jessy_girl
Well-Known Member
Yeah I’m pretty sure I feel the same, it’s so long since I watched this season. She seemed like the most normal person in this cast, which admittedly is not exactly difficult.
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BBAU Rewatch
- Thread starter Zcsund1234
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Yeah I’m pretty sure I feel the same, it’s so long since I watched this season. She seemed like the most normal person in this cast, which admittedly is not exactly difficult.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
That is almost a literal summary of my thoughts on her lol.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Not difficult at all. I would never come across some of these people in every day life.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Watching the Friday Night Live finale is so surreal. I remember being eight (I think the finale used to be around the time of school holidays or the end/beginning of the next term) and walking past my mum and sister watching them being dunked in the rats. The finale of 2008 is always such head spin when I watch. I can vividly remember my mum calling out to my sister and I to come watch the final moments of Big Brother with her. Watching Terri win, seeing the brief case with money and Rory next to her is such a clear vision in my childhood memory that I repeatedly flashback to when I hear "Big Brother'.
No matter how funky season 8 was, the final moments of the last FNL (that song they played at the end) and the finale BB01-BB08 farewell tribute still make me cry.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
I tried my best to not, but the FNL episode got me. I know I've watched this all before but it's the same as binging any show, it becomes routine and you get attached. I have devoted four long months to this rewatch, and whilst I still have 2012-2014 to go I still feel like I'm finishing the show with 2008. The series has a strong sense of finality to it, even before the axing.
What that, I’m so genuinely interested to hear your (new) perspective and thoughts on the Nine era, straight out of Ten’s.
When I re-watched them during lockdown, I was pleasantly surprised at how similarly Ten-era many aspects of 2012 was. Obviously it wasn’t perfect but it holds up rather well in hindsight. Despite not feeling that way at the time, it’s not a terrible season overall imo.
2013 is probably one of the best cast seasons ever, however right from its launch you can tell that Nine had meddled between seasons - the contrast from 2012 is evident from the outset. It’s still another strong season though, especially knowing what was to come at Seven, and 2013 has an actually deserving winner (a rarity for BBAU).
2014 is where it got real messy… (Priya deserved better!) You’ll hate the 60-90 minute long episodes too.
When I re-watched them during lockdown, I was pleasantly surprised at how similarly Ten-era many aspects of 2012 was. Obviously it wasn’t perfect but it holds up rather well in hindsight. Despite not feeling that way at the time, it’s not a terrible season overall imo.
2013 is probably one of the best cast seasons ever, however right from its launch you can tell that Nine had meddled between seasons - the contrast from 2012 is evident from the outset. It’s still another strong season though, especially knowing what was to come at Seven, and 2013 has an actually deserving winner (a rarity for BBAU).
2014 is where it got real messy… (Priya deserved better!) You’ll hate the 60-90 minute long episodes too.
braydenharvey
♡Queen Tingz♡
Priya will always be one of my all-time favourite housemates from BBAU. She’s so real. Queen. I still believe til this day Skye and/or Travis deserved to win considering the were in the final 3.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
I am interested to see what I think as well. The channel nine seasons are EXTREMELY fresh in my memory. I could note down the nominees for each week, percentage of the vote, ages of the housemates, their home states ect. It is all stuck in my brain like they happened yesterday.
I loved 2012 at the time, being twelve I had barley any exceptions to hold onto so I feel like I'll feel the same watching it on a binge. I remember loving the cast and being decently happy with the result. I am very interested to see how I will perceive it as I am almost double the age I was (wow that made me shudder) I feel like at the time I was blind to a lot of the nastiness that existed, towards Estelle mainly.
2013 at the time dissapointed me. Although, it seems it has aged fantastically. The cast was strong but I felt I didn't connect with most of them. I did rewatch it in 2015 but I have forgotten all my thoughts again. It will obviously be an important one to take note of for 2022 as well. I didn't like the halfway house twist and I didn't like the 6 nominees. And the change of schedule annoyed me. I didn't like Tim as a winner either but I was thirteen, closeted and exploring sexuality so I was mainly angry Drew didn't win.
