BB/CBB UK - Rewatch discussions

[Brekkie]

I think you must be the only person to rewatch BBLB in full. I wouldn't even contemplate watching the spin-offs when rewatching a series.

Interesting though you clearly find value in it which says something about the quality of the spin-offs in the early years compared to the later years. I much preferred them when they heavily involved the friends and family alongside the behind the scenes content rather than just became about celebs opinions.

 

[Afflllate]

I think you must be the only person to rewatch BBLB in full. I wouldn't even contemplate watching the spin-offs when rewatching a series.

Interesting though you clearly find value in it which says something about the quality of the spin-offs in the early years compared to the later years. I much preferred them when they heavily involved the friends and family alongside the behind the scenes content rather than just became about celebs opinions.

Yeah Still watchng them but there is a fair bit I do just skim through, whethers its Dermot basically just doing a rehash of Davina's eviction show interview (down to showing another montage of Bubble and Brian / Brian and Narinder's friendship moments) or the Diary Room Chair Tour segment that gets repeated in full the day after;

or sometimes the callers start to repeat themselves (lets talk about Elizabeth's wooly cardigans again shall we?) That Ill listen to the start just to get the gist of some public opinion then buffer through the rest.

Similar with the weekly recap show - I skim through it for any new scenes and it becomes about a 10-15 min out of 48min show of added footage.
One bizarre out of context scene in the one just gone however reminded me of the one of Darren from 2000 (where he checked the coast is clear, did a half nude run to the bedroom and had a bit of a head clipper in the mirror, next scene). This one was played just after some bit of Paul outside tending to the Chicken Coop at night, Then we get this short bit of him standing in front of the bathroom mirror holding something to his eye, then its next scene. Got No Idea whatever it was about.

I Do think at least the initial BBLB after the eviction serves similar to what we had with the Live Nominations show with the Evictee returning to chat. On the other side of the coin with BBLB they do give away the end result of the nominations and the task result ahead of time (if youre just watching the show as it is and not the extra material, so it just depends how spoiler averse you wanna be in terms of finding that out/how we got to that point and watch order.

But also im in two minds about the delayed noms annoucement and the eviction, some areas it does things well, other times I do like the way we did it with nommed and told on the same night, and that mad dash of being told theyre evicted and the scramble out the door straightaway, also having the interview in a slightly more secluded studio environment vs a (short) crowd walkway and having it all on stage in that environment. Theres some pros and cons to each approach, but still miles better than nothing at all, wham bam, You're Fired Apprentice style clapbacks in the car ride home thing of the current format.

 

[Brekkie]

Arguably BBLB was much more of a companion show to the live feed than the main show - it was always structured (in the earlier years at least) around what was happening in the house rather than on the show. When Big Mouth came and eventually moved to a slot airing after the main show it was much more about what happened in the show that just aired rather than what had happened in the house that day.

 

[Afflllate]

Day 37/38 Daily Show: the segment with the Psychologist talking about doing a 'Bitching Analysis' on the eviction pattern so far. You could almost see a drinking game being done how many times he says the word, and its a bit funny: (paraphrased): 'Those doing the bitching, and those being bitched about....' / '...with Bubbles eviction, without bitching as a cue, the housemates dont quite understand why he was nommed and evicted'.

 

[Brekkie]

The best thing about early Big Brother is how housemates like Bubble, who was an early favourite to win, weren't protected from eviction and the process allowed to do it'd thing.

In later years I've no doubt they'd have changed the rules post-nominations so it wasn't just Bubble and Paul (?) up for eviction, even though at the time it was expected Bubble would survive that eviction.

This is why the top two facing eviction head to head worked. It created interest early in the series and the show should never be afraid of losing big characters - indeed it needs to in order for evictions to be interesting. As soon as they start fixing things for 4, 5 or 6 people to be up instead you're usually less invested in the outcome.

 

[Afflllate]

Finished Week 6, Into Week 7 now.

Paul's getting much more of an edit, although surviving these evictions repeatedly is starting to play on him, there was the weird bit between him and Amma early in the week (about how he would 'tear someone like you to pieces' on the outside and 'control everything that goes on in this house') dunno how much of it is in jest or he's getting a bit of a big head about still being there and now the end is in sight. There was also a bit of an energized conversation between him and Elizabeth when they were discussing Anna Kournikova.

