Category: Blog

I’m not even going to waste typing effort mentioning the failed Kyle Sandilands (insert scream here) Idol cross-promotion crock that we had to witness on Sunday. Instead, I’m going to discuss the next horrible idea from the guys and girls at Big Brother: let’s put Gretel in!

Yep. Gretel is going into the house next Monday to ask the housemates questions from outside the house. What was going through the minds of everyone at BBHQ? They’ve got no extra housemates on standby, let’s just put the host in! C’mon guys, think of something new and please lay off the crack pipe.

My first problem with this is that Gretel shouldn’t be anywhere closer to the house than her little ‘x’ on the eviction stage. There is absolutely no need for her to be any closer to the housemates. I don’t mind that she talks to them on nomination and eviction days, that is something that has happened since day dot and is something that I feel identifies the Australian version of Big Brother. But why throw her in! There’s just no need!

Second issue is that the housemates are going to be asked questions from PEOPLE ON THE OUTSIDE. Although the question will no doubt be screened so that they don’t give off too much (if anything) about what has been happening on the outside, they’re still words from the outside. Why do we need to ask the housemates questions, anyway? Isn’t that Gretel’s job when the housemates are evicted? Then there’s the news.com.au blogs, live chats on the official website, and meet & greets all over the country. Don’t waste air time feeding the public garbage when you could be thinking of original ideas that excite the viewers.

There’s two weeks left and there is still time to save the series. Here’s to hoping.

A quick recap of the last couple of weeks in BBUK as the housemates face the Seven Deadly Sins before Big Brother unleashes Fake Week.

Continue reading “Faking It”

Every time the producers of Big Brother do something so disastrously bad to the show – which seems to be an almost weekly occurrence now – all of the BBBA staffers post into our private staff forum “what could they possibly do to make this any worse”… and every single time they manage to top themselves.

So Kyle Sandilands is going on the show this weekend. Let me just disclose my prejudices about him first off: the man is an absolute tool. The public are very split on what they think of him but its safe to say a large group consider him an obnoxious self indulged creep. The only reason he has gotten anywhere in the media world is because he is a shameless self promoter and purposely stirs the pot.

Not to sound hypocritical but what I just described is perfect material for Big Brother – but not in this specific context. You can see a mile away that this whole thing is one giant sponsored plug. 2DayFM and Kyle himself want a piece of this Big Brother pie and the guys above Kris Noble and Tim Toni’s heads are hammering for Idol to be cross promoted.

This “twist” is a defining example of how the current producers, Channel 10 and Endemol Southern Star have completely written off Big Brother as a form of whole hearted entertainment or something with a consistent solid fanbase. Crippled by their own lack of originality and apprehensiveness to break from the worn out Australian FTA ratings models the show has now been turned into a vehicle for selling out. Commercial TV has always had money making tie-ins, but Big Brother is setting a whole new bar for raking in the cash. Just look at Big Brother Uplate… it’s 80% phone in competitions. Big Brother has been needlessly run into the ground, but its being kept alive by greedy people flogging the dead cow for every last drop of milk.

Why I, and lots of other users of this site get so worked up about this, is its unnecessary, and a spit in the face of audiences who have stayed loyal to the program. And most importantly it’s just lazy production – if the show was kept fresh with original ideas and was presented to audiences in a half intelligent manner advertisers would be far more willing to pump money into the show. Even the most naive watchers are starting to recognize the same ideas are just recycled over and over again.

And the most universal example I use for this is Big Brother UK. People get sick of me mentioning it, but then they watch it for themselves and change their tune. BBUK is in it’s 8th season and is still a highly enjoyable show and most importantly they haven’t sacrificed the premise of the BB format to jumpstart ratings and revenue. Hell – a large portion of money raised through BBUK voting goes to charity!

The people angry about BBAU’s incredibly careless choices are the ones who love the Big Brother concept, ideas and format as a television show, and we’re seeing something we love being exploited and literally ripped apart in the pursuit for money and ratings. This weekend the entire premise of Big Brother being an arena of isolation will finally be destroyed.

