Skip to main content

BB/CBB UK - Rewatch discussions

BBUK4 Housemates:
  • Anouska: She was fun, a lot of commenters think she could've won or gained a following given a few more weeks to shine. She certainly spiced things up a bit in the BBAU house. I think some of her 'flirty' personailty role was maybe made up in the House by the Other Anushka 'Nush' later on in the season, But She was also the youngest hm, and got a bit too loud and excited on that first night. Still, If she didnt go, We maybe would've lost Jon (or even the week after in that Close Percentage against Justine). I thought she was pretty down to earth.
  • Justine: Seemed to have few more fun moments in her highlights package than what showed through to the edit. Her whole second week storyline in that was consumed by her flipping her perspective of Jon after the dancing in the Rewards room. In the where are they nows, I read she briefly had a fling with Nasty Nick??
  • Sissy: As I Mentioned early on she was one of the one's who seemed to be most intune and in her head about the game. Had a bit of a stroppy streak as well, I Think She could've stayed over Fed the week she went for a bit longer.
  • Federico: The streak he had with failing the tasks and at first feeling really guilty about it but then not giving a crap about staying or going I think had run its course by the time of the Double and I dont think we'd have got much more mileage out of him entertainment wise. May have even been a candidate for walking if he didnt go when he did but who knows maybe he'd have settled down again if he had survived the double. After all he did enjoy the perks of appearing on BBLB randomly and put himself up for dropping in again on the returnee vote (whereas Tania didn't).
  • Jon: At the very beginning his humour took a little bit to get used to, but then he became entertaining, you either liked what he was serving or you didnt (as Justine found out on her Eviction). I think Mr Tickle was certainly one of the most memorable housemates this series, and the endgame was a little brighter for the twist and him being the one to return.
  • Gaetano: He inadvertantly riled up some fireworks with Tania, and it was probably her last straw that she had had enough and was happy to go. He was pretty chill and fun though.
  • Tania: One of the youngest and probably filled in some of what Anouska may have provided in that sense had she stayed longer. Definitely had a bit more of a presence between the girls that were left at that point. Who knows if Steph and Nush hadnt cannibalized nominations secretly between them, Could she maybe have survived that All girl eviction and still wanted to Stay on now Gaetano had left? The Blusher overdone was a funny defining trait.
  • Gos: Showed signs of entertainment in the edit from time to time early on, but kindof fell into the 'Dad/Cook' of the house role and blended into the background a bit in those middle weeks, and one of those ones that you could afford to lose for watching purposes but stayed in by being rarely copping nomination votes. The week he was finally up even he could have slipped through and stayed longer if just one or two vote went another way. He was a good offsider to Cameron, especially in the aftershow as well. Apparently he appeared on Hells Kitchen at some point?
  • Lisa: Possibly the best 'Intruder' BBUK has had so far, next to maybe Tim from last season I'd say. As I mentioned before, She could've maybe been introduced a little earlier, maybe after Sissy left, she already started on the back foot uphill by entering in Week 6 of 9, but boy did she stir some stuff up. After BB it seems she had a bit of modelling work, and plastic surgery. I wonder if that marriage is still together. (Cameron's 'Secret' as revealed to Davina on Finale was about Lisa, but not about that as speculated).

