Last night Big Brother 2022 intruder Jules Rangiheuea was evicted from the house thanks to a snap decision from Tim Dormer and Brenton Parkes.
A travesty to say the least as Jules was making impactful decisions that could positively benefit viewers – something that’s really hard to come by on reality TV.
Jules proudly referenced her Polynesian heritage throughout the show, spoke vulnerably about her body dysmorphia struggles watching the show back on her podcast Good Bitch, and last night went makeup-free during an eviction when she knew the cameras would be focussed on her.
Just after the eviction has aired, Jules posted photos from the eviction to her Instagram reading: ”I had the worst skin I’ve ever had during my time in @bigbrotherau so I knew for eviction night I wanted to be 100% makeup free 🤝 I owe it to the next gen to normalise all skin types on national TV.”
She elaborated on the decision to PEDESTRIAN.TV, explaining it was an important one for her to make while on national television.
“On the morning of the eviction ceremony, I voiced to the girls in the house that I wanted to go completely makeup free on a particularly ‘bad’ acne day for me. The girls beamed, ‘Good for you but I could NEVER!’” Jules explained.
“That immediately made me realise that I actually needed to do this. It had gone beyond me wanting to or not. If we think it’s ‘brave’ to just be makeup free we’ve gone really wrong somewhere.”
She couldn’t be more right. It actually makes me unwell that a story about someone going make-up free could warrant a headline, but it’s Jules’ intentions behind it that make this story important, as well as the serious need for a narrative shift.
We rarely see women on screen without makeup. And that goes so much deeper than the person wearing it wanting to look good.
The other women thinking it was brave is at no fault of their own – it’s internalised beyond our own control at times and how we think we ought to appear. How we’re expected to look.
Add to this that when you do see someone without makeup in mainstream media, they’ve usually got perfect skin. It can further infiltrate that bare faces are reserved for those who don’t have acne, scars, moles, facial hair and more. We’re taught and reminded that those things need to be fixed or hidden.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Jules has great skin. But to know that she was already feeling insecure about her skin and decided to forgo makeup in order to help others unlearn societal expectations is a bloody beautiful thing.
“Growing up I idolised the Big Brother housemates, sitting in front of the TV each evening and being glued to everything about them. So I had all the young people in mind who might be doing the same about me,” she explained.
What a human.
More of this, please.
