Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week that night. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and on this podcast,
Speaker 1: I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television.
Speaker 1: Each episode you will get a front row seat with
Speaker 1: content makers like executive producers, writers, editors, and casting agents,
Speaker 1: plus the talent that we see on our screens. TV
Speaker 1: Reload reloads the shows that you are currently watching and
Speaker 1: gives you a better insight at our television industry and
Speaker 1: streaming services today. On the podcast, I have my mate
Speaker 1: and old housemate, Layla Sabritski, who is back in the
Speaker 1: Big Brother House now on Channel seven. Leila is one
Speaker 1: of the two returning housemates from the twenty twelve season,
Speaker 1: and who better to represent that season of Big Brother
Speaker 1: than oats Alah Layla herself. Layla has been one of
Speaker 1: the most memorable housemates of all time, and she is
Speaker 1: joining the ogs like Tim Dormer and Reggie Byrd. In
Speaker 1: a twenty first libration of the Mother of All Reality
Speaker 1: TV Shows, Layla talks about why she returned, how she
Speaker 1: nearly said no, and the evolution of her relationship with
Speaker 1: social media. That has allowed her to have some perspective
Speaker 1: on who she wants to be in that public space.
Speaker 1: There's no denying that Layla and I love a laugh,
Speaker 1: and we really have been fortunate enough to keep in
Speaker 1: touch through the good times and the bad. This chat
Speaker 1: is super close to my heart and I'm thrilled to
Speaker 1: have you listen in to what I call a forever
Speaker 1: conversation between two friends. So, without further ado, I'd like
Speaker 1: to welcome Layla Sabritski to TV Reload.
Speaker 2: I think that I have got good game this year.
Speaker 3: It's my twenty first birthday.
Speaker 2: I always felt like it was part of my story
Speaker 2: that I was going to become a housemate, and.
Speaker 3: I'd invited housemates both new and legendary.
Speaker 2: Big personalities can always tend to clash here in there.
Speaker 3: Experience be enough to take on the next generation of housemaids.
Speaker 2: Everyone has a choice, and I don't want to be
Speaker 2: an influence within that and the.
Speaker 3: New contenders out with Big Brother Royalty.
Speaker 2: Shake it off, laugh, just tough fun. I think that's
Speaker 2: the superpower, is just being able to move off from things.
Speaker 1: This is big Brother high lay Love. How are you.
Speaker 2: Hi, Benjamin, I'm great, Thank you how.
Speaker 1: Are you so strange because I'm talking to you, but
Speaker 1: I have to say, welcome back to Big Brother. Can
Speaker 1: you believe that this is happening again?
Speaker 2: Thank you? No, I still you know, I just can't
Speaker 2: believe it's happening again. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: I want to start this by saying something really important
Speaker 1: and right off the top. You are one of the
Speaker 1: most delicious friends that I have.
Speaker 2: Well, we have had some glorious terms to together. It's
Speaker 2: actually really interesting to do this with you now because
Speaker 2: I'm trying to not go off on a tangent on
Speaker 2: all things like personal things. You know.
Speaker 1: Well, usually when we get together and it's usually let's
Speaker 1: meet for a drink, and then we're still together, you know,
Speaker 1: twelve hours later.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you just can't get rid of me. Ben, you
Speaker 2: can't get rid of me.
Speaker 1: You and I spoke the night that Big Brother finished filming,
Speaker 1: and you basically didn't talk to me about Big Brother
Speaker 1: at all. I told you about what had happened in
Speaker 1: my life with the loss of a family member at
Speaker 1: one o'clock in the morning, and you stayed on the
Speaker 1: phone to me till dawn, making sure that I was okay.
Speaker 2: But you know there's more important things in the world
Speaker 2: sometimes and that was one of them.
Speaker 1: So that's true friendship though. I mean, you know, you
Speaker 1: had come off the back of this amazing experience of
Speaker 1: revisiting Big Brother and you know straight away you parked
Speaker 1: it all And I think that's true friendship.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Ben, I have so much time for you.
Speaker 2: We've been through the craziest of days and you know,
Speaker 2: the funny, old, weird life things that we did ten
Speaker 2: years ago. We were so young, so much younger then.
Speaker 2: And I heard you say with Sonya, it's like a
Speaker 2: sibling sibling relationship, and that's exactly what it is. There's
Speaker 2: a time and a place for things, and you have
Speaker 2: to make time for those people because you're going to
Speaker 2: be in my life forever.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good point to make because I mean,
Speaker 1: you and I you know, we've clashed with things at
Speaker 1: certain points at certain times, and at times we've sort
Speaker 1: of been like, oh, it's so weird no matter what
Speaker 1: has happened. You know, when we're together, it's like we
Speaker 1: are the bestest friends in the whole world. No matter
Speaker 1: what has happened. It sort of gets put to the side.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think big personalities no matter in no
Speaker 2: matter what's setting, big personalities can always tend to clash
Speaker 2: here and there, and like this time is where we've
Speaker 2: like you said, with Sonya sibling relationship, we annoy each other,
Speaker 2: we get jealous of each other, we do these crazy things,
Speaker 2: but then when we come back, it regrounds and makes
Speaker 2: us realize that that person is going to be around
Speaker 2: for a long long time. And that's the person I
Speaker 2: do want to share these crazy secrets with. Or you know,
Speaker 2: I need their support sometimes because they'll tell me the
Speaker 2: truth or they'll listen. And that's so important because you
Speaker 2: know these people from our season A Big Brother that
Speaker 2: I just want them to be around. I want them
Speaker 2: to know everything. I want to touch base even if
Speaker 2: it's six months, who cares, It's still six months worth
Speaker 2: of catching up to do. And we have the best
Speaker 2: fond that's the main, most important thing. We have the
Speaker 2: best vond when we're together.
Speaker 1: So yeah, well let's talk about that phone call. So
Speaker 1: when Big Brother came knocking? Who called? And what did
Speaker 1: they say to you?
