Since first appearing on Survivor back in 2017, Luke Toki has worked his way into the hearts of Aussie viewers everywhere.
And on Tuesday night, fans of the lovable larrikin collectively cheered as he was crowned the winner of Big Brother VIP, scoring an impressive $10,000 for his nominated charity in the final challenge.
On top of that, the Australian public voted him as the winner of Big Brother VIP, meaning Luke took home a whopping total of $110,000 for the Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation for Cystic Fibrosis Clinical Research.
The cause is especially close to Luke’s heart because his two-year-old daughter Madeline spent time at the hospital after she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Still buzzing from his victory last night, Luke has opened up to Now To Love on his daughter’s health condition, and the sweet way his son Lennox helped him bring home the win.
Luke won $110,000 for Perth Children’s Hospital, which helped care for his sick daughter.
(Seven)Luke says little Madeline will continue to need medical support in the years to come, but for now she is doing okay.
“Two weeks before I went into the Big Brother house, I had to go and put her to sleep and, you know, you’ve got to put the gas on her mask and while she’s fighting to get the mask off her face, she goes limp,” he explains.
“And then you have to hand her over to doctors to scrape her lungs. Obviously at the moment she’s in like relatively good health, but it’s still going to be something that we just have to manage.
“She’s still on antibiotics every day and, and stuff like that. So she’s okay right now.”
Luke and his wife Mary share Lennox, 10, Nate, 8, and Madeline, 2.
(Instagram)The 35-year-old couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he revealed that the hospital have invited the Toki family to watch the Christmas tree lights turn next month.
“I’m going to head down there with the family and I’m very much looking forward to that,” Luke says. “I love Christmas – I even have a tattoo of Santa on me!”
While the hefty donation to the worthy charity was certainly the main driving factor in Luke’s desire to take the crown, the dad-of-three said that he was also keen to tell his 10-year-old son Lennox that he’d actually won this time, after he fell short of the top spot on Survivor twice.
“Well, he was the one who was saying that I was going to lose on the show,” Luke laughs.
Luke also shared a hilariously sweet story about how Lennox campaigned at school for his father to win.
“It was actually pretty funny. We found out from his teachers yesterday that he went to school and for a presentation or something, he got up and tried to tell all his classmates how to vote for me,” Luke says.
“So yeah, I had the kids at school rallying for me. I didn’t even know that that at year four you would even have a phone or know how to text, but it still was pretty cute to find out he was at school hustling with one.”
Despite having to wait until his third reality show appearance to come out on top, Luke insists that he had an amazing time with his fellow VIPs during his stay in the Big Brother Hotel.
Luke said his son Lennox was campaigning with his school buddies for his father to win Big Brother VIP.
(Instagram)“Obviously, I got along really well with Josh and Thomas. I really liked Bernie, too. And while I didn’t get much time to spend with Omarosa, I thought she was a very interesting person and I actually really liked her.”
He continued, “Jess too – I feel like she cops a lot of flack online. I understand the public’s perception of her, but I actually got along with her well. I think she’s funny and actually quite motherly.”
However, the self-proclaimed God of Mischief also revealed there are a couple of housemates that he likely won’t be staying in touch with following the show.
“I got along with everyone in the Big Brother Hotel, but I feel like it’s only just been after the show that I’ve had a couple of little fallouts with Dan and Matt – I just don’t feel like we’re on the same page, you know?”
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