The Zach Nichols Podcast - The Derrick Levasseur Interview! | ZNP EP. 117

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

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Hey guys, it's Derek. You may know me from Big Brother, Traders, a couple of true crime shows. I'm here on the Zach Nichols podcast, or we'll be talking everything. We're talking Big Brother, Traders, a little bit of true crime, and some of my experience as an undercover detective. So make sure you check it out. All right, make sure you get your tickets to the live show. It's going to be September 20th, 2025 in San Diego, featuring Carl, Pauli, Horacio, and Norese, and possibly some more guests. So get on that now.

You're not going to want to miss this one. Welcome back to Zach Nichols' Podcast. I'm going to have trouble pronouncing your last name. Just want me, Derek. Can I go like Derek from Big Brother? That's great. I'm just going to say it right now. Peter knows this.

Yeah. You were my choice to win traders. I'm a big fan. Thank you. He's psyched. He's been psyched. He's been psyched. Rondo applause.

I'm going to give it a shot. Derek Lavasser. Nailed it. Got him. I've mispronounce a few last names and I just don't want to do that. D.L. on a Dio. I will say. I was so and fucking impressed with what you did on Big Brother.

it was a performance, I gotta get this out, that would transcend to any game. Like, for example, I don't think Dan Giesling's game, if you tried that shit nowadays, like if someone tried to have their own funeral, we'd all be like, get the fuck out of here, dweeb, you know what I'm saying? But like, as I watched your season of Big Brother,

which I watched it recently because I didn't watch them until I started doing this, and then I wanted to know everything about all the people coming on the challenge. And I'm like, like you, first of all, But you left your, you left all your ego at the door. And you fucking, both your number ones made it sitting next to you. And each person, you literally, like, you literally did exactly what your job was. You were an undercover cop.

But you fed into their egos to get them to like you. And then it was funny because like as I'm watching it, I'm thinking, this dude is like orchestrated everything. And then as the jury sitting there, they're all like, Derek had a hand in all the, it was flawless. So I was jazzed when I was like, this guy's on fucking traitors. Yeah, we've been talking about having you on for a while. Then you got cast for traders.

And then, you know, we, you know, we just. What happened on traders was a, was mind blowing to me. Yeah. Because your presentation at the round table was flawless and so compelling that I was like, oh my gosh. Like if, if boss Rob doesn't go, I'll be shot. But that.

was like, to me, I was like, dude, like that was as flawless as it gets. I think the issue was, was like, maybe it's like you hadn't done a show too recently for people to remember. Like, this guy's the one we should be worried about. Everyone was giving Boston Rob all this, like, I felt like they were all so intimidated by him. He's a likable guy. He's a really likable guy. What really happened, I mean, there was a few different things that, and you've done these shows where just the ball falls a certain way and it doesn't go your way. But the main thing was I was blinded by the fact that people were weary of West.

I was starting to build a relationship with him. We came into the game weird. Yeah. The way we came in. And so you picked me before you saw the way I came in. Yeah. When you came in, I was like, oh. Yeah, no, we knew the three of us knew we weren't one in the show.

We knew it. And we had to work with each other for a while. But being on these shows before, we knew what production wanted. They wanted to see us go after each other. So I was trying to figure out which one of them was the train. because obviously I wasn't. It could have been both, but what were the chances, right? Not great.

Not great. And I knew there were a lot of things that happened speaking to Rob where I was like, it's him. And on top of the whole Bob the Drag Queen move, I was like, you just, I don't know how everyone else doesn't see this, but you just gave it away. Yeah. And so I teamed up with Wes. He was one of the few people I told what I was going to do.

What I didn't know is that people had already decided that West had to go. Hold on. I have to interject you right real quick. Yeah. Do you actually believe that going into that roundtable, people had decided Wes had to go, or he talked himself disrespectfully to women into getting there? And you guys know, I'm a hate,

because that's what I thought he did. I thought he talked himself into getting eliminated. He came into the whole game way too hot. I'll be straight up with you. He was not disrespectful from everything I saw. I was very surprised by that comment because he's very straightforward, and he tells you what he thinks and he doesn't sugarcoat it. Some people thought that was a little pushy.

I know Chris Shell had said, you know, you were kind of forward with your way of thinking. I didn't see anything as being disrespectful. I got two daughters. If I thought he was being disrespectful to a woman, I would have said something. Anybody in general. But what I do think happened is that they had an idea of the way they were going to go. And when Wes said that joke, I'm coming after everyone who votes for me. You can actually see me go.

That's it. It's over. So, yeah, it didn't help. What West didn't remember was that everyone there was not a gamer. Yeah, oh, they didn't get it. The people who were there, that was their, that's a very intense show to be put on for your first game show. Yeah. And so they don't see, first of all, they don't know who Wes is.

I think the challenge is probably, definitely don't know his humor. And they don't know his humor. And Wes's biggest disadvantage besides coming in late with you guys was that there was no other challengers there that had, if there was already a challenger there and like when you guys showed up, they're like, oh shit, Wes is legit. He may have gotten more respect, but him just walking around saying, I'm. more proven. I've done more than anyone in this sector. Whatever he was saying, probably rubbed all the non-gamers the wrong way to be like, fuck this guy. It didn't help that Trischel and CT had just won. That does not help you. It did not help you. Because him going, we talked about it. It didn't make the show, but you had just two winners

that were from the same show as him. So they didn't make a big deal out of it in the edit, but I'm sure that was being talked about. So you guys are the gamers. You've been in the situation. I'm the fan. So I'm watching it from a fans perspective. From a fans perspective, he is salty when you guys are getting the coins and he's just getting one at a time. Your stack is going up fast and then Ross is going up fast and then Wes is just the pity, the pity party. I didn't think anybody knew what I was. You had other big brother people there. Two of them.

