Big Brother star Michael was the first housemate to be evicted from the house on November 16.
Despite only being in the house for a few days, he certainly made an impression, causing a stir with his outspoken and controversial remarks on gender.
Even though that might have been the thing to seal his fate, Michael insisted he has no regrets from his time on the Channel 10 show.
Speaking exclusively to New Idea after his exit, the publisher, 49, admitted he wasn’t surprised to be up for nomination after clashing with some of the housemates, particuarly Mia.
“I wouldn’t have changed it if I did it over again,” he revealed. “I knew I’d be nominated first up because I went in there with a bit of a mission.”
“With the nominations only being two or three days in, I don’t really have a chance to warm to people after I dropped what I consider to be truth bombs.”
“Once I was nominated, with the power of TikTok and the audience that’s voting, I was sort of odds-on chance to go first,” he claimed.
Michael claimed he wouldn’t have been nominated this week if he had managed to stay in the Big Brother house, insisting his housemates had warmed to him after the first few days of conflict.
“I don’t think I’d be nominated this week, I know I wouldn’t have been! We’re not allowed to talk about nominations, but there are winks and smiles going around, and you all know who’s on everyone’s nose, and it’s not me this week. But sadly, I didn’t survive the first hurdle,” he explained.
“In the beginning, [Coco and Mia] nominated me, I didn’t go down that well with the younger girls in the house, and that was always going to be the case.
“But in the end, they knew it was hot air, and they didn’t want me to go. Sadly, nominations were two or three days in, so you don’t get a lot of chance to say, ‘by the way, I was only joking’.”
Michael memorably came under accusations from viewers for being “sexist” after he and Bruce shared their divisive opinions on gender roles in relationships and the gender pay gap.
But does Michael believe the backlash was warranted?
“How do you define sexist? I don’t know, I certainly do have opinions based on gender, so if that makes me sexist, I don’t know,” he said, breaking his silence on the controversy.
“I was just raised in a family for years where my dad worked and my mum had dinner on the table, that was just my upbringing. It worked just like a Swiss watch. I see families these days falling apart, including my own, when everybody is trying to do everything and trying not to offend anybody.
“The world is a mess at the moment; you can’t deny that.”
Despite causing outrage with his “traditional” opinions, Michael insisted his friends and family have been supportive and weren’t surprised by his portrayal on the show.
“So far, the reaction is fine! Obviously, my friends know what I’m like, so I couldn’t really say anything that could surprise them,” he shared. “My daughter was a bit worried, but she was OK.”
Michael claimed he was cast on Big Brother because of his “old-school” views, as he addressed his divisive antics in the house.
“Especially at my age, normally, I’m the victim of the diversity card; the white male is the victim of the diversity card,” he boldly claimed.
“This time, the diversity card played in my favour. 10 years ago, an older guy like me wouldn’t have been cast on a show like Big Brother. The diversity box played into my favour this season; they needed someone with old-school traditional opinions, and there I am!”
He certainly ruffled feathers with his housemates, so will Michael actually be staying in touch with anyone in the real world?
“Holly only lives five minutes from me, so we will catch up again, and we will just run into one another, and we’re surprised we haven’t before! Holly’s not someone you’d see and not notice, right? We must have been at The Sheaf, The Oak, all the haunts down in Double Bay,” he shared.
“We will definitely run into each other by chance. But by choice, I’ll definitely catch up with Vinnie, Ed and Bruce. We’re already planning to go to the cricket and the NRL, and I’ve got my 50th next year, so that will serve as a Big Brother reunion for anyone I haven’t p***ed off… so probably just those three.”
He might have been the first person to leave the house, but with more nominations looming, another housemate will soon be packing their bags, and Michael is convinced it will be Jane.
“It would have been Holly, but I’ve saved her with my making her the house captain,” he said.
“So I guess it’s going to be Jane, no one likes Jane! Well, it’s not that no one likes Jane; we all like Jane. You’re in this microcosm. Everyone likes Jane, I put that the wrong way, but of the housemates who are there, she’s the least liked.”
“And probably Connor, but at least Connor cooks. Jane just whinges and fake cries.”
Even though he might not have made countless friends in the house, Michael insisted he has no regrets about signing up for Big Brother, and even doubled down on his controversial on-air antics.
“It was everything and more! I’ve had the time of my life,” he gushed.
“Just being forced into those conversations, I think, was healthy for me. It hasn’t changed me one bit. The truth is still the truth, but I’ve learnt how to deal with it and how to diffuse bombs a little better.”
As for appearing on reality TV in the future, Michael hasn’t completely ruled it out.
“I’d do Big Brother again […] I wouldn’t do Love Island, I’m too old for that, and I’m too short to be a Bachelor. The only one I probably could do is MAFS,” he quipped.
Big Brother airs Monday To Friday at 7.30pm, and Sundays At 7pm. Watch and Live Stream 24/7 On 10.
