Two-time Big Brother winner Reggie Bird shares life after reality TV, reveals she can’t even get job at Subway

Former reality television star Reggie Bird has opened up about the challenges she’s faced since leaving the industry, revealing she can’t even get a job at Subway.

The Aussie TV personality first rose to fame in 2003 when she won the third season of Big Brother Australia, taking home the $250,000 prize, before going on to make history two decades later when she won the competition for a second time after returning for the spin-off show Big Brother: Royalty vs New Contenders in 2023.

She was also the runner-up in the 2025 edition of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Despite her success in reality television, the 52-year-old has highlighted the uglier side of life after the cameras stop rolling.

In a post uploaded to her Instagram on Monday, the visually impaired TV personality and activist shared a screenshot of a rejection notification she received after applying for a job with a fast-food-chain, alongside the caption: “Bugger …..I can’t even get a job making sandwiches.”

The SEEK message read: “Hi Regina. Thank you for your interest in the Subway Sandwich Artist - Gold Coast Uni Hospital job at Yapbus Pty Ltd.

“It looks unlikely that your application will progress further. You may or may not still hear back from the employer.”

The post quickly amassed hundreds of messages of support, with people commenting with their own stories of being unsuccessful in getting a job.

“Regina, I feel your pain. It seems that applying and being successful with a job application you have to think like a robot as most applications are AI assessed. I am always hopeful with my job search applications but are in the end often receive the response letter like you,” one person wrote.

Another commented: “These days just to wash dishes/kitchen hand you need at least 3 years experience”.

Others were quick to encourage Bird to try following a different career path entirely.

“I reckon you’d be great at radio or podcasting. I’d listen!” one user remarked, while another said: “I don’t understand why you don’t just do your own podcast you would be raking it in”.

The mother-of-two has never shied from trying out a range of roles in the past, having worked as a flight attendant for Virgin Blue and a manager of a fish-and-chip shop in Tasmania.

Bird has previously admitted to finding it difficult to secure employment since becoming a household name through her reality TV stint.

Appearing on the Mental As Anyone podcast in 2024, she told host Jonathan Moran she often “feels like a failure”.

“I’m starting to think, why doesn’t anyone want to give me a job? I want to work, and that starts to make you feel like... no one wants you,” she said.

“I could answer phones, you know, I’m good at talking to people.”

She also reflected on living with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye condition that has left her legally blind and limiting the type of work she can do.

“I’m limited to what I can do because my eyes are so stuffed. I’ve now got nine degrees of pinhole vision, no peripheral vision and no night vision left.”