The beloved Big Brother star is answering the call of the jungle.
With her eyesight deteriorating due to her battle with the rare degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, Reggie Sorensen (formerly Bird) tells Woman’s Day she’s grabbing opportunities – like appearing in the new season of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! – “with both hands”.
“I’m going to store it in my memory bank for when I totally lose my eyesight,” says the 50-year-old single mum.
“It’s an opportunity – just to go to another country and see different things. I’m doing it for myself and for the kids and for the challenge of it all.”
The two-time Big Brother winner says one of the biggest hurdles will be being away from her daughter Mia, 17, and son Lucas, 15.
“I will definitely miss the kids. But I’ve got it in my head that I didn’t see them for two-and-a-half months when I did my last Big Brother [in 2022] and that was really hard. And that’s all I had in my mind when I was in the house, ‘I’ve got to do this for the kids.’ That was what kept me going. So I’m going in with the same mindset again.”
DAILY STRUGGLES
But she remains sceptical about whether her appearance on the show will actually improve their lives.
“Well, I said that with Big Brother and it didn’t happen [laughs],” says the reality star, who’s been open about her financial and personal struggles since she first hit Aussie screens in 2003 on the third season of Big Brother, which she also won.
Her kids are also doubtful about her foray into the jungle.
“They went, ‘Mum, how are you going to do this, because you’re scared of everything.’ But they’re very proud. I’m absolutely petrified of everything – spiders, snakes, heights, bugs, the lot.”
FACING HER FEARS
Reggie is facing her fears “all at once!” But she says “snakes” could make her cave and leave the jungle.
“I just hope they don’t make me eat a spider,” she adds. “That would be the end of me. I’ve got a very weak stomach. But I’m hoping to go all the way through and get another reality TV show notch on my belt,” she laughs.
While she’s done some closer overseas trips in recent years – New Zealand and Bali – Reggie says this is her first big adventure since her first Big Brother win.
“It was when I split up from [her first husband] Adrian [Bird] and I moved to Sydney and I was getting hounded in the papers nonstop and they were saying, ‘She ran off and left her poor husband,’ and
all that kind of s**t and so I jumped on a plane and went to the UK to get away from all the media,” says Reggie, who’s also excited about embarking on new friendships.
“You always end up making one friend out of these shows. Me and Farmer Dave [Graham] have stayed good mates since the last Big Brother and I’m still good friends with Ben [Williams] from my first Big Brother,” says Reggie, who has her fingers crossed for her campmates.
“I’m thinking that everyone’s going to be nice but I don’t know if that’s going to happen – they’ve got to have some wankers in there,” she jokes.
Reggie says she isn’t going in with a game plan. “I’ll just be myself,” says the reality star, who admits nothing’s off limits when it comes to what she’ll discuss in front of the cameras.
“I’ve got no filter. I’ll say anything.” That should make for good TV! “S**t, yeah! There’s a lot to tell if they know what to ask!”
