Merlin Luck recalls his Big Brother protest
12 years on, what does Merlin have to say about his famous Live TV protest?
- Published by David Knox
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Former Big Brother contestant Merlin Luck, who famously threw a “Free the Refugees” protest in 2004 has given an interview to News Corp.
The silent protest remains a defining moment in Australian Reality TV history.
These days he works in technology, and is a father of two children. But he still vocal about the detention and treatment of asylum seekers.
Here’s an edited selection from his interview:
Q: How did Gretel Killeen react off camera on the night of the eviction?
A: 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. 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.
Q: How did the Big Brother producers respond?
A: It was an interesting dichotomy. On the one hand they got the best ratings of the season and weeks of PR. On the other had they lost control, which is any producer’s worst nightmare. I remember the executive producer being exasperated in the green-room afterwards. He was almost yelling that “you should have told us … we could have worked with you on this … we would have supported you”. To me that just reinforced how farcical this idea of reality television is. The whole point was to hijack the show and deliver a message — not to orchestrate a fake protest in cahoots with the producers. They still put me on every talk show in the country though, so clearly they wanted in.
Q: What was the overriding sentiment from the public in the days following?
A: I remember as I got dragged off the stage by two security guards, one of them saying “What you just did is incredible. It’s going to mean a lot to many people. I’m so proud of you” and then the other security guard told him to “shut-up mate”. To me that encapsulates the broader response that I knew was coming.
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4 Responses
Didn’t they drag him back next week to apologise to the “children he’d frightened”? I thought that was disgusting. A transparent bit of spin to make him the bad guy and undermine what he’d done.
It really was one of BBAU’s many stand out moments -make that reality TV’s stand out moments- when it was unfolding on stage. 12 years on it is as relevant as ever. Gretel handled it well all things considering. Interesting interview for some insight, thanks for posting the article.
I stumbled upon this moment on YouTube a couple of months ago. What great moment in TV. Haven’t we lost so much of the excitement and danger in live TV now that we have so much scripted, rehearsed and edited content.
An incredible live TV moment that I remember vividly. I do remember Gretel getting quite frustrated with Merlin and even using the word ‘aggressive’ to describe what he did. To be fair to her though, she was on live TV and probably being screamed at by a producer through an ear piece. Merlin was right! By saying nothing, he said so much more.