This week, the Big Brother house was hit with a shock double eviction which sent 23-year-old Bunnings worker Mia and 67-year-old retiree Jane home.
While Jane was the housemate who copped the least votes from the Australian public, it was Mia who found herself in an unlucky position when Big Brother gave a random fan of the show the opportunity to save either Mia or Allana who was also up for eviction.
Sadly for Mia, the fan chose Allana.
“The entire day was a roller coaster for me,” Mia tells TV WEEK.
In some ways, Mia says that she felt like it was her time to go, but in others, she thinks that her housemates didn’t truly understand her.
“As much as I tried to really get across to my housemates my personality and who I was, I didn’t always feel like I had the mic and that I was trying to yell above the noise,” she said.
“Things got lost in translation.”
To add insult to injury, it was Ed who saw Mia out of the Big Brother house. In the house, Mia was pretty upfront with her fellow housemates that she had developed feelings for Ed. After coming clean to the 30-year-old, she discovered that he didn’t reciprocate those feelings.
“It was my time to go but it was in a very brutal way though. I got delivered [the news] by Ed — as if being rejected multiple times wasn’t enough,” she joked.
“He also carried my suitcase to the door and I couldn’t tell if he was relieved or glad if I left? It was very bittersweet.”
For those who watch livestream, there’s been some conversation around Mia’s infatuation with Ed. Some fans feel like Ed and the other housemates were explicitly clear with Mia that he didn’t have romantic feelings for her but others feel like he still egged her on.
Mia thinks both things can be true.
“Last night after my eviction I had that thought, ‘oh my god what if people are thinking like, why is she not getting it into her head that he’s not interested?’ He was definitely fuelling the fire.” she explains.
“I’ve never been in the position of having someone interested in me when I’m not interested in them but I think that people love being adored, right? I think he liked that I was into him and was encouraging it.
“That confused me though because I’m such an optimistic person that I thought, ‘oh my god, maybe there’s still a small chance’.”
One example of this was a bet Ed made with her, that if she managed to sprint around the house in under 30 seconds, he’d sleep in bed with her for two weeks.
“There were conversations in the house about hypotheticals and who I would kiss,” Mia explained.
“Ed had asked me if I had to kiss someone, would I kiss him. It was just like, are you interested or not interested? I’m getting mixed signals.”
For Mia, who has never had a relationship, it was admittedly quite confusing — especially when her all-encompassing crush was one of the only things she could think about in the house.
“It was consuming me because I’m someone who falls very hard for people. I’m a very emotional person, I’m a big lover,” she admits.
“As much as I tried to fight it, I kept on going back and he kept on keeping me interested. It’s a hard situation to pull yourself out of or switch your feelings off. It’s just not a normal situation. Usually if you have a crush on someone, you can separate yourself. Ed was always around. I mean, he’s, you know, in his underwear, he’s by the pool, he’s in the shower, he’s giving me oats for breakfast.
“It was really hard to get yourself out of it and be in that mindset of ‘okay, he’s not interested, I need to take 100 steps back’.”
Despite her ups and downs, Mia is proud of herself for having some tough conversations in the house. One of the most notable chats she had was about traditional gender roles with fellow housemates Bruce and Michael.
Bruce and Michael were discussing how they felt that a woman’s place is in the home. Mia, respectfully disagreed. At the time, she felt that her opinion was brushed off by the two blokes. Now that she’s out of the house, she felt truly touched that Australia got behind her during that moment.
“I just couldn’t believe that they showed that moment,” Mia shares.
“I didn’t realise how powerful that conversation would be and that people would be listening and be on my side. At the end of the day, I don’t agree with them but I respect them both. I’m just happy it got Australia talking, thinking about gender roles, expectations and challenging those views.”
Big Brother airs on Monday To Friday At 7.30pm, Sundays At 7pm. Or, you can watch the livestream 24/7 On 10.
