Published: 21.11.2023
Updated: 21.11.2023
3 min read

Big Brother star Reggie Bird’s surprise throwback picture leaves fans stunned

‘I was thinking this lady looks familiar!’

Reggie Sorensen and her son Lucas' fight with Cystic Fibrosis

Big Brother star Reggie Bird’s surprise throwback picture leaves fans stunned

‘I was thinking this lady looks familiar!’

A beloved Aussie celebrity has turned up in an unexpected place on social media, throwing fans into a spin with a surprise post.

A post by the first ever winner of Big Brother Australia, Regina Sorensen - aka Reggie Bird - popped up on a Facebook group called Old Shops Australia on the weekend.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Big Brother’s Reggie raising awareness for cystic fibrosis.

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She shared a photo of herself prior to her Big Brother fame, when she was running a fish and chip shop in Tasmania with her former husband.

She’s smiling at the camera wearing a Winnie the Pooh apron, shelves behind her stacked with boxes of cigarettes.

“Gee, we used to sell a lot of cigarettes back when I worked in the Fish ‘n chip shop Cambridge Kitchen,” she wrote, adding a fuming emoji face.

The Facebook group’s many followers were stunned to see Reggie posting on the page.

“Holy s*** are you Regina from Big Brother?” one user asked.

“That’s what I was about to ask!” said another.

“I was thinking, this lady looks familiar!”

“Reggie you LEGEND!!!! So, so good to see you lurking around in here,” one fan wrote.

“Can I get two pieces of flake, three dimmies, a corn jack and a minimum chips?”

Reggie Bird in her fish and chip shop before winning the first Big Brother Australia.
Reggie Bird in her fish and chip shop before winning the first Big Brother Australia. Credit: Facebook/Old Shops Australia

“Well looky at you ya lil’ youngun, Reg!” wrote one Facebook user.

“I think a few people remember you Reg,” one fan joked.

Many were shocked that the cigarettes weren’t under lock and key, as they are these days.

“It’s how you smoked the fish,” one person joked.

“Wow that would have been about $10 bucks worth of ciggies,” said another.

“Were fish and chip shops allowed to sell tobacco?” one (clearly younger) person asked.

“Curious.”

Other nostalgia lovers were more focused on retro things in the photo that had nothing to do with smoking.

“I love the phone book and the photos of the Qantas planes,” one person wrote.

“My mum had the same apron as you,” wrote another.

One person wondered why there was a map of the UK in the background.

“I had a goal to save up and go to Europe,” Reggie wrote back.

“That’s why I had the map on the wall.”

Reggie Bird celebrates as she is announced the winner of the Australian Big Brother Series July 21, 2003 at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast.
Reggie Bird celebrates as she is announced the winner of the Australian Big Brother Series July 21, 2003 at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. Credit: Jonathan Wood/Getty Images

Others said they had actually visited Reggie’s fish and chip shop back in the day.

“I been (sic) in your shop a few times before you became famous,” one Facebook user wrote.

“Best fish and chips in Cambridge,” said another, referring to the Hobart suburb where the fish and chip shop was located.

Reggie Bird, as she was then known, won the inaugural Australian version of Big Brother back in 2003.

Last year, she won Big Brother again, as celebrities mixed with regulars in the BB House.

Reggie Bird in 2003 (left) and more recently.
Reggie Bird in 2003 (left) and more recently. Credit: Instagram/@reggiebirdbb

Now based in Queensland, the mother-of-two has kept her many fans updated about having Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision, and which will eventually leave the star both deaf and blind.

In September, she shared her desire to travel and see the world “before it’s too late”.

Taking to Instagram, the Big Brother fan favourite posted a picture of herself posing in front of a scenic backdrop of mountaintops and blue sky, holding her mobility aid.

Big Brother’s Reggie Bird’s emotional wish to followers ‘before it’s too late’.
Big Brother’s Reggie Bird’s emotional wish to followers ‘before it’s too late’. Credit: Instagram / reggiebirdbb

“Want to go away again and see as much as I can before it’s too late,” she captioned the post.

Fans responded with their encouragement for her to see the world.

“Enjoy every moment day by day and build as many memories as you can ...if you want to go away again then do it, don’t have any regrets,” one said.

“Go for it Reggie. Enjoy life while you feel this way,” wrote another.

“Life is too short. Follow your dreams my friend.”

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