TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains distressing information about the death of a child.
Big Brother saw its ninth housemate exit the house on Sunday when Mat Garrick got his revenge on Shane Vincent.
One of the later housemates to arrive at the house, Vincent quickly formed an alliance with the “Alpha’s” before trying to oust their “leader”, Garrick.
Following the tense eviction — which saw Zoe George evicted instead of his target — Vincent knew his time was up but was shocked that “no one came with me”.
“I was looking at people going, ‘You’ve been talking about getting these people out for weeks, and now’s your opportunity and you’re not going for it,'” he told TheLatch— in a post-eviction interview.
While we saw his elimination from inception to fruition, there was a very important conversation which was not aired between him and Marissa Rancan.
“A little boy died in my arms when I was giving him CPR and I’ve always struggled with that,” he said.
Following the death, Vincent went through a dark time in his life and now the father-of-three thanks the professional help he was able to get to help him move on.
While the conversation was never shown, Vincent feels the mental health aspect could “have brought more exposure to how great mental health professionals are and how much they can help you pull you out of the darkness.”
Here, Vincent talks to TheLatch— about what he’s been through and its effect on his mental health, his time in the Big Brother house and why one of the “alpha males” will most certainly win.
Anita Lyons: Hi Shane, I’m so sorry you were evicted. We hardly got to know you. Let’s chat about the Big Brother experience that you’ve just had. You had the most stressful last 24 hours in the house when you rallied to get Mat evicted — which, by the way was strategically brilliant. Do you regret going for such a big fish?
Shane Vincent: I think the game needed it. It was getting to the point where it was getting too predictable. They would just get together in their group and plot and scheme and pick off people one by one. It got to the point where I didn’t want to be one of those people that just picked off.
Even though I love the guys to death, Dan [Gorringe], Mat, all the boys, they were great but they were just too strong. Somebody needed to come and mix up the game a little bit.
I’m surprised no one came with me. I was looking at people going, “You’ve been talking about getting these people out for weeks, and now’s your opportunity and you’re not going for it.”
AL: It’s crazy because $250k is up for grabs!
SV: I know, they want to win but they don’t want to do anything for it. I always say you’ve got to risk it for the biscuit.
AL: What happened when you went into the house?
SV: When I knew other housemates were in there already, my old mind strategy changed completely.
I was in the third wave of people and I needed to hit the ground running and make friendships and connections straight away or else I’m out. Usually, it’s last in, first out.
AL: Who is playing the most strategic game and why?
SV: I think Ange is playing the most strategic game. Even though Kieran tried to play strategic, everyone knows that he played strategically as well. Whereas Ange is quite the manipulator and she says one thing and does another.
She’s not a threat in the game anymore because people are starting to realise how flippant she is and she starts to become a little insulting towards them and people don’t like that.
People don’t like being insulted or getting called stupid to their face.
AL: Who do you think is going to win?
SV: It’s gotta be one of the boys. It’s going to be Chad, Dan or Mat. I want to go with my boy Mat.
AL: You were in that box with Marissa for so long, what actually happened in there during the challenge?
SV: We were stuck in the box for like four hours together and we were talking about Marissa. Marissa loved to chat. So, pretty much from her infancy to the present day, she told me every single detail. But she did start a conversation with me about mental health and so we spoke about how we both had our issues with mental health and talk to mental health professionals.
A little boy died in my arms when I was giving him CPR and I’ve always struggled with that.
AL: I am so incredibly sorry to hear that, that is just so tragic.
SV: Yes, it was. I guess that was the forefront of the conversation.
AL: Thank you for sharing that with me. Would you have preferred the conversation aired surrounding mental health struggles?
SV: I guess it’s not something… I mean, the tragedy itself happened a while back in 2009. It was a horrific moment in my life and I was gutted that it happened.
I guess it would have brought more exposure to how great mental health professionals are and how much that can help you pull you out of the darkness.
Having someone to speak with a during that time for me, was the best thing that I could possibly have done.
AL: I am so glad you were able to get the help you needed. How incredibly distressing for you.
SV: I’ve had all the psychologists speak to me in the world and I’m fine with talking about it now.
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Big Brother continues Sunday at 7.00 pm and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30 pm, only on Channel 7.