Yes, that was done so poorly considering the idea was that it was a housemate chosen at random, so even those that passed the checks still basically had to audition. Of course the BBUK equivalent ended up with a housemate who had auditioned previously getting in, but they somewhat struck gold not so much with the housemate but with the reaction to that housemate, unlike BBAU where Nick (IIRC) just kind of went in and then left without doing much in between.
They also fucked up the web audition idea a year later by making a big deal and then not putting in anyone who auditioned that way until 3-4 weeks later and then chucking them out a week or so later anyway.
One thing I have noticed about the "specials" is how padded they were and how much they'd fill for time. The BB4 recount eviction which was obviously coming anyhow (it was the Thursday night, they'd been told on Monday it would happen that week) saw them tell every single housemate individually in the diary room rather than just announce it to the house. Knowing who went I thought initially they might have been being rather clever by doing that in alphabetical order then I wondered if when Wesley went in he'd be told he had been evicted and leave via the DR - but no, they told him and still had him the same as the others (they'd be an eviction) instructed not to tell anyone even though everyone knew.
It also seems BB4 was the first series where they could see as well as hear Gretel but the problem was that they could work out whenever a twist was coming because Big Brother would turn the plasma on in advance. They always had Big Brother gather the housemates on the sofa in advance of Gretel crossing to the house rather than them just hearing Gretel too.