They failed the dog training task just the one randomly picked 'fetch' trick that wasn't completed. The mini soap opera task was pretty funny. on BBLB Bubble even went to the premiere of Tomb Raider, and also redid the world record for Corn Kernels and got it! Amma was Evicted.

Aside note, the boys shaving their heads, following on from last year's trend, Paul was gonna do it too after getting a touch up by Helen in the previous week, but then decided against it. It was a bit of a thing also in the Aus series of having a professional Hairdresser in the house as a housemate was a good deal from year to year, depending on how long they stayed in

I'm getting a bit over Dean though being a bit over being there. Theres a couple of them that are hitting a lull point at the moment but I would'nt mind him being next to go.

Fair enough he wasn't finding some of Brian's favourite topics (Posh and Becks, Destiny's Child) mentally stimulating enough, but he did come off a tad whingey going about it to Elizabeth at the same time. I think He's also really starting to feel being the eldest left by a bit (I think Josh is the next oldest by about 5ish years) and not having as many peers left on his kinda level outside Elizabeth. But time will tell if he is even nominated, or coasts through. Brian Vs Josh has flared back up a bit too.

Nominations should be interesting. I wonder if Paul will get a week off, then they can really test some of the others to see what the public thinks (Maybe as Stuart suggested Josh and Brian head to head or something. Also Josh has done well as a latecomer avoiding being up for eviction for like 3 weeks now).

 

[Afflllate]

That was the other thing too. in Week 6 they really started to push them for nominations reasons (It might have been also after the topic of the day on BBLB was 'Is BB too nasty or too nice?') Brian was a bit scandalized by it What do you mean whats the reason? they're my personal reasons. LOL.

In some circumstances it works (i.e. getting Dean to elaborate a bit more than just 'heres my scale again of who I most/least relate to. there. done.') but on some I get it might be hard if no-ones done anything in particular and they revert back to that most/least gotten to know scale, just with a bit more elaboration if they can muster it. Or how about going at least a little strategic (they might wonder how that makes them look on the outside).

 

[Afflllate]

Finished Week 7 (I'm Halfway through the Day 52 BBLB);

Paul Got a week off being nominated! but only barely, Dean and Elizabeth both expressed that they might give him a break, but only Dean followed through with it, Elizabeth flip flopped on the basis that that would be a strategic wimp out this far into the game.

The Obstacle Course Task returns, this time wih some added fun of transporting a Drum Kit across the couyrse using teamwork. A very specific bet of 36.4%, at first I thought the time limit (with penalities applied) put them over 8 minutes by 1 second, however it was actually 8 minutes and then some extra so they passed.

Josh and Helen Up for eviction. Some discussion about 'What if Josh was just pretending to be gay' (off the back of 'what if he's a plant') caused a bit of drama by Paul putting his foot in it a bit.

Another landslide eviction %, (84%), and Josh's Eviction interview was interesting, About the Paul thing and also wanting Elizabeth to win (some of the crowd is starting to to turn on her and Dean as next potentials out, if only they were up?).

Paul and Helen has really started to ramp up too, we got a statement from 'Big G' pretty much saying its over with Helen (But I dont want to air my laundry appearing on the show), but call me when you get out (apparently its one of these on/off again things on the outside, but still as we know from later Aus BB, still a lot of scandal there).

The Dinners segment really shone a light on this and helped it along (also Elizabeth talking about sex a lot in some of her scenes? at the dinner date with Dean and the couch massage with Josh). 'I live My life like an International Pop Star' is another pearler line of the season, this time by Paul. Josh Winding Brian up ('will you give me a bj then' was another funny moment).

Time will tell if this turns out to be Paul's outdoing (if people are here for seeing them just get together already, or are against it because of Big G, but also may think Helen's too naive and Paul is playing games (But is he tactical enough to play that game? as discussed with Josh on BBLB). Ah the ups and downs of a Showmance.

Amma teaching Dermot to pole dance and the BBLB Courtroom with Josh and the guests (one was from Hollyoaks?) were some funny BBLB segments too.