Speaker 2: Lisa called and she said I need to talk to
Speaker 2: you about a show. I was like, wow, a show? Hey?
Speaker 2: I thought I'm such old news. And she I was
Speaker 2: out having coffee with my mom and dad and I'd
Speaker 2: wandered off to take the phone call, and she just
Speaker 2: I could hear on the other end of the phone
Speaker 2: she was smiling and she was like, it's big brother.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, oh, oh, what was completely
Speaker 2: not expecting it to be big brother. So I had
Speaker 2: to have a sit down on the bench and really
Speaker 2: take it all in because I was like, wanted to
Speaker 2: know more, but obviously certain things you can't know. And
Speaker 2: it was a funny time because you know, with the Rohans,
Speaker 2: with the Rona, like everything was all up in the air.
Speaker 2: You know, there's not really anything like set plans or
Speaker 2: dates and things. So I think it was all a
Speaker 2: lot to take in. I had to make a decision.
Speaker 1: So you go back to the table and Dawn and
Speaker 1: Peter there, your mum and dad, and you uh to
Speaker 1: tell them because obviously you know they're your people, so
Speaker 1: you're probably not allowed to tell anyone, but you'd obviously
Speaker 1: tell Dawn and Pete. What was their reaction?
Speaker 2: They just started laughing, you know what My mom and
Speaker 2: dad are like, They're just like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Dawn's like, I'll have a I need a cocktail. I
Speaker 1: need a cocktail.
Speaker 2: It was out cock in the morning. She's on the
Speaker 2: Chilli margs.
Speaker 1: As you should be. And you know, did you feel
Speaker 1: like that you could say no? Or is the power
Speaker 1: of big brother? You know, that power of the pool
Speaker 1: of big brother too strong?
Speaker 2: It was an internal battle. I really had to sit
Speaker 2: and think about it, just because I have so much
Speaker 2: going on in my life, like it can't even make
Speaker 2: time for coffee with friends at some points. You know,
Speaker 2: I really have so much going on, and that would
Speaker 2: have just completely flipped everything upside down. And I think,
Speaker 2: after ten years, I've finally got into a space where
Speaker 2: I am settled and I am in a consistent day
Speaker 2: to day routine, which has taken bloody forever. Then you
Speaker 2: know what it's like, it takes a long time. So
Speaker 2: I really did have a lot to think about. But
Speaker 2: then I thought, how can you just not like but
Speaker 2: you just think, how can you not do it? But
Speaker 2: at first, I'll be honest, it was more and no,
Speaker 2: just because of the girls that I look after, and
Speaker 2: they need routine and they need consistency.
Speaker 1: I mean, we should talk about what you do for
Speaker 1: work these days. I mean, you have been on a
Speaker 1: journey with your career since the show finished, as anyone
Speaker 1: is in their twenties to their thirties, and then come on,
Speaker 1: but you know, we should talk about what it is
Speaker 1: that you've been doing, like what sort of work is that.
Speaker 1: Who are the girls that you're looking after?
Speaker 2: So I do community and social support for young adults
Speaker 2: with disabilities. So I have two girls that I work with,
Speaker 2: and I've worked with one nearly three years and the
Speaker 2: other nearly two years, and a lot of my goals
Speaker 2: with the girls are really to try and create that routine,
Speaker 2: find stability, and we've really managed to do that through sport,
Speaker 2: community voluntary work, things like that. So we've managed to
Speaker 2: get that routine going. So I think that was where
Speaker 2: my gray area was with leave In. That was the
Speaker 2: tricky part for me because we've nailed all those goals,
Speaker 2: but it's taken years to get there, and I didn't
Speaker 2: want it on do that in a short space of time.
Speaker 1: And so you decided to, over the last three years
Speaker 1: with these women try and create stability, and then you
Speaker 1: went to the most unstable situation for yourself in the world,
Speaker 1: which is Big Brother.
Speaker 2: Exactly, Ben, And you know me just because I'm creating
Speaker 2: stability for someone else doesn't mean necessarily that I am
Speaker 2: in my own life. Yeah, so I had to really
Speaker 2: sit down and think about it. It wasn't just a
Speaker 2: phone call yes no, yes see you then can't do
Speaker 2: it kind of situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And I wondered because I mean, I can
Speaker 1: only imagine what it would be like to be in
Speaker 1: your shoes. Did you worry that this experience could affect
Speaker 1: the existing relationship that you you had with big brother?
Speaker 1: I mean, did you worry that a new experience would
Speaker 1: take your twenty twelve experience?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, that was huge for me. I thought about
Speaker 2: it quite a bit. We had such a great experience,
Speaker 2: the best, you know, and I thought to myself, what
Speaker 2: if I do this then again and don't have such
Speaker 2: a great experience. That scared me really because you know, firsthand,
Speaker 2: people know you for this show. You know, you got
Speaker 2: really far, you won then amazing I came second, you know,
Speaker 2: and then if you didn't have just as much fun,
Speaker 2: where would that leave you in the in you know,
Speaker 2: people's eyes as such, like followers or fans' eyes. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was nerve wracking, And I think it's such a
Speaker 2: different environment going from a bunch of people that don't
Speaker 2: know each other that I've never done the experience before,
Speaker 2: to then a bunch of people that have done the
Speaker 2: experience before had their own little process for the journey
Speaker 2: as such, to and especially new Housemaids, well completely different,
Speaker 2: different kettlefish. To be honest, Ben, I thought I was
Speaker 2: gonna I thought you were going to walk through the door.
Speaker 2: I do have a little bit of redemption in me
Speaker 2: with coming second. I think there's still a part of
Speaker 2: me that's, like, you know what, I could seriously win
Speaker 2: being on the show, Being in the Big Brother House
Speaker 2: before I do this is one of the advantages. I
Speaker 2: know there's always things coming. It's probably my only chance
Speaker 2: at staying one step ahead of Big Brother. So I'll
Speaker 2: be expecting whatever comes my way.
