Sara-Marie Fedele was one of the first Australian superstars of reality TV. She walked into the Big Brother house in 2001 as a complete unknown, a happy-go-lucky 22-year-old strip club manager from Western Australia. She walked out to find thousands of people – many dressed like she’d usually been dressed in the house, in pyjamas and bunny ears – doing her signature “bum dance” and screaming for her.
“It was hard to understand because I lived in the house, not understanding the hype of it all,” Sara-Marie tells TV WEEK.
The true extent of her newfound fame didn’t sink in till the day after she walked out of the Big Brother house.
“I said, ‘I really want to go to the shop and get new clothes.’ And I couldn’t even go to the shops. There were just people lined up everywhere.”
The media had one big question for her – and it wasn’t one she was expecting.
“The thing that blew me away was I never thought I was fat and when I came out, everyone was asking me, ‘What’s it like to be fat and happy?’ But it didn’t bother me.”
Sara-Marie finished third on Big Brother, behind Ben Williams and Blair McDonough, but she was still flooded with opportunities. Signed to agent Harry M. Miller, she went on to release a book (The Sara-Marie Guide To Life), a single (“I’m So Excited (The Bum Dance)”, which went to number 12 on the charts) and a pyjama range.
“I did that much stuff that I just feel grateful. I’m really lucky. To have a book out, a CD out… some people try their whole lives to do that. And I got to experience that for being known for three months.”
Plenty of Big Brother housemates were paid to make nightclub appearances after coming out of the house, but Sara-Marie chose not to make any. When she caught up with Blair two years ago, to shoot a Jetstar promotion, that was something they chatted about.
“He laughed and said, ‘I got to buy my house because you gave up all your nightclub appearances!’”
Sara-Marie did a few TV shows after Big Brother, including Dancing With The Stars (“that was the hardest thing I did – I said no to that three or four times because I hate wearing heels”), but it’s been a while since she’s been seen on our screens.
“Over the last 10 years I’ve been asked to do many other ones but I’m also a mum, so just wanting to be near my daughter has been more important,” she explains.
Now that her daughter is a bit older, Sara-Marie can see herself making a return to reality TV. Top of her list would be I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!.
“You’d eat all those things to help your teammates. I think that type of stuff’s funny.”
With her fiftieth birthday coming up in a couple of years, Sara-Marie would like to do one more reality show before then.
“I don’t need to do it to be known,” she says. “I’m doing it for fun, just to have fun in life.”
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