Elation at being the winner of ‘Big Brother’ 2012. Image: Alphabet Pony
	Ben and his beloved mother. Image: Adelaide Now
	The highlight of the finale, Benjamin proposing to Ben on stage. Image: Big Brother
	An elated Benjamin wins Big Brother. Image: Big Brother
	Image: Big Brother
	Hanging out in the diary room. Image: Big Brother
	The secret 'toothfairy' challenge. Image: Big Brother
	Benjamin's BFF Stacey prepares for eviction. Image: Big Brother
	Hanging out with Big Brother runner up Layla on the set of 'Mornings'. Image: Hugo's Manly
	Is there a future in radio for Benjamin? Image: Big Brother
	Hanging out with Stacey. Image: Big Brother
	With Stacey and friends on the 'outside'. Image: @raceystaceybb
	With fiance Ben and fellow Big Brother housemate Michael. Image: @raceystaceybb
	The 'Factory' task. Image: Big Brother
	Benjamin loves to love Stacey! Image: Big Brother

The honest and irreverent winner of this year’s ‘Big Brother’ was dubbed “Dr Ben” because of his honest approach to offering advice in the house.

Benjamin took time out of his hectic schedule to speak to e-Travel Blackboard about how it felt to inadvertently become a role model when he proposed to his partner Ben on stage and his amusement at the expectation reality TV stars have with becoming a "celebrity".

e-Travel Blackboard: Congratulations on the win!

Benjamin: It’s so surreal to think that I experienced the end, I’m going to be thinking about it for the rest of my life!

e-Travel Blackboard: There were so many people that seemed to connect with you and it reflected in the voting.

Benjamin: I really just went in there and was the best person I could be and I think if I had gone in and tried to be someone else, or had a strategy, then I wouldn’t have made it to the end.

It’s the one time in my life that I’m happy that the person that I am is the only person that I can be and that it came across in a way that people understood.

e-Travel Blackboard: You were pegged as “Doctor Ben” because you were such a mediator in the house. Is that the sort of person you are outside as well?

Benjamin: It’s interesting that people have portrayed me that way.

I think it comes from life experience more than anything. I’ve had some pretty awful things happen to me in my life and some really amazing things as well and I think that means that there are a lot of things that are available for me as a person to be available for others.

I think that that’s probably how I ended up being the Doctor Phil-type person because I’m not saying this is how you should live your life, I’m just saying this is how I live mine.

e-Travel Blackboard: You’re in the ‘Big Brother’ house today, because it just opened to the public. What was it like to be in there with people other than your housemates?

Benjamin: It’s quite disturbing because it’s like someone being in your house going through your things.

It’s really weird, I’m drawn to being back there.

While it’s over-run by new people and new faces there’s something very comfortable about that particular space.

One thing I would have to say is, I’m not a spiritual kind of person but I drove passed Dreamworld in 2008 and I saw the Tower of Terror lit up at night and I had this weird sort of feeling that came over me and then whilst I was in the ‘Big Brother’ house I looked up at the Tower of Terror and it looked exactly the same as it did when I’d driven past it five years earlier, I felt like I had this weird kinship with this place.

I was there for so long confined to that space it becomes a part of you whether you like it or not.

Layla and I are a bit the same to be honest, people have said would you go back and we both say we would. If people ask if we’re missing the house we are while some of the other housemates are already moving on with the next stage in their lives, we are sorted of connected.

e-Travel Blackboard: What advice would you give people who are thinking about auditioning for ‘Big Brother’?

Benjamin: I’d say think very carefully about why you want to go in there.

It’s not a walk in the park, it’s one of the best times you’ll have in your life but you’re also going to be putting yourself under a microscope. The only advice I can give these people is to be really truthful of who you are so that when these producers cast you on the show that it fits in the right way.

I think if you fit in the right way and you’re meant to be there you’re going to learn a lot and it’s going to be amazing.

e-Travel Blackboard: Is it true that you auditioned three times before?

Benjamin: I was, at the last minute, not chosen to be in season two, so this is the ten year anniversary of my first auditioning for ‘Big Brother’!

Things really have come full circle.

I applied in 2002 and got to the end and a week before lock down started they chose Nathan over me.

It was a great option for them, he did very well in the show and I’ve had the privilege of getting to know him now and he’s an excellent person.

In 2006 David and I both were cast to be on the show…I didn’t go in.

The following year I did it all over again and I got told I’d be an intruder and Zac got picked instead of me.

