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BBAU Rewatch

No it wasn’t woke at all. It was all about controversy: “oh my gosh she used to be a man and can the housemates guess it?”. The thing is at the time I am pretty sure Fitzy would have seen promos for “There’s Something About Miriam” on 10 because they were airing a few weeks before the 4th season of BB began. That’s my theory anyway because Fitzy knew straight away the deal with Miriam.
I think part of the reason I found it difficult to watch was simply the fact that it hasn’t aged well… As gender identity became more talked about we’ve definitely developed alternative methods of talking about it that are more sensitive, understanding, and use more accurate terminology. I’ll admit myself that at the time I’d probably have engaged in the “it’s a man” accusations etc. Paul was on the right track in getting it out in the open albeit was a bit insensitive about it.

Another part is BB… The types of conversations that took place around Miriam were intended. There was no attempt to have the HM’s discuss gender identity in a sensitive way or have HM’s change their views on the transgender community, other than what Miriam herself had to say in response to the HM’s limited questions.
 
Watching the special now, I thought it was a little bit later in the season when she went in. Was just reading Miriam is no longer with us since 2019, RIP.

Seriously Gretel "people will be asking you, 'Where were you when Elvis Died?' 'Where Were You the Iraq War started'? and 'What were you wearing when Miriam entered the BB house'?"
 
I don’t know if it was just my experience but there was a lot of Homophobia and it being socially acceptable in the early 2000s so shows like “There’s Something About Miriam” was fuelling that fire. When the men who participated in the show found out the truth they weren’t very happy as you can imagine.

I was about to say this too. 2004 also saw a show called Playing it Straight, in which one woman spent time on a ranch with a group of men in an attempt to discern which of them were gay and which of them were straight. All of the gay men pretended to be straight. (ugh, really, who thinks this is a good premise?)

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy had debuted the previous year as well.

On the one hand it was like "oh look, finally some visibility", then the reality was WTF.
 
Ah yeah; I'd have to go back and watch if they had always intended to reveal it as part of the first week Sunday show because of no eviction and what would happen if they were found out.
Apologies for revisiting a topic from a week ago, but it's interesting that on the afternoon of Day 7 Logan (David) cut his arm through the mirror glass during a game of soccer and needed stitches. Also FNL winner Glenn invited Logan to the rewards room, thus giving him alone time with each twin throughout the weekend. I think it's the combination of both these events that led to the housemates, especially Glenn, figuring out that Logan was twins. They did apply identical bandaging to both twins but I reckon if neither event occurred then they could have stayed hidden longer. Whether they would have continued the secret is debatable though knowing the production team at the time.
 

As cringe as it is to watch adults play hide and seek I have always found the scene from 5:15 so funny. Ashalea hiding in the chest and the boys dragging it into the diary room and Big Brother saying to her "have you spoken to your fellow housemates about this?" hilarious.

I've smashed through a huge chunk of the series today. I remember Miriam going into the house so much later in the series for some reason and I don't remember her only being there for a bit over the weekend. like @Kingston has said it hasn't aged well. The entire situation was made into such a big deal and all of the boys were arguing over who figured it out first and who had the biggest balls to ask her first. Ashalea seems to be the only one who didn't make a mention of the situation.

Fitzy also got a task where he had to get several tasks completed for other housemates in order to be able to watch the footy. Again as cringe as these secret missions are I did laugh, I couldn't help myself. As slow as this season started I am really enjoying it right now and probably do still contend that it is my favourite season. Ashalea is one of my favourite housemates ever on this show. Paul is a spectacular housemate.

Watching Terri go is a bit disappointing, she was pretty much the main reason for drama amongst the females. But really her time was up. There was no way she was surviving against anyone left in a public vote whether it be evict or save. It was her time. Her last week was pretty bad where Paul was stirring her up and she took it beyond personally.

My main disappointment is that Bree is not really as huge of a character as I recall her being. She's emerging more since Krystal left, but it's mainly the Paul, Fitzy and Ashalea show. Kane, Wesley, Trevor and even Catherine are all overshadowed by the rest of the cast for the most part of the daily shows. And why on earth were the intruders left so late? There was no way in hell they were gonna do well after being brought in almost two months into the series. Waste of time.
 
