After a long season of twists and turns, it all comes down to this: Our Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders top three are 2003 winner Reggie Bird, Taras Hrubyj-Piper, and Big Brother superfan Johnson Ashak.
Chatting to The Latch over the phone, Ashak said he was “thrilled” to have made it all the way to the finale of the competition, which will air on Tuesday, July 12.
“You can’t help but feel excited!” he exclaimed. “I mean, what an achievement, what an absolute achievement getting through this far. It was a dream of mine to go into the house, but to take it out, I’m so excited.”
As the resident superfan of the newbie housemates, no one was more excited than Ashak to meet the returning OG housemates who would make up the Big Brother Royals, but at the same time, it was a “bittersweet” moment for him.
Related: How to Cast Your Vote for Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders
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“I know how much Australia loves the OGs, and being the newbies I knew that that we were gonna be on the back foot,” Ashak explained.
Still, at the end of the day, Ashak feels “so blessed to have met all eight OGs”.
“Not just met them, but played the game with them, and made friends for life in them,” he said. “I’m lucky, I’m blessed and I’m humbled.”
As for what it’s been like to watch himself play against some of the greats, Ashak said that he’s “proud of the way that we’ve all played”.
“I’m proud of the way I played in particular,” he said. “I didn’t compromise who I was for anything or anyone — I was myself, I am myself, and I’ll always be myself, and to love other people you’ve gotta love yourself, so you know, be who you are.”
Asked what it would mean for him to be crowned the winner of Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders, Ashak screamed.
“It would mean the world to me, and to my family,” he said.
“There’s a photo that I’m gonna throw up [on Instagram] of me in 2002, standing next to the eviction chair,” he said. “Twenty years on in 2022, here I am in the finale, standing side-by-side with two powerhouses.”
He continued: “To be the best you’ve gotta beat the best, and I did everything I could in the house to make it to the end, and this is a superfan’s dream — getting to the end and taking it out.”
If Ashak wins the competition, he plans to share the money with his family, not only sending his parents on a holiday, but giving half of the $250,000 to his brother.
Related: Big Brother’s Brenton Parkes: “I Really Thought I Was Gonna Win“
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“I said before the show and during the show, if I were to take this out, I’m giving half the prize money to my brother, because I am the person he’s taught me to be, he’s taught me so much,” he said. “He’s been through so many challenges himself, but he just persevered and kept going and going and going.
“As a family we lose together but we’ll win together, so this would be my thank you to him and to my family.”
“I’d love for my parents to take a break from work,” he continued. “They’ve worked so hard for so long, my dad’s almost 70, mum’s almost 60, and they’re not young and I want them to enjoy their lives, it’s time for a break!
“I just want them to go on a bloody holiday,” he said. “I want them to take some time off work, but without paying for stuff, paying for bills, this and that.
“My parents actually got married in Greece, so I’d love to send them back to where they got married, because it’s a dream of theirs to go back,” he said.
As for what he’d buy himself?
“Oh geez, I need a beer, let me tell you!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “Probably a schooner, that’s the first thing!”
“I’ve gotta do something selfish!” he said, adding: “Honestly, I’d probably get a hair transplant!”
He laughed.
“You know what, the game took it out of me, and I got really skinny and really dark but boy did I lose a lot of hair in the house!” he exclaimed.
Voting for Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders is open now, and you can vote for Johnson Ashak here.
Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders will conclude Tuesday, July 12 with a live finale. It all kicks off at 7.30pm, only on 7 and 7 Plus.
Want more Big Brother? Read all of our Big Brother Australia content here, and check out the stories below.
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