Big Brother star and Nova radio host Nathan Morris shares bonkers fan encounter

Reality star turned Nova radio host Nathan Morris has spilled on a truly jaw-dropping fan encounter that unfolded right after he left Big Brother.

As reality TV completely captured the zeitgeist in the early 2000s, the first crop of Big Brother stars were – for a time – the biggest stars in Australia.

Sara Marie and her “bum dance”, Marty and Jess’ “dancing doona”, Hot Dogs.

We, as a nation, were utterly gripped.

Some fans simply turned up at bowling alleys and shopping centres to collect an autograph from our favourite Housemates – but others took it to another level entirely.

More than 20 years after appearing on Big Brother season 2, Nathan Morris, who now co-hosts Perth’s top-rated breakfast show, Nathan, Nat & Shaun on Nova, has shed light on some of his absolutely bonkers fan encounters after exiting the iconic house.

“I had people rocking up to my hotel and asking for a key – and strangely enough, on a few occasions, the staff would give it to them,” Morris told news.com.au.

“I was on the Gold Coast, or in Sydney or Melbourne or Cairns – it happened at all these different places. I would go back to my room after doing a gig somewhere and there were strangers in my lounge room.

“Because I was travelling around Australia, I didn’t know if these were people I should know, and I didn’t know if there was a reason they should be there, so I’d just sit down and have a chat with them … And slowly, throughout the conversation, I realised they were strangers.”

Nathan with former Big Brother host Gretel Killeen following his eviction from the show in 2002.

Morris recalled one specific incident in Cairns where a group of about five fans ended up staying for “most of the night” – and even ordered dinner – after inexplicably being given keys to his room by hotel staff.

“You gotta understand, after Big Brother … I’m just a boy from Kalgoorlie, really. I’d been living in Perth doing uni – I just didn’t know how to deal with this sort of stuff,” he explained.

“So when someone is being nice to you, you being nice back is the way my country mentality worked. Even when I found out that they’d basically broken into my room, I felt like I needed to provide dinner.”

Morris added: “Literally five different people had been given keys to that room, that I know about. That was a real eye-opener.”

The reality star turned radio host also opened up to news.com.au about the many offers he’d turned down as he rode his new-found wave of fame following his Big Brother eviction in 2002.

He described the disbelief he felt meeting with his agent immediately after leaving the house, who had a “super long shopping list of opportunities” already on offer.

However, unlike other Big Brother alumni, Morris was wary of taking them on.

“I remember having a rule when I went into Big Brother – because I’d seen the insane opportunities people in the first series were being offered – and some of those, as the viewer, I thought, ‘God, you don’t deserve that, you haven’t earned that’,” he explained.

“I got offered so many different things thought my agent that I said no to, so they got really upset with me.”

Morris (left) – with Nova 97.3FM co-hosts Nat Locke and Shaun McManus – is part of Perth’s #1 breakfast show.

Morris explained that several “huge gigs” were laid out before him, including a Rove Live-esque talk show, a cartoon built specifically around his personality, a role on hit New Zealand soapie, Shortland Street and a recording contract (despite no one checking to see if he “could actually sing”.)

“If I saw a Housemate being given an opportunity, literally months after they were on a reality TV show and they were given a show like that, I would not watch it and I would think it was undeserved. So I flat-out refused,” he said.

Instead, Morris took on “small gigs” and built up his skill set before landing the co-hosting role on Nova 97.3FM in Perth – a job for which he celebrated his 20th anniversary just last week.

Nathan, Nat & Shaun have held the #1 spot in Perth’s breakfast show ratings for six years.

In the most recent survey, the show held on to their longtime title with a massive 17.3 per cent audience share.