They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and after surviving Eviction – a prospect he’d assumed was certain death for him – could it be a new Benjamin that we’ll be seeing in the Big Brother House this week and beyond?
The House woke this morning to discover Big Brother had a challenge for them: their first competition against the fictitious House 2: a time-trial marathon where they had to run 42 kilometres on the treadmill. BB let them know they had to appoint a Head of House for the week and immediately, the HMs elected Benjamin. “He’s funny and a good representation as a whole,” said Angie.
It was now official. It would be Benjamin’s way or the highway for the duration of the marathon, and he took to the mission like a fish to water.
“C’mon!” he spat, over and over, as he literally ran the treadmill into the ground during the first part of the marathon challenge. Coming face to face with Eviction had clearly made quite an impression on him and the Benjamin of Day 22 was not mucking around.
In the week leading up to Eviction he’d made more than a few passing comments to his confidantes Sarah and Stacey about making some big changes if he somehow managed to stay in the House.
“No one in this place looks at any of this and has an opinion,” he snapped to Stacey on Friday night after Ray and Sarah’s dance floor incident. “Everyone’s so scared to say anything.”
“If I survive on Sunday, I’m gonna be so happy that I survived, and I’m just gonna be take no prisoners. If people do stuff like that in front of me ever again I’ll just be like whoa whoa whoa. Because I don’t think it’s fine for people to be doing that.”
And true to his word, no nonsense Benjamin was quick out of the gates almost as soon as the safety net had caught him and he’d dried off from his celebratory dip. Speaking to Ray and George in the Bathroom in the aftermath of the Eviction and the House 2 Bombshell, the new Benjamin was forthright in advising his fellow HMs how he felt the House should be moving forward in no uncertain terms. “I’m not going to enforce my new behaviour on anyone, but if I think I’ve got good advice to give to someone I’m going to give it to them.”
But when they appointed him Head of House, the HMs perhaps didn’t quite know what they would unleash. Benjamin was focused – to say the least. During the marathon challenge, Estelle and Stacey decided to muck about in front of the treadmill and Benjamin scolded them before requesting oranges for the runners. “Do people just ignore instructions?” he appealed to the boys watching from the special Grand Stand. “I mean I love these two girls, but can we just keep all this noise and commotion out of the way?” he continued. George and Ray were impressed with his efforts. “You pushed me through,” Ray told a delighted Benjamin of his motivational support.
Benjamin motivated, cajoled, and encouraged the Housemates through the marathon. “Benny loves it,” George remarked as he hustled the HMs to push themselves further and faster.
As Big Brother finally announced that they’d come out on top of House 2 in the marathon challenge the HMs howled with glee, while Benjamin glowed with pride, his new authoritarian approach vindicated.
His opinionated nature has already cemented him as one of the House’s strongest personalities, but will his new attitude prove too much for his Housemate’s to bear? Or could it be just the kind of leadership the House needs?