    Part 2 next post
 
BBUK4 Housemates Continued:
  • Nush: Earlier on, I could see like they were mentioning on BBLB Nush and Scott kindof filling in the neutral/Floater role between the Boys/Girls, and also visualised her being more in the boys group later on. She drew the attention which got a bit on the case of Sissy and then later Steph. She also had a bit of Flirting with Scott that was seen as taking it too far (or if they were really just friends), although tbf it sounds like her relationship on the outside was in some type of long distance disarray anyway. In the afters I think they played the media for a bit but ultimately remained just friends. Theres also something about being mugged and getting a broken leg on a wayward night out and glamming up her image a bit from the 'hippie chick' aesthetic she rocked on the show.
  • Steph: Was always seemingly bubbly and smiling all the time in the first half, then as the girls whittled down, some cracks began to show, evidenced by this secret nominations animosity and insecurity that manifested itself towards Nush. Lisa also got under her skin in particular (taking over the cleaning and down to mirroring her outfits nonchalantly from time to time). Then in Week 8 she had the drunken pow wow with Ray that was quickly gotten over. Other than that there was also the potential romance thread/ buddy with Cameron She had going. I read that she got married but went back to her original surname and is a Teacher or something.
  • Scott: I think he would've had a real shot at winning if not for Cameron's glow up and also if he had perhaps had a rockier road to the finale and been in the thick of nominations at some point, as an antithesis to the 'strategy' of lying low and sailing to the win by virtue of 'nice guy' under the radar. He did have a few fun moments nonetheless, and was great at pep talks with some of the others one on one and also in group discussions.
  • Ray: His outbursts were definitely entertaining, if not a little concerning at times (Tania and the Shower, and Nush in the Kitchen come to mind as well as the immediate aftermath of the Steph Argument). Other times he had some fun moments though as well. Was good to get a bit more of an insight into him on the outside post BB in the BB Diaries. It looks like he did end up doing some radio/presenting work and married in 2016 with a kid.
  • Cameron: At first I could see him in the background just being observant a lot of the time, but as mentioned Being nominated and then surviving that double eviction mid season, He had already started livening up a bit before he also got the Africa trip. There were also a few moments where I thought he started coming across a little big for himself after that, but I think as it stood he ended up being a winner that had a pretty entertaining Journey through the show. whether some part of that was strategic or not as Jon theorized (and some of the others were starting to think during one of those earlier weeks) or whether it just took a bit of time for him to settle in and he at times just seemed somewhat laid back about things, He became a bit more than just a lovable big Scottish guy in the peripheral of the Season that ended up winning. I read he went on to do some panto and is now a teacher or something as well. There was also a museum that displayed some of of his BB Items.

    So Yeah that was BB4! next to post a few thoughts on Teen BB then onto BB5!
 
Wow, BBUK is so different from our BB, those ferals are horrible people - one female was wanting to leave and when BB asked her why - she went ballistic.

"Are you on fucking drugs, what the fuck ... fuck .... fuck ... etc etc ". I'd open the door and tell them to get out if I was BB - after speaking like that.

Another guy during a nomination refused to elaborate on his reasons why he nommed someone, "I just fucking said I'm not fucking saying anything more, I've fucking told you why" was the charming response & BB just pushes a little harder for a better reason ...

I don't really find people calling others bitch every few minutes & saying fuck every 2nd word very entertaining. Perhaps the poms enjoy that sort of dialogue ???

It does put me to sleep rather quickly though :biggrin:
2016 was an absolute low point for BBUK. At this point I think production had literally given up caring and were basically just following orders from Channel 5. Prior to 2018 the last series that made any attempt to actually resemble BB was the first half of 2013.
 
Do agree BB4 stands up better than you expect and hadvit come before rather than after BB3 it would have held up better. The biggest issue for me was they didn't build upon BB3 with either a more extreme rich/poor split with bigger challenges, as the Netherlands and Germany were doing at the time, or something like the two house twist which BB Aus was doing that year - and for my money still one of best twists BB has ever done worldwide.
 
Since Survivor Au is about to end I am going to be quite lost without something to enjoy. The only thing that makes me think don't do it is that I'll end up writing thousands upon thousands of words like I did for the AU series and probably get lost in the world of Big Brother again. And given that my thoughts were growing as the seasons went on, I wonder how long they'd be with the UK seasons lmao. I watched BBUK6 and 7 about 4ish years ago, so it's probably been enough time to watch them again. I'm highly considering flooding the thread with deep analysis. We shall see.
I would say just watch BBUK 5 to start since it's one of the best series and you have never seen it.
 
