After surviving a near fatal accident on a worksite in Canberra, Jayson Bush reckons ''life is too short'' not to try new things such as auditioning for Big Brother.
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The 23-year-old former labourer from Bonner was among about 600 people registered to audition at Hotel Realm on Thursday to be among the housemates chosen for the next season of Big Brother, the fly-on-the-wall reality TV show filmed in a sealed-off house on the Gold Coast.
Jayson suffered multiple injuries when he fell 6.5 metres down an airconditioning vent onto a concrete floor at the Nishi apartment complex in Civic in October 2012; he is still on the road to recovery. But very obviously also embracing life, including starting a new job next week as a workplace safety advocate for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union - and trying out for BB.
''Since my accident, I've thought life is too short and I wanted to go and do something interesting, something that excited me,'' he said.
Others at the auditions also felt it was an opportunity too good to miss, with prize money of $250,000 up for grabs for the ultimate winner.
Neil Davis, a 49-year-old electrician from Wanniassa, went in to the auditions with a strategy to just be himself.
''I think it's good to get out of your comfort zone and I also got permission from my daughters,'' he said with a laugh.
''They said, 'Dad, give it a go.' ''
Hannah Lukasiak, a store manager at Rivers in Goulburn, said she had always wanted to audition for Big Brother.
''I've just got the guts up to do it this year,'' the 40-year-old said.
''It's something I want to do. I can't wait, have a break from the kids.'' Coco Beeby, a 19-year-old student, travelled from Scotts Head on the north coast of NSW just to audition.
''I think it would be a really great challenge for me to be away from the ocean for three months,'' she said.
Angus Forsyth, 24, of Duffy, reckoned ''why not?'' when asked why he wanted to audition.
''I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain,'' the sales consultant said.
Andrew Brodie, 49, of Torrens, is not currently working. He thought three months in the house would be a good excuse to give up smoking.
The show's executive producer Alex Mavroidakis said the nationwide hunt for housemates was throwing up possible contenders across a range of ages and backgrounds.
''I still think there's a perception that Big Brother is a load of 25-year-olds pashing each other around a swimming pool in their bikinis. It just isn't that,'' he said.
''Our last three winners have been 54, 31 and 30, and we've been going hell for leather trying to get the people who find it hard to spend three months away from their kids or their job. And we've got them, which is good.''
Mr Mavroidakis said the best attribute to have was the ability to express one's thoughts and not ''internalise them'', which didn't make for good TV. They wanted people who would clash, fall in love, become friends, make enemies.
''It's like putting together the best dinner party,'' he said.
Mr Mavroidakis said about 300 potential contenders would be selected from the national housemate hunt, which would be whittled down to about 150 wannabes followed by further auditions, and then ultimately the selection of 15 to 20 housemates.