Speaker 1: And are these housemaids now, like you know, you've this
Speaker 1: experience is so vastly different. But are these housemates vastly
Speaker 1: different from the style of housemaids that we came to
Speaker 1: know in twenty twelve?
Speaker 2: A million percent? A million percent. I couldn't say it enough.
Speaker 2: It's so different. Just we were like a bunch of
Speaker 2: students sharing student lodging, you know it, noodles out of
Speaker 2: a topperware container with water we'd boiled, not from a kettle,
Speaker 2: bought pat you know, with those types of housemates who
Speaker 2: you know necessarily didn't brush their hair. You know, it's
Speaker 2: just so different. Now everything's more groomed and there's a
Speaker 2: bit more higher expectation of where the future goes. I
Speaker 2: think we just had no expectations. We were just like Nollion,
Speaker 2: what we're doing. But that's where the magic happened. That
Speaker 2: was where the sweet spot was because there was no expectation.
Speaker 2: It's just really really raw.
Speaker 1: And being that the show is so much about strategy
Speaker 1: these days, does that impact the way in which you're
Speaker 1: able to build relationships with your housemates.
Speaker 2: Yes, I remember saying to Zoe in twenty twelve outside
Speaker 2: on the chairs, I just want to spend as much
Speaker 2: time as I can getting to know all these aspects.
Speaker 2: I need to know everything about them because this isn't
Speaker 2: gonna last forever, and I want to have met some
Speaker 2: amazing friends. Now it's a little bit more there's intention
Speaker 2: behind conversation. It's not tell me more about your favorite
Speaker 2: colors and what do you do as a hobby. You know,
Speaker 2: it is more structure to conversations and I'm like sat
Speaker 2: there thinking, do you actually want to know me? Or
Speaker 2: it was a bit more what's the word you just said?
Speaker 1: The word You're worried about ulterior motives? I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think motive?
Speaker 2: That was it.
Speaker 1: You know, And for you, you're so genuine and you
Speaker 1: gravitate towards genuosity as well as a person. I mean
Speaker 1: I know that about you so and it's almost your kryptonite.
Speaker 1: It's almost your achilles heel is people who are not
Speaker 1: being honest. You've always struggled with that because you kind
Speaker 1: of demand that as as a friendship because they're the
Speaker 1: values that you have. So I can imagine I mean
Speaker 1: I haven't seen it all, but I can imagine that
Speaker 1: would be really stressful for you in the way in
Speaker 1: which you build relationships with these people, because I can
Speaker 1: imagine that would stress you out a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very stressful actually in the beginning trying
Speaker 2: to create any sort of relationship because I was like,
Speaker 2: and it made me second question myself. I'm like, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, Like, how do I level up to this?
Speaker 2: There's no way I think that I have got a
Speaker 2: good game. But when it goes to the grudge. I'm like, really,
Speaker 2: I go off my heart. My heart makes all the decision.
Speaker 2: So that was one of the struggles.
Speaker 1: Another thing was that you're back as an All Star,
Speaker 1: You're back as a royalty, and rightfully so, you are
Speaker 1: actually in real life related to Royalty if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: from your Secret and the first Big Brother. But you know,
Speaker 1: you were not in the country when Farmer Dave or
Speaker 1: Reggie was on Big Brother. You know, but did it
Speaker 1: feel like you were amongst Big Brother Royalty? I mean,
Speaker 1: what sort of impression did you get from those two
Speaker 1: without seeing their series.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a certain sort of presence in the air,
Speaker 2: without even having to have watched the shows that they
Speaker 2: or their seasons, there's a presence. It's like just a knowing.
Speaker 2: It's so hard to explain, but there was a clear
Speaker 2: divide between that old feeling of so Wise as such,
Speaker 2: sat back so Wise. No, no, no, no, no, we should
Speaker 2: do it this way. Listen, absolutely listen to these you know,
Speaker 2: legends of the game. They know. It's not trying to,
Speaker 2: you know, be patronizing, it's just knowing. It's just a knowing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's crazy. I did try on YouTube as much as
Speaker 2: I could before we went. In twenty twelve, yeah, I
Speaker 2: did try and watch a few clips just to get
Speaker 2: a better understanding of the game of Australia because it's
Speaker 2: so different in the UK, so different, but.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't have known who was going to being there.
Speaker 1: It's not like you could be like, right, farmer Dave
Speaker 1: will be there, So I'm going to watch endless footage.
Speaker 2: No, no, it's twenty twelve. In twenty twelve, I tried
Speaker 2: to watch YouTube of the Australian Big Brother and then
Speaker 2: I saw clips of these people, so I saw, you know,
Speaker 2: little bits of backstory on Australian housemates. So I did
Speaker 2: see Reggie Sarah Marie with a bomb dance. I think
Speaker 2: that was the top search on YouTube. FITZI, so FITZI
Speaker 2: people like that. So just to gain a better understanding
Speaker 2: because I didn't know what to expect. I was twenty
Speaker 2: three turning twenty four. That's so boody young.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's so strange, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if this is even in the Zeigeist. I don't know
Speaker 1: if people know this because you told me this when
Speaker 1: we were in Big Brother, but you know you'd been
Speaker 1: asked to do the English version of Big Brother, which
Speaker 1: is the that is the pinnacle of Big Brother of
Speaker 1: the world. I mean, people celebrate that show probably more
Speaker 1: than any other series of the show. Australia probably second
Speaker 1: and then maybe Canada these days. But you know, you'd
Speaker 1: already been asked to be in the English version, you know.
Speaker 2: So I was in a beta and I got a
Speaker 2: call back. So I auditioned for the show, and my
Speaker 2: boyfriend at the time really didn't want me to do it.
