When Angela Clancy was sent packing from the Big Brother house, the mother-of-two thought she was out for good.
But in a wonderful turn of events (for her and the nation), Clancy was taken to a special bunker where she is about to wreak havoc and plot her revenge on the other housemates.
Since her arrival on the show — asking Sonia Kruger to carry her suitcase for her — fans have fallen in love with the self-assured Kenyan-born Aussie, however, for the confident “Queen”, being put on a pedestal was not her intention.
“I’m overwhelmed. It just humbles me,” Clancy said in an interview with TheLatch— post her eviction.
“But the thing is, I don’t like to be put on a pedestal and especially [using] that word ‘role model’. It scares me a lot. Because as soon as you slip, everybody comes for you. The fall is harder, so I don’t want anybody to tell me I’m a role model.”
Clancy is best known in the house for her love of English Breakfast Tea and her unfiltered nature, and it’s with her self-appointed “loudmouth” that she shares a few home truths about the other housemates, particularly her arch-nemesis, Talia Rycroft.
“There’s no amount of editing that can make Talia worse than she actually was in the house,” Clancy admitted, before adding: “If anybody came to rain on her shine, she wasn’t having it and that’s why she went hard on Hannah. Hannah didn’t start shining until Talia got evicted.”
Here, the events manager talks to TheLatch— about her own upbringing, how she felt going into the bunker and reveals Rycroft’s true feelings for housemate, Daniel Gorringe.
And if you haven’t already, you best put the kettle on, because you’re going to want to sip this tea…
Anita Lyons: Hi Angela! I’m personally very excited to chat with you. I’m a huge fan! You established yourself as a real contender in the house. What was it like to be evicted so early on?
Angela Clancy: Oh, it was heartbreaking, because I’ve got all this power and then the one time I went down — after two back-to-back challenges, my body was like butter, I felt like I was in a battle, coming back from war. So, the last challenge, my body just couldn’t take it. No amount of tea could have repaired that body!
When I went into that challenge, I knew my chances were not good because I’m not good with motion either and going around and around, I felt like I was going to vomit. And come to the eviction, and I was evicted, I thought “oh my god”, it was devastating. I thought, there’s my dream, the door has closed. The end.
I have so much more to give and it had come to an end, I just couldn’t believe it. I broke down. I literally broke down.
I wasn’t even thinking about my kids. You know how if you’re evicted, you’re like “yeah, I get to see my kids and husband”. No, because I didn’t go in there for my kids, I went in there to prove that I could do it. I just wanted to do it for myself.
“I didn’t go in there for my kids, I went in there to prove that I could do it. I just wanted to do it for myself.”
AL: That’s really interesting you say that you don’t remember thinking of your family because we hear you clear as day saying, “I get to see my kids!”.
AC: No?! The first thing in my mind was, that’s it. My dream. The door has closed and my dream has come to an end. That’s what I was thinking.
We were in a pressure cooker. It’s just crazy.
AL: Wow! Nope, you definitely said it. Big Brother caught everything! (Laughs) So, what was it like going into the bunker and realising you weren’t being evicted?
AC: To see the door close behind me, I broke down. I couldn’t even wheel my suitcase before Big Brother said there was a bunker. Then fast-forward and I come to the bunker, the first thing I see is tea and I was like, “holy crap! Thank you, Jesus, for all this tea and I don’t have to share it with anyone,” which was amazing.
AL: You’ve become a break-out star on the series. Have you been surprised at the support Australia has given you?
AC: I’m overwhelmed. It just humbles me. But the thing is, I don’t like to be put on a pedestal and especially that word “role model”. It scares me a lot. Because as soon as you slip, everybody comes for you. The fall is harder so, I don’t want anybody to tell me I’m a role model. I don’t want to be anyone’s role model like this.
Take what you can from me, take the good deeds, but leave out everything else. Don’t put me on a pedestal because nobody should be put on a pedestal, you know?
We all have our good and our bad and I just want to be my kid’s role model. I don’t want to be anybody [else’s] role model, no.
AL: You arrived in Australia from Kenya at the age of 18 and have forged an incredible life for yourself. How have you done that?
AC: I’ve had to fight my way through life. A lot of people know somebody in their industry and they’ve got connections.
When I came here, my parents didn’t have any friends or relatives. I had nobody apart from my sister who joined me three months later, so we have had to work our whole life.
