Big Brother’s Laura Says Housemates ‘Quickly Shut Down’ Her Conversations About Race

Big Brother’s first evicted contestant for 2020, Laura Coriakula, has said cultural differences played a part in her struggle to connect with other housemates.

The 25-year-old dancer, who is proud of her Fijian heritage, said she was taken aback when others on the reality show “quickly shut down” any discussions around race on more than one occasion. 

“It’s a bit hard when you’re being filmed 24/7, everyone’s very PC [politically correct],” Laura told HuffPost Australia.

“I think twice I tried to bring up a race conversation and it was very quickly shut down by everybody except for Allan because he was like ‘Yeah, when did you find out you were coloured?’ Like, it’s a thing.” 

In her very short time in the house, Laura forged strong connections with Angela who was born and raised in Kenya, and Chinese-Australian Allan Liang. 

“Think about a workplace, the ethnics immediately draw together as a team. Inside the house, obviously Angela and Allan were the only two people I thought I could relate to,” she said.

“There’s this kind of unspoken language where we will immediately band and respect each other knowing when you’re in the presence of a lot of white people.” 

Laura explained she could “instantly” be relate to her fellow culturally diverse housemates, however “it’s a bit more of a slow burn when it comes to creating a connection with a white person because I’m trying to filter out, ‘Okay are you racist or do you get it?’” 

On Monday night viewers were not only introduced to the ‘Big Brother’ housemates for 2020 and the new house, but also witnessed the first eviction. 

After winning the first challenge, Talia was asked to nominate three housemates for eviction. She chose Laura, Zoe and Kieran. Ultimately, Laura got the most votes from fellow contestants and was sent packing after just a day in the house.

‘Big Brother Australia’ continues at 7:30pm on Channel 7.