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Ben in shock Big Brother eviction

He was the favourite to win, but there were tears and disbelief when Ben Zabel was evicted.

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2013-10-10_0009It was the biggest shock of the season when Ben Zabel was evicted from Big Brother.

Many had considered him to be the favourite to win the entire season. Ben had given the show humour, empathy, naivete and a gay perspective. Undoubtedly he has given the season some of its most memorable moments.

But last night the 32 year old flight attendant was sent packing, as fans watched on in shock.

The votes were the closest they have been all year:

16.2 Ben
16.9 Ed
17.0 Drew
17.8 Tim
32.1 Tahan

When Sonia Kruger announced his name, the housemates were reduced to tears.

“This is mental health boot camp. I found it so rewarding. This is part of the reinvention of my life,” Ben said.

“I met Bert and Patti, and I met all of you.”

In the BB auditorium the crowd was on its feet, in elation and tears.

On social media the show was top-trending once again as viewers came to grips with his eviction.

Some discussion recently surrounding him had speculated about some earlier comedy he had done, with on-going scepticism about too many housemates having performance and acting backgrounds this year. Several have had profiles on the StarNow casting website.

While he didn’t deny he had dabbled in comedy, he told Sonia Kruger: “I’m just Ben from Brisbane. I used to be a flight attendant. That’s it.”

28 Responses

  1. I was sorry to see Ben leave and think his fans were thinking he was safe and didn’t vote to save him.
    I am thinking Tahan’s fancy racing car driver got all his racing car fraternity behind him to vote for Tahan and will probably continue to do so.
    Well, we have our two evil tongued young ladies up this week, shame it will probably be Boogs to go.

  3. I love Ben & took it for granted that he & Tim would be the final 2. So I voted a few times for Drew (as did my friends) in the hope that it would push Evil Ed out! And I did not vote for Ben as I thought he’d be safe. But that backfired big time dammit. I agree with you David about the reactions of the straight males to Ben, there was not an ounce of homophobia, they really embraced him & I loved the motivating chats that Tim had with him (when I think Tim took off his game face & was just a lovely person). I hope this does make an impression on the audience, I’m so sick of the homophobia that we still have in our society, it’s ridiculous in the year 2013! And re Tahan, I think she’s great & hope she goes to final 3, very entertaining but easily the bitchiest in there by a long shot!

  4. I agree that Ben’s fans (including myself) thought that he was going to safe so did not vote. The housemate that was the most at risk of being hated and therefore evcited (Tahan) had to be saved by her fans so they rallied and it worked.

    Speaking of Tahan, no one in that house is as nasty as she is. Not by a long shot. No one else has made fun of other peoples insecurities (Mikkayla’s weight, the Sisters’ intellect) behind their backs and then claimed they were “just being honest”. If she wins, it will be sad. Bitchiness masqueraded as “honesty” should not be rewarded.

    At least Ben from last year said it to people’s faces.

  5. I was also losing interest in Ben, and I reckon he’s had the perfect ending to his story. Better to leave the audience wanting more than outstay your welcome… like Ed…

  6. It was a shock to see him go must the only reason he did was that all his fans thought he was safe so they didn’t bother.
    I must admit I was getting a bit sick of seeing him in his pyjamas all the time, never seen cooking or cleaning, and talking to his photos which was really a way of contacting the outside world to tell us how he was feeling about things.
    He will be missed though, if only boring Ed could have gone instead!

  7. Ben was a nice guy, but to me he didn’t add much to the show, however I do agree with David’s thoughts on the alpha males and their relationship with him being a big plus. All the same, I didn’t want to see him win, I’d prefer a “player” win. The same goes for the sugar sisters, I’m glad they’re gone too. Good to see Tahan doing well, perhaps Tim versus Tahan might be a fitting finish.

  8. This years gay Ben is so much nicer than last years. Too bad he didnt win.

    I dont watch the show very much, is this one of the very few times he was even up for eviction?

  9. I thought Ben was the heart & soul of the show this year. He had me hooked when he became BB’s assistant early on.
    Do you think maybe that people are still voting to evict not save or are they just thinking that Ben didn’t need the votes as he was certain to be saved.

  10. @ adzg i Agree Jade and Mikkayla are equally as Nasty if not more than Tahan,It’s amazing the housemates haven’t picked up on that.
    It would be so amazing is one them would go just to see how the other would act without the other.