Two of them to at least be like, oh, he's one of the best. Danielle sold me out within 10. Oh, she, he's a former detective. Yeah. I'm like, thank you. Appreciate any shot of working with you. Yeah. Yeah.

I was like, thanks, Danielle. I'll appreciate that. Well, we're so excited to have you here. Real quick, I just want to do some accolades real quick. We got a Big Brother champion in the house. Round of applause, please. Thank you. Taking over half a million dollars home and then cast on traders.

Also, the host of multiple crime detective podcast. How would you explain it? Talk about your podcast network, man. Wait, let me put a bookmark on that because I do have a crime question. Oh, hop in. No, no, no. I want you to go first. Yeah, so two podcasts right now, Crime Weekly, Detective Perspective.

detective perspective. They both come out every single week, both on YouTube and audio. Go check them out. Just finished first season of America's Most Wanted. So that was pretty cool. And I've done a couple of true crime shows. I really try to stay in the same ecosystem. After Big Brother, I went right back to being a police officer. I had no ambitions to be an actor or a musician or in television whatsoever. I got offered amazing race right after Big Brother. I said no. But then this agent reached out to me and said, hey, we have this true crime show. It's going to be this private investigator who's going to prove that OJ is innocent. Spoiler alert, he's not. He's not. No. Yeah, he's not. I'd like you to come out there with this forensic psychologist, one of the best forensic psychologists in the country,

you're going to spend six weeks with this guy and you're going to go through his book to see if he's right. And by the end of it, there was basically this time card that he was hitched his wagon to where it proved that his OJ's son, Jason Simpson, actually killed Nicole. Well, what he didn't tell us was that that time card had an A and B side. So what I was doing during production was reaching out to their company who created the time card machine that wasn't in business anymore. So by the final episode, I pull up the time card and show him that the side he's been showing all of his readers and viewers and all these people over the years is actually the wrong side and it proves that Jason was actually innocent. And he wasn't happy about that,

but it actually spun us into another show because of it. I'm so glad to hear that because I was going to ask. I saw that TikTok video saying that it was a sign. I have no problem saying my professional opinion, OJ Simpson killed those two people for sure. No, him or his son? No, OJ did it. OJ did it. Bill Deere, he's no longer with us, so I want to be respectful. But he, uh, very famous private investigator out of Texas. I flew down there. I met with him.

He wrote a book basically saying that OJ was innocent and that his son did it and he covered it up for him. And we, we dismantled that within six weeks, but I didn't tell him this part until the final episode. And there was no way to, at that point, there's no way to go back. It proved that Jason was actually at work at the, at the time when the crime occurred. Yeah.

Not where he said he was. It's pretty wild though. He made that flight. Yeah. That's not happening under the Patriot Act. No, no. It's, listen, it's, uh, it was a fascinating case. It was, I was something that I was intrigued by because I was 10 years old when it happened.

I remember being on TV. So I was like an opportunity to go out to L.A. And visit the crime scene, talk to all the people that were actually involved with it. That sounds cool. So I did it and it just kind of spun into something else. Hell yeah. That's way better than working it. So before we get into gaming, let's talk about your passion.

for justice and bravery. And where did that come from? I grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. 99.7 of your audience won't know where that is. But Viola Davis is from there. We named a street after. Viola Davis, the famous actor?

Huge. How I met your mother? Oh, I live under. I'm sorry. I don't get away with murder. Sorry, if I saw her,

I would know who she is. I'm not a names person. Fences. She's been in a lot of stuff. She's in time of stuff. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. She grew up.

it's a melting pot of different cultures. And, And you have to either find a way to get by or you're going to get hurt. And so growing up there, seeing the things that I saw, I wanted to play professional baseball, grew up in the city, playing ball, did pretty well, was working the summer program every year, giving back to the kids, and went off to play college ball, was not going to make the pros, was not good enough. Came home one summer and the chief was like, I was 20 years old.

He said, hey, listen, I know you're going to school your junior year next year, but we're hiring seven new guys. And why don't you just try it and see if you like it? You're not going to get hired, but just get a feel for the application process. So I do the application process, do the physical. And I'm about to head off to school. And the chief calls me to say,

come by the police station. So there was about, I don't know, maybe 600 people who applied for these seven spots. So I walk in there and he goes, I have a dilemma. You finish first out of everything. But you're not even old enough to buy your own bullets. Right.

literally. So he's like, what do I do? And I was like, I don't know. You tell me, he's like, well, I don't hire punks and I don't hire pussies. Are you either one of those? And I said, no. And he said, well, if you want the job, you got it. So I was a broke kid from Central Falls. I wasn't going to play in the pros. I was already going to school for criminal justice. I could start my career right there. So I went for it, 20 years old. I was the youngest ever hired by the department. That is wild. Just answer your question more broadly. I don't necessarily think I went into criminal justice or I went into law enforcement to help people. But as a kid, I went through some things where in my family dynamic, I had to call the police to protect people that I cared about. I was the oldest of four. And I remember hearing those sirens showing, you know, coming. And that was the best feeling in the world, knowing that within seconds, they were going to be there.

And I wanted the opportunity to be that for someone else. So that was what put me over the edge when it came to taking the job. The concept of bravery. That's such a crazy way to think about it. Yeah. The concept of bravery is something that you developed at a young age. Is that what I'm saying? I would even call it.

It's like necessity. That concludes the free preview of the Zach Nichols podcast. So go to Patreon and subscribe to see the rest of the shit that we talk. Go do it now.