A decade ago, Tully Smyth divided Big Brother fans. This is her life now.

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In a true blast from the past, Big Brother Australia is returning to where it belongs.

The iconic reality show is being rebooted on Channel 10 and returning to its original Dreamworld home. Yep, get hyped.

The revamped series is promising that live nominations and evictions plus 24/7 streaming will all be back. The revival will spotlight real people and stories, giving OG fans what they've been crying out for ever since the series moved to Channel 7 and basically became Survivor in a big house.

When it comes to legendary Big Brother housemates, one of the most memorable is, without a doubt, Tully Smyth.

She made headlines for her tumultuous romance with fellow housemate, Anthony Drew, while still in a relationship outside the house with girlfriend Tahlia Farrant, leading to widespread backlash.

Watch one of Tully's most memorable moments. Post continues after video.

At the time, Tully's emotional outbursts and raw moments made her a national lightning rod for criticism, but cemented her place as one of the most iconic people in Big Brother Australia's history.

Tully even returned to the Channel 7 version of the show in 2022 to reunite with Drew and 2013 winner, Tim Dormer.

Twelve years on since Tully stepped foot in the Big Brother house, she is looking back at the wild time in her life she describes as a 'golden era' in reality TV (she's not wrong).

"It's the strangest thing — it feels like a lifetime ago and also last Tuesday. I only look back with fondness and a lot of laughter. It was chaotic, colourful, and hands down one of the most surreal chapters of my life," she told Mamamia in our exclusive chat.

"As a lifelong fan of the show, the premise didn't scare me… I was ready for all of it. What I wasn't ready for was coming out of the house to tens of thousands of Instagram followers. Social media was only just starting to flex its muscles, and we were basically the guinea pigs. I had zero clue what I was doing, which was both thrilling and mildly terrifying."

Image: Nine.

Reflecting on the cheating scandal she found herself in the centre of in 2013, Tully 'owns up to her mistakes', but adds that her circumstances played a role in her decision-making.

"I think it's important to remember I was only 25, I was a young, lost kid. My poor mum was gravely ill with younger-onset dementia, and I was quietly battling undiagnosed anxiety," she said.

"I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but does anyone at 25? I've been careful to never try to excuse or explain away my actions, but I do think context matters. We're all just human beings at the end of the day, trying to do our best. We all mess up. What matters is how you show up afterwards.

"I've spent a lot of years doing just that."

Tully describes the public fallout when she was evicted as "being fed through a wood chipper… emotionally speaking." The backlash and trolling directed at Tully during this time were overwhelming.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tully Smyth (@tee_smyth)

"Imagine the worst thing you've ever read or seen about yourself and times that by ten. Social media wasn't a thing in previous seasons either, so we had no pre-warnings, zero social media training, no crisis management, no 'here's how you survive the internet handbook'," she said.

"At times, it felt all-consuming, and it was hard to see the forest through the trees. There were some really dark days. But nobody on social media could have made me feel worse than I already did. Nobody could have spoken to me worse than I was speaking to myself.

"At the time, I took it all on board because I felt like I deserved it, which is really sad in hindsight."

One corner of the internet that had some of the most vitriolic responses was the queer community. In the height of the scandal, Ruby Rose famously tweeted about the controversy, adding further fuel to the fire.

"Infidelity is infidelity, but I think my particular situation landed like a grenade. The queer community in particular had high hopes for me, and I understand why they felt let down — that was tough to carry," Tully said.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tully Smyth (@tee_smyth)

"I also sometimes wonder if it would have played out the same if my partner at the time had been a man. But in 2013, same-sex marriage wasn't legal and conversations about sexuality being fluid weren't mainstream. Sometimes, it's not so black and white, neatly tied up in a nice little label.

As for her relationship with Drew and Tahlia, it's all groovy now. "I'm good friends with them both! Drew and I bump into each other around Melbourne and text here and there," she said.

"Tahlia and I talk regularly, [my partner] Ned and I even spent my birthday with her, her partner, and their gorgeous baby last year. She's still an important part of my life, and I'm proud of the work we've done to stay in each other's corners."

Tully has remained close with a bunch of her fellow Season 10 housemates, especially the women: Boogs, Jazz, Tahan, Mikayla and Heidi.

"There's really nobody that I wouldn't pick up the phone to if they called. Well…maybe one," she said. Okay, intriguing!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tully Smyth (@tee_smyth)

In the over a decade since Tully lit up our screens, she's been a busy bee, establishing herself as a popular media personality and content creator.

These days, she's just started doing a weekly column for ELLE Magazine Australia and just launched a new podcast, Self Help(ed), alongside her bestie of 17 years, Maggie Kelly.

Tully has spent the past decade raising funds and awareness for Dementia Australia in honour of her mother, Kay, who passed away in 2019 after a long battle with early-onset dementia.

"It was an honour to be asked to become an official ambassador this year," she said.

"Using my platform to continue to educate people on younger-onset dementia and creating a formal support network for young carers is something I know mum would be proud of."

Tully has been transparent with her 210k Instagram following about her health: she's spoken about freezing her eggs and a recent cancer scare.

She is currently living in Melbourne and dating Ned Rohrt, who she hard-launched on her Instagram back in 2023.

Image: Instagram/@tee_smyth.

As far as the next generation of Big Brother housemates go, Tully hopes the people applying are doing it for the right reasons.

"It's extremely difficult and rare to be able to cast everyday people who don't have ulterior motives, which is a shame — we were the last generation of Big Brother housemates who entered the house naive… all wide-eyed and just happy to be there!"  

Tully has some advice to share for people thinking of applying to be on the Big Brother reboot.

"Don't go in for social media followers. Don't sign up because you want to be the next Tully Smyth or Skye Wheatley. Do it because you loved it as a kid. Do it because you think it will be fun, challenging, life-changing," she said.

"But also do it knowing your life will change. Because it will. And you don't get to decide how."

Feature image: Nine/Instagram/@tee_smyth.