Speaker 2: But anyway, I ended up just being like I couldn't
Speaker 2: do it because we've been together for a few years
Speaker 2: and we were living in a beetha and living at large.
Speaker 2: But yeah I got a call back, and yeah, I
Speaker 2: just chose not too. But it's funny how the universe works.
Speaker 2: I always felt like it was part of my story
Speaker 2: that I was going to become a housematee. I just
Speaker 2: never knew, never in a million years thought it was
Speaker 2: going to be Australia. But how lucky am I? So lucky?
Speaker 1: Right? Yeah? Well, yeah, what can I say? They need you,
Speaker 1: they love you, you know, the Australian audience has absolutely
Speaker 1: loved you. But another good question to ask you is
Speaker 1: do you think that you know, returning housemates, these people
Speaker 1: like yourself, tried to improve their game this time around,
Speaker 1: or do you think that they and yourself tried to
Speaker 1: stick to what worked last time?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Good question. And then I think a few of
Speaker 2: the returning housemates really tried to up the game because,
Speaker 2: like Sonya said, it's always evolving. The game is always evolving.
Speaker 2: It's not going to be necessarily the same as ten
Speaker 2: years ago. Myself struggled with that concept because I'm such
Speaker 2: an old school format girl. You know, it's what I
Speaker 2: fell in love with when I was ten. That confused me.
Speaker 2: It was a bit confusing because I'm like, oh gosh, like,
Speaker 2: you know, need to holp the game. But they want
Speaker 2: to see the game. The fans want to see people
Speaker 2: play the game. I know that, but it's a tricky
Speaker 2: one to sort of evolve with it when you are
Speaker 2: so much the old school ways. And I mean that's
Speaker 2: where I, like you say, with my personality type, that's
Speaker 2: where I would fit in better, Like it's a bit
Speaker 2: hard for me to be sneaky or malicious or it
Speaker 2: is what it is. The game evolves, and you've got
Speaker 2: to have gameplay. You do, you really do?
Speaker 1: And interesting enough because you're in the house with someone
Speaker 1: who you'd have been in Big Brother with before being
Speaker 1: a Stelle. Do you think that you and Estelle had
Speaker 1: realized how different you are now ten years later, or
Speaker 1: did you guys sort of fall back into where it was,
Speaker 1: you know, in twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: I can't really speak for Estelle. I think she probably
Speaker 2: had her own plan. I can only really go off
Speaker 2: my speak for myself, but there was a time in
Speaker 2: the house that I really just was like, I wish
Speaker 2: this was live, you know, I remember thinking it so
Speaker 2: many times, But not to take away from what it
Speaker 2: is now the show, but I think I just so
Speaker 2: heavily relied on as we all did in twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: We lost complete control of our positions in the house,
Speaker 2: and it was kind of the beauty of it. Big
Speaker 2: Brother said to me one time in the diary room,
Speaker 2: just let girl, like this is awesome that you don't
Speaker 2: have to make the decisions like stop asking this kind
Speaker 2: of thing, stop trying to control it. And I did,
Speaker 2: and that's when the film started.
Speaker 1: One of the most iconic Big Brother moments in the
Speaker 1: world is the song Oats Oats Ala Laila. You know,
Speaker 1: and very few people who've been on the show has
Speaker 1: their own theme song, which I think you and Josh
Speaker 1: and Stacey created one day in the backyard while having
Speaker 1: your breakfast. Because you made everyone oats every day, I
Speaker 1: think everyone in Australia wants to know, are we going
Speaker 1: to get to hear Oats Ala Leila again?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, this is one thing I'm not going
Speaker 2: to give you the answer to. You have to watch it.
Speaker 2: You have to watch. Yeah, this is the one thing
Speaker 2: I'm just yeah, just going to have to watch and see.
Speaker 1: I still do day ten years later, have people come
Speaker 1: up and sing me Oats Sala Leila. And it's just
Speaker 1: so funny that that's in the zeigeist that you know,
Speaker 1: it's just a part of the DNA of Big Brother.
Speaker 2: Because if you hashtag because someone said, have you hashtagged
Speaker 2: the Oats song yet? Do it? Man? It's hellarious?
Speaker 1: Is it? Oh? God?
Speaker 2: Actually, don't do it. You're gonna be like, can't get
Speaker 2: rid of, can't get rid of from the house, can't
Speaker 2: get rid of for from the drums.
Speaker 1: I loved it. Although you know it's a funny story.
Speaker 1: Is that because Big Brother was live and because we're
Speaker 1: in a pig pen that was next to dream World.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Australia knows this, but we could
Speaker 1: hear the people in the theme park, if you remember,
Speaker 1: singing oats a la leila back to us. So it
Speaker 1: was so surreal. You'd hear people go up on the
Speaker 1: giant drop I think we called it legs or whatever,
Speaker 1: and we would hear them singing oats salalela. So we
Speaker 1: knew that the Australian audiences were, you know, were loving it.
Speaker 1: And I remember because also it's a competition, so I'm
Speaker 1: obviously very competitive. I remember holding my oats one day
Speaker 1: and heard people singing oats a la leila, and I
Speaker 1: quickly threw my oats away and was like, you know,
Speaker 1: get rid of the oats. It's a thing. You know,
Speaker 1: she's got a theme song. She's going to destroy us all,
Speaker 1: you know, stopped singing the song and you know, and
Speaker 1: then it was like the next day they made a
Speaker 1: whole day out of it, and we filmed that very
Speaker 1: iconic scene in the kitchen where we made a music
Speaker 1: video for it. And at that point I just realized
Speaker 1: this was such an amazing thing and it needed to
Speaker 1: be celebrated. And Ben Norris stopped being so fucking competitive
Speaker 1: and just enjoy it for what it is, you know.
Speaker 2: But you know, in the house, that would be a
Speaker 2: feeling like I was normal, wiser. I'm like, I didn't
Speaker 2: think about it as an end, but it would like
Speaker 2: if I was in this new house right now twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two and everyone was singing I don't know, Reggiana
Speaker 2: fish and chips, Reggia layla.
