• Perth – Thursday, April 4
• Melbourne – Saturday, April 6 and Sunday April 7
• Adelaide – Thursday, April 11
• Sydney – Saturday, April 13 and Sunday April 14
• Newcastle – Tuesday, April 16
• Brisbane – Saturday, April 20
• Gold Coast – Sunday, April 21

Are you in Hobart? Too bad! You’ve been shafted from the tour in favour of Newcastle. But you’re able to send in a video audition instead (as is anyone more than 500km from an audition city).

Everyone needs to register online first, but before you do that take a read through our real deal audition tips. What should you do? What should you say? Should you even bother? Read on!

The whole “anyone can be on the show” thing

Oh, they only just say this because it’s a nice marketing phrase. The truth is only a small proportion of people have a chance of getting in. Harsh but true, and who says you can’t do your best to play up to what they want?

Just be freaking normal

Back in 2001 if you came to an audition with bright blue hair or were a dominatrix you were a shoe-in. Now it’s the opposite. Sure, last year had the virgin geek and the bitchy gay guy, but for the most part the rest of the house was vastly plain.

DO NOT show up to auditions in a giant elmo costume or something equally ‘outrageous’. This will hurt your chances!

Be young and white, but not too young

Statistically if you’re 18-20 there’s a good chance you won’t be cast, which is ironic because the majority of people who audition are this age. The sweet spot is 21-29. If you’re older then your chances plummet again.

Be white*, middle class and in an office or hospitality job, or be a full time student.

In other words, just be “safe” for family friendly TV.

(* Since there was a slight uproar in 2012 about the entire cast being white there’s a chance producers will specifically be casting people with dark skin in 2013).

Be agreeable and extroverted…

One of the most important tips – producers want happy, extroverted people who will go along with whatever they say. This means you have no qualms about jumping in a pool of mud immediately on their command.

If your natural reaction to a talking fish is to say “this is stupid” and not have a conversation back, you won’t get on Big Brother.

Remember at all times: in exchange for your 15 minutes of fame you sell your soul to the show producers. For 86 days they tell you what to do, what time to get up, when to eat and when to go to bed. After you leave the house you’re told where to make appearances, who to speak with and what your schedule will be.

You need to demonstrate to the producers that you’re willing to do this, which means being really active in their group ‘games’ and discussions plus by working well with others in your audition group.

If you give the slightest hint you can’t deal with being their TV slave, Big Brother is not for you and you’ll be shown the door.

… but be gossipy too

80% of Big Brother footage is housemates gossiping about each other. Make it known you’re not opposed to being bitchy sometimes.

Scrub your social media profiles

Before you register give ALL of your online profiles a quick scrub down so they are PG friendly. If you progress towards the later audition stages you’ll be asked to hand over your Facebook username and password.

Remember – scrub ALL of your profiles. Last year after Estelle went into the house some particularly embarrassing photos and homophobic comments made by her online surfaced.

For the guys…

You don’t need a six pack but you need to have muscles and be reasonable buff. It helps if you are a charmer and could fit into the category of fantasy boyfriend for 13 year old girl or eye candy for 40 year old housewife.

Walking around shirtless will come naturally to you but DO NOT show up at auditions shirtless. That is just tacky. Pop on a tight v-neck shirt instead.

For the girls…

You need to be naturally pretty and again be comfortable walking around in a bikini and spend a lot of the day sunbathing. Tell the producers you’re open to having a relationship in the house. Your chances of getting in are much higher if you’re single.

What are your tips? Let us know in the comments below and join us in our unofficial Big Brother discussion forums.

Now as we all well know many interesting things have come out of the housemates doing press interviews (Chambergate, ect. Ect.) But it’s Housemate Stacey’s recent interview with a Website that really captured my attention.In this interview she stated that every time she was called to the diary room she feared it was because the series had been axed due to her and her fellow housemates being “boring”. She also stated that many a time she thought the HM’s needed to be more entertaining for viewers. Boring is a word that has been used in many media articles in regard to the housemates this year, but hold on a second aren’t they all missing the point?

Although I am fully aware Big Brother is an entertainment show, first and foremost the franchise is about throwing a bunch of people into an environment and leaving them mostly to their own devices. So, really the show isn’t about the entertaining antics but the interaction between housemates and the housemates as people themselves, It’s about peeling back the layers and seeing the real person, warts and all. As long as the cast is interesting at personality level then it shouldn’t overly matter what they do.

But Stacey’s comments and media write-ups also raise another question in my mind, if the housemates were so “boring” why during the entire three month run during any given show were their 500,000+ people tuning in each night? Some nights that was even higher into the million viewers mark. So, obviously they weren’t that boring.

Personally, I think the Australian media may have forgotten the bones of the show in the four years it’s been away. It’s about the personalities, not the twists or flashy tasks or gimmicks. Sure, these help add to the show and make things more interesting for a viewer. But at the end of the day it is about the viewer forming a connection for the people onscreen and picking up and voting.

