Big Brother Australia’s resident “cockroach” has finally been evicted from the house after being nominated a staggering seven times.
After a stint in the white room, Kieran Davidson decided to walk away with $15,000 prize money, instead of heeding an opportunity to go back into the house — something which he absolutely does not regret.
“The biggest thing for me is, Dan and Mat have been saying for so many episodes, ‘Kieran doesn’t play strategy. He doesn’t do that. We’re only holding him here because he’s not a threat,” Davidson said during an interview with TheLatch—, before adding: “So, I took the $15,000 mainly to say a big f–ck you to the boys.”
The 21-year-old spent 49-hours in the white room, and let us in on a secret — the lights never turn off completely which is enough to make anyone go mad. But his reasons for taking the money were clear — he knew he would be evicted as soon as he went back into the house.
“I was thinking about Angela’s game and what she had to do to get back in the house and then eventually she got evicted. So I thought to myself, ‘how am I going to do that, and not get evicted?’ he said during the interview.
“F–ck me. If Angela can go back in the house and still get evicted, what chance do I have? I’ve got none. So, I thought to myself, I’ll just take as much of this money as I possibly can and run.”
It’s been quite the journey inside the Big Brother house for “Adelaide’s Worst Driver”, who even got himself caught up in an eviction scandal, lying about something he overheard and ultimately getting Danni Uniek evicted.
When TheLatch— spoke to Casey Mazzucchelli after her eviction, she said that “every single person in that house, when that all came out, was so upset with Kieran for lying.” Davidson, however, has another side to the story.
This was part of his master strategy and he had no troubles telling his housemates just that.
“I had a huge go at them and said: ‘It’s taken this long for all you morons to realise that hey, we’re playing a game for a quarter of a million dollars and not everyone is going to be as nice as pie to you.’
“I am playing a game. I’m here to take away a quarter of a million dollars that will potentially change my family’s life. I’m here to take no prisoners. I’m going to lie, cheat and backstab you all. Game on bitches,'” he said.
Here, Davidson speaks to TheLatch— about his time in the house, how Daniel Gorringe is not the alpha we all think he is and how he, himself, was one of the only people ready to play the game.
Anita Anabel: Hi Kieran, I’m very excited to be speaking with you. I’ve waited for the whole season to chat with the famous Kieran!
I cannot believe you took the money and ran like that. What was going through your head when you took it and did you regret it?
Kieran Davidson: I wasn’t actually going to do that until Sonia said, “Guys, one more thing. The money you’re going to take comes off the overall prize money” and I thought, ‘Yup. This is my time. This is what I’m going to do’.
So, I was thinking about Angela’s game and what she had to do to get back in the house and then eventually she got evicted. So I thought to myself, how am I going to do that, and not get evicted?
So, I thought to myself, I’ll just take as much of this money as I possibly can and run.
AA: Dan and Mat might not be too pleased with you about that…
KD: The biggest thing for me is, Dan and Mat have been saying for so many episodes, “Kieran doesn’t play strategy. He doesn’t do that. We’re only holding him here because he’s not a threat.”
Well, that’s just a $15,000 tax I’ve just thrown on you for keeping me around in the game. I’m leaving with $15,000 and I could have potentially gotten more money.
It’s pretty funny because it works out as approximately $1,000 per challenge I lost in the house. I lost 15 challenges, which works out to be $15,000.
I thought if I send Sophie back in, for sure, either Mat or Dan won’t be in that final because she’s got the support of Sarah [McDougall] and Chad [Hurst] and they’re there to back her in all the way.
AA: Well you were in the White Room, so of course anyone would go a little stir crazy.
KD: I was ready to go. I was done. I’d had a great time and at that point, I had been in the White Room for 49 hours.
The thing about that room is the lights never turn off. Just like when you’re entering a cinema and the lights are slightly dimmed. So, I got to a point where you’ve got constant light on and you’re like, “get me out of here”.
Out of the 49 hours, I’d only had about five hours sleep and that’s why I looked like death warmed up when Sophie walked in there.
I call it the ‘heist that never should have happened’. I should never have been in the White Room, I should never have been given that opportunity, and I lost all the challenges, yet here we are.