Speaker 1: We just we just worked out that maybe you did
Speaker 1: not help write that song, you know, Jash and Stacy,
Speaker 1: thank you very much, well done.
Speaker 2: Josh. No, but you know what I mean, Like if
Speaker 2: you hear that constantly and then it's live and you
Speaker 2: hear people outside seeing it, it would be a bit like,
Speaker 2: oh gosh, because, like we say, we have no idea,
Speaker 2: and having those people shout things over the fence or
Speaker 2: from the giant drop gave us a little bit of insight,
Speaker 2: even though we had to pretend we couldn't hear them.
Speaker 2: Blah blah blah blahlah.
Speaker 1: We'll take this out of the take me out of
Speaker 1: the equation with this. But when you were asked to
Speaker 1: come back to the show, and you just assumed that
Speaker 1: there'd be people coming back, and now people that didn't
Speaker 1: come back. Are there people in the Big Brother experience
Speaker 1: that you've watched over the years that you think deserve
Speaker 1: to have a bit of a reboot, a bit of
Speaker 1: a glow up, a bit of a refresh as to
Speaker 1: where they are now.
Speaker 2: I'm not just being biased, but there was plenty of
Speaker 2: awesomeness come from our year. There was. It was so effortless,
Speaker 2: it was just complete entertainment. And it was like your
Speaker 2: josh Is, You're Michaels, you Stacy, you know, it's just
Speaker 2: your gold entertainment that people from eight years old to
Speaker 2: twenty eight years old, thirty eight fort year everyone could
Speaker 2: relate and laugh at Bradley.
Speaker 1: You know it needs to come back.
Speaker 2: There is a housemate actually reminds me so much of
Speaker 2: Bradley in the New In.
Speaker 1: The New One, Yeah, oh wow, knowing you as well
Speaker 1: as I do, did you accidentally call him Bradley?
Speaker 2: But I just I kept saying, you remind me so
Speaker 2: much of someone that I know. I couldn't believe. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I didn't tell him who, but yeah, I'm going to
Speaker 2: tell him. I will have to lame that he.
Speaker 1: Probably he probably already knows because I looked at that
Speaker 1: person and thought straight away, is that Bradley is Bradley back?
Speaker 1: What did I miss the press release?
Speaker 2: Like it's so I But on his Instagram page he's
Speaker 2: wearing a full salad thing and he's doing a salad song,
Speaker 2: Caesus this salad.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what, Leila, have we ever thought about the
Speaker 1: fact that it could be Bradley, Like we haven't seen
Speaker 1: Bradley in a long time. Maybe maybe that's maybe he
Speaker 1: was there.
Speaker 2: Pretending didn't know me.
Speaker 1: What a new name. You know, you were the queen
Speaker 1: of social media back in the day, Like people got
Speaker 1: followings out of being on Big Brother in twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: but you know, it was so new, but you had
Speaker 1: so many people and you were you were at the
Speaker 1: very foundation of influences and Instagram and and it was
Speaker 1: so new and you adopted to it so quickly. So
Speaker 1: I think, I want to know what's different about social
Speaker 1: media in twenty twenty two, and how has that world
Speaker 1: changed since you know, you did have this this huge following.
Speaker 1: You know, how has that world changed?
Speaker 2: Oh? You know, I don't even feel like I actually
Speaker 2: did it up twelve to social media. I felt a
Speaker 2: little bit out of my dad with it. It was
Speaker 2: such a big world out there, and we didn't really
Speaker 2: have the get go like you know, some of the
Speaker 2: newer house members did after us. That's when it really
Speaker 2: started to hit the ground running. But I think at
Speaker 2: the time I really thought, you know, this is great.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to keep going with it. I'll keep
Speaker 2: doing my post, engaging with the audience, the fans of
Speaker 2: Big Brother. But I got to a point that I
Speaker 2: just got so overwhelmed by it and I just completely
Speaker 2: stopped posting. I just stopped. I didn't know what to
Speaker 2: do with it. You really have to create a job
Speaker 2: out of it. It's full time thing, and I think
Speaker 2: even more so now it's ever changing social media is evolving.
Speaker 2: It's like a full time commitment to have to learn
Speaker 2: about the socials and stuff. And I think the newer housemates,
Speaker 2: the newer generation of housemates, they were a bit more
Speaker 2: ahead on that sort of thing. We were so behind
Speaker 2: when it came to the socials. We got out and
Speaker 2: were like, oh my gosh. But remember when I had
Speaker 2: a dream that I didn't get in the twenty twelve house,
Speaker 2: I had a dream one night, really randomly that I
Speaker 2: didn't get. I only got like two Twitter followers. Well,
Speaker 2: the next day I was crying, I think seeing I
Speaker 2: don't know, I think I only got two followers if
Speaker 2: I got out the house, I've only got two followers.
Speaker 2: That means no one liked me.
Speaker 1: And then you had like it was like everyone got
Speaker 1: like twenty thousand or whatever, and I think you had
Speaker 1: like one hundred and fifty thousand, like so quickly. And
Speaker 1: you know, and I remember having a conversation with you
Speaker 1: as you decided to sort of take a step back
Speaker 1: from that, which I thought was really interesting because you
Speaker 1: were talking about that position. You didn't want to be
Speaker 1: in that space where you were selling things to younger people,
Speaker 1: younger women, and you know that pressure of being, you know,
Speaker 1: someone for these younger women to look up to you.
Speaker 1: I mean you yourself were like, who am I to
Speaker 1: do this? And I thought that was a really interesting
Speaker 1: intersection of your time to then step away, you know,
Speaker 1: like what happened there.