What do you guys think of the media’s treatment of the show this year? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. I’ll be back on Friday for the last time this year with Part 2 of my Wrap-up, which will cover my thoughts on the twists, tasks and most importantly the housemates themselves.

See you Friday,

RK xx

According to an anonymous poll on our discussion forums, the vast majority of fans did not spend any money. Out of those who did, it mostly fell between $10 and $30.

A handful of viewers replied that they had spent between $200 to $500, while four others said they had spent more than $1000 voting.

We also asked the question on twitter and received mixed answers:

@behindbb About $8 – $10

— Jayden (@Jayden_M_) November 8, 2012

@behindbb I spent $630

— Kym Cole (@withay01) November 8, 2012

@behindbb about $50, I would voted more if I had a job and no car or bf lol

— Team Ben & Josh ? (@xmarniex_) November 8, 2012

Interestingly, a few viewers who did not spend any money would have happily parted with their cash if the season had been based on ‘vote to evict’ rather than vote to save:

@behindbb i didn’t vote at all because none of the HMs were likable enough to be worth it. However, vote to evict would have bankrupted me!

— Jasmine (@beebeeoko) November 8, 2012

@behindbb I would’ve spent money if it was vote to evict not vote to save. Estelle would’ve been gone much earlier!

— Dave Terry (@thedavemiester) November 8, 2012

And finally, many viewers who purposely chose not to spend any money voting would have gladly paid for live internet streaming:

@behindbb Yes, easily. I felt this season we didn’t get to see enough of what the housemates were really like. Streams bridge the gap.

— Ethan BS#32 FFC (@BigSledge32) November 8, 2012

@behindbb hell yes! I would have spent up to $70 for live steaming :)

— Matt C (@crofty91) November 8, 2012

How much did you spend on voting this year, and now that the show has finished – was it worth it? Tell us below or join us in our discussion forums.
]]> http://www.behindbigbrother.com/2012/11/how-much-did-you-spend-on-voting-this-year/feed/ 0 http://www.behindbigbrother.com/2012/11/big-brother-ratings-report-2012/ http://www.behindbigbrother.com/2012/11/big-brother-ratings-report-2012/#comments Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:00:49 +0000 Tim http://www.behindbigbrother.com/?p=5457 →]]> Final figures are in for the season, how did Big Brother stack up in the ratings game?

In the past week most news outlets have been declaring Big Brother 2012 a relative success, while The Australian took a different approach saying “Big Brother stumbles in ratings“.

Viewing figures for Big Brother stayed fairly stable throughout the season, with a grand average of 1.02m per episode.

However the the season did suffer from huge audience erosion, particularly in the later weeks. Here’s how the erosion played out:

TV Tonight reports Big Brother performed solidly in advertising friendly demographics but when compared to other reality TV forms was somewhat lacklustre. The figures pulled in for the Big Brother finale are typical of a weekly edition of the X-Factor.

Regardless it seems Channel Nine are happy with the performance of the season given the show was extended from it’s original end date (albeit by half a week).

Despite reports that Big Brother appeared on Channel Nine’s 2013 media buyer show reel, it has yet to appear on any public-facing advertisements. Big Brother’s vague “will get back to you” message at the conclusion of the finale has left an ominous feeling over the survival of the series.

The highs

The house – easily one of the best designed houses in Big Brother history, it was built around a great concept – “eras in time” (although the concept for some reason was quickly forgotten). A new outdoor area meant it was cosier and more claustrophobic. The versatile utility room (which became the parlour, man cave, and so on) helped the scenery stay fresh throughout the season.

Secrets… the second time they did it – it seems the producers got a little more comfortable experimenting with the show in the final weeks, and a great result was the “last supper” secrets episode giving the housemates a glimpse of the backstabbing as the audience sees it. This was an emotional journey and a great stunt to ensure ratings were propped up towards the end.

Big Brother’s sassy attitude – owing in part to primary BB voice Leon Murray ad-libbing his lines, Big Bro was far more witty this year. We half expected him to start clicking his fingers and pursing his lips at the housemates. Compared to the dull, almost wooden Big Bro from 2004-2008 this was a welcome change.

The tasks department tried this year – although many tasks were rehashed versions of the “wait around for something to happen” format, overall much more effort (and budget) was placed into running weekly tasks. The second house twist was a fresh idea (although unfortunately executed terribly) and other standout tasks were “just say no”, “spend Big Brother’s cash” and “Big Baby”.

Surly the fish… an idea yanked from Big Brother UK and given an amphibian makeover. Surly was initially a welcome addition to the house a bit of surreal escapism in an otherwise stark reality TV house.

The lows

…until Surly kept dying – this one’s a no-brainer. After Surly had been wheeled out for the 104th time and we all realised this fish really is being replaced every week it wasn’t a fun gag anymore. And we started breathing a sigh of annoyance.

The sound proof nominations chamber… that wasn’t actually soundproof. A bit of a “sell the show” ruse in earlier weeks but two months on it ended up being very unnecessary. Just have nominations in the diary room!

Confidential – like a bad recurring nightmare this show kept scarring us week after week. It flopped around between channels and time slots in early weeks but never quite found its feet. In the end it felt like Mike Goldman’s voice acting side project, except no one was watching.

