This season on Big Brother Australia, no contestant was more talked about than Holly Young. From the get-go, the 31-year-old model became one of the most controversial contestants in the house, seemingly upsetting the other housemates for snacking too much, engaging in too much smooching with her in-house boyfriend Colin, or for her views on pretty privilege. But if you ask Holly — who was eliminated on Sunday night — the treatment she received in the house wasn’t fair.
“To hear my name [during elimination] I wasn’t surprised,” Holly told TV WEEK.
“I feel like a lot of people in the house really did put baby in the corner. It was like, I ate an almond and that was a big deal. I put on a bikini and tanned for 30 minutes and that was a thing. It didn’t really matter what I did, somebody was going to say something.”
The Big Brother experience is one unlike any other, and for Holly, it was significantly more difficult than she ever thought it was going to be — especially with the housemates constantly talking about her behind her back.
“It was a lot harder than I had anticipated,” she explains.
“I felt as though [the other housemates] were trying to break my spirit and my soul at certain parts in there and really make it difficult whereas to other people they turned a blind eye or were more compassionate.
“I can’t speak for the other housemates; what their gameplan was or if they intentionally meant to hurt me. Sometimes people just want to have a bitch and unfortunately, the ball came to my side of the court.”
Upon leaving the house, Holly quickly saw what people online have been saying about her. While she says she has been blown away by the love, support and kind messages that she received, she’s also painfully aware of the influx of hate about her online.
“Obviously, where there’s love, there’s hate,” she admits.
“I’m a big girl, I can take it but I can’t say it’s a nice feeling. But you know, life is a rollercoaster. You’ve just got to hold on for the highs and the lows. That’s been my approach to the whole situation and at least I can hold my head up high and be proud of myself for the way I behaved on the show.”
After being evicted, Holly revealed how she really felt about her fellow housemates Vinnie and Coco in a video message. In a scene which will be featured in Monday night’s episode, Holly claimed that Vinnie was being “performative” and that Coco was an example of why she found it hard to trust other women.
While her message surprised the housemates, Holly says that the viewers at home aren’t seeing the whole story, even with the 24 hour livestream. According to Holly, things got a bit off with Vinnie after she rejected both Vinnie and Bruce’s advances when she first entered the house, and gravitated towards Colin.
“It was a bit uncomfortable for me because I knew that no matter what decision I made, there was going to be backlash,” she said.
“With those two, I didn’t feel that way towards them. I got the ick majorly so I was trying to steer clear from that and Vinnie made some passes at me when he knew that I was interested in Colin and didn’t want attention from anybody else.”
For Holly, it was a sign that he wasn’t being entirely genuine.
“To me, that’s not cool. You act like a bro to your bro but here you are trying to whisper in my ear and do things like that?”
Meanwhile, Holly’s opinion of Coco has gotten worse the more she’s seen of the Big Brother livestream since leaving the house.
“To be making comments about another girl, the same age, going through the same thing in the house. We’re both under a lot of stress and pressure. We don’t have our comforts. There’s no release, it’s such an intense thing. So for her to play the victim and turn it on me really disappointed me,” Holly explained.
“I think we can all relate to some sort of bulling in high school and that’s what it felt like to me. I don’t want to say anything negative about her but I think actions speak louder than words.”
Ultimately, Holly says she’s happy with her time on Big Brother but she wants to remind people that being on the inside is a completely different world to watching it from the comfort of your own home.
“It’s very easy to sit back and judge but unless you’re under the roof of Big Brother’s house, you’re not qualified,” she asserts.
You can watch the 24 hour Big Brother livestream or catch up on episodes on 10play.
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