Woman’s YouTube meltdown over Big Brother 2020 rejection

A transgender woman from the Gold Coast has been sacked from her job following her meltdown on YouTube over being rejected by Big Brother.

Natalie Brown

@natalieisbrown

2 min read

May 22, 2020 - 9:41AM

A transgender Gold Coast woman has been sacked from her job following an “embarrassing” YouTube meltdown over being rejected by Big Brother.

Jolene Dawson shared the 11-minute video, titled “I Didn’t Make It onto Big Brother Australia 2020 and I’m upset” to her channel last Friday – where it’s since been viewed more than 14,000 times.

In the tearful clip, Ms Dawson said her community “deserve to see a trans narrative on TV and I’m the perfect person to give that to Australia and show we’re real people”.

She argued the show should have broken the mould, accusing them of picking contestants who are “generic and ordinary” and “don’t really bring anything to the show”.

“You never see talented people,” Ms Dawson said.

“When I was a kid I didn’t have people like me to look up to. I want to be that person for someone else so they don’t have to feel the same way I did growing up.”

Ms Dawson said not being cast was ‘upsetting and ridiculous’. Picture: YouTube

Ms Dawson, who has appeared on other reality shows The X-Factor and Trial By Kyle said she was usually approached by casting teams without having to audition because she’s “the full f**king package”.

“No one else in this country can do what I can do. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be in that house. It’s upsetting and it’s ridiculous.”

In a disclaimer under the video, the 24-year-old wrote she was in “no way” trying to imply that Big Brother or Endemol Shine “are transphobic or didn’t pick me to enter the house because I am trans”.

“I’m sharing my feelings as a trans-person trying to succeed in the entertainment industry and in no way do I believe my gender identity played a factor in the outcome of my audition.”

Her audition tape, which she shared after uploading her meltdown, showed her walking around the Gold Coast, brushing her hair and doing her makeup, while talking about her personality and gender transition.

In her audition tape, the 24-year-old said she used to think being trans would ‘ruin my life’. Picture: YouTube

Ms Dawson said it took her 19 years to ‘understand why I didn’t feel like myself’. Picture: YouTube

“As a kid, I always thought I’d grow up to be a woman, but that’s not how it really turned out. I’m 23 now, but it took 19 years for me to understand why I didn’t feel like myself, and why people couldn’t see me the way I saw me,” she said.

“I thought that being trans was ugly, I thought that it would ruin my life.”

Ms Dawson told the Daily Mail after the video went viral she was bombarded with abusive and transphobic comments and messages, calling her a “disgusting mutt of a f***ing thing” and telling her to “cut her wrists vertically”.

She also told the publication she’s lost her job as a result of the clip, with her former boss calling it “embarrassing” and asking her whether she wanted to have a corporate job or “be an internet meme”.

“I’m worried because with how the economy is now it’s not like I can just go and get another job,” Ms Dawson said.