Reggie Sorensen (née Bird) just took out her second Big Brother win, 19 years after her first victory in 2003 – but her son Lucas almost didn’t make it to the live finale.
WATCH: Reggie Sorensen crowned the winner of Big Brother 2022
The 48-year-old was named victorious with her two kids at her side, after Lucas’ ongoing battle with cystic fibrosis nearly prevented him from being there.
“It was touch and go because Lucas has been quite sick, so I was hoping he’d pull through before coming down here for the finale,” Reggie tells WHO exclusively.
“He managed to get rid of this horrid flu that he had and made it here. He was trying not to cry [after her win], going ‘Mum I don’t wanna cry!’ and he was just wiping away tears.”
Her new partner was also in the audience, watching with his daughter – but Reggie never expected they’d all be celebrating a victory last night.
Reggie credits all the Aussies who have supported her and her family through the years for securing her a second victory.
She walked away with a quarter of a million dollars after winning in 2003, but that money was squandered in a painful divorce and later being scammed. This time it’s going to be different.
“This is going to be a deposit to try and get a home for me and my kids and I think people really wanted to see that happen and make it happen,” she says of the 2022 prize money.
“And the whole way through the show, in the back of my mind was the kids. I had to do this for the kids – and it’s paid off.”
WATCH: Reggie Bird wins Big Brother 2003
Even so, it was incredibly hard for her to leave her two kids behind to return to the show.
As well as missing daughter Mia, being separated from Lucas for weeks on end forced Reggie to consider all the things that could go wrong.
RELATED: Why Reggie Sorensen got “lucky” with her new man
“My worst nightmare would’ve been if he had a got sick while I was away,” she admits.
But she put her maternal skills to good use in the Big Brother house as the “house mum”, a role she was more than happy to fill… most of the time.
“The young ones, they were so dirty, oh my god. I’m just like, ‘man, these kids have just got no manners’. I was forever picking up after them,” she laughs.
It’s a habit she’s decided her own kids won’t be getting into.
“When I got home I was like, ‘all my life from now on you are picking everything up, cause I’ve just spent two months running around, picking up after a group of people!’” she adds.
And there’s “nowhere to hide” in the Big Brother house, not from the cameras or each other, so there was no escaping the mess. Or the makeout sessions.
“Drew and Sam were pretty much tied at the hip, so they used to go off in their own little world and do their thing,” she recalls.
“And probably in the bathroom, a lot of them, the guys, when they’d shave they’d leave whiskers in the sink – that kinda stuff.”
But even when they got on her nerves, the other housemates became a family to Reggie.
READ NEXT: What Reggie’s life looks like outside the Big Brother House
The 48-year-old suffers from a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which has left her legally blind and having the other housemates’ help meant the world to her.
Though some fans even said she was at an unfair disadvantage in the physical challenges, Reggie “didn’t expect Big Brother to change anything just because of my eyesight”.
WATCH: Reggie Serenson talks life after Big Brother and raising awareness for Cystic Fibrosis
Now she hopes her win can inspire more disability representation on Aussie TV.
“Hopefully a lot of other producers out there can stop and think, ‘wait, let’s have more inclusion from now on in reality TV’,” she says.
And we haven’t seen the last of Reggie yet! She confirms she’d happily return to the Big Brother house for a third go.
“I’ll do it again in a heartbeat. And there’s plenty of other reality TV shows I could go on – I’d love to do Travel Guides, or Gogglebox or Dancing With The Stars.”
READ NEXT: Drew, Tully and Sam forced to address Big Brother love triangle
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