Five years later with that experience when I heard Channel 9 was doing it and I’d already heard whispers about this idea of it being more of a social experiment and finding everyday Australians and moving away from being sensationalized and it was going to be PG I thought, how interesting it would be to re-apply and be a part of this season.

I’m very grateful that I was declined every other time so that I could be a part of PG ‘Big Brother’ that allowed Channel 9 to have a gay man on a TV show being shown as an every day Australian and then now at the end as a winner proposing to my long term partner.

I feel like some things happen for a reason and I hope it makes families at home have a conversation that makes children see that maybe it’s just normal for two boys to be together and the story that I’ve told on ‘Big Brother’ has obviously connected with people because they voted me to win.

I actually had a call in to a radio interview I was on and she cried the whole way through the phone call. She told me that her 17 year old son had come into their living room after watching the finale and told her he is gay and wants her to love him the way my mum loves me.

If I only got that out of the whole experience it would still be worth it. It’s amazing that most of the time adults are the ones with the preconceived notion of whether it’s acceptable or not and the kids kind of have the reaction of, They are getting married, why is there a problem?"

I think this year was very much about finding different people from all walks of life that have a little more to them.

e-Travel Blackboard: You and Stacey had such a special relationship, what’s your favorite memory with her in the house?

Benjamin: I always say the same thing. Estelle gave me music in the house and while I was listening to this music Stacey, obviously inseparable, was hugging me so she could hear the song and she loved the song as much as I did.

She led me into a spin and spun me out and then I span her out and I looked at her and the sound of the music playing while looking at Stacey I thought, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.

It summarizes my friendship with Stacey, her and I were laughing in the background and just having an enormous amount of respect for each other’s intelligence and humor.

e-Travel Blackboard: There has been a lot of talk of you two being perfect to work on a radio show together. Is that something that interests you?

Benjamin: I have absolutely loved my ‘Big Brother’ experience and it will always be a part of me but I would love to be able to get to the point where I'm possibly interviewing Australians and asking them questions that makes them relatable to the world.

You know, for instance, I want to ask Nicole Kidman about her children and just some of the common things that are available for her to share with the public. I think people want to be able to relate to them and there’s an intelligent way to interview these people which goes beyond ridiculous personal questions or irrelevant questions.

I think you will probably see me popping up on the radio a few times over the coming months; I just want people to understand that I’m not a ‘Big Brother’ personality wanting to go on and forge a media career on it.

I want to go and work and be good at something and I’ve spent my whole life wanting to work in the industry in some capacity but I’m such an unusual person that no one was going to like me and now I’ve done ‘Big Brother’ they know a bit more about me.

It is a bit of an ego boost to the point where I believe in myself and I believe in and I want to go and forge a career in this industry.

e-Travel Blackboard: What do you think of the reality TV stars who have a sense of entitlement about them?

Benjamin: I was joking a few times and saying a lot of them in there thought that ‘Big Brother’ was actually, "I want to be a celebrity how quickly can you make that happen?"

Without even having any talent people were saying I want to be on ‘Getaway’ as if it was a right for jumping on ‘Big Brother’.

They had no understanding of the work that goes into being on any of these shows. It’s not all make-up and hair, it’s being intelligent, having talent and having a lot of luck to get to the right spot because unfortunately in Australia when a really good series comes along there’s a lot of really good talent wanting to be a part of it.

I think just because you put your life on ‘Big Brother’, doesn’t mean you get to own those positions.

e-Travel Blackboard: When you were in the house what did you miss most?

Benjamin: I missed that connection of the people I spend my life with, of course Ben in particular.

I’ve been told ‘Big Brother’ can turn an extroverted person introverted and vice versa and that's based on the fact that your social surroundings and losing what you’re used to can be quite terrifying.

e-Travel Blackboard: What destination is on your bucket list to visit?

Benjamin: I'm a big fan of Australia. There are a lot of places in Australia that I'd like to go - Cable Beach in Broome with Ben.

Ben actually went to work in Darwin and said it was beautiful!

e-Travel Blackboard: Where is your favourite place to visit?

I love America, especially New York but I'd have to say my home town of Melbourne.

The culture of Melbourne is more unique than any city I’ve visited. I think the food's incredible; people can visit the Art Gallery and Museum or have a shop on Chapel St!

The Big Brother house is now open for tours. Log onto www.dreamworld.com.au for more information.

To keep up to date with what Benjamin is up to outside of the house, follow him on twitter: @BJnorris