2014 is the only season of Big Brother Au that I haven't seeing full. I gave up after week 8 when Aisha and Cat were evicted. I remember absolutely hating it. I was beyond disappointed with it. Weirdly the final three may be my favourite final of all seasons. But I am excited to see how I feel about it now knowing what the show has become today.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Watching the 2008 finale now. I forgot how it opens and I immediately became emotional, flashing back to fourteen years ago.
And then I see the final three of Ben, Terri and Rory... A wilted rose between two busted thorns. The voting to evict method is such a stupid decision. And, the showing of the faces. Why? Well I know why, but why? Jackie O also states they will show the faces once and then only percentages from then. Which ended up being not the case...
And then I see the final three of Ben, Terri and Rory... A wilted rose between two busted thorns. The voting to evict method is such a stupid decision. And, the showing of the faces. Why? Well I know why, but why? Jackie O also states they will show the faces once and then only percentages from then. Which ended up being not the case...
I think the difference with rewatching the Nine era years later to as it happened is the lack of live streams etc. isn't so much of a factor - you're watching it as someone who just watches the episodes anyway, whilst at the time there was a huge gap in what Big Brother was delivering for 23 hours of the day, and indeed 3 or 4 days at a week by the time they cut back the daily shows to 4 nights a week.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
That is the beauty of Big Brother I guess, there is no one way to watch it. Some fans would have just watched the daily shows, some would have live streamed as well as watched the episodes, some would have tuned in to evictions as well as live streaming throughout the week. So in that regard, it's easier to compare them all as I watch them all the same way, through binging. But what I am very excited to see is if the fact I have aged and changed in general since 2012-2014 has changed my opinions.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
And so I finished 2008, very quickly. Before I get into specifics I will say, I did sort of enjoy the rewatch. I mean, it's not boring so I can't say I was not enjoying myself. To simply get the positive out of the way, I think this season is underrated. Do I think it's good? Absolutely fucking not. But if this wasn't Big Brother, or if there weren't seasons of Big Brother before it I would say I enjoyed it. But the reality is that it was the eighth season of a long-running show with an established fan base and well-known format. So overall a massive flop for the show, the network and especially Southern Star Endemol. I've always known this season rated poorly, but looking at those numbers just makes me laugh. How did it possibly do that bad (specifically referring to the daily shows), it's almost laughable now. I remover this season clearly, but I had no idea what garbage this really was when I had seen it as an eight-year-old.
First and foremost, this season was dead upon arrival without Gretel. People can say what they will about her but without her, this show isn't Big Brother. Kyle and Jackie O had massive shoes to fill and barely filled in the space of a little toe. Jackie wasn't too bad, it's known she's a fan but I think she lacks a fundamental deep understanding of reality television, she kind of just scratches the surface. Kyle, however, could it be any more clear he didn't care any less and was there for the pay and nothing else. He had absolutely no further info than what was shown in the daily episodes, but I wouldn't even be surprised if he didn't even watch half of them and based his opinions on what was shared through media and snippets. He was unnecessarily rude and abrupt for what reason? She was too passive, wishy-washy and smiled too much without much emotion showing. I think she could have actually done it better herself, she did well with Mike Goldman, it's just with Kyle she was overpowered. Their involvement was minimal which I guess was a good thing. The eviction shows would come around and I would think "oh yeah, you guys are a part of this". The eviction shows with Gretel felt like more of an event to look forward to, these evictions felt like an obligation to sit through. I think they both knew they weren't fit for the show, and to this day would probably humbly admit it. The eviction shows just lacked the feeling they did previously. The set was ugly, the crowd wasn't shown enough, I missed the eviction plank and the lack of family interviews made the housemates feel more like TV characters for most of the time.
The twists, the format, the gimmicks and everything else was just, ridiculous. The weekly tasks were fucking stupid and made the housemates look like fools rather than psychology test them in group situations that exposed elements of personality. The silly missions, tasks and gimmicks were all just stupid. Plain stupid. It's not even worth getting into detail about. The format tweak on paper seemed interesting, have the housemates choose who goes to at least add an element of unpredictability. But of course, they pretty much all voted based on who they liked rather than thinking logically about the potential game-changing power they had with their votes. I have already mentioned how stupid I found the save twist, which was a huge step backwards after BB7 refreshed the three-point twist. The lack of rewards room also wasn't a good idea IMO, and neither was letting the nominees vote.
