‘Big Brother’ Winner Dick Donato Reveals He’s HIV Positive

“Big Brother” winner Dick Donato is coming forward about his HIV positive status.

The Season 8 winner, who was often called “Evel Dick” on the CBS reality competition series, is appearing on VH1’s “Couples Therapy” where he and on-again, off-again girlfriend Stephanie Rogness-Fischer will address dealing with the disease in their relationship.

Dick, who returned for Season 13 and left after just a week of filming, opened up to People about learning of his HIV while filming the show.

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“They told me that something was wrong with my blood test,” the 51-year-old told the mag. “They had done two HIV tests. One had come back positive and the other had come back negative.”

After more tests, Dick learned he was positive and left the show.

“When they told me, I just went numb,” he recalled. “They had a car take me from CBS to my mother’s house. She was the first person I told.”

The thought of his girlfriend coming back positive as well was terrifying for Dick.

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“My biggest fear was telling my girlfriend,” he continued. “We had this long discussion, and I figured she would freak out. But she was really understanding about the whole thing. She said, ‘Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.’ She was tested and it came back negative. It was an incredible relief.”

The reality star is unsure how he contracted HIV, but believes it was through sexual contact.

“People are going to make assumptions about how I got it, and that’s okay,” he told the mag. “People are afraid to come forward because they’re afraid of the stigma of HIV. I’m not gay and I’ve never stuck a needle in my arm, but at this point, it doesn’t matter. We create a stigma around the disease that makes it hard for people to publicly say they have it.”

After initially hiding his status, Dick explained that he went public in order to possibly help others.

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“I don’t want to hide anymore. On the other hand, I hope it will remind viewers to get tested, practice safe sex, all those things we know in the back of our minds but maybe don’t do. After I told everyone on ‘Couples Therapy,’ I had two production people pull me aside and say that they had gotten tested. I feel like I can do some good,” he said.

Dick is confident that the disease will not be what ends his life.

“I take one pill a day,” he said of managing his HIV. “The only side effect I’ve noticed is that I have a lot of vivid dreams that wake me up during the night. But it’s a small price to pay: My viral load is virtually undetectable, I’m happy to say. I live a very normal life and don’t have a lot of health issues. It also means that it’s highly unlikely I could pass the disease along, although I don’t have unsafe sex anymore. I fully expect to die of something else when I get old, not HIV or AIDS.”

Adding, “I knew it wasn’t a death sentence like it used to be. But it has still changed me. I do think about others a lot more now. I’m looking forward to going public with this, because maybe, just maybe, this can be the moment where I do something that really helps other people.”

“Couples Therapy” airs Wednesday nights at 9 PM on VH1.

— Jesse Spero