Teen BBUK 2003
  • The talk about swearing every minute on the 2016 series, Well this lot had some barneys lol. Paul Vs Tracey, Paul Vs Jade, James Vs. Big Brother... Caroline was probably one of the only ones that kept herself right out of some of the trivial and petty arguments.
  • Just talking about some of the 2003 era social stuff in conversations in the regular series, well there was a couple interesting discussions with this group of 18 year olds like them asking about Hasan's prayer schedule, racism, sex and some other topics.
  • Had to laugh a little at how some things have moved along since then, Hasan pulling Tommy up on casually dropping the word 'chink' without prejudicial intent, then in the same breath says that its not just a nickname but used to refer to 'Oriental' people (remember the crap Lady Gaga got in 2011 for using that in Born This Way lyrics, ironically a acceptance anti-bullying empowerment song in itself).
  • And then of course Hasan is one of those people that thinks sexuality is a choice and that puts racial slurs on a different level. He does at least have the self awareness to apologise in advance if he casually lets 'poof' slip in front of Paul 'but it's not in a direct way towards you'.
  • Also the argument between Paul and Tracey over a what would you do situation about a 'Curious' girlfriend asking to explore things that basically amounts to a gay panic defense response from Tracey saying she would probably slap the friend out (this comes off Shaneen often bringing up thats she's 'done it with girls before' and not being quite sure what she'd identify as, also what her parents would think and now she's an 'Adult'). Tracey ends up sounding off that 'Paul wants to be a woman and that makes him think he's better than me and win the argument' or something like that ummm where do we start unpacking that haha.
  • Shaneen also had words with one of the girls for turning the light on in the bedroom and had a bit of a teary moment, Jade and Paul were good friends but were at each other on multiple occasions too (They were paired up on one of the tasks where they had to teach each other a skill and things got heated). Also Paul getting exasperated during the first task with the Air Crew for the Shopping Budget.
  • Tommy and Jade (it had to be a Jade didnt it) and the Doona Dancing. So THAT happened. It's kinda weird cause in the first two episodes it was all Tommy likes Tracey (but shes got a Boyfriend) Tommy and Jade even nominated each other. Nek minnut they both have eyes for each other, Pitted against each other in the tag/wrestle game of the Gender stereotypes task, spending some time out near the pool and the night on the couches. Then theres some pampering each other playing with Carolines products she won in the task, some hand massaging, Hopping into Jade's mattress on the floor in the ONE Bedroom that everyone is sleeping in, one thing leads to another and... Dermot's face in the cutaway says it all.
  • How much were the papers offering again? LOL jokes aside, in all seriousness I think they both handled the aftermath fairly maturely, and good on production for having the producer speak to them both properly and not as BB, whilst keeping it conversational but caring tone and offering a chat or counselling or whatever they needed and no need to feel dirty or ashamed, or just to have a chat to each other to see where they were at. Things went back to usual pretty quickly after that.
  • James ending up getting disqualified for three official warnings. I might go back at some point cause I didnt see what the first one was for (maybe noms talk?) but the second I thought was pretty fair (moreso for the way he was speaking out than breaking the rule of wearing sunglasses inside (has that been a thing all along? hmm)) the third was a bit iffy and rough though IMO based on sleep deprivation like if he gets to a point he literally cannot stay awake and needs a nap (although I guess by the time BB told them all to get up and stay up they had at least a few good hours in). It did seem to have a a bit of an epiphany effect on him though as learning something about the way he's reacted to things during the brief journey in the house.
  • There was Vote to save to determine the second evictee and they used the second bedroom as a vote round table chamber to determine evictee 1 and the final vote to win. Caroline was tied with Paul and the last to vote, voting Paul to win. He ended up choosing her to join on the winners trip prize. Then they all left the house on the 10th Day.
  • As some comments mentioned also it would be interesting to see this again with more modern demographic of Teens see if any different or just different group of people. Them all being 18 was interesting to see the different maturity levels as well.
Anyway, now I've seen most of the gist of that, Next I'll start BB5 in a bit. :)
 
Last edited:
Was there a reason they skipped CBB for 2003/2004?
Im guessing Teen BB filled in for 2003; Going by what Ive seen about it it was pre filmed literally 2 or so weeks after BB4 ended, and was going to be broadcast in late 2003 or early 2004 as some sort of Educational piece on a Multichannel or something like that. They ended up first running it on E4 over a couple days in mid October 2003 and rerun in January 2004.

AFAIK CBB Starts up again after BB5, only it moved slightly back in the schedule into the next year (January 2005) where correct me if I'm wrong became the fixture point from that point for CBB until they started doing 2 a year during the C5 Era?
 
Im guessing Teen BB filled in for 2003; Going by what Ive seen about it it was pre filmed literally 2 or so weeks after BB4 ended, and was going to be broadcast in late 2003 or early 2004 as some sort of Educational piece on a Multichannel or something like that. They ended up first running it on E4 over a couple days in mid October 2003 and rerun in January 2004.

