Big Brother stars Sara-Marie Fedele and Blair McDonough reunite on TV

Bum dancing Big Brother contestant Sara-Marie Fedele made a rare TV appearance recently, reuniting with one of her former housemates.

Former Big Brother Australia contestant Sara-Marie Fedele made a rare public appearance recently, reuniting with fellow housemate Blair McDonough for an interview on Seven’s Sunrise.

McDonough and Fedele finished in second and third place respectively for the first season of Big Brother Australia back in 2001.

While she was beaten to the $250,000 prize by winner Ben Williams, Fedele became the first season’s breakout star thanks to her bunny ears, pyjamas and ‘bum dance’.

In the months after the season finished, she released her own single – a top 20 hit – a book of humour, and sleepwear line.

Bunny eared-up in the Big Brother house.

She came third, but she was the season’s breakout star.

While, McDonough, 42, has had a more lasting career in showbiz with acting roles in series like Neighbours and Winners and Losers, Fedele, 44, slowly faded from the public eye.

The pair, who recently reunited on the Gold Coast for Jetstar’s Fly A Friend For Free holiday packages sale, revealed on Sunrise that they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since 2007.

Fedele, who now lives in Bunbury, two hours south of her hometown of Perth, explained there were simple reasons for all the apparent gimmicks that made her such a big reality TV star.

Sara-Marie Fedele on Sunrise this morning.

“The bunny ears were so I didn’t have to do my hair, the bum dance was to send a signal to my sisters that I was happy, and the pyjamas were because we weren’t going anywhere, so I couldn’t be bothered to be dressed. Very simple things … crazy.”

Blair and Sara-Marie reunite after years.

Blair (dressed up as Sara-Marie) in the Big Brother house.

Nowadays, Fedele just doesn’t “care to be known.”

The brief interview didn’t touch on what Fedele or McDonough have been up to in recent years. McDonough’s more recent acting roles include a three-episode stint on the TV show Mystery Road back in 2020, and a role in the 2022 Australian movie Seriously Red. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and two children.

Sara-Marie and Blair, reunited after all these years for a new Jetsar campaign.

Fedele worked in retail and childcare after her initial burst of reality TV fame, and gave birth to a daughter in 2015. In 2018, she appeared on Studio 10 and revealed she had launched an online business called Words on Rice, selling grains of rice that she inscribed with personalised messages.

Nowadays, Fedele is rarely seen unless she wants to be, and doesn’t maintain any public social media presence.

“I haven’t been in hibernation, I just didn’t care to be known,” she said in a 2020 interview with MamaMia, explaining her retreat from the public eye.

“I’m still the same person before, but a grown-up version. I did what I did and then I was happy to go.”