Speaker 2: I just I have a young girl that's followed me
Speaker 2: from the show and had like, you know, a page
Speaker 2: she won't mind me talking about her, Kayla, And she
Speaker 2: had a page Kayla looks Leila, and she was at
Speaker 2: school at the time, and she had posters on a wall,
Speaker 2: and you know that's And I just remember one day
Speaker 2: being like, I have so many young girls that follow me.
Speaker 2: Our demographic of people were, you know, high school, our
Speaker 2: time at the show, and I just remember feeling like,
Speaker 2: who am I to promote certain things? I thought that
Speaker 2: generation are so easily influenced, because I know I was
Speaker 2: so easily influenced when it comes to things like diets,
Speaker 2: and I don't know, just the way that people go
Speaker 2: on about the body image that stressed me out. I
Speaker 2: felt the pressure of that, and people were constantly commenting
Speaker 2: on my body and I thought, why is everyone just
Speaker 2: going on about this? Why is it a thing? Why
Speaker 2: can't we just move on from it? They'd be like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, you look so amazing, you've lost weight.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my gosh, so did I look crap before? Like,
Speaker 2: you know, it was just this real toxic environment. And
Speaker 2: I could see where social media was about to go.
Speaker 2: I could see it. It had already started, and it
Speaker 2: was just the groundworks were being put in place, and
Speaker 2: now it has gone exactly where I knew it was. Filtered,
Speaker 2: faces changed, bodies edited, smoothed to the death. You know,
Speaker 2: there's this app that changes your whole face. Like that's
Speaker 2: so sad to me because you look at a girl's
Speaker 2: face and you're like, gosh, she's so beautiful and young,
Speaker 2: and you know your youth is where you're just glowing,
Speaker 2: and they're covering that youth with this fake face, and
Speaker 2: it makes me sad. I feel like I'm so passionate
Speaker 2: about this. I'm talking about it really passionately now because
Speaker 2: I just feel sad for young people and you know,
Speaker 2: the pressures of society. I was, obviously in the last
Speaker 2: Big Brother a bit bigger. You know, I was carrying
Speaker 2: more weight. I feel like there was so much pressure
Speaker 2: then going out of the house, not knowing where to
Speaker 2: be and where I fit in. Now it's great because
Speaker 2: you know, younger girls are being more open about body
Speaker 2: image to a certain extent, but it still brings it
Speaker 2: back to this toxic sort of audience. I don't know,
Speaker 2: it just I just didn't want to be a part
Speaker 2: of that, and I didn't want to tell people, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, you know, I've just gotten three millers of
Speaker 2: fillers or boatox, and look how good before and after is?
Speaker 2: That's toxic to me. If I want to go and
Speaker 2: get fillers or botox. I'll do it, but everyone has
Speaker 2: a choice, and I don't want to be an influence
Speaker 2: within that.
Speaker 1: I thought you were. I thought you were Beyonce. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you remember me saying this to you. I remember
Speaker 1: the second day I was in the house with you
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve. I slipped into the water and I
Speaker 1: was conscious about my body and my appearance, and I
Speaker 1: slipped into the water and you were sort of coming
Speaker 1: along behind me. We were trying to join up with
Speaker 1: everyone else. At that time. It's very loud and it
Speaker 1: was very hard to get involved, but you and I
Speaker 1: were sort of slowly trying to get into the core
Speaker 1: group that was sort of happening. And I looked back
Speaker 1: at you and I was like, oh my god, you're beautiful,
Speaker 1: like you're Beyonce, and you were like, no, I'm not.
Speaker 1: And then when you turn up on this new series,
Speaker 1: straight away Johnson's like, oh my god, you're You're beautiful.
Speaker 1: And I guess this is a strange thing to say
Speaker 1: and a strange typrope to walk, because I don't want
Speaker 1: to get into trouble with it, but I do think
Speaker 1: that you were just as beautiful then with that and
Speaker 1: I think it's baby, you know, it's like puppy fat
Speaker 1: in a way. Like I felt like you were so
Speaker 1: beautiful then, and yes you are beautiful now and you've
Speaker 1: done it in the most healthiest way possible. Like that
Speaker 1: weight loss that you did eventually have came down to,
Speaker 1: you know, drink less and what food am I putting
Speaker 1: in my body? And I remember one time he said
Speaker 1: to me, I've changed my diet and I'm eating everything
Speaker 1: I want to eat, like I'm eating so much and
Speaker 1: I'm not putting the weight on because I now know
Speaker 1: what my body needs. And I think that is something
Speaker 1: that we should and you should, as a woman in
Speaker 1: media at the moment, work with and you know, put
Speaker 1: out into the universe because I think it's important. And
Speaker 1: I guess that sort of lends me to that question
Speaker 1: of you know, how are you going to work social
Speaker 1: media this time around? Are you going to be on
Speaker 1: social media? And how is it going to be different.
Speaker 2: I definitely will utilize my social media for the best.
Speaker 2: Like we're talking about now, I think a lot of
Speaker 2: your health or where you want to be if you
Speaker 2: do have weight loss goals, that's fine. Everyone is entailed
Speaker 2: to want to be who you want to be. But
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it has to do with
Speaker 2: your mental health, like waking up early, seizing the day,
Speaker 2: going on walks, not focusing on specifically weight loss, not
Speaker 2: being stressed, not causing your body stress, because that is
Speaker 2: a big part of it. If you forget about losing
Speaker 2: weight and you just concentrate on being happy, it's amazing
Speaker 2: what happens, because I think that's what it was. It's
Speaker 2: like this eighty twenty Friday. I make sure I wake
Speaker 2: up for sunrises. I make sure I take the dog
Speaker 2: for a walk. I make sure I get all my
Speaker 2: steps in. I eat super clean foods because it fuels
Speaker 2: me with goodness. I have more energy. I enjoy your coffee.