  11. Ben brought a unique personality to the house but I don’t think he actually contributed much to the house dynamics and fellow housemates. Im glad the eviction was an upset because the house definitely needs a shake up. And as Sonia said, having 4 boys and 1 girl up for eviction this week probably influenced the huge share for Tahan. Hopefully Tim FTW!

  12. “Ben had given the show humour, empathy, naivete and a gay perspective.”

    Not sure what relevance there is to someone being gay is and what made his “perspective” being different to others who aren’t gay?

    1. MJL: I see inclusion and visibility as very relevant. The way he was embraced by alpha-males who were all happy be tactile, kiss him, teach him footy, give him dating tips etc. was groundbreaking in a 7pm timeslot for a broad audience. When we saw two girls share a kiss on Home and Away in the same timeslot a few years ago all hell broke loose in the media. Reality TV does this without incident and it’s real not created.

  13. Ben flew under the radar too much. Everyone else has risked hatred and eviction for saying what they think or just general interactions in the house. Ben treated it like a relaxing resort. Did he ‘deserve’ to win? No.

  14. David, there are fans apparantly flooding Social Media saying their save Ben votes may not of been counted as they never received the sms confirmation
    after sending their first sms

    Could not disagree with you more adzg. I watch the show properly, even rewind some convos at times to make sure ive heard things properly. There is no way that Jade is as nasty as Tahan.

  15. Definitely a shock. Ed has been predicted to go twice now. Previously instead of Matt and then last night he seemed a dead cert.

    Ben fans thinking he’s a sure thing and whatever there is of Ed fans or family trying to prevent him from leaving helped sway things. Ed was next in line so if Ben fans hadn’t been complacent Ed definitely would have gone.

  16. Ed is on his way to being the most hated housemate in the history of the game. The way he’s using Jade for his own gain, and potentially sending cryptic messages to his family are bad enough, but he’s avoiding eviction not by fan votes but because his army on the outside are using gorilla tactics to keep him in. It’s not in the spirit of the show and the viewers’ resentment for him will build to such epic proportions, that Ed can kiss any future in TV goodbye. It’s testament to Ben that he almost beat this big lump with fan based votes alone.

  18. @ricoz Facebook voting is not free. Voting packages have to bought to vote on Facebook. Can be done using Facebook credits via credit card, paypal or payment via phone bill. You can buy 1 vote or bundles of 5, 15 and 20.

  19. I personally wasnt shocked at Tahans percentage, I never vote in these shows and have found myself voting for her. She is extremely entertaining and is a huge victim of double standards. If you watch the show properly you would relize Jade and Mikkayla are equally as Nasty if not more than Tahan, they just have more mates in the house so it’s not a noticeable.

  20. @ricoz: Unless they’ve changed the conditions this season, Facebook voting was never free. You need Facebook credit in order to vote (these can be bought in the form of cards at retail starting at $10).

  21. The biggest shock was Tahan at 32%. They have to get rid of free Facebook voting in my opinion, she has some major backing out there. Would be interesting to see the difference between Facebook and SMS voting.

  22. Of course Ben had to go.

    Now that we have a rightwing conservative PM there was no chance in hell of another homosexual winning Big Brother.

    As for Tahan – I love her. She gives the show much needed oomph. Not afraid to tell it like it is and should be in the final 3 for sure.

    Pretty please – get rid of the ‘under the radar’ bores next. Ed or Drew thanks.

  23. I wasn’t only shocked at Ben being evicted, but that Tahan was the 32% to save. She is so nasty, I really don’t want another nasty person to win. I had assumed it was Tim.

  24. Once again BB overly signposted the outcome, but still for me was a shock. Why I asked? And why this week? I thought Drew’s clumsy gossipping would be his undoing. Why Ben? His repeated claims that he has nothing to go home to. Could Australia by saving others, felt as if the best thing they could do for him is to release him and have him get that life? Apropos BB, Sonya is so wasted in this role. Her need to adhere to script means she hardly ever gets to quip or riff.

  25. Big shock, big disappointment to see him go. Definitely a Ricky Lee moment where viewers have assumed he’d be safe so haven’t bothered to vote. No one of interest left in the house now.

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