Housemates hold power
The doors of the Big Brother house have been opened as a new Australian series returns to TV screens. Contestant Daniel Gorringe tells why he’s decided to enter. W hen an actor gets a role, they’re given time to learn their lines and get into character. And anyone who signs up for Survivor has a good idea what they can do before they start filming the show.
But what about the people taking part in the new series of Big Brother, how do you prepare to sit around in a house all day with a bunch of strangers?
“It’s weird, you don’t really. There’s no way to prepare,” Daniel Gorringe said.
“I just sit at home and the advert comes on and it still doesn’t seem real. Friends and family ask, ‘What’s it like? Are you excited? Are you nervous?’ and I’m in a bit of a holding stage at the moment. I don’t know what to expect,” he said.
Gorringe is a former AFL player who will soon be in the Big Brother house with a group of strangers as the Australian series returns after a sevenyear hiatus.
But this time things are a little different. Instead of a public vote, housemates will nominate and vote to evict each other out of the house until the grand final, when the public will get to decide a winner.
Before he signed up for Big Brother, Gorringe was at a bit of a crossroads in his life.
He’d played footy for the Gold Coast Suns and Carlton Football Club. But when his footy career ended, he found he wasn’t happy in his new day job.
“I was living a very boring life. I played footy and then that finished and then I went to a 9-to-5 job and that just isn’t for me,” he said.
“I realise now that footy’s finished that I do want to entertain. I do want to make people laugh. I want to make people feel good and this is the platform and an experience where I can do that.”
Gorringe was encouraged to take part by his girlfriend Ana.
“She’s the reason I applied. She forced me to sit down and do the application forms after I quit because it took too long,” he said.
“I just want to make people feel good and I want to bring something different to reality TV. This is a program where you can be yourself and if that’s not good enough, that’s fine.”
Big Brother, from Monday, 7.30pm, on Seven
Game on:
Big Brother