Speaker 2: I might fancy a cake. Who cares. But it's just
Speaker 2: feeling good and concentrating on those feel good things. I
Speaker 2: think that's probably one thing that I would tell women, like,
Speaker 2: what's the point of focusing on all of these things
Speaker 2: to try and make you feel good if you're not
Speaker 2: living the day to day routine of feeling good, like meditation,
Speaker 2: just sitting and being present with yourself. Even if sometimes
Speaker 2: my brain is like I just go from one thing
Speaker 2: to another, I'm so fast. Sometimes I have to really
Speaker 2: sit down and concentrate. But giving myself one hour of
Speaker 2: a day or half an hour just to be present
Speaker 2: and mindful. I've started making pottery. Oh my gosh, this
Speaker 2: is so round. But just these little things like being creative,
Speaker 2: making pottery, sitting there on my own with clay, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, just changes everything mine. I think it's mindful. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And if you can create those little things for yourself
Speaker 2: and live a bit more wholesome and less fast, and
Speaker 2: live for yourself and not for other people, don't do
Speaker 2: things for other people. Don't try and make a decision
Speaker 2: based on what it's going to make you look like
Speaker 2: two other people, because no one cares. Nobody really cares.
Speaker 2: It's only you that has to wake up and go
Speaker 2: to bed and be wholesome during the day. So I
Speaker 2: think that's probably where I can share those little things
Speaker 2: only because it's worked for me. I can share those
Speaker 2: little things with people, and you are in control of
Speaker 2: your social media. This is one thing I learned, and
Speaker 2: it's taken me ten years to learn, just because I
Speaker 2: didn't want to do posts and stuff and be part
Speaker 2: of this online influencer type personality. Doesn't mean, I can't
Speaker 2: work with brands that do align with me. I just
Speaker 2: completely shut off. I was like, no, you can't do it.
Speaker 2: But really, there's people out there that are on the
Speaker 2: same mission as me, that are women empowerment and want
Speaker 2: that wholesome living sort of lifestyle, that have ethnical workplaces
Speaker 2: for the people that work for the company. So work
Speaker 2: with people. It's just finding those companies that we can
Speaker 2: collaborate with.
Speaker 1: I said this to you when I mean, as you
Speaker 1: know from listening to my chat with Sonya, I've watched
Speaker 1: the first few episodes of the show, and you know
Speaker 1: obviously you are a very dear friend of mine, so
Speaker 1: I can't really we have to sort of be very
Speaker 1: careful and what we can communicate back and forward from
Speaker 1: what your experience was to what I can see because
Speaker 1: of that relationship. But I did say to you, how beautiful,
Speaker 1: Like I was like, Leila, you look so beautiful in
Speaker 1: these pieces to camera, And I'm not just saying that
Speaker 1: to blow smoke up your ass. But I think the
Speaker 1: interesting thing about that is that you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of older fans that have been around for a very
Speaker 1: long time, which I can imagine popping out of the woodworks.
Speaker 1: But I think it's amazing for those older fans to
Speaker 1: turn up and see how far you've come and to
Speaker 1: see where you're at now. And I guess that's why
Speaker 1: they're doing it. I think that's why they're bringing Big
Speaker 1: Brother back this way and bringing back such iconic players
Speaker 1: so Australia can see where you've been and where you've been.
Speaker 1: Laila has been really fascinating. It's very interesting and I
Speaker 1: think it's important for these types of conversations that we're
Speaker 1: having now to be out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah you know, oh thanks Ben, Yeah, No, that means
Speaker 2: a lot. We both have older followers because they've all
Speaker 2: left school ten years ago so now so now they're
Speaker 2: in the twenties. But you know what I mean, like
Speaker 2: that it's changed, it has evolved.
Speaker 1: I did hear a rumor that one of the housemates
Speaker 1: said to you that they were like fifteen or something
Speaker 1: when they when you were in the show. They were like,
Speaker 1: I was a fan of yours, you know, like I
Speaker 1: can't remember who told me that. I've got to be
Speaker 1: really careful, but I can't remember who told me that.
Speaker 1: But they were like someone went up to Laila and
Speaker 1: was like maybe they weren't fifteen? Were they twelve? I
Speaker 1: don't know, is this a real story. Did someone come
Speaker 1: up to you and say they were a teenager or
Speaker 1: something one of the new housemates. Did one of the
Speaker 1: new housemates come up and say they were a teenager?
Speaker 2: Twelve? I think, and I thought, oh gosh, this is
Speaker 2: all I'm all, I'm officially old.
Speaker 1: What about this time around? What is your biggest strength
Speaker 1: in this new format? Like, what do you think is
Speaker 1: Layla's superpower this time around?
Speaker 2: I think is the ability to just laugh, shake it off, laugh,
Speaker 2: just tough on. I think that's the superpower, is just
Speaker 2: being able to move on from things.
Speaker 1: I think this time around, from what I've seen so far,
Speaker 1: is your ability to connect with people and to listen
Speaker 1: to people and even if they've got a difference of
Speaker 1: an opinion. I think you're a deep thinker and I
Speaker 1: think that you're offering that back to them, and whether
Speaker 1: or not they're willing to listen, you know, that's up
Speaker 1: to them. But I think your superpower is your ability
Speaker 1: to relate to other people and to communicate.
Speaker 2: And you know what, like everyone needs to it needs
Speaker 2: to be fun. It needs to be fun and lighthearted
Speaker 2: because that's who we work is full and lighthearted. Do
Speaker 2: you have to be a little bit of the old
Speaker 2: back with a little bit of the new stir it
Speaker 2: in the part and what do we do? You know?
Speaker 2: But how good would it have been to have Josh back,
Speaker 2: Like just going back to the housemates situation, we had
Speaker 2: like a heavy two thousand and thirty team housemate energy
Speaker 2: happening in the house. I think it would have been
Speaker 2: so nice to have a couple more from each of
Speaker 2: the series, you know, back in the day, it would
Speaker 2: have been nice just to see how they have evolved
Speaker 2: and such a core group of people like awesome, I
Speaker 2: kind of loved us in Josh. Just to make some more.