So much was wasted or underused/over teased as I have mentioned. The momentum cabinet, the strategy room, the temptation window, the kitchen conveyer belt, the giant bed, the false backs on the lockers. Everything was pretty much a letdown. The only thing about the refreshed format I liked was the hand grenades. Although, they became less fun as the weeks went on. I have already spoken about how I liked that the Kombi grenade was pushed through the entire way and not stopped, but nothing else was that close to being as impressive. The reverting back to the previously used voting format says to me that they did take the season seriously even if it looks like they didn't and that they tried something new which didn't work and they did actually want to try and maintain an audience. But really, Pamela Anderson? Housemates hypnotised? Carson giving them makeovers? Such desperate attempts for ratings. Let the housemates win over the audience, not the stunts.
Speaking of stunts, the cast... Stunt casting is horrible. They tried so hard to emulate BBUK's style of casting. I think the difference is BBUK's casts were at times like a freak show, yes, but they were more than just that as well, whilst for the most part, BBAU8's cast is very much just a freak show. This cast truly gives meaning to the comment of Big Brother going from a human zoo to a human circus. They lack storylines, they lack interest factor, they lack substance. They are over the top despite some moments of complexity throughout for a select few. Most of the daily shows consist of the characters being crazy, the tasks, the missions, the stunts and other silly filler that I don't care about. For most of this cast I know almost nothing about them personally apart from how loud they can scream. And for about half of them, I just don't care about them. Half of this cast are people I would likely never meet in my life (Travis and Brigitte are the first that come to mind) and there are others that I would see daily but they just were not interesting, such as Alice, Nathan, Ben and so on. The cast is the biggest issue, there is no real winner candidate from the group. It feels more like a television show than a competition. This is exactly what I don't want Big Brother to feel like.
In retrospect, it would have been better to do an All-Stars edition. The timing was right and a bit of a wasted opportunity. But of course, it wasn't known that yet that this would be the last season on Ten. Even if it wasn't intentional, the series does feel very final. Not so much in a good way, but it does lead to a sort of this is the end feeling even well before the cancellation was announced. I do think Ten was too quick to call it quits, although Masterchef would make that argument hard to maintain, as I feel there was more to learn from this season rather than reasons to throw in the towel. There was room to move around after it reverted to the initial format and I think BB2009 should have well happened. But it didn't and Julie Goodwin would be very thankful for that I am sure.
I am undecided if I enjoyed the rewatch more or less than I expected. I am left feeling very numb after it in all honesty. The only reason I would say I'm sad is that finishing 08 reminds me of it finishing in real life and in a way that is symbolic of my childhood ending in my eyes. It didn't hit the mark but I will at least say, it is better than a lot of other series of reality television out there. But then again, there is a lot of bad reality television. That's pretty much my thoughts on 2008. I am now done with the initial era of Big Brother, and now onto the era, I watched in full in real-time. Still surprised I'm up to 2012 and we are yet to see a proper promo for 2022 but there has to be something soon. There is no way I finish 2012 with nothing being shown to us. Looking forward to rewatching 2012, this is the one I am the most excited to see how my opinions change.
First and foremost, this season was dead upon arrival without Gretel. People can say what they will about her but without her, this show isn't Big Brother. Kyle and Jackie O had massive shoes to fill and barely filled in the space of a little toe. Jackie wasn't too bad, it's known she's a fan but I think she lacks a fundamental deep understanding of reality television, she kind of just scratches the surface. Kyle, however, could it be any more clear he didn't care any less and was there for the pay and nothing else. He had absolutely no further info than what was shown in the daily episodes, but I wouldn't even be surprised if he didn't even watch half of them and based his opinions on what was shared through media and snippets. He was unnecessarily rude and abrupt for what reason? She was too passive, wishy-washy and smiled too much without much emotion showing. I think she could have actually done it better herself, she did well with Mike Goldman, it's just with Kyle she was overpowered. Their involvement was minimal which I guess was a good thing. The eviction shows would come around and I would think "oh yeah, you guys are a part of this". The eviction shows with Gretel felt like more of an event to look forward to, these evictions felt like an obligation to sit through. I think they both knew they weren't fit for the show, and to this day would probably humbly admit it. The eviction shows just lacked the feeling they did previously. The set was ugly, the crowd wasn't shown enough, I missed the eviction plank and the lack of family interviews made the housemates feel more like TV characters for most of the time.
