It was easy to read between the lines of ’s Trish expressing her upset at constantly being labelled aggressive by her housemates.
For those of us who have been in her shoes before, she was clearly saying in a roundabout way: ‘Stop painting me as the angry Black woman.’
There have been a few occasions in recent episodes of ’s Big Brother reboot that have made me raise my eyebrow after recognising the microaggressions.
When you have and the brashness of Olivia, self-professed Trish comes across as one of the more level-headed housemates this year.
She when dishing out advice to the others and has barely raised her voice (aside from her ), while always managing to
Yet, she’s been unfairly targeted by some of the other housemates who, quite frankly, can only be threatened by her confidence.
In one episode, Dylan told Trish that Chanelle found her intimidating and was therefore too scared to confront her about an issue she had. This seemed to perpetuate the narrative around the house that Trish was angry and aggressive or, in other words, the ‘angry Black woman.’
It’s interesting because the likes of Olivia, Kerry and Paul have shown instances of being much more aggressive than we’ve ever seen Trish, but no one has mentioned being scared or intimidated by them in the house.
It’s frustrating to watch another Black woman be subjected to this trope so blatantly, but even more so when Trish felt she had to tone down her character just to make others feel comfortable.
During a tearful heart-to-heart with beauty queen and fellow Black woman Noky, Trish finally broke down and explained that she was feeling extra emotional that day because it was her late father’s birthday, something that the other housemates might not have been aware of.
Watching Trish quietly break down in what she felt was a safe space with Noky was a prime example of how so many Black women often feel they can’t show emotion so openly because we’re meant to be strong.
Unfortunately, society doesn’t always allow Black women to show vulnerability in the same way as others.
During their conversation, Trish said: ‘It’s the fact that [trying to have a good day despite the anniversary of her dad’s death] backfired and backfired in a targeted way.
‘Like, what the hell? I kinda felt like a bit of a setback, like “oh s**t, did I overdo it?” Just the sense of questioning yourself.’
Noky told her: ‘It’s never a good day to question yourself but all your feelings are valid 110% and I know exactly where you’re coming from so I don’t want you to feel defeated.
‘It’s a case of recognising that this environment requires you to adjust in a way that you’ve never had to adjust before. And even if it’s not fair that you’re adjusting and other people aren’t, to protect yourself sometimes you do need to adjust.’
Trish then decided: ‘I’m definitely going to pull back on myself.’
This was the most infuriating moment of the whole saga for me – that Trish felt she needed to change who she was to appease others. If Chanelle felt unable to express her feelings, that’s absolutely a her problem and shouldn’t be projected onto Trish who in turn lost a bit of her own confidence.
Dylan also played a part in fuelling the intimidating narrative by suggesting Trish needed to apologise to Chanelle. In all of this, no one considered how Trish might have felt after several instances of being told she needed to essentially pipe down.
Just as Trish was being silenced, the situation she was put in felt like the unspoken injustice of this Big Brother.
While everyone focused on the love triangle between Jordan, Henry and Matty and Dylan’s dominance in the kitchen, the targeting of Trish went largely brushed under the carpet with virtually no one in the house calling it out.
And now it seems even Noky has found herself the new target with the housemates inexplicably convinced that she’s being fake for crying about her friend Zak right after his eviction and because she then defended his character.
It often feels like Black women in reality TV can’t win.
Recent examples prove this, such as Pauly D’s girlfriend deciding to quit appearing on Jersey Shore Family Vacation after getting racist abuse for defending herself when Angelina Pivarnick threw wine over her unprovoked, or even The Apprentice being criticised for its lack of Black female entrepreneurs.
This was supposed to be a non-toxic version of Big Brother, a cleaner revamp of the beloved iconic series, which always gave us so much TV gold but its fair share of inappropriate incidences.
However, the treatment of Trish has served as a reminder that reality TV may not ever be a safe space for Black women.