I’m so impressed with your progress zcsund, you have inspired me to finish 04 myself. I remember liking it but just found it too slow when rewatchingI was still traumatised from persevering with 2002 against my better judgement so gave up on 04 too early.
 
I’m so impressed with your progress zcsund, you have inspired me to finish 04 myself. I remember liking it but just found it too slow when rewatchingI was still traumatised from persevering with 2002 against my better judgement so gave up on 04 too early.
The same happened to me 3 years ago when I planned to do a whole rewatch. 2002 bored me so much and took me too long so I gave up. I have always said 04 to be my favourite, a lot of that is probably bias due to visiting the house being my earliest memory. But for the beginning it was rather slow, the characters are pretty one dimensional and overt the top but it does make me laugh. I think the cast bounces off each other better than 02 did, several people do not like each other and theres more drama than any other previous series.

After you wait for Paul to star stirring it is enjoyable. The worst part is the gender split and how blokey the boys are. But really the cast is humorous. Ashalea is a stand out for me, very Reggie type but not as unique as Reggie. She's probably more of the prototype of this Skye/Tilly archetype. Watching Kane's eviction and Gretel pretty much lets Kane know that all the boys stuck too each other too much and that he only nominated females.

Trrevor, Ryan and Paul do speak with the women but for Wesley and Kane they tended to stick to the boys and it was almost like watching younger guys in a high school pack trying to impress the larger older boys for status. I think it was Bree who said the boys in this season were very much boys boys and the girls were girls girls. Pretty accurate I'd say. It was more fun watching Sara-Marie bounce from billy silly with the boys and serious with the girls. I think what the 04 cast lacks dynamic attributes. Bree is a straight shooter, Paul is a shit stirrer, Ashalea is dumb and so on and so forth. It's a lot of the same thing repeated every single episode. There are moments of learning about housemates on a deeper level but for 75% of the time they are all lately one dimensional. But that is probably more foul to the editing department.

My progress is largely due to isolation, but normally it wouldn't be very hard for me to watch a week's worth in a day. The channel 9 seasons will probably take me longer, but then again there is no extra shows so maybe the total time balances? The way I planned this out was to hopefully finish 2014 around the time the 2022 season is due to air. I hope this is the case so I can jump straight into it. If theres time in between I may contemplate rewatching 2020/2021 for completion sake. But maybe no. I will more than likely watch BBCAN and then one day soon I do hope to finally tackle BBUK. One day I will. One day.
 
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2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013 are all around 100 Days as well as opposed to the others around the 80-85ish mark.

The intruders again weren’t very majorly consequential, except maybe Monica having a bit of a thing with Fitzy (again didn’t she have a ‘boyfriend’ on the outside? Casting sure knew how to pick ‘em).
 
2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013 are all around 100 Days as well as opposed to the others around the 80-85ish mark.

The intruders again weren’t very majorly consequential, except maybe Monica having a bit of a thing with Fitzy (again didn’t she have a ‘boyfriend’ on the outside? Casting sure knew how to pick ‘em).

2013 will probably be the hardest one to get through quickly. Last time I did rewatch it was 7 years ago and it took me about 3 weeks.

Monica had a boyfriend 9 years younger than her. I remember on the nominations show she told Gretel he wasn’t happy with her on the show after her flirting with Fitzy.
 
2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013 are all around 100 Days as well as opposed to the others around the 80-85ish mark.

The intruders again weren’t very majorly consequential, except maybe Monica having a bit of a thing with Fitzy (again didn’t she have a ‘boyfriend’ on the outside? Casting sure knew how to pick ‘em).
IMO it’s really too bad that “intruders” became a necessary part of the format. In a number of series the only reason they exist is to pad out an already bloated series. That said I’d take intruder after intruder over the unnecessary non-eviction episode of the current series.
 
The same happened to me 3 years ago when I planned to do a whole rewatch. 2002 bored me so much and took me too long so I gave up. I have always said 04 to be my favourite, a lot of that is probably bias due to visiting the house being my earliest memory. But for the beginning it was rather slow, the characters are pretty one dimensional and overt the top but it does make me laugh. I think the cast bounces off each other better than 02 did, several people do not like each other and theres more drama than any other previous series.