Speaker 1: Well, Sonya thinks we'll do another one, so you know that.
Speaker 2: There's oh yeah, yeah, I heard the podcast.
Speaker 1: I need there to be another three though, because I
Speaker 1: was talking about this with Sonya and Ben's a belle.
Speaker 1: Ben from Brisbane is one of the most iconic Big
Speaker 1: Brother players, So if they were to do another one,
Speaker 1: they have to put Ben in next time round. So
Speaker 1: I've got a few I've got a few more series
Speaker 1: that I've got to wait before I can can make
Speaker 1: my way there.
Speaker 2: No, but you know, but no, you might have to
Speaker 2: go in with Ben. With Ben, but even people like Angie.
Speaker 4: Angie was such a big character in our season, like
Speaker 4: the sky Wheatley is completely different but also a huge
Speaker 4: character as part of the seasons.
Speaker 2: You know, so many people I could honestly, it's actually
Speaker 2: not a bad idea to do this concept a few
Speaker 2: more times. There's so many people out there.
Speaker 1: But you know the reason why they have to do
Speaker 1: it with the fans versus favorites, you know, the newbies
Speaker 1: versus the ogs, is because if you put just OG's
Speaker 1: in there, it would be a Big brother retirement village
Speaker 1: because most of the people are so old now and
Speaker 1: they're like and the twist of Big Brothers. This time
Speaker 1: everyone is over the age of forty.
Speaker 5: But there's just one thing right and you know, it's
Speaker 5: like it's all been a glow up, Like if you
Speaker 5: look at the old pictures of everyone, doesn't matter how
Speaker 5: old they are, right now, they have blown right up.
Speaker 1: I have to quickly say before you finish up, congratulations
Speaker 1: on your engagement. It's been on social media everywhere and
Speaker 1: I just you know, and I've been lucky enough to
Speaker 1: meet James, and so I just think it's it's very wonderful.
Speaker 2: I never thought it was going to happen, to be honest,
Speaker 2: I thought I was engagementable. Is that a word?
Speaker 1: Well, you know I love it, and you know I
Speaker 1: love a proposal, so I'm here for it.
Speaker 2: You do, I think you. I don't think anyone can
Speaker 2: beat that kind of proposal. Real high, then, real high.
Speaker 1: I'm still not married. I'm still not married. So married,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm what did you just say, I'm unengageable,
Speaker 1: I'm unweitable. Apparently I proposed he said yes, but then
Speaker 1: he was like, oh, I don't know. He's still here,
Speaker 1: he's in the next room. So I always say to
Speaker 1: people when they asked me on the street, they're like,
Speaker 1: why did when did you get why did you get married?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, isn't it okay that I'm still with him?
Speaker 1: Like you, I think that's the best thing, that we're
Speaker 1: actually still together, you know, not that we got married
Speaker 1: back in the day and got divorced.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, yeah, exactly, that's something to celebrate. It's
Speaker 2: been many many years, you know. I think it's just
Speaker 2: the same, Samesy like, it doesn't feel too much different
Speaker 2: in actual fact, it's better that I'm engaged right now.
Speaker 2: So I'm happy for this long engagement because it's been
Speaker 2: so nice, Like it's just been so much calm. I
Speaker 2: feel both feel settled. Well, we've had more and more
Speaker 2: breakups and get back together than the Spies girls.
Speaker 1: So is that well, see if you can beat me,
Speaker 1: my friend, See if you can beat me You've got
Speaker 1: ten years to stay engaged for without ever having a.
Speaker 2: Wedding challenge accepted, Ben.
Speaker 1: Well, My last question to ask you, which is something
Speaker 1: I ask everyone that joins the podcast, is you know
Speaker 1: what is something from behind the scenes that we're as
Speaker 1: an audience would love to know that we won't see
Speaker 1: on Big Brother this year. A bit of a behind
Speaker 1: the scenes you know from the twenty twenty two Big
Speaker 1: Brother experience.
Speaker 2: I don't know what no one's going to see. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know what no one's going to be, do
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? The bruises that I sustained
Speaker 2: on my rear end, we're awful from the challenges. No
Speaker 2: one's going to see that, I'm guessing.
Speaker 1: So that's where those Maxi dresses come in handy. You know,
Speaker 1: there's beautiful dresses. Is not for the aesthetic, but just
Speaker 1: to cover up the fact that Big Brother is abusive
Speaker 1: these days and you've been been from head to time.
Speaker 2: And brses. But I think no one's going to see
Speaker 2: my rear riend with the bruises. But other than that,
Speaker 2: I don't know what anyone's not going to see it.
Speaker 2: We'll have to touch base again so I can be
Speaker 2: actually this happened. Well.
Speaker 1: Sonya already wants to come back from mid season catchup.
Speaker 1: She's like, I want to come back to the podcast
Speaker 1: and we need to do a mid season catchup, so
Speaker 1: we should do it together, and we should back with
Speaker 1: Sony because I know how much Sonya has shares so
Speaker 1: much time for you and loves you. So yeah, so
Speaker 1: we'll have to do it. We'll do it free way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll do it our first three way with Sonya,
Speaker 2: is it? I mean when we were in the garden,
Speaker 2: me and Sonya.
Speaker 1: Was on the screen, You're a you've both got the
Speaker 1: wrong plumbing for me, So it'll be a fairly it'll
Speaker 1: be a geer rated freeway anyway.
Speaker 2: I love you.
Speaker 1: I love you so much as you know, as as
Speaker 1: your friend and you know now as a viewer of
Speaker 1: you on Big Brother being in the audience. I have
Speaker 1: you back, and I love you and I just can't
Speaker 1: wait to watch it.
Speaker 2: All unfold and I love you too. Thanks. Honestly, I've
Speaker 2: had the best time chatting to you today. Then,