AFAIK CBB Starts up again after BB5, only it moved slightly back in the schedule into the next year (January 2005) where correct me if I'm wrong became the fixture point from that point for CBB until they started doing 2 a year during the C5 Era?
From a scheduling standpoint, it was actually Shattered that took the place of CBB on Channel 4 in early 2004. It was basically Big Brother meets sleep deprivation social experiment. Seems to be largely forgotten about, but it's worth watching.

 
From a scheduling standpoint, it was actually Shattered that took the place of CBB on Channel 4 in early 2004. It was basically Big Brother meets sleep deprivation social experiment. Seems to be largely forgotten about, but it's worth watching.
Ah interestng. Also Dermot doing a bit of a Sonia Kruger/Ricki Lee there, Hosting multiple things on Channel 4 at this point. And oh that's right, X Factor UK was ITV and He didn't come on board there until the 2007 Series (which aired after BB8 was done). Kate Thornton did the first 3 Seasons of X Factor.
 
Was there a reason they skipped CBB for 2003/2004?
It was never an annual thing to start with and as CBB2 and BB4 were deemed as flops, though rated well, there wasn't a particular expectation is would air.

Celebrity Big Brother was technically commissioned for Comic Relief and the BBC/Endemol replaced it with Celebrity Fame Academy (a BBC show) for 2003 onwards.
 
It was never an annual thing to start with and as CBB2 and BB4 were deemed as flops, though rated well, there wasn't a particular expectation is would air.
Thats True that it wasnt at a fixed point, there was never a re-use of the BB2 House layout for another series, CBB1 was March 2001, and CBB2 didn't come until after BB3 in November 2002.
 
BBUK5 (2004) Begins!
  • I have previously seen a little of Kitten's OTT antics, some 'Fight Night' out of context before, these scenes both from pretty early in the Season, but didn't fully understand the background and don't recall much other detail other than a vague recollection of something blue in the decor like a wall and the couch was directly in front of sliding doors or something so It'll be good to see this from the start. I also again know the Winner, but not much else. I'm up to the first 2 days Daily show Catch up episode (Watched BBLB Preview, Launch and the Day 2 Live Task).
  • Special BBLB pre-Launch show (early appearance from a future housemate in the Auditions Casting call montage - no Audition tapes this Season). Books and magazines are not allowed Items this time!
  • The Inside Set has again been be revamped, and also the Live Launch goes a step further this time with a Stage/Screen and a Live Audience - Davina giving some Gretel vibes in a pantsuit.
  • The Door/entry to the house has been lowered, its now pretty much ground level behind a sliding fence from the crowd.
  • House seems a little tad more compact than even the last series (some of the jutting edges and mirrored portions kinda balance out and offset that though as well) - the Bedroom (ONE Bedroom) and bathroom being kinda adjacent is a little bit different and cool though. The Bathroom having a sensor panel of frosting effect glass visible from. the yard - I wonder how much that's actually going to be causing some self aware moments before they get used to it. Also the beds being removed as each housemate leaves will be interesting to see how they work that in. No Chickens or Vegetable patch this time but they do have a separate hidey hole Cylindrical room outside.
  • 'BB is getting meaner' and is a bit more no-nonsense and straight to the point, we will see how much of this translates to nominations if some of them are Gos, Nush or Tania style nominators rather than very 'Full and Frank' as in the housemate guidelines.
  • Some sort of Fines system (iirc BBAU also started this in 2004 'Who is Mike Fines? lol' and this moved along to the Prize money in subsequent seasons of BBAU.
  • Some of the casting is reminding me a lot of BBAU2008 - maybe its Marco's voice straightway is Travis from BBAU8 vibes straight off the bat.
  • 'Best Buttocks 1996' ok then, I see we are using some of Lee from BB3's intro showmanshi... oh HELLO, Jason is really wearing, well not much at all for his first impression into the house, what a choice LOL.
  • Kitten making a bit of a scene before even going in, they got a bit more than they bargained for with her I think (although she is shown to have some settled moments like when she had a one on one with BB in the Live Task episode).
  • Emma seems like fun, also Nadia I think out of the lot there are still some that don't seem to have an instant stereotypical/in your face trait as such compared to some of the others, But also the entry order of Marco Ahmed and Daniel seemed like that was built off of each other and may be likely to clash or get some discussion out of how they will get on together - we will see.
  • Vanessa's accent was throwing me like maybe American?, then they mentioned some South Africa connection - yeah I can hear a bit of that in her voice.
  • Live Task. I could see Daniel's reasoning for who shouldn't get their suitcase trying to size up who would be a similar size and might be easier to share clothes. Stuart despite being Mr '4 A Levels' or whatever it was trying to overthink BB's instructions haha.
  • Victor is super blunt with his reasoning for Kitten - looking forward to his nominations style! lol.
  • Kitten refusing to come to the Diary Room and ending up nominating herself by default, then wondering what everyone was talking about at the end. She Didnt care much except for the photos from home would be tough (She also lost a roll of foil that might've been used for nefarious purposes to f with the cameras Davina said).
  • That being said though it could go the other way and be one less distraction Mechanism to allow yourself to fully immerse in the no contact experience and then seeing your family/friends after however long you stay (also bumped up to 10 weeks this time (And 100k Pound prize money), cant recall right now if BBUK ever matched the 85 or 100 Day series lengths of BBAU? Maybe BB7 did iirc?)
  • Davina mentions a Twist for the upcoming Friday - Fake Eviction by the Housemates and a Bedsit revenge room style setup.
 
