‘The Floor’ Winner Steven Havens Shares What He Plans to Do With Winnings, Shocking Behind-the-Scenes Moments & Advice for Future Players

Steve Havens took home $250,000 when he won Season 3 of The Floor. The Floor is a game show where 100 contestants each stand on a spot on the floor with a category that they are experts in. The contestants face off in duels, and whoever wins the duel wins that part of the floor until the entire floor is won by one person.

The finale came down to Havens, Andrew Edwards, and 19-time Jeopardy! champion, David Madden. Edwards and Madden dueled and Edwards took down the threat. Then, Edwards and Havens competed in three duels: Boy Bands, Cosplay, and International Foods. International Foods was the tie-breaking duel, and it was picked because it was the only category that had never been played on The Floor. With Havens being a chef, he might have been at a bit of an advantage, but, everyone had the same amount of time to study the category ahead of time.

TV Insider spoke with Havens about what he plans to do with his winnings, his study plans, his feelings on the final category, and more.

Do you think that you had an advantage going into the last duel with International Foods since you’re a chef?

Steven Havens: Because everyone was told, we came from an even playing ground. As a chef, obviously, it’s food, so that’s of course going to give me a little bit of a leg up. We all had the opportunity to study. If the tie-breaker category had been something like a sports category, I would have been up a creek. I did get lucky that it was International Foods.

I will tell you that between Episodes 9 and 10, a couple of contestants connected those dots. And they started working behind the scenes to get me out, which was a smart game move on their part. It ended up with David being the bigger threat, so it sort of shifted the target off of my back and onto David’s. So, thank you, David.

What are your plans with your winnings?

Recently, I got my masters degree, so that I can teach in addition to being a chef. I’m also a professor at a couple of universities here in Portland. So, the masters degree obviously came with some student loans, so it’s not sexy, but it’s going towards student loans. And I’m also going to invest back into my catering business. I’m interested in looking into the food truck scene.

What made you want to audition for The Floor?

So, my husband is a game designer, so he watches a lot of TV game shows and he discovered The Floor in Season 1. And we fell in love with it when we watched it together. There were a lot of interesting strategies.

A strategy that I picked up from watching was when the clock counts down, you name things from the category to yourself, which puts your brain in the headspace of what you want to think about, and not think about the cameras and lights. I had a lot of people asking me if I was praying.

How many days in total do you actually film?

Five days in total. It’s super intense, sometimes you’re filming three episodes in a day. You have maybe an hour in between episodes to study. So, on the show, TV magic, it looks as if we have a week to study, but in reality, between the semi-final and final, we had about 45 minutes, and that goes really fast.

In that, time you also have to go to hair and makeup to get them touched up. But, lucky me, I don’t have much hair, so it only took me about 5 minutes. So, I was able to take advantage of study time, whereas some of my co-contestants had to spend more time in the salon chairs, and they would be studying on their phones as they were getting their hair done.

You have about an hour, an hour and a half in between, and overnight for a few of them. But, you’re not getting back to the hotel until late. You got to get up early. You have to eat. There was not as much studying as you might think, especially towards the end.

You’re standing all day, so it has to be even more tiring.

Yeah, it was more grueling than I anticipated. Just the act of standing there and keeping a smile on your face all because you’re on camera all day. It was more grueling than you might think. Grueling but also a lot of fun.

Did you want to battle 19-time Jeopardy! Champion David Madden or were you happy you versed Andrew?

What happened was between episodes we strategized on how to take him out. He put a huge target on his back. The strategy was that if he had to play a pop culture category in the finale, we could beat him. He was very smart, but we had to pick the right category. Andrew helped me study cosplay, in case I had to play David in cosplay. As we were walking up there for the final duel, he was like “If you beat me in cosplay, after all of that… after I helped you study.”

It has to be hard to make friends on the floor, duel them, and then they get eliminated. What’s that feeling like?

You see that happen a lot in the last episode. For good TV, producers want there to be some drama, so that gets played up a little bit. At the end of the day, we all knew we were here for a competition, but there were some genuine friendships that started on the floor.

Was there angst in the game because there were people like Brian [O’Halloran] or David or The Bachelor stars, competing against everyday people?

There is definitely a Reddit contingent that thinks it should just be everyday people. I think it was interesting to have the couple from The Bachelor on there. I don’t think they had any more of a shot than anyone else. As for David, I think it made for really interesting TV for someone to be so strong, especially because he didn’t get randomized until the end. You think he’s really great because he was on Jeopardy!, but you don’t know because he didn’t go until the end.

Personally, I think it made really great TV. Yes, Brian’s an actor, but even as an actor, he still needs to earn a living. So, I don’t begrudge Brian’s winnings. He did a great job. He won a lot of duels. He deserved every penny he got.

Was there any category you didn’t want to duel?

Oh, absolutely! We were given the list of categories, you didn’t know which one was yours, but you were given the list a few weeks before the show. I highlighted them red, yellow, and green, in order of how hard they were and how much I had to study.

Anything to do with sports or reality TV, I had to study a lot. The car duel, I didn’t know the first one. So, there was definitely a lot of luck involved. Classic cars was still on the board in the semi-finals and I needed people to take that off the board for me.

What was your strategy for the game?

Going in it was “a third knowledge, a third preparation, and a third luck.” I just got lucky. My saying was “If you play, you might not stay.” That’s a pretty good strategy in the beginning, but in the second half, if you don’t play, you don’t have any power. So it shifted a bit as the show went on.

What is something about the filming process or something fans don’t see on screen that would shock them?

I was always skeptical about people who got emotional about the bonds and friendships they made and being upset when they left. I was so blown away by how close you get to people in this high-pressure situation in such a short amount of time. By day two, there were people that I thought we were going to be friends for the rest of our lives, and I was upset when they got sent home. I found it really fascinating, and I don’t think a lot of people would pick that up at home.

The second thing is there is a lot of off-screen alliances happening, like a significant amount. There were a lot of backdoor alliances. If you’re close to someone, you’re like, “Now I’m gonna get you out.” There’s a lot of alliances and wheeling and dealing happening that you never see on camera. I still keep in touch with them. We have a WhatsApp thread with all 100 contestants. And I’m on threads with about 10 to 15 people that I got close to.

My husband told me, “You’re not there to make friends, you’re there to study.” Everyone would go to the bar, and he told me I wasn’t allowed, but I wanted to get down there because people were making alliances.

What was your strategy for studying?

I used Gemini, some sort of AI program, to generate images. Then, I plugged them into PowerPoint so they could be randomized because some people had binders of categories, but your brain memorizes the order, so you know what’s coming up next. So, the great thing with using Powerpoint, is it’s in a different order every time you play it.

Do you get to interact with Rob Lowe apart from when you are called up for a duel?

No, there was Covid going around. So the producers were clear, unless Rob Lowe wants to shake your hand, don’t interact with him. He was very nice and a very good host, but clearly he was managing his health. We lost a couple of producers to Covid.

What advice would you give someone who makes it on the show?

Practice. Practice with friends, in front of people because even some really smart people when the lights are on, and Rob Lowe’s there, they just froze.

Congratulations on your win!

Thanks! It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind, but I think it’s finally sinking in a little bit.

The Floor, Season 3, Streaming on Hulu