BBAU Rewatch

[Zcsund1234]

Idk what the opinion of the fake double eviction was here when it happened, but I have mixed views. We've seen many fake evictions from around the world. BBUK especially, with the Bed sit, Aisleyne going next door and Charley's eviction. But whilst this wasn't any new concept I did like the idea of the aspect of the double allowing for the eviction not to be wasted, and you could argue by making it a double there either would or wouldn't be doubt of it's reality by the housemates.

On paper the idea was interesting but in practise the outcome was predictable and didn't lead to much at all. Ben got to stay in the presidential suit which was teased as a secret safe location, that was underwhelming. His only major advantage of was being immune from an eviction he would never have been in danger of going in anyway. I don't know how else this twist could be better executed, maybe the second lowest saved housemate could be set to punishment or redemption for narrowly being saved? I have no idea what I would do differently to the twist but it wasn't as exciting to watch as it was promoted to be. But the ratings for it would beg to differ.

 

[Brekkie]

Was it just Ben? Guess it was designed to protect Ben then. Australia never did their fake evictions that well, going back to the awful Liars eviction in BB5 and then the Revenge Room in BB6. Australia just hyped up their own twists too much and were too eager to reveal all so they always felt rushed.

Did opt to take a look at the series via the medium of the 5 episodes of Late Night Feast - far more digestable than weeks of daily shows. They were actually really well produced and highlighted what a strong cast they had that year. Yes, they all followed the same format of tasks and games designed to either get the housemates kit off or get the pashing, but there was a rawness about them which felt so authentic, certainly compared to what Seven churn out but also I think to the final series on Nine too which felt a bit more like producers were trying to guide the narrative.

 

[Fuzz]

Ive noted by some a level of distaste for Ben. Seemed pretty inoffensive to me. Sure, im not silly enough not to realise his personna was a tad artificial but things he said rang true of an empathetic and naive individual at heart. Im puzzled by the obvious dislike of him from some where there were a plethora of other housemates to get really annoyed about. And I dont buy the the idea that he was a producers pet. He surely would have won if that was the case. He was an interesting counterpoint. His sexuality was irrelevant to me. Just a social ingenue thrown into a completely foreign territory for him.Like every straight man or woman or gay man or woman...they dont have to represent the apex of human beauty.

 

[beardymac]

And I dont buy the the idea that he was a producers pet.

"Here Ben, have a weeklong task of being Big Brother's assistant so you get more screentime in a Vote to Save season".
"Here Ben, have an episode dedicated to you meeting Bert and Patti Newton while they shower you with praise in a Vote to Save season".
"Here Ben, have entire scenes of the daily show dedicated to you carrying your photos around the house in a Vote to Save season"
"Here Ben, have hours of screentime dedicated to solely your point of view on a certain dynamic in the house so the audience see the house through your eyes in a Vote to Save season"

He was most definitely a producer pet, as was Tim (with the constant 'temptation' challenges). The audience just found Tim far more authentic than Ben.

 

[Estelle.Landy]

Estelle was a great housemate. At the time I was one of the big Estelle defenders on here. Ben was horrid and a shit person in my opinion. With his bullying and control of others. With his deserving and undeserving people crap. The whole Meepers non-sense. He didn't deserve to win and should have been held up as an example of how not to be.

I haven't rewatched the season, but my memory is that there was a disconnect from those watching BB superficially as entertainment. Versus those watching the social experiment. Which was a result of the format shift at NINE.

Ben was superficially entertaining and I think people lost sight of the fact that it was real people experiencing real things in the house. So Ben would be funny in one section. Then horrible and a bully in another. Yet people never changed focus on it just being light entertainment. Estelle was treated horribly in the house and he was the main force behind it.

My gut feeling for people supporting him at the time were people half watching the show, not really paying attention but that never explained why people on a website like this were fooled. Although I guess, half watching while making dinner, doesn't exclude someone from posting here.

I came to terms long ago that my opinion rarely matches the majority for most reality shows I watch. I have probably disagreed with most voting decisions of the BB audience from when that was a thing.

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Can I just say how much I appreciate this summary because it couldn’t be more accurate and honestly, validating. Ben was awful. Truly. And I was deeply offended when people would say he was “entertaining” because truly they couldn’t have been watching or they were okay with what he was saying to many.

 

[Estelle.Landy]

I’m still going on about it but thinking of what happened in 2012 I remember people saying that Benjamin’s friends in the house who were evicted rallied to help him win and that may be the case but the revealing of the voting graph probably caused them to fight even more to get him the win. They knew who exactly was behind and who was in front.

