The only openly gay contestant on Big Brother in Croatia has said he was attacked by another housemate during the show.
Matija Stainer made the allegations just minutes after being evicted from the house in the Croatian version of the reality TV show.
As he left the Big Brother house last night, he was interviewed live on air, as is traditional for departing contestants. And he used his moment to detail the serious homophobic abuse he experienced in the show.
Anti-gay abuse and violence in the Big Brother house
He told the interviewer he had been physically attacked by another contestant – although this was not shown on television.
Producers left the attacker in the house and took no public action over the incident.
He also claims this was not the only instance of physical violence he witnessed in the show.
Furthermore, he says he endured near constant homophobic bullying from some of his fellow contestants, Nikola and Antonio.
He said other housemates openly said to his face he was ‘feminine’.
And he says they called him ‘pederčina’. This is a Croatian anti-gay insult that is so severe that it doesn’t even have an English translation. But the base of the word, ‘peder’, translates as ‘faggot’.
Big Brother broadcast other instances of the contestants calling Stainer ‘peder’.
And people commenting on the Big Brother Facebook page also used the slur ‘pederčina’ against him.
The show did not remove these comments. However, they did go onto the same comment strands from time to time, to remind viewers of broadcast times and ask them to vote.
Stainer suffered homophobic abuse from the moment he entered the main Big Brother house.
As he was first introduced to the housemates he was greeted with the comment ‘vidi se odmah da voli primati’. This means ‘you can clearly see he loves to take it [up the arse]’. Producers also broadcast this.
Death threats in the Croatian Big Brother house
During last night’s live interview, Stainer spoke about another disturbing occasion in the Big Brother house.
The show’s producers isolated him and forced him to watch on TV as other contestants talked about LGBTI people.
He said one contestant said they would like to ‘beat [to death] such [homosexual] people with sticks’.
In response, the other housemates in the conversation laughed and nodded.
In this case, the producers did call them to the show’s diary room. They asked them to re-visit their conversation using milder language. But the producers did not sanction anyone for their use of such language.
In another incident, which Big Brother also broadcast, Antonio appeared to threaten Stainer with violence.
Antonio told him: ‘Kada izade van da se cuva’. This means: ‘When you go out [of the house], you should look out for yourself [ie watch your back]’.
Stainer’s tough upbringing in the wake of the war in Croatia
Matija Stainer comes from Osijek in eastern Croatia. Following the destruction of their home in the Croatian war of independence, his family were forced to move to a small village near Beli Manastir. This is where Stainer went to school.
He has revealed he is no stranger to bullying.
Bullied targeted him at school, firstly because of a prominent scar he has on one side of his face and later because he displayed a less than macho demeanour.
His father died when Matija was very young from complications of the injuries he sustained fighting for Croatia in the war. His family were extremely poor.
During his time in the Big Brother show, he revealed how this poverty impacted his childhood. He said when he was young, he might sometimes only have one piece of bread to eat in a day. He would have to choose between eating it immediately or saving it until he was very hungry.
His experiences on the Big Brother show stand in stark contrast to the life he recently lead in Liverpool, UK. He lived there for two years working in the city’s museums by day and as a waiter by night.
His main reason for returning to Croatia was that his sister, Tomislava, his closest sibling, was suffering from cancer.
Matija Stainer with his sister. | Photo: Supplied
Big Brother Croatia now ‘reviewing’ Stainer’s treatment
Stainer’s eviction from the house isn’t quite the end of the story. His revelations and treatment in the house has sparked widespread controversy in Croatia.
In response Big Brother Croatia says it is ‘reviewing the tapes’.
Big Brother Croatia is one of over 50 international franchises of the game show.
The show was originally broadcast in The Netherlands and is franchised and distributed by Endemol Shine Group. This, in turn, is a joint-venture between 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management.
Each region’s shows hold slightly differing formats and reflects local cultural differences. However, the show has a duty to protect all contestants from violence, threats of violence and bullying on the grounds of race, sexuality and religion.
Within the last few minutes, Endemol has told Gay Star News: ‘We are looking into this as a matter of urgency.’
Croatia and LGBTI rights
Croatia is a popular tourist destination for many western Europeans. However gay travellers should recognize that homophobia and transphobia are prevalent in the country.
For example, people regularly use ‘peder’, meaning ‘faggot’, as standard language for gay people.
Croatia is a more traditionally Catholic country than that of many of its fellow EU members.
The country has made some progress in protecting minorities in recent years. But homophobia remains both visible and largely accepted.
Croatia banned same-sex marriages since the 2013 constitutional referendum.
And there were violent scenes in 2011, when 300 people marched at the first Gay Pride march in Split, the country’s second city.
A mob of 10,000 anti-gay protesters met them and hurled rocks, tear gas and glass bottles at them.
