Viewers who tuned in to Sunday’s Big Brother premiere on Ten watched as 12 contestants entered the house: A reasonably diverse bunch ranging in age from 21 to 49, making up different ethnicities, sexualities and walks of life.
Fans were also faced with a choice during Sunday’s premiere: They could choose from two options for the show’s 13th housemate, who would enter the show the following night.
The choices were distinct: Mitch, yet another young bloke on a season that already has several of them, or Jane, a 67-year-old woman whose entry into Big Brother would immediately make her the oldest housemate in Aussie history.
“I’m not your average grandmother – my suitcase has sparkles, heels, bikinis,” a bubbly Jane said in one of the teaser videos released to encourage fans to vote for her.
As many viewers noted, Jane also had more than a passing resemblance to recent Gold Logie winner Lynne McGranger.
That was good enough for most, and a scan of social media under the #BBAU hashtag on Sunday confirmed there was a groundswell of viewer support for sending her in to the house.
Sure enough, during Monday’s episode of Big Brother, Jane was revealed as the public’s choice to enter the show.
Now an official housemate, Jane’s full bio was added to Big Brother website – with one important piece of information that had so far not been publicly available.
The Victorian retiree describes herself as “an avid and passionate Donald Trump lover.” It was information that some viewers thought could have been useful on Sunday while they were casting their votes.
“They couldn’t have told us Jane was a trump supporter before we submitted our votes?” one fan asked on X.
“Oh for f**ks sake how do I take back my vote?” moaned another.
“Feel a bit dirty that #BBAU tricked me into voting for what I thought was a cool granny when she’s actually an avid and passionate Trump supporter,” another complained.
Another insisted they “would’ve not voted for her had we known.”
Jane heads into a house where a couple of other contestants have also ruffled some feathers with their world views: 25-year-old tradie Bruce announced in his introduction package that he has very “old fashioned” views on relationships and believes that “men should provide” and that “women should raise the kids.”
The season’s second-oldest contestant, 49-year-old Michael, is the publisher of racy lad’s mag FHM and used his introduction package to declare war on cyclists and announce he has zero tolerance for “woke people.”
So far, this season of Big Brother has been relatively harmonious, with all contestants on their best behaviour as they politely get to know each other (and avoid talking politics). That’s sure to change in the coming days and weeks.
Big Brother continues 7:30pm tonight on Ten.
