It was the reality TV romance of the decade, but it wasn’t on The Bachelor or Love Island – it was on Big Brother.
In 2013, Tully Smyth and Anthony Drew (AKA Drew) found themselves shacked up in the BB house together with no idea of what was about to happen.
Around the nation, Aussies were glued to their TVs as the contestants went from strangers, to friends, to something more.
But their romance was far from simple; Tully had a long-term partner on the outside world and Drew wasn’t sure about his “loud” co-contestant.
So how did their fling play out on national TV, and where are they now? Keep reading to findout,
How did Drew and Tully meet?
Aged 25 at the time, Tully went into the Big Brother house and felt an instant attraction to fellow contestant Drew even though she knew he’d be “trouble”.
“In walks this 6’2, tall, dark, and handsome, bright blue eyes kids,” she recalled on her podcast, Too Much Tully, in November 2020.
“Honestly, hand on my heart, Taylor Swift’s song Trouble had just come out before we went in the house and that sh-t started playing in my head.”
Drew wasn’t sold on the boisterous blonde straight away, confessing on Tully’s podcast that he didn’t think all that highly of her at first.
Tully knew Drew was trouble, but that didn’t stop her.
(Image: Nine)“She was loud and complained and cried,” he said – ouch.
But before long the pair found themselves growing closer (they were locked inside with each other 24/7 after all) and flirtation turned into something more physical in the Big Brother house.
The only problem? Tully already had a partner of two years on the outside, a woman named Tahlia Farrant. Not that that would stop her.
Inside Drew and Tully’s romance
Things started out innocently enough between Drew and Tully; a few friendly laughs, a late night conversation here and there.
But as the weeks went by their relationship took on a decidedly more romantic tone, with the pair even starting to share a bed at night.
“I still have a girlfriend. I love her very much, but you’re still my house husband,” Tully told her co-star at one point.
In another episode, they exchanged “I love you”s before ducking under the covers for what sounded like a pretty heavy makeout sesh.
The couple got seriously close during the show, even though Tully had a girlfriend.
(Image: Nine)Fans were unimpressed with the “cheating” 25-year-old but couldn’t look away as the romance (dubbed ‘Drully’) played out on screen.
As well as their romantic moments, there were plenty of bust-ups between the pair, including an infamous screaming match across the pool – where they didn’t realise one of their costars was swimming.
The drama was TV gold and sparked plenty of conversation, much of it centred on Tully’s real-world relationship.
Girlfriend Tahlia wasn’t happy with Tully making a fool of her on national TV and dumped the star, tweeting: “I am a big girl. I will be just fine. Life goes on.”
WATCH: Big Brother’s Ben gets caught in between Tully and Drew’s argument. Story continues after video.
“It is possible to go into the house with a partner and come out with a partner, but I just didn’t happen to pull that off,” Tully told Southern Cross Austereo after being evicted, then downplayed her supposed affair.
“Everyone loves a love story … I don’t even know if Drew and I [would] get along in the outside world. It [cheating with Drew] was definitely 100 percent a survival mechanism.”
Tully had no clue she had been dumped, what with BB contestants being cut off from the outside world, but she found out pretty quickly when she was evicted.
The show’s psychologist let her know her relationship was over, then viewers let the young social media strategist have it across Twitter and Instagram.
Sadly, she became the target of a huge online hate campaign in the wake of her eviction, though Tahlia urged fans to leave her ex alone, tweeting: “No one deserves such hate. She didn’t kill anyone. Live and let live”.
But Tully’s entanglement with Drew wasn’t over yet.
After being booted in week 10, the blonde was brought back onto Big Brother for a cameo in one challenge where all the housemates were ordered to freeze.
Tully slipped in while Drew was frozen, planted a kiss on him and whispered: “By the way, I’m single.”
WATCH: Tully Smyth and Drew Anthony reunite in the Big Brother house. Story continues after video.
Did Drew and Tully keep dating on the outside?
He may have been tempted by Tully’s brief return, but Drew decided to stick around until the very end of the season before picking up where they left off.
The couple went public shortly after the show’s finale, regularly sharing loved-up snaps on Instagram and holidaying together.
Tully even relocated to Melbourne, where Drew lived at the time, hinting that the pair were getting serious.
Drully fans were ecstatic, but Tully’s ex Tahlia was unimpressed and let everyone know about it.
Tahlia with Tully before her dramatic Big Brother appearance.
(Image: Instagram)“To me, that’s a sham. Yeah, fair enough, after being on Big Brother you are a D-list celebrity and you have to ride it while you can because it’s very short-lived, but when is it enough? It’s ridiculous,” she told Woman’s Day in 2013.
“I’m at the point now where I don’t know if, for the whole year and a half we were together, she was just a really good actor, or she has now totally lost the plot.”
She also claimed that Tully’s BB return was a shameless publicity stunt and showed she was “proud to be a cheater”.
But she didn’t have to worry for long, as Drew and Tully’s romance wasn’t made to last.
The couple’s romance was short-lived.
(Image: Getty)How did Drew and Tully break up?
The couple split in early 2014, just a few months after filming Big Brother, but there were no cheating scandals (well, no new ones) or bombshells behind the break up.
Reminiscing on her podcast, Tully revealed she was “all in” after moving to Melbourne, but Drew simply wasn’t on the same page.
“And then we had the additional issue of Drew suddenly being a mega hot, superstar model, and his head… your head just being fucking enormous suddenly,” she joked with her ex.
Drew added, “It’s a double-edged sword, without it [Big Brother] we would have never met each other, but what it turned us into made us not work.”
WATCH: Big Brother’s Tully answers fans burning questions. Story continues after video.
The social media scrutiny and media frenzy put extra pressure on the pair, who admitted they struggled after leaving the house.
“We got caught up in it, and before we knew it, we had fallen apart,” Tully admitted.
“I’m forever going to wonder if we would have worked out, I think that will be one of my life regrets.”
Meanwhile Drew admitted that their love story wasn’t “real” and that he couldn’t see them ever dating again.
Where are Drew and Tully now?
This is what the famous duo look like today.
(Image: Instagram)These days the exes seem pretty friendly and Tully has found a new romance with smoking hot boyfriend Daniel Parisi.
Though the drama of Drully will live on forever in our memories, it seems unlikely the pair will ever get romantic again… unless Big Brother 2022 comes with a major twist!
Both Drew and Tully will be returning to the Big Brother house this year for a season unlike we’ve ever seen before.
So, will sparks fly again? We’ll just have to wait and see.