Davina mentioned 'The Eviction Before The Eviction, Before The Eviction Before The Finale - you work it out'. So Theres gotta be at least a Double or a midweek eviction before we can have a Final 3 somewhere in there. Let's see how they do it.

 

[Brekkie]

'I live My life like an International Pop Star'

A quote which any classic BBUK fan will instantly be able to match to the series, the housemate, the situation. For me that is the classic episode of BB2.

 

[Afflllate]

Finished Week 8 and on the home Stretch Now (up to Day 60 BBLB):

The main story was of course Helen and Paul, and the way the cookie crumbled in the final nominations with them both going up and inevitable eviction for either was very predictable. Dean, Elizabeth and Brian all voting the same way, also the 3 of them made it to the Final week without facing the public vote.

It makes me wonder again though and this was pondered on by the housemates that the way that went down, who certain people nominated became fairly obvious, is Did the UK ever adopt the 2 and 1pts system? If not, also where did Australia get it from or was it dare I say an actual 'World First'? haha. It might have ended up yielding the same results with only 2 available slots still, but then again could have shaken things up a little depending how how votes went I dunno.

They failed that schoolyard skipping/pogo/jumper/hula task, good on Helen for keeping at it though until she mastered the Pogo stick. It was kinda analogous to last seasons circus task around the same week.

A lot of thinking about getting on the outside now theres only the last week in sight. Paul was well spoken upon eviction (again very decisive 84% against Helen) regarding the whole being aware of Helen making her own decision and also the both of them not knowing that Big G had dumped her on the outside (some of those newspaper headlines were full on), and his reasons for pulling back a bit. Also he seems a bit in awe by his return to the outside and the level of interest in it all and is going to take a bit to adjust while it simmers down. Looking up the what happened after will be interesting for this season.

Dermot getting to be Big Brother was a funny bit on BBLB, Starting to bring back a couple of the early evictees like Josh Meeting Penny was a fun segment. They've also had a few interesting guests on too Simon Pegg (before any of the Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Mission Impossible stuff, his claim to fame was being from 'Spaced') and Cerys from the band Catatonia, etc. It's also funny to look back on the level of celebrity interest in the show and potential future CBB candidates?

Theyre doing a Final 4 Vote to win with the 4th place dropping out on the 2nd last night. Onto Week 9!

 

[Brekkie]

No, we didn't get the points nomination system. It may indeed be something Australia did first. Spain picked it up at some point, but looks like the early series were just regular noms.

 

[Afflllate]

So I Finished BBUK2 last night! Some thoughts about the final week:

• Being Allowed to discuss nominations because there arent any more. Interesting choice, I dont think this was ever done on the old format Australian Versions. Also going back a bit they almost had another ‘overheard’ moment during the final nominations when Aidan the producer pressed the ‘talk to house button’ instead of the Diary Room.
  The Psychologists reasoned that it was a bit of a cathartic release for them and also with the outside by easing perhaps feeling like they’re giving off two faced vibes by holding on to them even though inside the house theres no future bearing for doing so anymore - its now up to the public alone.
• The Last task day by day was fun too - although they got into some interestingly deep discussions (and Dean and Elizabeth were actually good value sticking around for this part) on the Politics and Morality questions.
• Dean suddenly feels really embarrased having to wear Helen’s hairdressing uniform for the task, but not several weeks back when he was playing ‘Narinder’. I thinks its more to do with the fact he’s being ‘Dean’ instead of playing.a character, or dressing in drag (like Paul).
• BBLB funny bits; They brought up a drawing Paul did of the ‘War Machine in 2080’ from 1990 as a kid and had him do a minature version. Also much like the Awkwardness between Penny and Stuart, Paul’s question to Elizabeth about letting slip to Helen the ’60/40%’ comments he made was super awkward when all the other evictees were just regular la di dah BB questions but they hugged it out. LOL.
• Elizabeth and Dean very telling they barely got 2 and 3% of the vote to win.
• Davina and her ‘Big Mutha’ shirt on finale. They had a proper outdoor stage for the Finale and winners interview this time too. Celeb interest again - Robbie Williams shouting out to the audience asking who would win at one of his concerts. Brian wanting to know who was top of the chart. Also: Someone and Someone had a Baby? I didn’t quite pick up who that was supposed to be both times Davina mentioned it.
• OMG! I think of Janice from Friends (which was playing between the eviction shows this season) and now, Helen from BBUK2001. Haha.
• Brian gets his teddies back, has a twirl with Bubble and we’re done.
  
