Big Brother’s Ari Kimber doesn’t hold back when it comes to playing the game. The 22-year-old law student has openly admitted to lying through his teeth in order to manipulate his fellow housemates – a tactic that, for the most part, has provided great results.
WATCH: Big Brother’s Ari reveals he’s been lying to housemates
Speaking exclusively to New Idea, self-proclaimed “master manipulator” Ari claims that his many fibs were easy to get away with as his fellow housemates “are just not the sharpest tools in the shed”.
“I don’t think I’m good at telling lies.” Ari confesses. “I think the people in the house are just dumb and just believed them. It was quite easy to get away with it.”
However, while until now the 22-year-old has managed to pull the wool over most people’s eyes, on tonight’s episode, Ari’s many lies caught up with him.
After the law, communications and neuropsychology student started a rumour that the house’s latest addition, Brenton Balicki, used the entire supply of peanut butter while cooking satay chicken, the contestants were practically sharpening their pitchforks in their quest for vengeance.
The housemates, however, collectively lowered their metaphorical weapons when it was uncovered that the 31-year-old actually hadn’t finished the popular food item; it was merely a rumour. Things then grew akin to a game of Cluedo as the housemates tried to determine where the lie originated. And the path led back to Ari himself.
In the wake of peanut-butter-gate (as it shall henceforth be called), the 22-year-old reveals it actually wasn’t his fault at all but, rather, the fault of another key player.
After admitting that the rumour “blows up in his face”, Ari confesses that, while his ulterior motive in spreading the rumour was to get rid of Brenton, he didn’t just pluck the piece of gossip out of obscurity; in fact, he blames fellow housemate Sarah Jane for the way things went down.
“I was desperate to get rid of Brenton so I was like I have to come up with a rumour so people hate him.” Ari dishes to New Idea. “And then in the morning he was like ‘I’m gonna make satay chicken’ and I said to Jess – because Jess also wanted to get rid of him – ‘Fingers crossed he uses all the peanut butter and people hate him’.”
The law student continues: “Then we went to check the cupboard and it was all gone and I was like ‘Oh my god, he’s used it all!’ So we then told the house, but he didn’t use it all – SJ (Sarah Jane) hid it all.”
The revelation isn’t too surprising when we recall that Big Brother’s watchful eye caught the antique jewellery dealer hunched in a corner munching on a bag of potato chips during Wednesday’s episode.
And apparently hiding food isn’t the only sly behaviour on SJ’s behalf, with Ari telling New Idea that the 66-year-old “does so many sneaky things in the house” before explaining that “that’s why (they’re) so close”.
Though, the 22-year-old can’t say the same for most of the housemates, whom he describes as “so f***ing boring”.
Since wrapping up filming, Ari confesses he is only friends with stylist Charlotte, flight attendant Christina and peanut-butter-thief SJ and, while he chats to some of the others, he doesn’t consider them all that close.
“I chat to Katie, Jess, Mary and Tilly but that’s about it. But I wouldn’t say they’re friends.”
Despite all the peanut butter backlash, at the end of it all, Ari admits that he “had the time of (his) life” in the Big Brother house.
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