House seems a little tad more compact than even the last series
The house was intentionally designed to be much smaller and claustrophobic for psychological effect. If I recall correctly they even lowered the ceilings and things like that.
cant recall right now if BBUK ever matched the 85 or 100 Day series lengths of BBAU?
7, 8, 9, and 10 were the long series. 93-94 days each.

Some of these Efourum episodes might help with contextual rewatching. It was basically the predecessor to Big Mouth.
 
  • Some sort of Fines system (iirc BBAU also started this in 2004 'Who is Mike Fines? lol' and this moved along to the Prize money in subsequent seasons of BBAU.
You mean 2005. 2004 was 'back to basics' with a straight $1 Million prize.
 
The house was intentionally designed to be much smaller and claustrophobic for psychological effect. If I recall correctly they even lowered the ceilings and things like that.
It was although even without those changes the house still would have just as much of a powder keg. It was a nice touch for one or two series but was something they could have given up at some point.
 
You mean 2005. 2004 was 'back to basics' with a straight $1 Million prize.
Yep they still had Fines though in BBAU2004 didn't they? (Cause that's one of Ashalea's quotes I referenced) but It mightve affected their shopping budget or something like that iirc? You are correct however 2005 & 2006 is when it got taken off the Prize money at $5000 per infringement or whatever. 2007 they had to win the Prize Money and build it task by task.

An interesting tidbit about the shopping as well for BBUK5, Marcus Bentley mentioned on the voiceover alcohol is no longer a shopping list item but only supplied to the housemates at BB's discretion.
 
Last edited:
Yep they still had Fines though in BBAU2004 didn't they? (Cause that's one of Ashalea's quotes I referenced) but It mightve affected their shopping budget or something like that iirc? You are correct however 2005 & 2006 is when it got taken off the Prize money at $5000 per infringement or whatever. 2007 they had to win the Prize Money and build it task by task.

An interesting tidbit about the shopping as well for BBUK5, Marcus Bentley mentioned on the voiceover alcohol is no longer a shopping list item but only supplied to the housemates at BB's discretion.

I don’t recall any use of fines when I watched BB04. What was the Ashalea quote you’re referring to?
 
I don’t recall any use of fines when I watched BB04. What was the Ashalea quote you’re referring to?
Asking who 'Mike Fines' is, Im trying to find it now as well maybe I'm having a Mandela effect moment lol. Could it have been from early in '05 from someone maybe.

Anyways, I think Davina also mentioned something about weekly shopping tasks being out or something again in BBUK5 as well.
 
Last edited:
Asking who 'Mike Fines' is, Im trying to find it now as well maybe I'm having a Mandela effect moment lol. Could it have been from early in '05 from someone maybe.

Anyways, I think Davina also mentioned something about weekly shopping tasks being out or something again in BBUK5 as well.
Ah Mike Fines does sounds familiar, could it be possibly from Christie in 05?

Are all 19 seasons of the UK version available to view on YouTube? I plan on watching them all as much as I can. I could probably watch all of the civilian series from C4 before season 20 airs. I watched most of the C5 series and was unimpressed with 16 onwards. Although I do recall really liking 15 and Helen specifically.
 
Back
Top