With a history-making season of The Bachelorette Australia 2021 creeping up on us, it’s high time we dive into celebrating our queer Indigenous queen Brooke Blurton.
Are you prepared for everything coming your way? Brooke sure as hell is!
“I’m ready,” the 26-year-old wrote on Instagram when the announcement was made in May.
The caption was stamped with a Pride flag emoji alongside an official pic of her in a traditional Bachie red gown and a Pride flag emoji in the caption. “I hope you are too!”
In the official press release from Network Ten Brooke discussed her excitement to finally find her “perfect person”.
“I hope they offer shared values and compassion for others. All the dreamy things! I’m so excited and hope that I finally find that person I’ve been waiting for.”
Before you scramble the bottle-O for your mandatory Bachie-viewing wine, read on to find out everything you need to know about Brooke heading into this year’s Bachelorette.
Why Brooke is Making Franchise History
It isn’t hard to understand why our new Bachelorette is causing a stir. Brooke will be the show’s first openly bisexual and Indigenous lead, as a proud Noongar-Yamatji woman.
Born to an Aboriginal-Malaysian mother and an English father, she is extremely proud of her heritage.
But in a TEDx talk given in 2019, Brooke detailed her struggle with facing prejudice as a young Aboriginal woman.
“I was fairer than some of the Aboriginal kids and they would call me a ‘half-caste’,” she said, “meaning I simply wasn’t Aboriginal enough for them.”
“I was bullied and I was teased quite a bit, but the thing was they made me feel different. I remember being very confused at the time, thinking if I wasn’t Aboriginal enough and I wasn’t white enough where did I fit in this world? Where did I belong?”
Growing Up
One of nine siblings, the youth worker also detailed her tough childhood, having lost her mother to suicide when she was just 11-years-old. After her mother’s funeral, Brooke was sexually assaulted.
“I don’t remember how I processed that information or how I was feeling at that time,” she recalled to the audience. “What I do remember is I found a phone book and a house phone and I looked up my dad’s name, I found a number and dialled.”
Twenty-four hours later, Brooke’s father had collected her from Carnarvon and took her back to Perth. Brooke said this move caused her to “[lose her] sense of belonging… and also [her] connection to [her] Aboriginality,”
Her Upbringing Moved Her to Become a Youth Worker
It’s no surprise given her tumultuous upbringing that Brooke has dedicated her adult life to helping at-risk Indigenous youths.
“It starts with helping them gain strength and resilience in where they belong and where they fit into this world,” she said. The youth worker also highlighted that she is particularly passionate about helping those who have experienced homelessness and trauma at a young age.
Her Bachie Rap Sheet
You probably remember Brooke’s Bachelor franchise debut back in 2018, where she vied for the attention of (and came out as bisexual to) Nick the ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins.
Literally everyone had their money on her to leave the mansion hand in hand with the rugby union player, but she made the decision to leave a few episodes before the finale. While she didn’t steal Nick’s heart, she sure as sh*t won the hearts of viewers nationwide.
She then headed to glorious Fiji in 2019 to try her luck at finding love on the Bachelor Nation spinoff Bachelor in Paradise, where she and Bachie alum Alex Nation shared the first kiss EVER between two women in Aussie reality TV history.
She Will Be The First Bi-Sexual Bachelorette
Since coming out on national TV, Brooke has said she doesn’t have a preference for her sexuality label. In the past, she has been referenced as both bisexual and pansexual.
She has explained that she finds herself attracted to a person and their personality, regardless of their gender. This lead to both men and women being cast as suitors for the first time in the franchise.
“If it makes people uncomfortable in any way, I really challenge them to think about why it does,” she urged in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
“Times are more progressive and sexuality and gender expression are just so fluid these days. I am not too sure if Australia is ready for it.
“I certainly am.”
The Bachelorette Australia 2021 begins airing Wednesday and Thursday nights at 7:30pm on Channel Ten and 10Play, from October 20.
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