It was a difficult week for the 21-year-old barber, after Ed’s brutal nomination was played live to Australia, and broadcast in the house, Vinnie had a front-row seat to another housemate claiming that he was fake.

“I’m proud of who I am,” Vinnie told 10, “I’m proud of who my family have crafted me to be and what you saw on TV is me.

“Australia doesn’t think I’m fake, that’s the consensus I’m getting, which I feel so much love from… Australia saw me in the diary room, they saw me on the livestream and on the TV show, and Australia doesn’t think I’m fake. I don’t think I’m fake,” he continued.

“Would I rather listen to the opinions of people I’ve known for three weeks, or my family that I’ve known for 21 years? My family know what I’ve been through and, if maturity comes across as fake… so be it.”

The questions about Vinnie’s authenticity go back to when Jane was evicted. During her message from the grave, she claimed that Vinnie wasn’t who he said he was. Seeing the video with his fellow housemates, Vinnie said he was “genuinely blindsided” by Jane’s accusation.

After fart-gate tore through the house and Jane confronted Vinnie, Bruce and Colin for being disrespectful, Vinnie said he took her aside to speak one-on-one with Jane.

“She cried in my arms in the laundry and apologised to me for talking to us that way,” he said. “She actually regretted pulling me into that conversation, so I really tried to make an effort with Jane and to make her experience in the house a lot more enjoyable.

“When she said those comments, I was like, wow. I think I held up a lot of mirrors to her and, ultimately, she was speaking from a place that only she knows is her truth, but I was shocked.”

As more housemates left, Vinnie copped more accusations of being fake, but it was Ed’s live nomination that really hurt him the most.

“I really held Ed to a really high standard as a mate,” Vinnie explained. “It was shocking, and it just makes you realise, this is Big Brother. It’s a game for some people.

“Ultimately, I don’t know Ed that well; his family and mates will know him better than I will,” he continued. “If he took my kindness, me cutting his hair every two days, as me being fake and not genuine, then that’s not my issue. I’m not going to own those comments because that’s not me being fake, that’s me being a genuine, nice person to someone I respected.”

Earlier in the show, Vinnie had the chance to add money to the overall prize or take $10,000 for himself. Choosing the latter, Vinnie painted a significant target on his own back for nominations. But he admits that if he had his time over, he’d make the same decision.

“I think everyone in the house would have taken it,” he added. “It’s money that you’ve never had, and you only have a one in 13 chance of winning the $100,000. I did the right thing. It probably did put a target on my back, but I was aware of that when I took it.”

But nothing could have prepared him for how he would be evicted from the Big Brother house. When they heard the Christmas bells ring, housemates only had 30 seconds to get dressed up and gather in the living room to perform a carol.

In the middle of the night, the bells rang and a remixed version of 'Jingle Bells' began to play, including the announcement that a shoeless Vinnie, in his pyjamas, would have to immediately leave the house and head back to the real world.

“When the screen said, ‘Now it’s time to go’, it was like a deer-in-headlights moment,” Vinnie laughed.

“That is Big Brother! You can’t script that, that’s the experience. It’s so full of twists and turns, and if I was going to be the brunt of any twist, I’m glad it was that one because I can look back and piss myself laughing.

“It was brutal and sinister, but it’s hilarious, and I honestly preferred going out like that than having the whole Sunday experience; waiting on the couch to find out who’s going to go, live-crossing to Mel and hearing her potentially read your name out, and the vomit just sitting in your throat.

“I’d rather just wake up, sing 'Jingle Bells' and go oh my god, that’s brutal but it’s also funny, iconic and it’s a good laugh.”

Big Brother continues Monday to Friday at 7.30pm, Sundays at 7pm.

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