The winner of Big Brother was just announced and the champion of that title is the first contestant to win the show twice.
The winner of Big Brother Australia has officially been announced as Reggie Sorensen. This is her second win, making her the first person to win the game show twice. Sorensen beat out Johnson Ashak and 34-year-old Taras Hrubyj-Piper, on top of many other contestants, to claim her victory.
The first time Reggie won the show was back in 2003 when she beat Chrissie Swan to win the show’s third season 19 years ago.
“Thank you to everyone that voted for me… I hope I did you all proud,” Reggie said after the announcement of her second win.
Fellow contestant Johnson Ashak spoke on their strategy throughout the show and what their mindset was going into the final vote.
“It was hard, but I went into the house, I was true to myself, I was the most nominated housemate, nine times, and every time I got myself out of that purple chair for God’s sake,” said Johnson.
Reggie said she approached the contest wanting to play an “honest game” and wanted to win for “the OGs.” Taras said he’d played a “strong game,” and acknowledged this play style had earned him “a lot of enemies.”
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Taras had a big advantage going into the final three, as he was able to choose who went to the final round with him but struggled when it came to bringing Reggie with him.
“I don’t want to do it, I want to give myself the best chance to win,” he said.
“How the hell do you win against Reggie?”
Before her victory, Reggie said, “To win it twice in my history would be just amazing.”
“It’d be a dream come true.”
Reggie revealed her plans to spend the prize money as a, “no brainer”.
“It’s going to help try and put a roof over mine and the kids’ heads.
“And just to have that feeling of stability would be awesome.”
Despite the difficulties she has faced, Sorensen is grateful for the good aspects of her first win on Big Brother.
“It totally changed my life,” she said of her original win.
“Still, 19 years down the track, people still come up to me and say g’day, they stop me in the supermarket.
“I have wanted to do this again for so many years.”
“I have been underestimated all my life, but no-one should ever doubt my determination (to win).
“I want to show my kids that if you keep fighting the fight you can achieve anything.”
Since her last victory, things haven’t been great for Reggie— she quickly lost her prize money to divorce after paying off her house, and was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition.
“Being in the Big Brother house has been very hard for me. But even though I’m going blind, I’m here to prove to people that having a disability doesn’t stop you from achieving goals,” she said.
“The prize money didn’t last long!” Reggie previously told Punkee.
“I paid off the house in Tassie and unfortunately, my marriage broke down to [ex-partner] Adrian and I left it to him, I walked away.”
“My life changed heaps after the show.”
Hopefully her life will change for the better after this win— balancing out the scales from her first win.