  I might post a bit more of an overall recap and some housemate thoughts, then… I noticed CBBUK2 wasn’t until November 2002, so I guess we can dive straight into BBUK3!

 

[Afflllate]

• So this series was a pretty good evolution from the 2000 one, obviously being he 2nd series they had a benchmark, Introducing a vote in housemate twist, a surprise eviction, and a much more thematically updated house. Storyline wise as far as the Eviction and Nomination System goes, there were a few limitations just by the way the cookie crumbled.
  
  I’ll expand a little bit more more in the housemates thoughts but if were going to stick with the 1 point each and minimum 2 nominee format for the rest of the C4 era, what I’d like to see from BBUK3 and a lot of this is simply up to chance but maybe a few weeks of different match ups or even a tie or two forcing some more nominees (so maybe some under the radar hms get a taste of being up before its just the end) Paul’s Streak was initially entertaining to see how far he could take it, but then again we got to the final week and 3 of the 4 had never been up.
  
  It might also be a little bit of hindsight bias as I knew Brian and Helen were the final 2 and was trying to work out who the third place would be, meaning Josh and Paul’s evictions were non-suspense because of Helen (I wanted that Paul/Helen face off to be Elizabeth Vs Dean instead, but I guess Elizabeth’s boot was that for me watching it back and knowing the Final 2.
• Theres also a lot of what if with if Josh wasn’t the 11th housemate chosen, so I’ll do the 2 non starters before moving on to the rest, I think Anne may have gotten along well with Dean and Elizabeth, or maybe even Penny or Stuart if the lasted longer. She also had a bit of a wild young at heart vibe too though so she might’ve been able to be the ‘Cool Mum’ and kept up with Bubble, Brian and Helen etc.
• Natasha may have either gotten on with or Clashed with Amma, Helen and Narinder I feel, she may have competed with Narinder’s sidekick role to Brian and/or could’ve replaced her if she left the same week,
  
  anyways Onto some more points in the housemate mini bits:

 

[Afflllate]

• Penny: It was funny that my initial thoughts on her turned out to be correct. She was on the right track in the house at least as far as being entertaining to the outside went as well, however I think she really shot herself in the foot with the Stuart thing and fell apart quite quickly as she became more and more kinda unsure of herself towards the end of her stay, and it translated to the outside. I read that she initially lost her job after appearing nude on the show showering but later went back to teaching.
• Stuart: like Penny perhaps was a little too much too soon - he put his foot in it as well but this time with the massive blow up with Amma after Brian’s Party, which was a bit of a turnpoint in the season. I think he meant well but he just let that competitive and pride side take over a bit I read that he started some tea bag company with Dean after the show, whom as the psychologist in the final few weeks said, they covered a similar niche in the house, like Elizabeth/Penny, Brian/Bubble.
• Narinder: I initially though in the early weeks that she might be nominated a few times upfront, or perhaps survive a little longer like maybe he 6th or 7th week. She was good value and one of the most entertaining this season, Probably overall in my top few I enjoyed watching the arc both in the house and coming back as guest on BBLB etc.
• Bubble: probably the shock eviction of the season. He did have a bad week towards around week 4 that I think got him nominated, but he was also a good value housemate that played off Brian well. Before there were nicknamed housemates like Hotdogs, there was Bubble.

