He’s back!
After being typecast as the villain in the 2021 season of Big Brother, Geelong-based sales mogul Daniel Hayes has returned to the Big Brother house for its VIP season – only this time, he plans to make it to the very end.
Despite ruffling a few feathers in the first season, he garnered plenty of fans too, adding to the almost 90,000 subscribers already following his popular YouTube channel, Million Dollar Bogan.
Thanks to a combination of determination, strategy and a tell-it-how-it is personality, Daniel quickly became a fan favourite, rising to popularity and resisting eviction until the second last day.
It’s little wonder he made it so far – as the managing director of Hayeswinckle (which owns six boutique real estate offices in Greater Geelong), a sought-after speaker, and the author of So You Want to Be a Real Estate Superstar, Daniel knows a thing or two about setting goals and achieving them.
In fact, in his first 12 months of working in real estate, Daniel became the number one real estate salesperson for one of Victoria’s largest franchise networks.
Despite being dubbed a “loose cannon” on his first Big Brother series, the fans told a different story, taking to his straight-shooting personality that he says comes from a place of integrity and authenticity.
“I played the integrity game,” he told Elite Agent at the time.
“I think you don’t have to BS to be successful in life.
“When we see authenticity for what it is, it’s imperfect and it’s actually ugly. When you meet someone like me, it’s polarising. It’s confronting,” Daniel said.
“It’s easy to say ‘he’s a villain’, but what I am is just a real human being. What Australia tells me is people want to see more people like me.”
“What didn’t show on camera is (the other housemates) liked me, they respected me. I think I was only nominated twice.”
The proof is in the pudding though, and less than six months later, the producers called Daniel back to do it all again as a Big Brother VIP – only this time he’s working towards raising money for mental health charity, Lifeline.
“My brother struggled his whole life with mental health issues. I’ve had my own mental health issues, which I still must work on each day,” Daniel told Seven News.
“If I can win money for Lifeline, then it could help them help someone else,” he said.
“Or help them change the trajectory someone is heading down. And maybe those who need the help can come back out of the darkness and into the sunlight.”
Daniel believes his real estate experience is the reason he got so far during his first series, and hopefully those same skills will help get him across the line this time around.
“It’s just a transferring of skills. It was the same deal. I’ve built a business from nothing. I’ve had to recruit loyal people and then we had to go to war against other people.”
Big Brother VIP airs Monday nights at 7.30pm on Seven and 7Plus.
