A Big Brother fan was watching Bree on TV. His next decision would save her life.

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When it comes to Big Brother Australia, you don't get much more iconic than Bree Amer.

She appeared on the reality show in 2004 (arguably the best season), going on to come runner-up in the finale.

"I had no partner, no children — not a lot to lose or worry about going in there. I just went in there for the experience and for a good time," Bree told Mamamia in an exclusive chat.

"I was pretty fortunate that I was received quite well. I didn't cop too much backlash or anything like that. It was also in its heyday, so it was just a really fun life experience."

It's hard to explain to the younger generations just how HUGE Big Brother was at this time. In many ways, it was the first era of influencers, with the housemates instantly becoming household names.

Every eviction held at Dreamworld was attended by swarms of crowds chanting the names of their favourite housemates.

It was an experience that Bree found 'overwhelming' in retrospect. "You go from this very insular, quiet environment to coming out to this absolute mania," she recalled.

"On a normal show, it goes on air, you're out and about, and it's a gradual build…. whereas it's zero to 100 with Big Brother. You're sheltered from it all and then literally thrown to the sharks."

Image: Ten.

In the case of Bree's BB journey, she was evicted twice. In a twist that made worldwide headlines, Bree was wrongfully evicted and later sent back in. The real evictee, Wesley Dening, was then given his marching orders.

"I came out, found out all this amazing stuff, had a great time, went to the after-party… then, the executive producer at the time came and tapped me on the shoulder halfway through this party and said 'We need to talk to you,' and he said, 'I'm gonna bring someone as a witness.'"

A bit tense, hey? Bree was then told "there's been a mistake with the voting, and you shouldn't have been evicted."

Due to human error, an extra phone line had been opened, and some stray votes had gone there, she was told.

"I didn't really understand it," recalled Bree, who said she had no interest in returning to the house. "I didn't want to. At that point, I think I'd been in there for seven weeks and I was really enjoying catching up with people and drinking cocktails."

However, Bree didn't have much of a choice. "They were like, 'No, we want you to go back in because otherwise you could potentially sue us, because you could have won a million dollars.'"

Bree told Mamamia she then hilariously demanded some Pantene and a Quarter Pounder from McDonald's before she was removed from her party, sent into lockdown and then back into the house in a history-making Big Brother moment.

"In hindsight, I probably could have said I want $50,000," Bree joked. "When they put me back in, I didn't sleep all night."

Bree had something else on her mind at the time. "When you come off the stage, you straight away get briefed by a psychologist. I'd found out that my nan had been relocated from Tasmania to Queensland because there was a stalker involved."

After Bree's nan's face was plastered on the front page of a local newspaper in Tasmania as Big Brother aired, Bree said that her stalker had tracked her down.

"What am I doing? This is a very selfish situation that I'm putting my family members through — my brain was in overdrive. That's why I was quite emotional when I went back in; I remember questioning my decision."

Thankfully, Bree eventually settled back into the house and went on to almost win the show, placing runner-up behind Trevor Butler, who took home the record-breaking $1 million prize pool.

But that wasn't the end of her Big Brother chapter: Bree was then cast as the host of iconic spin-off Friday Night Live, alongside her fellow housemate Ryan Fitzgerald and Up-Late host, Mike Goldman.

"We were just really lucky that they started Friday Night Live the year after we were in the house — otherwise we wouldn't have been involved," Bree said.

"I got to work with those two very entertaining idiots for a long time, who were good friends, and it was the best."

Image: Getty.

Decades on, Bree played some old episodes to her two kids. "I recently tried to show my kids an episode of Friday Night Live for the first time," she said.

"They were like 'fast-forward the talking! We just want to watch the games!' And I was like, 'I'm the talking! That's me!'"

Bree's stint working on Friday Night Live even led to her discovering she had thyroid cancer. One of the show's viewers happened to be a doctor, who noticed a lump bulging from Bree's neck.

"It must have been 2006, because the doctor saw me the first year and noticed that I had a lump in my neck, and then I came back the next year, and it was still there, and he thought it looked bigger, so he assumed I didn't know it was there and started trying to get in contact with me."

The doctor emailed Channel 10 and even called competition lines to get in touch with Bree. "He spent a lot of money trying to get in contact with me," she said.

But Bree only found out due to a chance encounter.

"One of the girls — Catherine, who I was on Big Brother with — just happened to go into surgery, and he recognised her, and that's how he got the message to me."

Image: Ten.

Bree had two surgeries and radioactive iodine therapy before she was given the all clear.

The TV personality knew it was a damn close call.

"I was fortunate that I was doing Friday Night Live, and that I was sitting on the side of the panel because I used to turn my head to look at the guys all the time, and that's when it would stick out of my neck."

Since departing Big Brother, Bree has continued to thrive in the entertainment space.

"After Big Brother, I did TV and radio stuff for about nine years. Then I decided that I was more interested in being behind the camera than in front of it, so I was a casting producer and a story producer for about 12 years."

Bree took her years working on reality TV and applied it to shows like My Kitchen Rules, The Bachelor and The Amazing Race.

Once Bree started to have kids, she decided it was too hard to do the long hours that TV work requires, especially as her husband also worked in the field.

"I don't want both of us doing 50 or 60 hours a week, and the kids not having anyone around. A friend of mine was a marriage celebrant, and he had said to me for years, 'You should do this. It's basically presenting, you'd be really good at it.'"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bree Amer • Marriage Celebrant • Sydney (@breeamer_marriagecelebrant)

She spent 750 hours studying to be a licensed celebrant and now she's embraced it as her true calling. "I love it so much more than I ever thought. You're part of the best day of people's lives and it's really creative. I love writing wedding ceremonies. I write them all from scratch."

Bree and her TV producer husband, Evan Wilkes, live on the Northern Beaches, and the BB alum acknowledges that she wouldn't have crossed paths with him if she hadn't first dipped her toe into reality TV when she was just 21.

"It's funny — the trajectory of life," she said.

To this day, Bree is still recognised by Big Brother fans. "It just amazes me that 21 years down the track, people still remember," she said.

"A lot of people talk about the false eviction. A lot of people talk about Merlin [Luck] doing the protest. A lot of people talk to me about Fitzy, obviously, because he's so memorable and still in the public eye."

The 2004 housemates even got together for a reunion last year. "Some of us hadn't seen each other for 21 years," she said.

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A post shared by Bree Amer Wilkes ✌🏼️ (@breeamer)

"It was like stepping into a time capsule… it was like we slipped straight back into the funny relationships and roles that we had in the house. It was just bizarre."

She reconnected with Merlin after she crossed paths with his kids at a park in Newtown. "Merlin's kids were playing with my kids and it turned out we lived like 500 metres apart," she said.

In one of the most unforgettable moments in Big Brother history, Merlin refused to speak in his post-eviction interview with Gretel Killeen, as he held up a sign to protest 'Free the refugees'.

"Merlin was a great guy, and he kind of went to ground for a long time, so I didn't see or hear from him, which was always a shame because I've always thought he was great," Bree added.

Watch the iconic Big Brother moment. Post continues after video.

As for the Channel 10 reboot of Big Brother, bringing the iconic show back where it all started for Bree, she shared some advice for the next generation of housemates.

"Do it for the right reasons. Do it for the experience, the relationships and the adventure that you'll have — instead of doing it for Instagram followers," she said.

"People ask me all the time if I am so annoyed that I didn't win the million dollars. I've never cared about it because I always felt like I gained something so amazing from it anyway.

"My life is split into 'Before Big Brother' and 'After Big Brother' because so much changed."

Feature image: Ten/Instagram/@breeamer.