The twists, the format, the gimmicks and everything else was just, ridiculous. The weekly tasks were fucking stupid and made the housemates look like fools rather than psychology test them in group situations that exposed elements of personality. The silly missions, tasks and gimmicks were all just stupid. Plain stupid. It's not even worth getting into detail about. The format tweak on paper seemed interesting, have the housemates choose who goes to at least add an element of unpredictability. But of course, they pretty much all voted based on who they liked rather than thinking logically about the potential game-changing power they had with their votes. I have already mentioned how stupid I found the save twist, which was a huge step backwards after BB7 refreshed the three-point twist. The lack of rewards room also wasn't a good idea IMO, and neither was letting the nominees vote.
So much was wasted or underused/over teased as I have mentioned. The momentum cabinet, the strategy room, the temptation window, the kitchen conveyer belt, the giant bed, the false backs on the lockers. Everything was pretty much a letdown. The only thing about the refreshed format I liked was the hand grenades. Although, they became less fun as the weeks went on. I have already spoken about how I liked that the Kombi grenade was pushed through the entire way and not stopped, but nothing else was that close to being as impressive. The reverting back to the previously used voting format says to me that they did take the season seriously even if it looks like they didn't and that they tried something new which didn't work and they did actually want to try and maintain an audience. But really, Pamela Anderson? Housemates hypnotised? Carson giving them makeovers? Such desperate attempts for ratings. Let the housemates win over the audience, not the stunts.
Speaking of stunts, the cast... Stunt casting is horrible. They tried so hard to emulate BBUK's style of casting. I think the difference is BBUK's casts were at times like a freak show, yes, but they were more than just that as well, whilst for the most part, BBAU8's cast is very much just a freak show. This cast truly gives meaning to the comment of Big Brother going from a human zoo to a human circus. They lack storylines, they lack interest factor, they lack substance. They are over the top despite some moments of complexity throughout for a select few. Most of the daily shows consist of the characters being crazy, the tasks, the missions, the stunts and other silly filler that I don't care about. For most of this cast I know almost nothing about them personally apart from how loud they can scream. And for about half of them, I just don't care about them. Half of this cast are people I would likely never meet in my life (Travis and Brigitte are the first that come to mind) and there are others that I would see daily but they just were not interesting, such as Alice, Nathan, Ben and so on. The cast is the biggest issue, there is no real winner candidate from the group. It feels more like a television show than a competition. This is exactly what I don't want Big Brother to feel like.
In retrospect, it would have been better to do an All-Stars edition. The timing was right and a bit of a wasted opportunity. But of course, it wasn't known that yet that this would be the last season on Ten. Even if it wasn't intentional, the series does feel very final. Not so much in a good way, but it does lead to a sort of this is the end feeling even well before the cancellation was announced. I do think Ten was too quick to call it quits, although Masterchef would make that argument hard to maintain, as I feel there was more to learn from this season rather than reasons to throw in the towel. There was room to move around after it reverted to the initial format and I think BB2009 should have well happened. But it didn't and Julie Goodwin would be very thankful for that I am sure.
I am undecided if I enjoyed the rewatch more or less than I expected. I am left feeling very numb after it in all honesty. The only reason I would say I'm sad is that finishing 08 reminds me of it finishing in real life and in a way that is symbolic of my childhood ending in my eyes. It didn't hit the mark but I will at least say, it is better than a lot of other series of reality television out there. But then again, there is a lot of bad reality television. That's pretty much my thoughts on 2008. I am now done with the initial era of Big Brother, and now onto the era, I watched in full in real-time. Still surprised I'm up to 2012 and we are yet to see a proper promo for 2022 but there has to be something soon. There is no way I finish 2012 with nothing being shown to us. Looking forward to rewatching 2012, this is the one I am the most excited to see how my opinions change.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
And here are my, attempted housemate thoughts.