Again my point is the votes were manipulated so we will never have an accurate measure of who was the truly most saved if the tally stayed hidden.

It’s probably one of the worst mistakes they ever did showing that graph in my opinion. Votes were not resetting the next night. The whole thing is iffy.

Benjamin said he was going to propose even if he was evicted week 1 so he could still have proposed even if he came second or third that night. It would have still been special seeing a runner up proposing to his boyfriend.

Sometimes I think what would have happened in an alternative world where Estelle won. It would have been the story of the outcast girl defying the odds and the audience saying no to bullying. Seems to me more powerful than the other narrative we had. We could have had both. Hey maybe even Layla would have won instead. Estelle and Ben - either second or third. Each of them could have had their moment.

I guess this whole debacle just proves the producers were pulling the strings all along and Big Brother was no longer a social experiment but a contrived entertainment show.

Anyway this will be the last I speak of this matter just in case I am boring everyone.

Just quietly I had to try and accept this even until today… had the tally not been revealed it would have been a fair-er race.

Sigh..

 

[Zcsund1234]

Can I just say how much I appreciate this summary because it couldn’t be more accurate and honestly, validating. Ben was awful. Truly. And I was deeply offended when people would say he was “entertaining” because truly they couldn’t have been watching or they were okay with what he was saying to many.

I mentioned this earlier in the thread. I am amazed at how different I interpret your season now than I did at the time. Age plays a part but it’s interesting that I now see how horrible your situation was. I think many fans saw the “cool” group as entertaining and therefore overlooked the nastiness. I was one who saw past the ugly nature of it all, but upon rewatching I am amazed at how many people watching chose to ignore what was happening in favour of entertainment. You truly were robbed, I have not much doubt that had the tally not been revealed you would have on. Who knows what really would happened, but it’s definitely not fair how you lost.

 

[Zcsund1234]

"Here Ben, have a weeklong task of being Big Brother's assistant so you get more screentime in a Vote to Save season".
"Here Ben, have an episode dedicated to you meeting Bert and Patti Newton while they shower you with praise in a Vote to Save season".
"Here Ben, have entire scenes of the daily show dedicated to you carrying your photos around the house in a Vote to Save season"
"Here Ben, have hours of screentime dedicated to solely your point of view on a certain dynamic in the house so the audience see the house through your eyes in a Vote to Save season"

He was most definitely a producer pet, as was Tim (with the constant 'temptation' challenges). The audience just found Tim far more authentic than Ben.

Yep, agree with this. That scene of him being able to be BB's assistance was so clear in it's reasoning. Jade and Matt got very average birthday celebrations, Ben got to meet his biggest life long idols. Do we really have any other reason to speculate whether or not he was a producer's pet? Tim was as well, they kept giving him the option to give Tahan the hair dryer because they knew which way he'd go, and it made for good television. The 2013 season is great on its own, but there are many flaws.

 

[Isee]

"Here Ben, have a weeklong task of being Big Brother's assistant so you get more screentime in a Vote to Save season".
"Here Ben, have an episode dedicated to you meeting Bert and Patti Newton while they shower you with praise in a Vote to Save season".
"Here Ben, have entire scenes of the daily show dedicated to you carrying your photos around the house in a Vote to Save season"
"Here Ben, have hours of screentime dedicated to solely your point of view on a certain dynamic in the house so the audience see the house through your eyes in a Vote to Save season"

He was most definitely a producer pet, as was Tim (with the constant 'temptation' challenges). The audience just found Tim far more authentic than Ben.

The showmances also took up a lot of air time in this season. I think part of the reason for this was that you had a big group of people that just spent their time in the gym or sunbathing by the pool so didn't make for interesting tv, so production focused in on these things. I can remember when it got to the last few and you had Tahan, Boog, Drew and Tim and it looked like they were still making it a fun place to be even though they had been there so long.

Edited to add - focused in on these things = manufactured a lot of these situations. Tim and Ben both knew how play the game and create their own things that the producers would love and get them airtime too.

 

[Zcsund1234]

The showmances also took up a lot of air time in this season. I think part of the reason for this was that you had a big group of people that just spent their time in the gym or sunbathing by the pool so didn't make for interesting tv, so production focused in on these things. I can remember when it got to the last few and you had Tahan, Boog, Drew and Tim and it looked like they were still making it a fun place to be even though they had been there so long.

The cast is extremely top heavy. And whilst I don’t like the idea of six nominees, that mixed in with vote to save allowed for the second half of the season to be as fun as it could possibly be.

 

[Isee]

The cast is extremely top heavy. And whilst I don’t like the idea of six nominees, that mixed in with vote to save allowed for the second half of the season to be as fun as it could possibly be.