So, I took the $15,000 mainly to say a big f–ck you to the boys.
AA: $15k isn’t $250k though?
KD: If Sophie, Chad or Sarah win, I want them to have as much prize money as possible.
AA: I actually believe if this was the old format and the audience voted, you would probably be in the top three because you’ve got a lot of support with Big Brother fans.
Was there anything that went on in the White Room that we didn’t see?
KD: What they didn’t show was that Sophie came into the White Room and we had about a two-and-a-half-hour conversation and she filled me in on everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.
Going in there, I thought I was aligned with Mat and Dan but she brought me to the light about how they were using me.
AA: Now that you’ve been watching the episodes, you’ve probably seen that Dan and Mat were nice to your face, but not so nice behind your back. How does that feel watching back?
KD: I’ve been asked quite a bit about this on Instagram and people calling them “bullies”. Yeah, they were using me for a vote but they’re actually really nice and funny and they’ve [production] left out some of the most endearing moments of Mat and Dan out of the edit because they’re portraying them as the “alpha” men who don’t let anyone in on anything.
Daniel is one of the funniest people I have ever met. He would make me laugh all the time. I feel like that has been left out of the edit.
It shows them as very “me, me, me” but that’s not the case at all.
I mean, I said a lot of things that never aired. I’d go to the diary room and bitch about people all the time.
They have said some things, but look, it’s a game. We’re all here to win a quarter of a million dollars.
AA: When I spoke to Casey, she told me that the housemates told you off for making up the lie that got Danni evicted. What was it like reliving that? Did you cringe a little bit?
KD: I wasn’t going to mention that, but you’ve said it now.
What actually wasn’t shown was that they all sat me down on the couch and ganged up on me. It was 15-vs-1 situation. “You got Danni out of the house. You lied about it. This isn’t the game we’re playing.”
I was thinking, have all these dumba—s signed up for Big Brother Kumbaya or the game? Like, did we sign up for the same show? Like what’s going on here?
I had a huge go at them and said: “It’s taken this long for all you morons to realise that hey, we’re playing a game for a quarter of a million dollars and not everyone is going to be as nice as pie to you.”
I am playing a game. I’m here to take away a quarter of a million dollars that will potentially change my family’s life. I’m here to take no prisoners. I’m going to lie, cheat and backstab you all. Game on bitches. I said that to them. All 15 of them.
I’m pretty disappointed they didn’t show that because I wanted to show Australia that I’m the person who is here to win.
AA: I think I’m a little bit shocked because of the way you’ve been portrayed on the show — and speaking to you now, it’s just not like that.
KD: They showed me as a bumbling idiot. I went in there to be this huge strategist. I wanted to be the Tim Dormer of my season and I probably came out as the Bradley [Darke] of my season. One of the good guys who was there for the ride, which wasn’t how I felt I played the game in the house. But maybe I did. Maybe I’m delusional.
There was an episode where I said, “I’m the puppet master of the house, I’m telling people how to vote” and I would go up to people and tell them not to vote me out, vote out someone else instead. But they just gave no context to it. So they throw that clip in there and the audience is going, “shut up, Kieran. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
There’s just no context there and in that regard, I’ve kind of being robbed a bit.
AA: Who do you think is the most strategic person left in the house?
KD: I have to give credit to Mat and Dan. They’ve played the game well. Anyone on Twitter can say they haven’t, but they have.
Mat went with his strategy from day one, is the neck that turns the head. Allowing Daniel to come up with the ideas and him implementing them.
Daniel has played a very social game and a very strategic one as well. In Tuesday night’s episode, he won his first or second challenge and he’s only implementing it now where it really needs to happen.
AA: Who do you think will win?
KD: I think someone Australia really hasn’t captured the essence of yet, is Sophie. You see a bit of her throughout the show, but me and her would talk strategy all the time.
When she nominated Casey and I, she knew that two and two split would happen and she knew that she would get to choose.
I think in the coming episodes, you’ll really see her crack out of her shell and she’ll say, “look at me Australia. I’m the strategist. I’m here to win. Vote for me.”
If there was a person that I would choose to win the show that made it to the top three, I would say Sophie.
Big Brother continues Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm, with a live finale on Wednesday at 7.30pm only on Channel 7.