When Travis returned to the House, Nobbi, Rory and Ben let him know what he had missed. In particular, they were quick to inform him that Alice, someone Travis considered a close friend, had revealed she disliked Travis and wouldn’t be friends with him outside the House. Ben said Alice had called Travis a joke, because people laughed at his expense. Nobbi tried to tell Travis that he shouldn’t trust her and that it was himself, Rory and Ben that were his real friends.
Travis was shocked at the news but he told the boys he wanted to hear it directly from Alice. Nobbi was defensive. “So you think we’re lying?” he accused. Travis didn’t want to annoy the boys, but felt like he needed to approach Alice. “Hear what you want to hear,” Rory muttered. The boys told him Alice was going to lie and ‘sugarcoat’ her answer to him but they had heard the truth. Ben told Travis Alice was just playing the game. “Just take it from us man,” Nobbi advised. But Travis was unsure.
Travis sought Alice out and began the conversation with: “I reckon we’d be quite good friends in the outside world.” Alice responded: “I reckon we’re good friends Travi but … it wouldn’t be like how it is in here.” Travis didn’t want to reveal the insight he had received from the boys and as Alice reassured him she considered him a close friend, Travis felt he had all he needed to make up his mind.
Travis later updated the boys on the Alice situation. Nobbi was instantly extremely unimpressed. He felt that Travis didn’t trust the boys and had returned to being “one of the girls”. Travis confessed, “I definitely agree that I'm closer to the girls.” Not exactly what Nobbi wanted to hear, the Karate Kid questioned Travis further as to why he felt the need to confront Alice. “We look after you and we’re more honest with you, but you pretty much spit it back in our face when you go ask Alice,” Nobbi told him, annoyed at Travis for breaking the boys’ code of silence. “We pretty much told you not to ask her … but you still wouldn’t believe us.”
The chat moved to the sacred Kombi, away from prying ears. The boys thought Travis was one of ‘them’ and wanted to protect him from people like Alice who they believed was playing the game. They were angry he just didn’t take their word and leave it at that.
“If you truly believed us Trav why did you need to ask her?” Ben asked, clearly upset. Nobbi reasoned, “We were just trying to let you know so you're not in the position that you believe she's one of your closest friends when she hasn't been saying the nicest things about you.” But that wasn’t how Travis saw it at all. He valiantly tried to defend Alice but the boys were quick to clarify the situation.
“What we specifically asked her was ‘who do you dislike?’ and she said ‘Travis’ and Rory asked her again and she said ‘Travis’,” Nobbi relayed to Travis, trying to convince him of Alice’s ulterior motives and game playing.
Travis told the boys he didn’t reveal to Alice that anyone had said anything. “It came up in the conversation. I said ‘I'm looking forward to hanging out with you in the outside world’.... and she said, ‘I don't think I'd hang out with you in the outside world’ … and I said, "But we're still quite close in here right?’ … and that’s when she said ‘yeah.’”
“You can believe what you want Travis … but we told you how it is, because we worry about you … but now we’re just not going to keep helping you anymore,” Nobbi said simply. Travis didn’t want the boys to be upset with his actions and continued to try and talk it through.
Ben tried to argue that Alice was always going to lie to him and would never admit her true feelings to Travis’s face. "I don't talk to her at all,” he said. “She is deceptive and competitive and plays the game." Nobbi added: “We’re the ones that care for you more.”
Travis appreciated the boys looking out for him and said he was glad they valued their relationship as much to tell him. “But that’s not the point we need to get this through to your head,” Ben told him. “All we’re doing is trying to cover your back because we know you’re naïve and just going to fall into a trap of believing everyone …and hearing what you want to hear,” Nobbi explained.
“It really does annoy me,” Nobbi admitted. “You’ve got such a good heart but at the same time you’re so naïve.” Nobbi again tried to convince Travis that he, Ben and Rory were his closest friends in the House - that he should be one of the boys, trust them and not Alice.
“I am sorry if you guys think that I defied your trust in any way,” Travis expressed. But the boys weren’t convinced. “I just want you to see if for what it is and not to live in this dream world where you think you are close to her… because she is being fake, she is being deceptive and there three people here with various evidence to prove that … and you still don’t believe us,” Ben reasoned.
Travis tried to explain that Alice was always nice to him. "If Nobbi was nice to my face and backstabbed me, then that doesn't mean he is my friend," explained Ben. Travis looked upset - as he always keen to see the best in people. “She did reconfirm what you said,” he told the boys, before finally conceding, “I don’t feel as close to her.”
Later that night, Alice told the group that she couldn’t see any tensions at all in the House. Is she really unaware of the boys’ brewing resentment towards her? Is she just keen to ignore it and hope it goes away? Or is she, like Ben claims, “playing the game”?
Alice has had a tough week, read about her angst over being nominated.
Watch the video of this confrontation here!
