Behind Big Brother
UPDATE: Evictee Sarah says you can hear 'S' sounds coming from noms chamber
Update 17/9: Things aren’t looking too good for the supposedly soundproof nominations chamber. Behind Big Brother user bern writes in that recent evictee Sarah admitted the chamber leaks noise.
The day after Sarah’s eviction, I was in the queue at Gold Coast airport and she was behind us, so we got chatting, and the topic of nominating came up. My mum mentioned she laughed when they would cover their mouths while nominating, and Sarah said that is was necessary because you can see the reflections, but also that despite the fact they would pipe music into the nominations room, you could definitely hear when the housemate nominating would say an “S” sound.
It appears that while the chamber blocks most noise, some still makes it out to the other housemates. Scroll down to see when Zoe’s loud cough travelled through the not-so-soundproof glass.
Earlier article: Oops, the risks of live TV. Big Brother producers weren’t sitting comfortably tonight after Ray let slip that the nominations chamber which is supposed to keep housemates from hearing each other’s nominations isn’t actually soundproof.
“Let’s just say that chamber wasn’t exactly soundproof”.
The admission prompted a quick attempt at damage control by Sonia Kruger who suggested Ben had read Ray’s lips through the nomination chamber glass, rather than hearing the actual nominations. Ray replied “nah he definitely knew”. Sonia replied “our producers have checked and it is soundproof”.
We’re not convinced the producers are telling the truth. During last week’s nominations show Zoe coughed loudly while Michael was allocating points. We’ve reviewed the episode and you can clearly hear her cough through the supposedly soundproof glass. (You can also see for yourself – skip to 25:25min on the episode).
Big Brother executive producer Alex Mavroidakis quickly jumped on twitter in a dash for damage control:
@bbaubots The incident is from week 1 – Ben even had us fooled and we made the glass even thicker! #bbau
— Alex Mavroidakis (@AlexMavroidakis) September 16, 2012
This response doesn’t make sense because you can’t make glass thicker on an existing booth, and the first round of nominations was to nominate female housemates only. Ray wasn’t able to nominate Ben.
An ex-glazier on our forums told us for the booth to be properly soundproof it would need to be constructed with two layers of glass with a 50mm gap between the layers.
A fundamental rule of Big Brother is that housemates cannot discuss nominations or know who nominated who while in the house. If the chamber isn’t soundproof, it means the Big Brother production crew have been fibbing to viewers.
Users on our forums have pointed out that soundproof chamber gimmick is pointless anyway because cameras in the walls of the nominations room pan to which ever housemate is being nominated at the time. Housemates can see the reflections of this movement through the camera run glass.
Join the discussion on our unofficial Big Brother forums.
Muscled, likes motorbikes and bikini girls
You can’t hide on the internet! Here’s a whole bunch of photos of Samuel Wallace, the new intruder who will be entering the house this week.
Big Brother producers didn’t stray very far from the BB compound to grab this latest housemate: He’s from Surfers Paradise, just down the road from the house, and works at Koi Dining and Lounge Bar. Perhaps they picked him up while having dinner the other day.
And is he an “everyday Aussie”? We’ll let you decide. He’s a beefcake muscle guy who loves motorcycles and girls in bikinis. While we were writing this news article Sam’s Facebook profile magically disappeared off the internet, but it was located at http://www.facebook.com/samwallace9090
7.12pm – Ray has just been evicted and the housemates comfort each other. Estelle doesn’t know how to feel, hugging Josh who tells her it will take some time to work out. She then tells Ava she feels like a stunned mullet because she survived another eviction.
Later on Estelle has a chat with Ben who says he feels the gods have saved Estelle for a reason – that’s so they can get to know each other better. Ben adds that “people take not understanding as a form of rejection, and people feel rejected by you. It’s not that they don’t like you”. Estelle says she has no perception of herself like that.
Angie has come to the diary room and says some of the boys were more supportive than others – after heading to Josh for support after the eviction she realised it was pointless because he doesn’t care, he’s too distracted with new girl Ava.
Ray’s farewell messages:
Ben – from the first time I saw you I thought you were going to be a guy who would only chill with the girls. I was wrong, you have been a great friend this whole journey and taught me a few things.
Bradley – Stick it out at the gym, keep on eating eggs and protein.
Josh – You’re definitely a ladies man so be careful, don’t break any hearts.
Estelle – You keep doing what you’re doing whatever that is it’s weird and confusing. Keep being your seven personalities.
He tells the whole house to always be yourself, always listen to your heart, to live every day as if its your last.
Estelle is in the diary room explaining she feels the seven personalities are in here in the house and maybe she will keep being nominated because people won’t realise that her seven personalities are really just her being herself.
A game of truth or dare is breaking out, and Bradley is dared to kiss Layla while looking George in the eye. After some reluctance, they all do it, but it’s a very quick peck.
8.52pm – Michael, Josh and Bradley are chatting outside about nominations which happen tomorrow. Michael says one person is certain, Bradley responds that they can’t talk about it. Michael says he thinks “stacka” (Stacey) will be nominated. Bradley looks glum like he shouldn’t be there. Michael continues that Stacey is now having goes at people now in a joking way and it may have consequences.
The conversation moves to Angie and they all agree she is no longer interested in Josh since he started spending time with Ava. He just wants Angie to tell him if she is getting upset, he won’t continue anything with Ava. Michael says “you’re banking on the emotions of a 21 year old and they’re not emotions you can bank on”. Just then Angie comes past and Josh says “oh, g’day loves”, there’s no response as she walks by. Michael laughs “this is so funny for me”. Bradley explains it: “you had the perfect world, and now an earthquake has happened and it’s all like phhfrphrpfh… this is why I don’t hook up with girls”.
Later on it turns out Josh was dared to hide Angie’s toy Flopsie under her mattress, and she’s annoyed that she could have been evicted and the toy stayed in the house. He apologises and she flatly says “I accept your apology”. Josh then says to Bradley this is a situation where a girl says she accepts it but doesn’t really. Angie isn’t impressed and says she accepted his apology. They keep sniping each other back and forth. It’s a bit nauseating.
At some time during the night – Truth or dare is continuing in the outside spa pool. Ben dares Josh to lovingly look into Ava’s eyes and tell her for one whole minute why you like her. He grabs her back and says lots of lovey-dovey things about her eyes, skin, voice, hair, smile and so on. All the other housemates laugh on and clap at the end.
Once the game is over, Ava and Josh are left in the pool. They’re on one side of the circular pool, sort of hidden by the interior seating area while other housemates are on the other. They start passing for a very long time. Cut to footage of Layla and George pashing on the other side of the pool.
Afterwards Josh tells Michael that he felt so in control of the situation then that kiss happened. You can’t say no when some one leans in to kiss you, especially when you’ve been looking at those lips for five days. They both agree this could be his undoing with Angie. In the bathroom Ava says to herself “I can’t believe I just did that” then lies down in her bed which is next to Josh’s. They hold hands and act all lovey. Once the lights are out Ava jumps into Josh’s bed and they spoon. Angie watches.
Josh to Ava: I’m glad you’re so easily persuaded.
Around 2.00am – Michael is called to the diary room half asleep. He’s awarded a strike for his nominations talk earlier.