After you wait for Paul to star stirring it is enjoyable. The worst part is the gender split and how blokey the boys are. But really the cast is humorous. Ashalea is a stand out for me, very Reggie type but not as unique as Reggie. She's probably more of the prototype of this Skye/Tilly archetype. Watching Kane's eviction and Gretel pretty much lets Kane know that all the boys stuck too each other too much and that he only nominated females.

Trrevor, Ryan and Paul do speak with the women but for Wesley and Kane they tended to stick to the boys and it was almost like watching younger guys in a high school pack trying to impress the larger older boys for status. I think it was Bree who said the boys in this season were very much boys boys and the girls were girls girls. Pretty accurate I'd say. It was more fun watching Sara-Marie bounce from billy silly with the boys and serious with the girls. I think what the 04 cast lacks dynamic attributes. Bree is a straight shooter, Paul is a shit stirrer, Ashalea is dumb and so on and so forth. It's a lot of the same thing repeated every single episode. There are moments of learning about housemates on a deeper level but for 75% of the time they are all lately one dimensional. But that is probably more foul to the editing department.

My progress is largely due to isolation, but normally it wouldn't be very hard for me to watch a week's worth in a day. The channel 9 seasons will probably take me longer, but then again there is no extra shows so maybe the total time balances? The way I planned this out was to hopefully finish 2014 around the time the 2022 season is due to air. I hope this is the case so I can jump straight into it. If theres time in between I may contemplate rewatching 2020/2021 for completion sake. But maybe no. I will more than likely watch BBCAN and then one day soon I do hope to finally tackle BBUK. One day I will. One day.

Yes I loved Ashalea, she was my favourite even if not quite worthy of winning.

I will tackle 04 soon. I miraculously am yet to contract covid myself but I am forever going into isolation due to being a close contact, so really what’s the difference?

2006 had a much better pace, and 07 too from memory. I guess the twists really do help, 05 was a bit slow but saved by the twins twist and then the saga with Constance and Nelson. As much as a twist can be annoying they clearly do help us as viewers, or at least me personally.
 
So the day 58 nominations show is probably the biggest waste of time ever. It is beyond blatant that Kris didn't want the three biggest characters in Paul, Ryan and Ashalea up for nomination. I agree with the comments on the whirlpool forum saying that this is a clear way to save Paul. It is so clear production LOVES Ashalea. Anytime someone nominates her BB questions their reason and suggests they change the nomination. The lack of a tally board being shown as well as Gretel constantly saying BB is angry is just a way to justify the decision and to distract people from knowing who the intended nominees were.

There is a lot of Gretel saying "nominate the ones you feel nothing for", it's almost shoved down your throat every single time you see her. Now usually I do agree with this sentiment but its clear that the only reason they're pushing for it as due to the increased prize money. Gretel said something like "we want a deserving winner not an accidental one". Where was this shade when we needed it for when Peter and Ben won? Production is clearly aware of how the vote to evict system results in UTR players surviving the distance of the show, so why not change it when you become aware instead of trying to manipulate the vote?
 
One thing I've taken more notice of in this season is that Mike Goldman's narrations seem to also intend to persuade the audience to vote in certain ways. During the Day 60 family dinner Wesley put in a question regarding Ashalea's lack of effort in household chores and Ryan was convinced BB put the question in which ended up causing some drama. Out of no where Mike Goldman emphasises to the audience that Wesley did not confess to being the one to ask the question. Then he says it again later in another segment. Paul also has a quieter week this week which can obviously be for the reason of wanting him to stay.

After having two quiet male winners and wanting desperately for a deserving person to win the million why not just change the vote system to vote to save? It was shown that vote to evict did no favours to favourites like Sara-Marie and Jessica, Reggie is a rare occurrence where sometimes you do get housemates who will have few evict votes and high save votes throughout the entire season, but really how often do those types of characters occur? Retrospect is a great thing yes but if they were so concerned with a deserving character take home the money then why did it take 6 years to take on the vote to save approach?
 
