Big Brother’s Marissa Rancan showed Australia that she was one of the country’s most active residents when she was one-third of the aerobics trio, the Rancan Sisters in the 1980s.
Now, almost three decades on, the 61-year-old proved that she age had not wearied her and she was still one of the biggest physical threats in the house.
Known as a “challenge beast”, Rancan outlasted twelve housemates — all of whom were at least ten years younger than her — before being ousted by Casey Mazzucchelli, whose only reason for putting Rancan up, was to save herself.
Even though Rancan left empty-handed, she has “no regrets”.
To prepare herself for the house, the former makeup-artist had to “prepare herself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually” because the producers were adamant the series would be like Survivor.
“I was really proud of how far I got,” she said. “Some of these guys were ‘athletes’, but they weren’t very good at challenges,” she said in a post-eviction chat with TheLatch.
“So, I was pleased, that the oldest person in the house, sometimes three times their age and they were hopeless. They have no endurance.
While she loved every moment of her time in the house, Rancan spent a lot of time trying to break up “the alphas”.
“It seemed that the men will always stand with the men,” she said before adding, “The ‘boys club’ did not stop. That was something that Hannah [Campbell], myself and Ange [Angela Clancy] tried to break down because I think it would be great to have a female win Big Brother.”
Here, Rancan tells TheLatch— how she just “knew” she was the one going home, why women in the Big Brother house need to break the glass ceiling and why she thinks a female should win the series.
Anita Anabel: Hi Marissa, you did such an incredible job lasting as long as you did! And then you were the oldest housemate, but also a huge physical threat. How did that make you feel?
Marissa Rancan: When I went in there I said to myself, I have to prepare myself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually because I don’t know what I’m getting into.
I knew it was going to be a different show, of course, it was like Survivor and that’s what they were telling us, and I thought “yay” because I love challenges.
[And I thought] I’m going to be the oldest in here, and I was really proud of how far I got. Some of these guys were “athletes”, but they weren’t very good at challenges.So, I was pleased, that the oldest person in the house, sometimes three times their age and they’re hopeless and they have no endurance.
AA: Mentally, you have so much more life experience than some of these housemates, so that’s probably also it.
MR: Yeh, that’s right. That really helped my endurance as well, like, even with the water challenge, when I had to have my finger up there for six hours, I said to myself, “OK, I’m going out at six hours, but I took a leaf out of Angie’s [Angela Clancy] book because she never put a time limit on anything and I’m thinking, “right, that’s what I’m going to do next time.”
Look, I just got so much out of it. It was all just so positive. Even though I came out of the show, I am so pleased I did it. And my mojo is back. It just shows that you can be any age and as long as you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything in life.
AA: Casey really threw you under the big old Big Brother bus tonight. Were you shocked you were the one sent home?
MR: It was a relief because now we’re at the pointy end, and there were less housemates, you could see the vibe and feel the energy in the house.
I could see Kieran doing his usual putting out fires and making sure I’m the one going home and I knew that the guys had an alliance and that Dan and Chad were in it together. I’ve been around a lot and I could see that these guys had created their own little network, pretending that they weren’t friends, when they were friends.
So, you sort of know when you’re going home because you feel the vibe. If it had to be between myself and Kieran, Kieran was less of a threat and they would use him as collateral damage. He could be thrown under the bus at another time and can be swayed either way.
I wasn’t mad at Casey, I just wanted her to play her game because little did she know, the guys were pushing her out of the game. She was just collateral damage for them.
When Xavier had told her that Kieran wanted to get rid of her, she went up to him and confronted him and the guys got mad and didn’t speak to her for an entire day. I was trying to help her, but at the time when they said they wanted to throw Casey under the bus, that’s when I pulled them over and said: “You’ve said exactly what I’ve said about her, let’s form an alliance.”
I say it how it is. I went in there going, “this is me, this is who I am”. I just tell you how it is and if you don’t like it… and a lot of people don’t like the truth.
AA: It’s been interesting and also a little hard to watch the “boys club” if I’m honest.
MR: Boys will be boys. We were trying to break down the alpha group — and it seemed that the men will always stand with the men.
When I went into the house, I was by myself for three days and that was fine because I wanted to see where the dust settled. I could see that Dan when he went into the bedroom, chose the furthest bed at the back and all his little minions followed. They were like magnets to him. It was quite funny watching that.
The “boys club” did not stop. That was something that Hannah, myself and Ange tried to break down because I think it would be great to have a female win Big Brother.
AA: I agree. It’s a little disappointing to see how it is playing out on TV like that.
MR: We need to break that glass ceiling. I don’t have to be a total feminist, I love guys but I still think thee’s nothing wrong with wearing a pair of heels and hitting that glass ceiling. Girls need to have “girl power” but in 2020, everything should be equal and it will be good to see a guy and a girl in an alliance — not necessarily a “girlfriend/boyfriend”.
AA: Totally! Now, after Shane [Vincent] was eliminated, he told me that you two had had a really deep chat in the cardboard boxes surrounding mental health but it was never aired. Would you like to share that with me?
MR: Absolutely, if I can help one person, it really does help other people. I’ve had some traumas in my life and I’ve struggled with mental health because of those traumas and Shane has had the same.
I thought when I went into the house, this is going to be challenging for me, mentally and physically, but I came out so much stronger.
AA: In saying that, was there anything that happened in the house you wish they would have shown?
MR: Just some of the really fun antics in the house that we got up to.
Look, we signed a contract saying Big Brother could use whatever they wanted, and that’s fine but I would have loved to have seen some footage of us being funny.
When Dan and Matt were inside with their beautiful steak dinner, I said to Xavier, “undo the gas thing from the barbecue, dismantle it and hide it.” And I took all the racks off the barbecue so they couldn’t barbecue their meat. Then Big Brother said: “Xavier and Marissa, would please return that and tell Dan and Mat where all the barbecue equipment is.”
The next morning, I said: “OK everyone, I’ve got a new group coming through the happy campers. “Could everyone please vacate and clean up your mess because I’ve got a new group coming at nine.” It was so much fun!
AA: I spoke to Xavier. He’s a great guy.
MR: Oh my god. So, Liam Hemsworth, look out! There’s a new kid on the block!
He’s very caring and calls it out like me. I used to call him “Dennis the Menace” because that’s exactly what he’s like!
AA: I love that! So, with the housemates who are left, who is playing the most strategic game?
MR: Dan is playing a really good game. He’s really good at manipulating people. He gets people doing his dirty work for him and they don’t even realise they’re doing it. He’s also very good at talking to people and analysing them and trying to be really sweet and kind, but at the same time, he’s manipulating you to do what he wants, for his game.
I think that’s really clever how he’s played it.
AA: Who do you think will win?
MR: I really want a girl to win Big Brother. I say that because “girl power” but I feel that Big Brother is throwing us twists and turns every day and each day there was something completely different. I think Australia will be surprised because Australia may change their mind about who they want to win. It will be a really hard decision. It will be how they played their game.
AA: Do you have any regrets?
MR: Oh no! None at all. I had the best time. I would go back in there tomorrow. As long as they had the coffee machine going, that’s the only thing I request Big Brother!
Big Brother continues Sunday at 7.00 pm and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30 pm, only on Channel 7.