 

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• Amma: There was the initial interest from the stripping backstory, also there was her food hoarding habits and some assertiveness to her that was interesting to watch in some of the discussions in the house. She also seemed to have a bit of a thing for Paul that she never acted on, maybe they could’ve had an in house fling? or they just became good mates whilst they were there particularly that week they were up against each other nominated.
• Josh: He had a hard road as a latecomer, which diminished him delivering his promises on bringing some fun to the house a bit, coupled with the drama and at times frosty reception in the house from Brian who came across like he was threatening his territory. Like he said it would have been interesting to see it from another dynamic (i.e. Josh original with Brian, Brian is the intruder, Brian’s not there, Same thing but They get on, etc) But he did well to not be nominated immediately upon eligibility. I still don’t think that perhaps he would’ve beat Paul if that was the matchup that week though.
• Paul: Initially he was a bit middle of the road and under the radar, He greatly benefitted by suviving those evictions week on week, and starting to get a bit more of an edit, Although stuff like the ‘control’ discussion with Amma (which he later clarified was him holding his tongue to avoid devolving into getting into an argument with her) was a bit weird an could have come across as him getting a big head for still being there. Initially I thought he would’ve made good Final 3 material, but then once he caught caught up in the will they wont they with Helen and ultimately like a lovesick cheer squad for her on the outside at the end, it was a bit much and I would’ve been fine with him leaving maybe instead of Narinder or Bubble, thus opening up the nominations match ups as well at that point. reading up on the after they lasted a good five years before calling it quits so theres that.
• Elizabeth: I mentioned it before but I kept waiting for some more discussion about her age gap partner but it seems it didn’t make the daily show until around 4 weeks in, and even then it was just another one of her confides in Dean, which I feel might’ve been. one of the reasons she was cast, having an interesting backstory and audition video like Anna from 2000 (and also ended up filling a similar laid back role but perhaps lacking the charm that endered Anna a bit more to the public, instead coming across as calculated and two faced to the public). It turns out in the after goss, Her partner selling her nudes to the papers was a dumb move and they split up. She did have some interesting discussion points, although I think might’ve benefitted a little more from a better edit in the earlier weeks.
• Dean: along with Elizabeth these two were very under the radar. With Dean I think he was often conflicted about being there and what he’d gotten himself in for (see pleading to be able to watch the football) and there was that point he was quite over it and just enduring around week 6. Towards the end he took more value in what the experience taught him via deprivation to appreciate what he had on the outside more than his overall experience in the house a little bit I felt, here was also the isolation of being he eldest and taking on the ‘dad’ role early on after Stuart left too, which Narinder started to notice and I thought he mightve copped some nominations from but we never quite got there. That being said, I did value some of his points of view in some of the discussions were interesting, but for more entertainment in watching purposes I was a bit over him around that Week 6 point and would’ve maybe been a more entertaining watch in those final weeks with Narinder and Bubble in place of Elizabeth and Dean, But thats history.

 

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• Helen: She had a mini journey, some pretty gunny one liners, and with a bit of naivety and innocence I would say analogous to a housemate such as Ashalea from Australia 2004. She learnt to cook amongst some other things in the house. She did go off the plot a little instigating the Paul showmance (and tanking her ‘how serious was it really?’ relationship on the outside and would happen in later BBAU seasons), but also played off Brian a bit more once Narinder left as well.
• Brian: Was a very entertaining if not predictable winner and personailty from early on. from his friendships with Narinder (‘Nasty, Nasty Boy’) and Bubble (BOBBUL HOLD MOY) to his antics spotting the camera men ‘EeeeevUL! Deemuns!’). There were moments towards the middle he was getting a little obnoxious at times, then there was the whole whatever his issues were with Josh, but otherwise he did have a big entertaining arc. It’ll be interesting to see him return for UBB and then to host the show. It is a little bit of a bummer to read he and Narinder years later had a bit of falling out and aren’t really speaking, neither with Davina something about not appearing on the 2020 best of specials still being sour about his exit from hosting, but also nice to see he got married and recently had a baby via surrogate from his sister. He was definitely a character here.
  
  I’m sure there might be some other tidbits I’ll come back to later, but Let’s get into BBUK3. What Season does the house move from Bow to Elstree? is it this one or BB5? I wonder what the layout and design will be like this time if theres any more significant restructures and spruce ups.

 

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BBUK3 (2002) Begin...
Woowwww They finally have a Pool! from the beginning! Looks kinda metallic theme the walls and the Bedroom... 12 Housemates! and a Live Launch and House Tour with Davina! The Red/Orange on silver/white aesthetics is kinda giving me BBAU2004 house vibes a little bit, and the titles with Green on Orange/Yellow is a little bit BBBA website 2006, to use a bit of an anachronism. Anyways this definitely looks proper updated with a new studio and the stairs to the house.

