Six weeks ago, Big Brother opened his doors to 20 housemates, all from different walks of life.
The housemates stayed within the confines of his four walls, sealed off from the outside world, with their every move recorded, 24 hours a day, for 39 days.
After a plethora of nomination challenges, backstabbing and evictions, international male model Chad Hurst, former national gymnast Sophie Budack and former AFL player, Daniel Gorringe became the top three. The winner? You decide.
But, before the live finale, TheLatch— caught up with the housemates.
Here, we spoke with Hurst, Budack and Gorringe, to find out how they’re feeling before the big reveal and why you should vote for them.
DANIEL
Anita Anabel: Hi Dan! Such a great achievement getting through to the final three. You had some of the best gameplay in the house. Did you follow your original strategy going in?
Daniel Gorringe: I honestly did not have a strategy. I signed up for Big Brother — the show. Where you hang out all day and just sit by the pool. Then I quickly realised it’s not a “show” anymore, it’s a game.
I had to change things around really quickly because if you don’t start playing the game, they’ll just get rid of ya [sic] because you’re not doing anything.
I had to change that pretty quickly. I think I played a great game. You may not like it, you might think it’s deceiving or you might think I am this or that, but it’s got me here.
If I didn’t do all those things I wouldn’t be here.
AA: I’ve found it really interesting how many housemates have told me that you got a really rough edit — especially because you’re actually really funny.
DG: I know! They obviously couldn’t find any time for jokes in there!
I do feel a bit like that. I signed up for the show because I wanted to make people laugh. I thought I was going to be able to do that on this show but when I realised it was a game, I knew my terrible jokes weren’t going to make the air. There were a lot of terrible ones.
I think because out of 48 hours to 72 hours, they have between two or three days to put one hour of stuff together, it’s not going to be me being funny for 40 minutes. It’s going to be the ruthless moves you do and people are not going to like that.
I wanted to be the funny guy, I wanted to make people laugh and entertain them, and to be moulded into this different character that’s not me, that I would never support or endorse, it’s been a little bit disappointing.
AA: One thing I really loved about your journey was that fact that the experience made you realise “what was important”. How did this experience change your life?
DG: In today’s current climate, technology and stress and all the things that humans deal with, that was taken out of the Big Brother house. You don’t connect with the outside world and you then have time to think about your life and talk about your life with other people in the house and you work out, life’s pretty good.
I’ve got great friends, a great partner in Ana and an amazing family. I’m very blessed to have had a great career and I’m blessed to have been on a TV show and that might lead to other avenues.
I’m very lucky regardless of the outcome and I think, everyone has stress and when you just take a break from that for 40 days you reflect and think, well, this isn’t so bad. Others have it way worse than me.
AA: The prize money looks very enticing. What do you think you’ll do with it and have your priorities changed from before you went in?
DG: I walked into the house and I promise you, I only found out the prize money the night before I went into the house. I didn’t know what I was competing for.
I didn’t go into win and now that’s I’ve had a loud crack at it, the money will be massive, but obviously, COVID has hit and the money will go towards the family that might need an assist. The rest leftover will be a house investment somewhere in Melbourne with Ana and a nice holiday when we can.
It’s a great amount of money and I’d be very fortunate and lucky if I win it and I think I deserve it, but I just want to help the people around me.
AA: What was your biggest challenge in the house?
DG: The day-to-day stress of wondering what people think about you. You don’t sleep properly, because you’re up at night thinking about it.
AA: Daniel, it sounded like you slept like a baby…
DG: (laughs) You know what, yeah. I did snore a fair bit actually. I get your point.
AA: When I spoke to Mat, he told me that you had been receiving some pretty horrible messages on social media.
DG: It’s been brutal the last six weeks. Obviously I’d love to win, but I’ve got the heavy weight of stress and anxiety with the comments coming through.
The edit might have made us look like something we’re not and for people to jump on that and kick us in the teeth, it’s been really hard.
AA: What did you learn about yourself?
DG: I’ve learned that I’m a bigger softie than I thought I was. I learned to accept that, I learned to accept that it’s okay to be who I am and not fit inside someone else’s mould.
AA: If you’re not the winner, who do you think will win?
DG: It’s hard to split them because they’re just the same person, but I think maybe Sophie. Women of Australia will relate to her. I love her, so I can see that everyone will love her.
AA: What message do you have for Australia to vote for you?
DG: G’Day guys! How are you going? I think, if you’ve figured out that it’s a game now, then I think I’ve played the best game.
You might not think it’s for you and it might not be what your morals line up with but I’m actually a good guy and a deserving winner.
CHAD
Anita Anabel: Congratulations on making the final three, Chad! What’s been the biggest surprise of watching the show back?
