"It doesn't count if you don't get caught."
“I don’t make it a rule of cheating, but if someone turns their head I might do a sneaky cheat here or there… But it doesn’t count if you don’t get caught.”
These are the words of a once-unknown Cat; a 31-year-old divorced midwife from Melbourne who was just days away from embarking on the most thrilling adventure of her life – entering the Big Brother House.
At the time,
during Lockdown, she was speaking in relation to her extensive board game collection and fierce competitiveness when it comes to playing games.
Fast forward a few short weeks and Cat, now one of Big Brother 2014’s most polarising Housemates, is embroiled in
a cheating scandal of a very different nature after striking up a rather complicated friendship with 23-year-old Lawson, who has a long-term partner on the outside.
While the perilous pair hasn’t been ‘caught’ per se, House-wide suspicion about their controversial night in the Sanctuary has tongues wagging and their “friendship” is very much under the microscope.
“It’s awful; it makes me sad,” Sandra said during a Kitchen-bitchin’ session with Travis, Aisha, Priya and Skye. “It makes me sad because he’s got a girlfriend; is that going to turn out well?” (Some might consider this ironic, given
Sandra has divulged she has feelings for the also-attached Sam.)
“Do you know who I think is more at fault, honestly?” Priya threw to the group. “Lawson. Because
it is him who owes [his girlfriend] the loyalty, not Cat.”
Fence-sitter Travis attempted to explain things from Cat’s perspective. “The thing is, Cat knows it’s wrong. But at the end of the day, you can’t help what the heart wants.”
“I know the heart wants what the heart wants,” Sandra replied, “But can’t you just wait it out and see if it works on the outside?”
When Travis said that Cat’s just “opening herself up for a broken heart”, straight-shooter Priya begged to differ.
“She’s opened herself to the judgement of the entire country,” Priya said matter-of-factly.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, perceptive Priya is bang on the money yet again.
On numerous occasions throughout the week, both Cat and Lawson have hit the top of
Big Brother’s Radar, meaning that they are the most talked about Housemates online currently – good and bad.
And it seems the public is divided about their recent behaviour.
On yesterday's 9jumpin poll, 61% of viewers admitted to feeling sorry for Lawson during his heartfelt Diary Room breakdown, but only 54% of viewers thought he deserved forgiveness.
Where do you sit? Is it Cat or Lawson who’s more at fault here, or do they hold equal accountability? Should a good person be forgiven for a poorly-judged action?