Lol at some of these Audition tapes. Alex had Chris Franklin's 'Bloke' in his one. Before there was Adele, there was another talented Adele. and Lee knows how to get to the point of the grab your attention lol.

Theres a skew in age range to the younger 20's. You got Alison, PJ and Jonny in the late 20's, then Lynne 36 and a jump to Sandy at 43. oh and Sunita was 25 iirc. Interesting bunch just on First impressions apart from the 2-3 Ive heard of before but now get to see what theyre all about.

The other thing thats apparent but hasnt been mentioned is there appears to be a difference in 'comfort' level between the two bedrooms where one the beds are 3 to the one slab, the other is a bit more separate and classier looking.

Interesting twist a reverse eviction Week 1 Public nominates, Housemates evict. Let's see what kinda things come out in the first week and if theres any BBLB to see what the public might be gauging their vote on already. If they show us the full result of the nomination vote that would be very interesting too.

 

[Brekkie]

Ooh, interesting question about that first week vote. For the first few series they did reveal the full voting details for evictions and finals (number of votes, not just percentages) but not sure if they ever did for that first vote.

Backing up to BB2 and it is the classic on which all future series were measured. Format wise they did just enough to freshen things up without compromising the core format. And although by chance rather than design I quite liked how it turned out the evictions were head to head all series long.

 

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Up to the First BBUK3 BBLB (Day 7 - before the public nomination eviction) Some interesting developments already.

I was a bit like ‘Spencer, Spencer Spencer, mate what are you doing’ on that first 24 hours, It was only very early days and also the brief edit we got, but He was a bit off to himself (I think he was present during the hide and seek session some of them had though).

Ends up being the last to bed at like 6AM, and off sleeping a lot of the first 2 days (at one point they all ponder whether to wake him up and they all prance off to the bedroom end up putting shaving cream or something on him in bed - he’s completely unfazed). Then he starts saying he’s bored atm in the Diary room (but he gets along with Sandy). I could just hear future nominations being all ‘Ive gotten to know him the least’ or with this public vote looming (unbeknownst to them) we could be ‘he’s coasting’, especially after that bit in the group lounge where he’s like ‘It’ll be better once the numbers start to drop off - and you can just do nothing’ lol.

He has started to perk up and get more involved a bit more with the group though in the past few episodes (such as painting his ass for the chair, the kickboxing session with Kate etc). Alex, Lee and PJ I'd also say I thought were a little bit peripheral to some more of the focus in the first couple days too, but hey’ve got a bit more verbal over the week as well. You can see a few cliques forming.

I was going to say The first task took a couple days to begin too - Its chair painting and not so much a ‘Getting to know you’ task which may aid the votes for first eviction and allow some people to come out a bit - although even without a task they’ve been doing a stellar job of entertaining themselves - a ‘Jerry Springer’ roleplay, How many sex positions can you simulate in 60 seconds?, Aerobics group sessions, making whirlpools in the pool, group manicure…. haha.

And then it comes to Sunita, there was already a discussion on the first daily show where she brought up drug addiction and relating to crime and punishment/rehabilitation, Telling Jade she was young (she’s like 5 years younger but OTOH different maturity levels or that gap younger can seem vast than at older) and didn’t understand her POV, Jade ended up getting a bit teary in the bedroom later and this within the first day! Then Sunita decides she’s not gelling with the experience and we have our first voluntary walker. Still were going ahead with the secret eviction. Wonder if we'll also get a quicksmart replacement Housemate.

So that leaves Lynne, who was apparently a bit tipsy to blame for her bizarre lack of tact with walking in on PJ in the toilet repeatedly and trying to psychoanalyse Spencer and calling him out for seeming very self assured and cocky more or less to his face. I found myself agreeing with Alex in the diary room later summed it up pretty well on some assessments of what’s been going on.

It’s going to be an interesting Eviction.

 

[Brekkie]

Did you find the BBLB where Sunita left? I was looking for that a few weeks back but it seemed to be missing.