And yes I blame the current producers. Tim Toni and more specifically Kris Noble surely don’t consider Big Brother to be “their baby” anymore. It’s just a money maker and nothing more. A money maker isn’t making as much as possible if you have to spend money back on it.. so they put the most minimal amount of effort back into the show. And really it isn’t about budgets its about IDEAS. Big Brother AU hasn’t had a solid good idea or actual twist in a good while. When they do come up with something decent they manage to screw up the execution, so it doesn’t count anyway.

Let me ask you this – do you think this latest Kyle plug would have EVER been considered in the first three seasons of Big Brother? (Yes, when Kris Noble wasn’t producing)… or even in the fourth season? I highly doubt it. Run the thing into the ground Mr Noble and then crash in ding ding ding $$$. I can’t accept he takes any particular pride in running Big Brother anymore… it may be a lot of work but the show isn’t exactly bringing anything new to the table anymore. So I say Kris Noble, if you want to be a second rate producer and only care about your salary then fine… I have invested a total of about $2 in this season, and with the banner ads on Behindbigbrother being clicked on by your audience that $2 is easily negated….

Kris Noble (and Tim Toni).. if you actually care about being a decent producer, bringing something new and fresh to the Australian public.. then do something about it. I know you’re not 100% incompetent, and I know you read this website.. so actually use your ears, eyes and your brains and listen to what people say on our forums, and the official site forums, and anywhere else you can get feedback. You can sell out but don’t fuck things up at the same time.

.. And I wonder if Jackie O feels burned she’s not going in the house.

During the house tour on launch night Gretel made special effort to mention every environmentally friendly product and energy-saving feature of the house where possible… but what’s happened since? There has been barely any mention of the use of these features, and even tasks like the camping one didn’t make any mention of the recycled water – it just made them save water that came from a crappy water feature.

The website has been a little different, take today’s Lunch Box Goss (who thinks of these names?) article:

This morning BB informed the HMs that they hadn’t been using water wisely enough and consequently they would be put on strict water rations. He provided them with a bucket each and told them they could only use a bucket of water each day for personal use.

During the first week or so there were several articles/interviews about the eco-friendly house, but no doubt they would have been lost in the launch hype.

If I’d put in a fair amount of money into making my house environmentally friendly, and I had a high rating television show about my house, I’d be sure to mention these products more and make a specific point about them. Why isn’t Big Brother doing this? They’ve got the perfect opportunity and perfect market to preach (wait, perhaps that’s the wrong word)… inform about how you can do your bit to save the environment in your own home. During Live Earth the other day they made the housemates walk around with the globe above their shoulders – but didn’t even mention on the daily show some of the features of the house! Perfect opportunity, Big Brother!

A little known fact that only those addicted to the official website may know is that the house actually uses grey water for the toilets and plant watering. This was sort-of mentioned on the launch night when Gretel referred to the rain tanks but she never went into any great detail. Grey water is recycled water generated from thinks like showers, laundry, the kitchen, etc. Approval from the council must be gained before grey water treatment systems like the one in the Big Brther house can be installed on residential property (in Queensland – legislation differs around the country).

Then there’s that crazy ‘fan’ that Gretel made mention of. It’s used for cooking and drinking water and the basic concept behind it is extracting moisture from the air, purifying it, and then making it available for use. The Queensland climate is perfect for this sort of thing.

Big Brother has also installed a range of bins for different types of material which can then be recycled or disposed of if recycling isn’t a viable option.

Well done to Big Brother for implementing these (and several other) environmentally friendly features into the house. Now if only they could make a slightly bigger deal of it on television so more people take notice…

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If you’d like to start lightening your environmental footprint and chemical load, check out CleanLife – a weekly e-mail newsletter about organic produce, nasty chemicals in every day products, and much more.

After a slow start Big Brother UK is finally beginning to get back on track – so here is a quick round up of the last couple of weeks…

Continue reading “I give in – I’m no good at blog chicken”