Kyle Capener became the latest houseguest evicted from Big Brother after a controversial week where comments he made about race inside the house came to light in a tense and emotional house meeting.

The unemployed Utah native, 29, was evicted unanimously on Thursday, September 1. He was nominated by Head of Household Matthew Turner, who decided to put him on the block after the Power of Veto was played and the entire house felt uncomfortable with earlier insinuations Kyle made about POC houseguests all working together.

“This week has been very tough, but also very amazing with interacting with the individuals in the house. I’ve chatted with each one individually, and they’ve shared their experiences, their support for me, their love and compassion for someone in my situation. I’m forever grateful for that,” Kyle exclusively tells Us Weekly. “As far as leaving the game, the responsibility then falls on me to continue to have those conversations, to continue to learn and grow and continue to find resources that can help me understand these types of situations more fully.”

Kyle made the comments during conversations with Michael Bruner and Brittany Hoopes, seemingly suggesting that all the white contestants should stick together. “That possibility of those six with that background, I mean, it looks very similar to the Cookout with a very diverse background,” the TikToker said at the time. “They’ve all expressed why they’re in this game. Joseph [Abdin], more Middle Eastern representation in TV. Indy [Santos], there’s never been a Brazilian contestant or winner … everyone has those strong ‘why’s’ that all coincide.”

“Exposing the alliance weighed very heavily on me — and I don’t think I would have if I didn’t feel that I was near the bottom of the seven going into Dyre Fest,” he tells Us. “Unfortunately, I knew going into Dyre Fest, it was either me or Joseph going home that week. And we had played a very similar game and had very similar cards to play at that time. I knew that if I played them first, Joseph was having to play catch up, so I was in survival mode and I just went with it and shared that information. And it also helped that I could then wipe the slate clean with Alyssa and tell her everything and kind of come clean in that regard.”

Big Brother airs on CBS Wednesdays and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET and Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.