your back and then they drop the shoe on you is crazy? I wouldn't even believe it if not for the fact I witnessed it and lived it.”

New episodes of House of Villains drop every Thursday, only on E!