Facing a tearful Alice on the bed, Travis took a deep breath before beginning to speak. “The situation that Nobbi put me in was…” Travis trailed off, searching for the right words. “Tough?” Alice interjected. “Not just tough, it was a sleazy thing to do,” Travis continued. “I put Nobbi on a pedestal, and it was a sleazy thing to do to a friend.”
Alice’s eyes began to well with tears, and Travis pushed on. “People have told me not to come up to you because what they have done to us has made me feel really, really awkward and really guilty and really upset.”
“Don’t feel guilty,” Alice choked, her voice thick with emotion. “I’m not going to deny I said it,” Travis replied.
They reaffirmed their friendship, and Travis agreed Alice had only ever been honest with him about her feelings towards the Voice, and their relationship, both inside of the House and out. The conversation turned to the three Kombi boys, who Travis believed had deliberately set up the conflict between Alice and himself.
“I don’t hate them,” Travis affirmed. “But the fact they created this whole situation to make me look silly and to offend you because they have been saying this stuff. They basically got me to do their dirty work. They basically got me to say stuff about you that they were thinking. I wasn’t thinking that. The fact that they manipulated my thoughts and got into my head really, really annoys me.
Despite the situation bringing him to tears, Travis remained his ever-possimistic self. “This is a situation I’m going to learn from,” he announced to Alice. “I’ve been subjected to bullying before, I know what it’s like. Workplace bullying, I’ve been there. But I’ve never been subjected to peer pressure like this. I just really hope you can see my response tonight, was a genuine response.”
Alice smiled at her friend, and affirmed her respect and honesty towards Travis. “I really can in the sense it was a genuine response to what your mind was feeling,” Alice responded. “That’s where I respect you Travvy. You need to walk away from this and know that all the questions you’ve ever asked me, all the answers you’ve ever got have been true. And if you want to take it as true, then that’s your choice, and that’s what life gives you.
“The reason you’re upset is because you were confronted, and you probably haven’t seen someone upset at you. I’m upset at you because it shocked me because you have given me some pretty massive questions recently and I haven’t wanted to sugarcoat and say ‘Yeah, we’re good mates just because we chat’. Just because you have D&Ms… A lot of people have D&Ms in here because you’ve got four walls and now I know all these Wednesday night questions about people being honest is bullshit.” Alice broke down in tears.
Travis asked Alice if she wanted him to be honest. “I always want you to be honest,” Alice said thickly. “I feel slack saying this but Nobbi, Rory and Ben,” Travis began, his voice almost a whisper. “Like I’ve been in that Kombi and one or two conversations that I’ve been in just defending you. And I’m like, you know what? They’re just like bitchy girls. That’s how I perceive them. They say one thing to you, and you obviously have quite a good relationship with them too. But they had your trust to say I was your most disliked Housemate or whatever.”
Alice recalled how she had confronted Nobbi in the spa over Travis’ use of the words ‘strongly dislike’ and ‘hate’ – which she adamantly denied every saying. “But that’s what hard,” Alice explained. “Because when I was trying to not cry and Nobbi was trying to appease everything, which I now know he does. I said ‘Nobbi, who said dislike, who said hate.’ He said ‘No one, they’re just the words we used’.
“I am smarter than that to make excuses for words I would never use and that’s what upsets me. Then in front of Terri and Terrence he said ‘I know that, but that’s just what came out’. I said, ‘Do not pass on rumours and say the word hate’. Then Rhianna even stood up for me, which I was flattered about, and said, ‘She would never use that word’.”
Relieved to hear Alice’s statement, Travis revealed he had felt extremely hurt when the word ‘hate’ had been thrown around, and he had been afraid of Nobbi claiming he was ‘sugarcoating’ again. “That’s why when Rory said you hated me…” Travis trailed off, searching for the correct words. “It’s one thing to say superficially I’m your most disliked housemate. With Nobbi and his shit questions he doesn’t let you say ‘I like everyone’ because he does that ‘You’re sugarcoating everything’. But to hear that you hated me, really upset me.”
“Hell yeah,” Alice agreed vehemently, before adding the “fake environment” and obvious backstabbing was really beginning to get to her. “Now I strongly believe things are going on behind other’s backs and in this environment I will cower,” Alice said sadly. “I’m not going to confront them, I don’t expect you to because they love you. I’m done. I can’t handle this fake environment anymore.”
The air may officially cleared between Travis and Alice – but Travis still had a bone to pick with the boys.