I have wondered what would have happened if some of the intruders had been there from the beginning - I think Boog would have changed Tim's game. And I think Penny could have won in 2014.

 

[Zcsund1234]

I have wondered what would have happened if some of the intruders had been there from the beginning - I think Boog would have changed Tim's game. And I think Penny could have won in 2014.

Definitely agree with your take on Boog, I would have preferred her to come in much earlier over many other members of the cast. I remember liking Penny a lot more than most of the original housemates as well, but I actually stopped watching 2014 around the time she came in. A lot of my thoughts on the season will be based on a first watch of some of it.

 

[Isee]

Definitely agree with your take on Boog, I would have preferred her to come in much earlier over many other members of the cast. I remember liking Penny a lot more than most of the original housemates as well, but I actually stopped watching 2014 around the time she came in. A lot of my thoughts on the season will be based on a first watch of some of it.

I can't believe I watched all of 2014 to be honest - I think I only did because of this forum. I cannot remember most of the the people from it, but Penny stands out.

 

[Zcsund1234]

I can't believe I watched all of 2014 to be honest - I think I only did because of this forum. I cannot remember most of the the people from it, but Penny stands out.

I turned off once it was cut down to 4 days a week. Still watched the eviction shows. Didn't watch any of the last week or two except for triple and the finale. I was gutted at the disappointment the series turned out to be. From the moment there were no live updates from the house, I had already lost interest.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Did opt to take a look at the series via the medium of the 5 episodes of Late Night Feast - far more digestable than weeks of daily shows. They were actually really well produced and highlighted what a strong cast they had that year. Yes, they all followed the same format of tasks and games designed to either get the housemates kit off or get the pashing, but there was a rawness about them which felt so authentic.

100% agree. The last episode of LNF was extremely fun, almost felt like uncut. It was all so raw in these episodes, it all felt more natural. It is a real shame it was short lived and didn't return for the next season. There was a lot with 2013 that could have helped the show progress in a positive direction, had nine taken the show seriously and given it the treatment it deserved.

 

[Afflllate]

Penny also had prior recognition if you watched So You Think You Can Dance Australia Season 2 (2009). She was a front runner to win there too but unfortunately she had a Cosima DeVito moment and bowed out with a knee injury/broken leg (or something) around the final 8 stage.

 

[jessy_girl]

I can't believe I watched all of 2014 to be honest - I think I only did because of this forum. I cannot remember most of the the people from it, but Penny stands out.

Yes ditto to all of this. I feel like forum single-handedly kept 2014 afloat because surely no casual viewer would have bothered tuning. And yes I loved Penny so much! You’ll probably like her @Zcsund1234 because every now and then she gave me some Brigitte vibes.

Apparently Penny had a baby on her own through IVF? No idea if that’s true but good for her if so.

 

[Isee]

Yes ditto to all of this. I feel like forum single-handedly kept 2014 afloat because surely no casual viewer would have bothered tuning. And yes I loved Penny so much! You’ll probably like her @Zcsund1234 because every now and then she gave me some Brigitte vibes.

Apparently Penny had a baby on her own through IVF? No idea if that’s true but good for her if so.

Obviously there were some casual viewers because this forum would not have made an unforgettable guy as the winner. The only thing I can remember him doing is posing like a roast chicken. That should not be a winner move not even on a dud season.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Obviously there were some casual viewers because this forum would not have made an unforgettable guy as the winner. The only thing I can remember him doing is posing like a roast chicken. That should not be a winner move not even on a dud season.

Like @jessy_girl said the forum kept my interest alive. Not enough to watch the episodes, but to engage. I more so lurked and didn't post until well after the show was axed, but I loved reading the posts here. I remember being at school and so many people would say they weren't watching that year. A lot of it was due to the time slot and no one (my age at least) was binging shows on 7,9 and 10's websites at this stage either.

Looking back I was very happy with the final three but I wanted Skye to win and I was almost certain she would (I didn't see any of the last 20% of the show so I may have missed some stuff). I am very interested to see what I think as I have almost completely written off this season from BB canon. Part of me doesn't even want to bother with it, but I absolutely cannot stop when I am this deep and almost done.

I am actually going to miss watching the series and commenting my thoughts in a way. But, I have devoted a very unhealthy amount of time to this. How I have managed to do this so quickly whilst going to work and having a social life is confusing to my own mind.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Speaking of Penny I met her in 2017 when I was working at McDonald's. I gave her a free coffee and she was very nice in real life. I also met Tahan in 2015 when I was on year 9 city experience. She wasn't as friendly in all honesty.