“Big Brother Australia” season 11 has crowned its winner on the grand finale night. 26-year-old graphic designer Ryan Ginns bested Travis Lunardi and Skye Wheatley in taking the grand prize of $200,000 on Wednesday.

Housemates of 2014

They weren’t forced to dance, unlike last year’s housemate, though the housemates of 2014 showed off brief moves when they entered the stage in pairs. Katie and Aisha, Sam and Sandra, Gemma and Jake, David and Penny, Dion and Jason, Marina and Tom, Lisa and Leo, Lina and Richard, Lawson and Cat, and the lonesome Priya all came out in style to greet host Sonia Kruger.

During the interviews with Sonia, the housemates have cleared up some issues, including their romantic relationships and catfight opponents in the house.

Cat, whose romance with the then-attached Lawson has been the most controversial topic of the season, told Sonia that all the negativity behind their relationship was created by the media, and that she has received overwhelming support from the public. When the two were evicted, they refused to confirm or deny if they were indeed in an official relationship, claiming that they were still enjoying their time with each other. Perhaps they were still in the courtship phase of their relationship.

When Lawson was asked by a viewer if he has moved to Melbourne to be with Cat, he laughed and answered that he is actually moving to Melbourne to be with Sam to work with “magic and acting.” As for the status of his relationship with Cat, Lawson said they would take it slowly.

Jake gave vague answer about his relationship with Lisa, sticking to his “don’t want to be labelled” answer when asked if he was dating Lisa. Since he and Lisa live in the same city, going out wasn’t a problem for them.

As if to absolve the show of bullying allegations, Sonia asked first evictee Gemma how she felt about the manner of her eviction. It can be recalled that when they were still in pairs, Gemma and Jake got the lowest number of votes. To decide which of them would be evicted, Big Brother asked the housemates to literally stand behind either Jake or Gemma to show their support. Gemma only had Priya standing behind her. The way her eviction was decided had been the subject of controversy, with viewers accusing the show of perpetuating schoolyard bullying.

Gemma said that wasn’t what she felt that time since she was a bit numb from all the excitement. But now that she had time to reflect on it, she admitted that it was indeed traumatic. She thanked Priya for being the only person who stood behind her during that traumatic time.

Leo, whose relationship with Skye had been on-off in the house, choose Travis to win, surprising Sonia. Though the pregnant presenter said Leo’s choice was “controversial,” it wasn’t unexpected. During his post-eviction interview with Sonia herself, Leo already declared his support for Travis.

Sam had been “someone else’s” when he was in the Big Brother house. That’s what Sandra had been crying about because she had feelings for the Paralympic gold medallist but he had a girlfriend. Sam didn’t encourage her romantic feelings, but pursued her friendship. When he came out of the house, he admitted that his girlfriend wasn’t happy about his touchy-feely relationship with Sandra.

At the grand finale when Sam and Sandra entered the stage together, they shared a quick kiss on the lips, which some might say was still a friendly one. Sam revealed to Sonia that he had broken up with his girlfriend not long after his eviction. However, that doesn’t mean he and Sandra would be getting together since Sandra has hooked up with one of his best friends.

Ex-Housemates

There was a report that season 3 winner and runner-up Regina Bird and Chrissie Swan, as well as season 4 housemate Ryan ‘Fitzi’ Fitzgerald, were making an appearance at the finale. They did, but not live. They recorded a brief clip for the show, sharing their Big Brother experience. Recent past winners Ben Norris and Tim Dormer also appeared in the clip.

Read: Past Favourites Chrissie Swan, Regina Bird and Ryan ‘Fitzi’ Fitzgerald Returning for Grand Finale – Report

Third Place: Skye

Looking a bit disappointed when her name was called, Skye nonetheless looked as excited and vivacious as ever when she finally entered the real world. Greeting her family and the audience with as much enthusiasm as she could give, the year’s youngest housemate took her time to reach Sonia on stage.

She admitted that she was disappointed about not winning the show, but she’s still proud of herself for making it so far.

As a reward for “being a legend” in the house, Appliances Online gave her $5,000 cash.

Runner-Up: Travis

Travis and Ryan entered the house on Day 1, and on Day 80, they were the only ones left inside. They were split by then Heads of House Jason and Dion, though, and had been given new partners, Sam for Ryan, and Cat for Travis. They had a major fight at one time, with Ryan declaring he wouldn’t want to be friends with Travis in the real world. But after some time, though their friendship didn’t seem to return to its original state, the two learnt to live together harmoniously.

And on Wednesday, Team Purple (the colour of their band as pair) surpassed 20 other housemates. Unfortunately for Travis, he wasn’t able to win all the way. That privilege went to Ryan.

“No, I already told Ryan that we’re splitting [the money],” Travis joked to Sonia when she asked if he was disappointed that he didn’t win. He added that he also didn’t regret turning down the $50,000 bribe Big Brother offered him and his girlfriend Aisha to leave the house early, saying money was never a driving factor for him.

Nevertheless, Travis received $10,000 cash from Appliances Online.

Big Brother Australia 2014 Winner: Ryan

Ryan wasn’t only the viewers’ favourite to win based on the number of votes, but also his fellow housemates’ favourite. He amassed 13 votes to win from his housemates, against Skye and Travis’ three points each.

He started out as a “cruiser” who only observed and avoided major confrontations in the house to get by, but all the while developing strong friendships in the house. There’s an alleged curse with being friends with him, though. Those who became close to him were unfortunately evicted one by one. He’s got quite a few arguments with some housemates, beginning with the time he was nominated for the first time in Week 5.

Viewers also did not miss how Sonia became a bit hard on Ryan every time she crossed over the house for a live interview with the housemates. A friendly banter is one thing, but Sonia was noticeably taunting the so-called alpha male of the house, as if challenging him to fight back.

Sonia revealed to the Daily Telegraph earlier this month that she heard Ryan making not-so-nice comment about Sonia being David’s crush, so when she interviewed him during a live show, she returned the comment. “I really wanted to mess with his head,” she said.

That appeared to be forgotten, though, and Sonia welcomed him with open arms as he finally came to the studio. Apart from his dry sense of humour, he reckoned that his frozen chicken act, which saw him completely nude while imitating the poultry animal, has become his claim to fame in the house, allowing him to win the show.

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