Chad Hurst: As soon as I got out of the house, my mates asked me if I regret anything, are you worried about anything when it starts airing?
I can say that I didn’t regret anything. I did stick to my morals the whole time so I had no anxiety when the show started. I think that’s why I got so little air time because I didn’t get caught up in all the drama, so I had that safe feeling.
I was so bloody proud and so was Ma. She was so happy. For them to edit how I played, it was just really nice.
AA: Some of the other housemates have told me that you and Sophie are just friends which is disappointing for Australia.
CH: None of the housemates knows anything. They’re all living in different states. Sophie has been up in Darwin and I’ve been living in Sydney so we haven’t seen each other.
We’re not going to leave the house and sit there straight away and go, “ok, we’re dating now”. We’re adults.
It’s annoying that people try to put words in other people’s mouths. No one has come to me. No one has asked me about this. No one has asked me about our relationship.
AA: You lost your dad recently and he was a huge fan of the show. What advice do you think he would have given you?
CH: Big Brother was his favourite show and we’ve got photos of him with all the Big Brother winners hanging up around the house. He loved it.
I still remember being a kid and he said to me: “This is your show, Chad. I want you on the show.” And he just said, “I can see you on the show.”
I still remember the advice that he did give me, he said: “I’d love you to be on the show. Just be you and you will make some good tele”.
It’s funny you should say that because he actually did tell me that.
AA: What was the biggest challenge for you inside the house?
CH: Definitely the water one. That was a big one for me. Watching that, I almost spewed up.
I also missed Buddy, my toy poodle. I always miss him because I travel a lot for work but because Ma is always there, I can FaceTime him but I couldn’t really talk to him.
AA: Who do you think played the most strategic game now and why?
CH: Looking back at it, I think Matty [Garrick] played a good strategic game. His edit was really good. He was smooth with all different groups.
AA: If it’s not you, who do you think will win?
CH: Definitely Sophie. I want her to take it out if I don’t win.
I think it’s fair that if I win, I’m definitely going to share some money with her. It would be rude not to. We did the whole thing together.
AA: What did you learn about yourself?
CH: I learnt that, to me, money isn’t everything. Morals are more important than money.
SOPHIE
Anita Anabel: Congratulations on making the top three, Sophie! You were the only female to make the finale and you’ve got a huge backing from the other females in the house.
Sophie Budack: I really pushed in the house for girl power. That wasn’t shown much but I really was, always.
I was always like, “Come on girls! Come on girls! Screw the boys club.”
There was such a footy culture in the house. It was like the room where the men get dressed in at the back of the footy club. There was so much masculine toxicity.
AA: You were such a challenge beast, incredibly determined and fit. What was your driving motivator?
SB: Every time I went into a challenge, I thought to myself, “you have to win because you’ve got to keep the power” but I always remembered everything I had done to get on the show.
I was in the Netherlands at the time and I just dropped everything. Within a few days, I was in the house. I remembered what I had sacrificed and also, just tried to remember that this was my dream since I was just a little girl so that kept me going.
AA: Chad told me that you guys are going to give each other a portion of the money if you win.
SB: Without a question, because we’re both deserving, well, even Dan. We’re all deserving. We were a team in the house.
For me, regardless of that cut for Chad, I would use the money to pay off my Mum’s mortgage if she lets me and also, invest in something for the rest of my life. I don’t want to blow it on something superficial.
AA: What do you think your best gameplay during your time in the house?
SB: My best gameplay was just genuinely being who I am and not backstabbing anyone. I always kept my word in the house. I didn’t make false promises and I think that’s why I have been able to get to the top three.
AA: What did you learn about yourself?
SB: I learnt that I’m strong mentally and physically. I knew I had physical strength but I am a lot stronger than I ever thought I was or ever gave myself credit for.
I am also a lot smarter than I give myself credit for and was able to make some big game plays in the house.
AA: If it’s not you, who do you think will win?
SB: Oh, Chad hands down.
AA: According to a lot of the housemates, Dan’s edit hasn’t been great. Do you think this will cost him the win?
SB: I think so. At the end of the day, Dan is probably the funniest guy I’ve ever met in my life and his humour didn’t really come up. It made it look like he was serious when he was just taking the piss at times.
A part of his strategy was to be the funny guy and because it’s not being shown as clear as it was, I think that might affect his game.
AA: What message do you have for Australia to vote for you?
SB: Get behind a girl! We’re always second-best to the boys. We haven’t had an Australian Big Brother winner who is a chick for so long.
Get behind the girls. We are always told ‘we can’t do that’ because it’s a boys thing, or we’re always told we’re second best. It’s about time a girl stood up and took the crown.
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Big Brother continues on Wednesday with a live finale, only on Channel 7.
Who will win? You decide. Cast your vote for the winner here.