After having two quiet male winners and wanting desperately for a deserving person to win the million why not just change the vote system to vote to save?
I'm pretty sure by then it was obvious that vote-to-evict was a flawed concept (hence their attempts to sway the votes), but despite recognising that, they persisted with vote-to-evict. Any comments to this effect in the WP thread? I think - if memory serves - we fans had drawn this conclusion after S2.
 
I'm pretty sure by then it was obvious that vote-to-evict was a flawed concept (hence their attempts to sway the votes), but despite recognising that, they persisted with vote-to-evict. Any comments to this effect in the WP thread? I think - if memory serves - we fans had drawn this conclusion after S2.
Can't see anything about vote to save mentioned so far. A lot of just "don't tell me how to vote". But really yeah apart from Reggie winning what good did vote to evict do? The boot list for BB3 was woeful regardless of the final outcome and having Sara-Marie not winning was a pretty stand out reason to conclude its lack of long term effectiveness IMO. Jumping back to BB1 why on earth was there a final 3 eviction anyway? I get they probably wanted to be different but when theres only three options why not just vote for a winner then and there? And having a vote to evict system in the final 2 just makes for unnecessary confusion.
 
Yes vote to evict for the finale always felt flawed. And especially in 2006 (and 2007 I assume but don’t recall) with the terribly confusing vote to evict and vote to save, and then to still continue that to the finale? It really just made it so much more complicated when it should have been very simple of “vote to win”
 
So, the Bree scenario. How on earth do you misplace 5% of a phone vote? So some number of people called a 1902 number and their vote was just not recorded? I don't really understand how that happens, but I'm not one of those who really believe this to be a publicity stunt. I don't think Legion Interactive were really going to embarrass themselves just for the sake of Big Brother packing in an extra quarter of million viewers for the nominations show.

So BB was alerted at around 8:30 while Bree was doing her interview but not put into isolation until almost midnight. There is a lot sketchiness behind it. Has any other version of BB fucked up a vote? I'm likely to guess not and that there is possible truth in this being a stunt but I don't see how this would actually benefit either party. Logically it does make sense that it's a mistake as Bree could have easily sued the show for missing out on the million dollars like she said in the ACA 2011 interview, and why would the show also risk such a big character potentially not being in the show any longer when their whole moto has been "Vote out the ones you feel nothing for".
 
Yes vote to evict for the finale always felt flawed. And especially in 2006 (and 2007 I assume but don’t recall) with the terribly confusing vote to evict and vote to save, and then to still continue that to the finale? It really just made it so much more complicated when it should have been very simple of “vote to win”
I too was very confused with that system. As a person who enjoys maths I tried experimenting with the formula enough times to really understand how it worked. Anytime a person's final % was close to 0 just meant their votes were equal both ways and were cancelled out. As long as your votes to save and votes to evict were semi equal then your evict votes would be voided. But during the majority of 06 and 07 more people were voting to evict anyway until the finale so what was the point.

For the most part the system just screwed over people like Emma and Bodie. And not to mention the whole Day 92 double eviction scenario where the two intruders survived because they had virtually no votes between them to evict or save and Krystal and Claire were lost in the process (boy do I have a huge rant for this when I get to it).

The whole closeness of the 2007 finale is also so fucking stupid. Aleisha was winning 64% to 36% or something like that and it only got so close because they kept showing the graph. But more on that when I get there. It seems though in any scenario a voting method is flawed regardless. Vote to evict gets rid of big characters, vote to save is also manipulated through what we see, having two nominees risks a fan favourite going ect.
 
Well it was a simple net vote system but just not needed at all. The trouble with the net vote system as you say is it did nothing to save the housemates viewers most engaged with, whether positively or negatively. So someone getting say 10000 votes split 51% evict, 49% would get a net vote of 200 to evict - but someone with 1,000,000 votes split similarly would get a net vote of 20,000 to evict so still go ahead of someone 10 times less interesting, even if that person had got 100% of votes to evict.

All they had to do is do what most other countries do and have people vote to evict for evictions and then vote to win in the final week, where voting to eliminate a finalist didn't make any sense at all. Indeed in those days did they carry over the votes from the Sunday to Monday night, or was it a new vote again for the final 2 - where you'd vote for one by evicting the other.
 
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