From the beginning of Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders, the newbies found themselves on the back foot. Not only were they going up against some of Australia’s most beloved housemates in the history of the show, the fast-paced, strategy-based nature of Big Brother‘s new format left the newbies with little time for Australia to fall in love with them.
The result of this? The new contenders, especially Johnson Ashak and Aleisha Campbell, copping a ton of online hate from fans of the OGs.
Despite it all, Johnson has found his way to the Final Three, and he’s determined to not get bogged down by the hate.
“Yeah look, social media is a platform for hate, but it’s also a platform for love, and you’ve gotta look past the hate,” he told POPSUGAR Australia. “It hasn’t been easy, but you don’t sign the dotted line and walk into the house without having thick skin, and I think Aleisha and I were on the back foot because we were the king and queen of the newbies, and everyone knew that.”
As a superfan of the series himself, though, Johnson has spent time lurking through some of the Big Brother Australia fan pages, but he’s trying not to let it get him down too much.
“I anticipated that fans would be supportive of the fans,” Johnson said. “Superfans and fans should be happy for the fans who are going on the show, but I get it — they’re supporting the OGs, and I get it.”
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“Fans should be proud of other fans, proud of us, happy for us,” he reiterated.
“It was s**t,” Johnson said of the hate comments. “It was s**t the first couple of weeks because I felt the hate, but with lots of hate, there’s lots of love as well. There’s plenty of love out there.”
“How have I navigated through it?” he mused. “I’m myself, I’m content with the person I am, I’m happy with the person that I am, and all the hate can just go in the bin. It can go in the bin, that’s where it belongs!”
One strategy Johnson employs while online is to “project love on those who hate”. He said that when he does find himself on the receiving end of hate, he’ll sometimes reply “and say ‘thanks so much mate, I hope you enjoy the rest of the season, chat soon!’”, which he’s found does help to disarm trolls a little.
“Just the response for that person is like ‘oh, they actually responded’,” he said.
“They know me as a character,” he said, “but hey, I bleed and I have emotions as well, I’m human. As much as I’m a game player and I played with my head, lemme tell you, I have a heart, and a big one too.”
As for what he wants fans to take away from his time on Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders, Johnson just wants us to love ourselves, and he wants to help us do so.
“One thing that I’ve non-stop been the biggest campaigner for, is loving yourself,” he said. “Love yourself, and people will love you, and if there’s anyone out there who’s going through s**t, who’s struggling to love themselves, hit me up.”
He continued: “I am not only my biggest cheerleader, I’m your biggest cheerleader. I’m here to have a chat to everyone.”
Johnson said that he’s passionate about mental health and is very much looking to get into the mental health space, and reiterated that if anyone who’s reading this is currently struggling, they should message him.
“For those right now who are [reading this], and going ‘s**t, I need a little bit of a booster’, hit me up, let me know how you’re feeling,” he said. “I’m here to chat, but you’ve gotta love yourself.
“To love someone else you’ve gotta love yourself, you’ve gotta back yourself and be true to yourself,” he said. “Don’t be anyone else, don’t try to be anyone else because at the end of the day you’ve gotta be proud of the person you are, and geez you should be!”
Voting for the winner of Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders is now open, and you can vote for Johnson here.
The Big Brother Royalty Vs New Contenders live finale will air at 7.30pm Tuesday, July 12th, only on 7 and 7 Plus.
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