Big Brother Australia reboot: Reggie pushes for All Star season

One of Australia’s best loved housemates says there’s one thing producers need to get right to ensure the new series is a ratings winner.

One of Australia’s best loved Big Brother housemates has sent a warning to the producers of the upcoming season.

Reggie, who won Big Brother back in 2003, said it was crucial that “real” Aussies were cast on the show when it returned to our screens in 2020.

“I think a lot of people these days go onto the shows to become famous,” Reggie told news.com.au. “I hope that when they cast the people they put realistic people in there and not these fake, plastic people.”

Reggie beat Dan and Chrissie to win Big Brother.

It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by another former Big Brother winner, Ben Norris.

“Big Brother really only works when you put real Australians in that format,” he told Hot91’s Dave, Sam & Ash yesterday. “Instagram models have got a home, they’re on Love Island now.

“If Big Brother is going to work you need to find real Australians and put them in there for three months. No intruders, just leave them alone.”

Contestant applications for the upcoming season of Big Brother are open now but very little is known about who will host the show or where it will be filmed.

There are rumours that Gretel Killeen, who hosted the first seven seasons before being replaced by Kyle and Jackie O, has been contacted by producers.

“You’ve got to have Gretel,” Reggie told news.com.au. “She is the mother of Big Brother.

“If you’re going to bring it back you should have Gretel as host and Mike Goldman back doing the voiceovers as well.”

Reggie with Gretel Killeen after winning the show.

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Reggie would also like to see the controversial Big Brother Uncut return, which she told news.com.au she wasn’t aware was on during her season.

“I didn’t know about it until I got out of the house,” she said. “I was back home and I was walking with my sister and we were going through Harvey Norman. Someone yelled out, ‘Show us your map of Tassie!’ I was like, ‘What’s that all about?’ My sister goes, ‘You’ve got no idea what’s been shown of you.’”

Not only does Reggie want the original hosts brought back, but she’s also keen for some of the old housemates to return.

“I reckon they should do an All Stars version and bring back all the favourites and the villains,” she told news.com.au. “I reckon that would be good.”

And Reggie’s more than keen to be one of them.

“Definitely!” she said. “I had the time of my life and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

It’s been more than 15 years since Reggie won the show and she’ll never forget the “craziness” that followed her time in the house.

“I had to have two bodyguards with me for three weeks,” she told news.com.au.

“I couldn’t walk down the street. I had to go and stay in a hotel because there were people camped outside my place.

Big Brother winner Reggie was swamped by fans when she returned to Tasmania.

“I tried to go back to the fish and chip shop (that she worked at before she went on Big Brother) but that was crazy. Bus loads of people were coming in and they’d just stand there and stare at me. I was like, ‘What’s going on? This is mad!’”

Winning the $250,000 prize money and becoming instantly famous did have its drawbacks though, Reggie told news.com.au.

“I couldn’t get a job for two years after the show so I was living off that (prize money) and paying rent,” she said.

“I changed heaps after coming out of there, especially in terms of trusting people. I used to think everyone was nice (laughs) and then you find out they’re not and you’re like, ‘Oh no!’

“There’s a lot of people out there who wanna be your friend and they end up not turning out that way.”

Nowadays Reggie is a single mum living on the Gold Coast with her two children.

“Mia’s in her first year of high school,” she told news.com.au about her daughter. “Lucas has missed out on quite a bit of school this year with his health, he has cystic fibrosis. He hasn’t been the best this year.

Reggie and her son Lucas last year. Picture: Lachie Millard

“I’m just plodding along. I’m working with Starshell Student, an anti-bullying program that helps kids with cyber bullying.”

Reggie is also battling a degenerative eye condition which has rendered her legally blind.

“At the end of the month I’m going to get my cataracts taken off which hopefully will be a really good thing,” she said. “I’ve just got nine degrees of central vision left and no peripheral and no night vision. It’s deteriorating.”

And as for the prize money, that’s all gone.

“I rent and it sucks, I hate it,” she laughed. “That’s why I’d love to go back on TV!”

It has not been confirmed which network will air the show, but blog TV Blackbox says it will be part of Channel 7’s line-up.