You know, when I met my husband, who was my boyfriend [at the time], he didn’t have much money. He only had $10,000. I chewed that up within a month.
He makes fun because he says I went through $10,000 with four weeks but I think it’s longer.
Coming from home, I had everything. We were very wealthy. So, coming to Australia, when I met my boyfriend, I just went through money like it was nothing.
We build from scratch, you know, and I’ve always had priorities. If I put my mind to something, I want to do it. So I said, you have to engage me, we have to get married before kids because I want to have a baby at 28 and he was like, “Woah, woah, calm down”, and I said, “no, no, I am not calming down”.
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I’d written all of this down. At 28 I want a baby and another one four years later, and guess what? Everything happened.
I said to my husband, “I don’t want to bring up a baby in a rented house, we’ll get stuck.” So we built our first house before we had a baby. And today, we have our house with no mortgage — we have a mortgage on our holiday house in Margaret River — and I don’t have a credit card to my name because I believe in working hard and if I don’t have it, I don’t spend it.
I’ve had to work hard. I don’t take life for granted. I am very humbled by everything. If I have enough, I share it around and that’s why I got rid of Talia [Rycroft] because she didn’t share that, she wasn’t kind. She was all about divide and conquer and I’m not for that. My greatest accomplishment was just getting rid of Talia.
AL: Speaking of Talia, since being evicted, she has been really upset over her portrayal. What do you think of that?
AC: That’s not true because you can’t edit our words and you cannot edit our actions. There’s no amount of editing that can make Talia worse than she actually was in the house.
She was very selfish and would wake up in the middle of the night. I remember she woke up at 2.00 am, and we were all sleeping, and knowing that we have a challenge the next morning, but she woke up crying about a boy on the outside that she was conflicted because she likes Daniel and she doesn’t know what to do. And I’m thinking, you woke me up at 2.00 am for that? How selfish can you be? Couldn’t this wait until morning? It was just how she is. She just wanted all of the attention. You know, she wanted everyone to rally around her.
If anybody came to rain on her shine, she wasn’t having it and that’s why she went hard on Hannah. Hannah didn’t start shining until Talia got evicted.
We didn’t see Hannah talking to Daniel until Talia left and then Hannah started baking the next day and we were all like: “Oh, you can bake! Girl, you go for it!”
AL: Hang on a second. Did you just say Talia admitted she liked Daniel?
AC: Yeah! I was so confused and I was so embarrassed for her, like, girl. You just don’t do that. He already said he’s got a girlfriend. Let it go.
They might say they’re best friends but please. Talia was sleeping in the bed next to me. I’m not saying anything…. but, please.
AL: I actually spoke to her yesterday and she told me that you had to apologise to her and the rest of the house after filming stopped. What’s your side of the story?
AC: When did I apologise? I don’t even have her number!
AL: She said you reached out to her in the group chat?
AC: Why would I apologise? What? For winning challenges or evicting her? No. I did not apologise to anyone. I haven’t even spoken to her on the phone. She created a group chat and it’s all “Talia, Talia, Talia”.
I don’t respond to that group chat because it’s BS because she’s trying to straighten things out before the reunion. The Talia you saw there is the same Talia behind-the-scenes.
AL: Obviously there were some serious alliances formed in the house and you, Marissa and Kieran were stronger than ever.
AC: In the house, people are very scared. They’re always walking on eggshells because they’re scared of sticking out because you may be the next target. I’ve got a loudmouth, there’s no way you’re going to pipe me down, so I just said it as it is. Marissa’s eyes just speak for themselves.
Marissa is like the supervisor, you don’t want to get on the wrong side because she will mess you up and let you know exactly what she’s thinking, so, we were a powerhouse — and we were both physically strong.
I took Kieran under my wings from day one because people misunderstood his enthusiasm. He’s very passionate about the game. He’s a super fan, so people misunderstood him, but he’s a very nice guy and I need to protect that. He’s really annoying as well, like extremely annoying. He’s the annoying little brother I never had, you know?
AL: There’s a good chance you get to see the housemates during the show again — so, besides yourself, who do you think will win? I know you and Chad Hurst had a really great relationship.
AC: I love Chad! He never had anything bad to say about anyone and he was my eye candy. I was like, “Oh my gosh! I need a hall pass with this one!”
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Big Brother continues Sunday at 7.00 pm and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30 pm, only on Channel 7.