If there’s one thing we miss about the good old days of Big Brother, it’s all the relationship drama that unfolded in front of our eyes.
These days it’s all strategy, strategy, strategy, and no cheating scandals – boring. Kidding, of course, we don’t condone cheating. But we can’t deny the show was A LOT more dramatic seven years ago, particularly when contestants Cat Law and Lawson Reeves entered the Big Brother house.
WATCH: Big Brother’s Cat and Lawson spend a night in the sanctuary together
If you though Tully Smyth and Anthony Drew’s relationship was controversial, fast forward to a year after their season had aired and the drama had been unexpectedly triumphed by yet ANOTHER Big Brother cheating scandal.
For those who somehow missed it, here’s what went down between the former reality stars.
Electrician and magician Lawson, 29, and divorced midwife Cat, 37, entered the Big Brother house and immediately hit it off; in fact, they hit it off maybe a bit too well as the pair got into a very PDA-heavy relationship despite Lawson having a girlfriend on the outside.
Yep, throughout the competition, 23-year-old Lawson was so besotted with Cat, then 31, that he turned a blind eye to his girlfriend of four years, Candice Leeder, who was watching his reality journey unfold.
Crying to Big Brother at the time, Lawson admitted what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn’t fight his feelings for Cat and the pair fell in love on national TV.
Outside of the house, Candice, unsurprisingly, dumped the reality star. But at one point there were whispers that the betrayed ex would be heading into the competition to confront the new couple.
While the show was airing, host Sonia Kruger dished to Kylie and Jackie O that Channel Nine producers were in negotiations with Candice to potentially enter the house.
“We have extended the invitation to Candice, she’s in the middle of exams at the moment, she’s doing her masters. But yeah, we are in communications with her,” Sonia told the radio duo.
“At this point, she’s been pretty clear about wanting to focus on her exams. But, things change, people change… something might happen this week that could actually propel her to want to talk to us, and I think the best thing for Candice to do is talk to us because the media will stay on it until they can say something.”
The host also spoke of Candice’s reaction to the cheating scandal, saying, “Look, she’s not happy. Obviously you wouldn’t be, would you? It’ll be interesting to see what happens this week because Cat’s nominated but Lawson’s not.”
But, ultimately, it was Lawson who got booted from the house first. Speaking to 2Day Fm after his exit, Lawson admitted he had tried to reach out to his ex-girlfriend, but to no avail.
“So far I have tried to make contact but understandably she’s not ready to speak to me. All I can say is that I’m sorry and she will obviously have a lot of things to say to me,” Lawson explained.
WATCH: Cat And Lawson Share A Pash On Big Brother
The evictee continued: “I couldn’t ever look any of her family in the eye. Walking down the street, my face is going to be one that’s known and hers isn’t and they’re only ever gonna think that she’s the idiot that stayed with the goose.”
As for what Cat had to say to Lawson’s ex-girlfriend, the midwife told news.com.au that “any message (she had) for her would be between the two of (them)”.
“I don’t think that’s an appropriate conversation to have publicly,” Cat told the publication.
Although Lawson felt sympathetic towards his ex-girlfriend, his heart still lay in the Big Brother house. And, luckily for the magician, he didn’t have to wait long for Cat to perform an appearing act; the reality star was evicted from the competition the very next night.
In her post-show interview with Sonia Kruger, Cat got candid with the host about her and Lawson’s controversial romantic tryst.
“You can’t help who you fall for, but it’s harder if that person is in a tricky situation,” she said. “He’s just so similar to me and I’ve never had that instant bond with someone before.”
Waiting to greet his reality TV flame as she exited the house was Lawson himself, who confessed that the couple were in for a “tough ride” but that he “didn’t want (Cat) to face that alone”.
And while a lot of reality TV romances crash and burn in the outside world – *cough* Tully and Drew, *cough* almost every Married At First Sight and Bachelor relationship – Clawson (as they were deemed) defied all odds, dating for four-and-a-half years.
While together, Cat and Lawson were quite the power couple, travelling the world and documenting their experiences on their blog and on Cat’s YouTube channel.
Constantly sharing snaps and tributes to one another on their social medias, the reality romance seemed unstoppable. One sweet post from Cat showed a picture of the couple gazing off onto a beach while arm-in-arm. “I don’t care what I do or where I go, as long as it’s with you,” Cat captioned the image.
Welp, 2017 Cat would be devastated to learn of the couple’s fate just two years later.
Cat and Lawson officially called it quits in 2019. Breaking the news of their separation to Mamamia, the midwife confessed the split was “painful”.
“We broke up early this year,” Cat said. “Breakups are really hard and I find it really hard to talk about when you’re going through it because it’s so emotional.”
The Big Brother alum continued: “We don’t have any ill will towards each other, but breakups are really painful and I think for myself limiting contact with him for the moment is really important for me to move on. It would bring back all those old feelings and I could end up back where I was when I was finding it really challenging.”
So cross Clawson off our list of successful reality relationships – at least we still have The Bachelor’s Laura Byrne and Matty J to convince us that love is real.
For a much easier road to love, sign up for eHarmony.
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