Ask anyone who has been in the Big Brother house, and they’ll tell you that the experience magnifies everything – your emotions are heightened, and a single day can feel like a whole week.
That’s exciting for new couple Sam and Drew, who celebrate their seven-day anniversary on the show this week. But for this season’s challenge beast Joel and fun-loving Aleisha – who have been flirting from the moment they met in the house – it’s creating complications.
Aleisha has confessed she developed a crush on Joel after entering the Big Brother house.
(Image: Seven)“Aleisha is very bubbly and energetic, and I could see she had a sneaky underside – I liked her,” Joel, 27, tells TV WEEK. “I thought she’d be someone good to get close to and, after a while, I was like, ‘This chick is pretty cool.'”
As they spent more time together, Aleisha, 24, admits she developed a crush.
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“I felt like I was in high school, running around the house asking my older sister and brother about boys,” she says with a laugh.
But when Joel hadn’t kissed her after two weeks, Aleisha was confused.
“I felt like maybe I’d read the situation wrong, which then made me think I’d been reading the game wrong the entire time,” she says.
While Joel thought Aleisha was “cool”, his focus has been on the game.
(Image: Seven)While Joel says he did have some feelings, his focus was on the game.
“I was a bit conflicted,” he admits. “There were definitely components of being more than just friends, but I didn’t want my emotions and a relationship get in the way of how I played.”
When Joel tells Aleisha he’d prefer to keep things platonic, she’s disappointed and sad.
“It felt like I’d been broken up with,” she says. “Normally when someone says they don’t want to be with you, you say, ‘OK, cool’ and go party with your friends, but he’s in the bed next to me [in the Big Brother house]
“It felt like I’d been broken up with.”
(Image: Seven)“I think Joel knew he was coming in here to play and that maybe I was a distraction, or we’d become a target if we were paired as a couple.”
Although Joel copped some flak from the girls and the returning housemates, he says he wouldn’t change how he played.
“I was just being true to myself,” he says. “You’re better off speaking your truth than playing a fake persona.”
Tensions are high, but something tells us that this isn’t it for Joel and Aleisha.
Big Brother airs Monday to Wednesday, 7.30pm on Channel Seven
