Regina Bird
Regina "Reggie" Bird (now Reggie Sorensen[1]) was a contestant and winner of Big Brother 2003 Australia.[2] Small in stature with an unusual nasal intonation, she earned public admiration with her down-to-earth charm, strong work ethic, and naivety. Reggie was widely tipped to win Big Brother from early in the series and won with 72% of the final vote, the biggest margin in a Big Brother Finale to date. She is the first female winner of the Australian series. "Go Reggie" bumper stickers were a big hit in Tasmania.
Before Big Brother, Reggie and her husband Adrian managed a fish and chip shop in Cambridge, Tasmania.[3] Their marriage ended shortly after the season finale.
After her win, Reggie signed up with manager Harry M. Miller and filmed a pilot for a TV show which never made it to air.[4] Later she appeared as a contestant on 2005 Nine Network celebrity skating competition series Skating on Thin Ice. From December 2004 to May 2005 she worked for airline Virgin Blue as a flight attendant – her "dream job" – although she resigned claiming she had been bullied by her colleagues. In 2005, Bird lost $40,000 to a conman.[5]
She spent some time residing in Sydney and later Melbourne. She now lives in Queensland. She gave birth to her first child, a daughter – Mia Regina Sorensen – with her second husband, Dale Sorensen.[6][7] In 2008 she underwent emergency surgery arising from an ectopic pregnancy and was also declared legally blind after having been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition.[8]
Reggie was included in Hobart newspaper The Mercury's list of "Tassie's Top 200" movers and shakers in 2007.[9]
She was interviewed by 60 Minutes in July 2009 where she discussed her ongoing degenerative eye condition and her second child due in August 2009.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ Reggie's bionic eye hope, The Mercury, 17 December 2009
- ^ Reggie wins Big Brother prize, The Age, 22 July 2003
- ^ “It's our ticket out of here”, Sunday Herald Sun, 27 July 2003
- ^ “TV pilot for our Reggie”, The Mercury , 26 November 2003
- ^ Life goes on out of the goldfish bowl, The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 2006.
- ^ Big Brother star Reggie: 'My miracle baby', Woman's Day, 23 April 2007.
- ^ Pregnant pause for Reggie, The Mercury, 20 December 2006.
- ^ Oh, Brother! Reggie's Back, The Mercury, 28 December 2008. Archived at http://www.webcitation.org/5ghCHUNf3
- ^ Tassie's A list, The Mercury, January 19, 2007
- ^ Reggie's Biggest Battle, Sixty Minutes, July 3, 2009
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Peter Corbett |
Big Brother Australia winner Series 3 (2003) |
Succeeded by Trevor Butler |
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