Aw, he chose Leo for his favourite childhood toy
What's in a Name?
Fun fact: Several of the most loved Big Brother stars have changed their name to become a Housemate… and one is brand new Intruder, Leo!
Some reality shows are happy with having ‘John B’ and ‘John M’ but in a show all about the people, Big Brother thinks it is important for every Housemate to stand as an individual – and this means there are no name double ups. “It’s true!” reveals Executive Producer Alex Mavroidakis. “There is no cooking, dancing or renovating to link a contestant to – your name is a sole identifier. We don’t want there to be any confusion about who the Housemates are talking about, so if we like two applicants as Housemates and they have the same name, we encourage one of them to choose a nickname.”
Most practically, it is also impossible to have a fair voting system when two people have the same name.
What names they choose can be hilarious, cute or simply practical.
New Intruder Leo’s name is actually ‘Ryan’, but with Ryan already firmly ensconced in the House, he had to come up with an alternative. The alpha male selected ‘Leo’, named for his favourite stuffed animal (a lion), he owned while growing up. (Altogether now… aww!)
Last year’s golden boy Drew is not called ‘Drew’ either! “There was a hilariously ironic moment during the series where Tully joked that maybe she couldn’t believe anything Drew was telling her,” remembers Mavroidakis. “She laughed, ‘Your name probably isn’t even Drew,’ and the look on his face was priceless!” Drew’s name was changed as there was another finalist for the series called Anthony (his actual name) and in the end, that Housemate never entered, which meant Drew could have gone by Anthony after all. Strangely, we can’t imagine him as anything but Drew! (Which is his real-life surname.)
And back in the early days of Big Brother, the much loved Marty’s birth name was Nathan. His last name was Martin, so nickname ‘Marty’ was an obvious choice when there was another Nathan in his series. He met Jess on the series – who he ended up marrying (and later, divorcing), which shows that going by an alias is no obstacle when it comes to making solid connections!
http://www.jump-in.com.au/show/bigbrother/2014/latest/day-25/what-is-in-a-name/