While we ironically often turn to reality TV to give us an escape from the “real” issues in the world, sometimes there’s just no escaping reality.
Nothing proves this more than one particular Big Brother Australia contestant, Merlin Luck, who shook up the world of reality TV big time during his stint on the show.
WATCH: Big Brother’s Merlin Luck makes history with his silent protest
Back in 2004, Merlin made Australian TV history when he was evicted from Big Brother. It was not the eviction itself that was so shocking, but rather what he did once he was on stage with host Gretel Killeen, who was ready to interview the star.
As he walked onto the stage, he put a strip of black tape over his mouth and held up a sign that read “Free the refugees”.
The then-23-year-old had managed to sneak the sign into the Big Brother house by sewing it into his shirt prior to entering the competition, hoping that it wouldn’t be discovered when security was patting him down.
As Merlin sat silently holding his sign, host Gretel grew frustrated as she tried to engage the evictee in conversation.
“This segment is five minutes long, are you going to speak at all?” Gretel said, to which she got no reply.
Speaking about the incident 12 years later, Merlin confessed he does not begrudge the host for her insistence that he partake in the interview.
“She was trying to convince me to speak and to discuss the issue on-air. To me the impact of the moment came from it being a silent protest,” Merlin told news.com.au back in 2016.
“She’s on the public record on several occasions since, declaring her personal support for the stance that I took — and saying she regrets not being more overtly supportive at the time. It was a difficult situation that I put her in but I respect and am grateful for her for taking that position in the media in the years since the protest.”
After multiple failed attempts to get Merlin to speak, the reality star was taken off stage by two security guards and there was a live cross to the contestants inside the Big Brother house.
In the same interview with news.com.au, Merlin explained that while one security guard was complimentary of his protest, the other was not.
But subjective opinions of the protest aside, there’s no denying it had quite the impact on the reality TV format.
WATCH: Tully Smyth and Drew Anthony reunite in the Big Brother house (Story continues after video)
Despite what the name suggests, reality TV can exist in a vacuum that is separate from the “real world”. It was for this reason that Merlin chose the platform to make the statement he did.
“It was really about making a statement that putting 14 people in a mansion and plying them with alcohol isn’t reality. It was about disrupting that mainstream media phenomenon to deliver a message — and to make people question the whole concept of reality TV — and question what’s really important,” Merlin told news.com.au.
He went on to reveal that the producers were mad at the him for not involving them with his plans from the start, claiming they could have worked with him to make it a reality. But Merlin explained that the whole point of the protest was to “hijack the show and deliver a message – not to orchestrate a fake protest”.
Interestingly, the episode received the best ratings of the season.
So what did Merlin get up to after his significant protest?
Putting his money where his mouth was, Merlin spent the 12 months following the show campaigning for refugees – speaking at protests, schools and universities, doing interviews and meeting with politicians. He visited detention centres and met with detained as well as recently released families.
Merlin has a wife and two kids and is the Regional Vice President at the largest enterprise cloud technology company, Salesforce.
“Fair to say I’m well on the way to being a middle-aged corporate dad — in the best possible way,” he told news.com.au. “Very grateful for the life I have.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
