Josh Martinez won Big Brother, however he apparently read the jury incorrectly and anticipated a completely opposite result.
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Despite tormenting Mark Jansen and Cody Nickson this season with pots and pans, Josh received votes from both of them to win over runner-up Paul Abrahamian during Wednesday night's Season 19 finale.
Josh also earned jury votes from Mark's showmance partner Elena Davies, as well as Alex Ow and Jason Dent.
"It was completely shocking because I thought Cody, Elena, and Mark were going to vote for Paul... It was so insane for me to think I'd even have those votes," Josh told Entertainment Weekly.
"I thought I would have [Kevin Schlehuber], [Christmas Abbott], [Matt Clines] -- like, for some odd reason, I thought I would have Matt."
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But Kevin, Christmas, Matt and Raven Walton voted for Paul to win the $500,000.
"I was in shock. I thought once Christmas' vote came in I was like, 'I'm done.' I'm like. 'Christmas didn't vote for me? Paul won the game.' And then the votes started dropping and I couldn't believe what was happening. And then I get Cody's vote and I was like 'WHAT?!?' I was in complete shock," Josh recalled.
So why does Josh believe his greatest enemies in the house this season ended up siding with him?
"I think that they respected my game and how I played a fearless game. And I spoke my mind and was straightforward to their face. I wasn't doing manipulating or doing things behind their back," Josh explained to EW. "And I think Mark and Cody appreciated that, and that's what got me the win."
Josh was also banking on the fact jury members would be furious with Paul for backstabbing or lying to them. After all, the veteran player had made final deals with all three of the couples that made it far into the game -- Raven and Matt, Christmas and Josh, and Alex and Jason.
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"To be completely honest with you, I knew that me and Paul had both pissed off the same amount of people on the jury. I did not think at all I would beat Christmas because she literally killed everybody with kindness, she handled every eviction that she had with grace, and people didn't leave pissed off at her," Josh reasoned as to why he brought Paul to the end with him instead of his gal pal.
"With me and Paul, I was a bit more straightforward, I said how it was."
But Josh knew he had his work cut out for him going up against Paul, who boasted a long Big Brother resume of big moves and competition wins.
"I think Paul, he played a great game. He had no choice but to play an aggressive game because he was a vet. People can feel what they want, but he had to play that game," Josh insisted.
Looking back on his game as a whole, Josh told EW that he stands by every decision he had made -- even attacking people with verbal insults or by banging pots and pans in houseguests' faces.
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"I honestly don't regret anything. The funny thing is that Paul would tell me things like that, but I never did anything if it wasn't good for my game. I wanted to be completely underestimated and wanted people to think they had control over me, because if they have control, I'm not a threat, I'm an ally," Josh explained.
"In the fifth week, I woke up at 9 in the morning with pots and pans to throw Mark and Cody off of their game, and Elena. It wasn't because Paul told me. I did it for my game. Yeah, he would egg me on... but if it didn't benefit me, then I wasn't going to do it."