It’s been a wild week in the Big Brother house as we’ve seen back-to-back blindsides and betrayals.
Speaking to POPSUGAR Australia, Tilly Whitfield revealed all about her blindside, her time in Big Brother’s mirrored room, and why she thinks Marley Biyendolo is the best player in the house.
Recalling the moment she heard her name called for elimination, Tilly said she was “heartbroken”.
“Honestly, I could’ve just walked out then,” she said. “I knew I was a sure thing, there was no chance I was getting through that.”
Noting that Sid is a “smart guy” with “many degrees”, she added: “he knew exactly what he was doing in putting me up”.
The episode saw a rare display of friendship in a game full of strategy, as Danny Hayes scrambled on Tilly’s behalf, begging housemates to eliminate him instead of her. Then, when it came down to the elimination, Tilly put her vote on Danny, a move she “got quite a lot of hate for”.
“I did end up saying to him ‘Please save yourself,’” she said. “I just wanted Danny to do his thing and me to do mine.”
Her reasoning behind this, she shared, was that she’d gotten that far in the game on her own merit, and didn’t want to be saved “by someone else taking the bullet” for her.
Of course, this wasn’t the end for Tilly. After saying goodbye to her beloved bunnies, Tilly got the moment all Big Brother players want to hear: that the game wasn’t over just yet.
In fact, Tilly said that as she was saying her goodbyes, she “knew” that her time in the house wasn’t over yet.
“Something in me was like ‘This isn’t the end,’” she said. “I don’t know if it was just my mind saying it, but it was like my body knew. I literally fell to the floor and just started crying because I was waiting for it and waiting for it, and it was just there!”
While even the toughest players would find the mirrored room challenging, Tilly said that aside from the boredom, it was “the best experience”.
“I turned it into heaven when it was just hell,” she shared.
Instead, Tilly used her alone time to “think positive” and to strategise about what her gameplay would be the second she made it back into the house.
“It honestly wasn’t that bad; by that time I was so happy with what I’d achieved in the house and I’d become content with my own company, so I was happy to be in there,” she said.
After Tuesday’s elimination, we saw Ari Kimber blindsided and sent to the mirrored room, and unfortunately for Tilly, it all came down to a game of chance as to who would get back in the game. She drew the red diamond, and was evicted from the house, for real this time.
Still, she has no hard feelings toward Ari.
“Ari beat me, game well played, you know? Ari deserved to be there, that’s my mindset,” she said, adding that she was “so proud” of herself for the game she’d played and how far she’d gotten.
As for who she thinks is the best player in the house, though, that’s Marley.
“He doesn’t show all his cards; that’s the mistake other people have made,” she explained. “He didn’t trust anybody, and that is the smartest move.”
Tilly went on to say that once you’re in the house and have formed bonds with your housemates, you begin to trust them, and that becomes your downfall, but Marley never did that.
“He would go sit in the diary room and tell Big Brother his entire game, and I was like ‘you know what, that is a good player right there’,” she said, adding, “he didn’t peak too early, he wasn’t trying to win all the challenges at the start, just at the end when he needed to fight, he knew what to do.”
Big Brother Australia continues on Monday, 7.30pm on Channel 7 and 7Mate.