Family friendly format – we’re not sure if this was specifically something Channel Nine demanded, or it’s how Southern Star Entertainment managed to sell the show again, but family friendly stinks. This restriction affected every aspect of the season. Daily shows became sanitised and occasionally difficult to follow due to over-editing. With sex and “mature themes” off-limits conversations between housemates frequently defaulted to high school gossiping about “who will hook up with who”. And the most disastrous effect of family friendly was of course…

No live internet feeds – seriously, what were they thinking?

What are your highs and lows of the season? Leave us a comment below or join us in our unofficial discussion forums.

Up until yesterday Estelle had been marked as favourite following Michael’s eviction, but now she will come second.

There haven’t yet been any reports of Estelle followers suffering emotional breakdowns, but hospitals across the country are preparing for the worst.

Current betting odds are:

Sportingbet Australia: Ben $1.60, Estelle $3.40, Layla $5.00
Centrebet: Ben $1.60, Estelle $2.80, Layla $6.50
Sportsbet: Ben $1.80, Estelle $2.20, Layla $4.50

In a media release published late last night, Andrew Brown from Sportingbet Australia said “in the last 24 hours more than 80% of the bets we’ve written have been for (Ben) to win”.

“At one stage early on Estelle was as much as $41 and I have no doubt if there was a vote to evict she wouldn’t still be in the house.”

You see, for me there is nothing quite like BB. I’m not sure what exactly draws me to it but I just adore the program. I don’t know whether it is the human study aspect of it or the fact that the show is good fun & you can form such a connection to these people. It’s kind of like having twelve to sixteen brand-new best friends in your home every night for three months. I really do love it.

When it was first revealed I must admit, I, like a lot of people was skeptical about the reboot.  But I think now, I proudly admit that I was wrong to be so worried about the show and that Channel Nine and Southern Star have given the show the respect and treatment it deserves.  Yes, there was no Live streaming this time round but to a certain extent that has really bothered me. That could be because I’ve been so busy or the fact I am used of international formats without feeds. But either way, for me this is by far one of the best BBAU series produced.  (I’ll post a full series wrap this week, so I’ll keep it brief for now.)

I think this series has been great in many ways, not only introducing Australia to some fantastic characters but also stripping away the smut and seediness with which BB is seen by many Australians, to prove that with quality casting and good tasks the smut and crudeness that was once part of the shows fabric, is not needed or warranted.  Because the thing is, at the heart of it, Big brother is a social experiment about people living together and surviving in a smashup of personalities, which is what this series has shown and I hope, proven to Australia. In my eyes, if this was the beginning of a fresh new era for the show I cannot wait to see how they improve from here.

If the series is to comeback next year (as it’s rumoured to) I firmly believe that they have a incredibly strong basis to build upon for the future.

That’s all for now but I’ll be back again soon with my full wrap-up of the past three months happenings in Australia’s most famous house.

Til next time,

RK x

As previously posted below, it looks like the finalists might enter the Big Brother auditorium on the old “eviction plank”. This walkway is accompanied by new, high powered beam lights.

Thanks again to Keagan.

Do you miss the old eviction plank? Looks like it’ll be making a return for the grand finale episode of Big Brother 2012.

Eagle eyed fan Keagan wrote to us after attending Sam’s eviction and says preparations are already being made for the plank to cross through the crowd:

“There is a VERY good chance the isle down the middle of the audience will be back for the final.

There is a circle arch with lights set up at the back of the auditorium. As well as extra beam lights at the back (none were in use tonight)”

In case you don’t remember the famous eviction plank, it featured during many of the later Channel 10 seasons, and was retired after 2008.

Here’s ex-housemate Cherry from 2008 walking the eviction plank. (Don’t worry, we don’t remember Cherry either).

Pineapples R Cool!…

Michael’s grip on first place has been all but lost according to Centrebet: along with Zoe he will be evicted on Monday night.

Estelle, who was previously teetering between first and second place has taken hold of the winner position with Ben coming (very closely) second and Layla following in third.

Here’s the current Monday night eviction odds from Centrebet. Two evictees are paid and bets must be exact for bets to stand.

• Zoe $1.05
• Michael $2.00
• Layla $2.10
• Benjamin $2.80
• Estelle $3.20

And the odds for the winner of Big Brother 2012. (Note that Estelle and Ben are VERY close)

• Estelle $2.60
• Ben $2.80
• Layla $4.20
• Michael $4.50
• Zoe $26.00

Who will win? Tell us in the comment section below!

- Surly’s multiple funerals
- Josh’s departure
- Sam does something unfatherly to Big Baby
- Unwanted guests and the perpetual Ryan Fitzgerald
- Stacey and the dreaded vote to save
- What is it about Estelle that annoys people?
- Sam wears a terrible shirt on the secrets show
- Family friendly erodes away
- Sam and Layla sloppy kisses
- Close confinement horniness
- No more butt crack!
- Fans are getting cray cray
- Angie gets her own spinoff show