Rima: I was really interested to get to know her more and hear about her life experiences. Whilst I don’t really care about the stunt casting choices for this season, I think the inclusion of someone like her necessary do diversity. I remember her FNL accident so vividly, watching it again made my life feel like it rewound 14 years. Shame she had to leave so early, I liked her “I don’t take shit from anyone” attitude and I would have liked to hear more about her life experiences. I liked that she got to return but was wasted upon that. It's a shame she wasn't at the finale, but I understand why.
Michael: I have literally nothing to say. The most forgettable housemate ever probably. I’ve never heard of his band before, did he get the publicity he wanted.
Barney: I kind of wish he went in, purely because he was cute. That is all.
Saxon: I found him to be really aggressive and too much of a judgmental prick. I mean good on him for wanting to change his ways from being a self-proclaimed bigot, but he didn’t exactly come across as nice. Believing in aliens also doesn’t make you a unique human…
Rebecca: She wasn’t anything I didn’t expect her to be upon seeing her intro package. She wasn’t completely unlikeable, a tad irrelevant to begin but her whole edit was being Brigitte’s friend and having Bianca dislike her. She had some issues with the girls particularly Dixie so I would have liked to see that develop more, but I mostly don’t really care that much for her. She wanted to leave and then gave herself the four points to evict. She got massively screwed by the downgrade in prizes in FNL. I know the voting format made it impossible for the winner to receive immunity, but she should have been able to be safe from the eviction. Regardless of who was saved, she was going to be nominated and evicted so that isn’t great from a format perspective.
Nathan: I don’t think I’ve watched a housemate whose’ storyline is explained through the words of others rather than his own. He is predominantly boring and is only relevant towards his later days when he is flirting with Renee. There was debate over whether or not he was leading her on. I say yes, I guess. There isn’t much content to go off, but he told her he didn’t want anything in the house but progressed to flirt with her. He is largely forgettable other than that and was constantly referred to as playing the game, he was apparently too nice, so I guess that checks out. I just didn’t care that much for him.
David: His archetype like I have said before is my least favourite. I don’t care that you’re a generic, arguably good-looking nice guy. These guys are not entertaining television. He had the potential to be interesting with his story of the cult, but he didn’t talk about it a lot so there was hardly anything to interest me.
Dixie: For the most part of the first three weeks I really could not stand her because of the constant crying, whinging, complaining and her overly emotional personality. But, in her last two weeks, I really changed my opinion of her. She was the only person to feel sorry for Brigitte and acknowledge that the Big Brother house is not real life, if Brigitte had no clothes and wanted to be sad about it then so be it. I agreed with her wholeheartedly about the whole issue, if giving Brigitte her stuff back to stop her crying is giving in then who really cares? I too like Dixie would choose to have someone in the house happy and make my time in the house easier, so she really won me over. I was very shocked with how prominent of a character she was to the storyline, I barely remember anything of her, but she was probably the biggest character at one point in terms of airtime. I also think it is a bit sad it took eight seasons to have an Aboriginal representative. She educated other housemates on their ignorance which I appreciated and wish we saw more of in reality television down here in Australia. I really wish she stayed longer; she was becoming such a likeable character at the end of her stay, but I understand why she wanted to leave. Her hand grenade was making living in the house unbearable, and she felt out of place in the house. It is a shame that her voting herself out evicted her and kept Bianca there, I would have much preferred Dixie over Bianca.
Renee: I liked her, she was cool and stuck out amongst the others as one of the more endearing characters. She wasn’t exactly a standout character, but she was easy to root for. I felt sorry for her when Nathan was allegedly leading her on, so that made it easy to like her. I’ve read people compare her to Reggie and that she was the bookies' favourite to win, I guess it see it. Kind of, not really. Her simple-minded nature made her endearing to watch but by no means was she the one person amongst the cast who stuck out to me as a deserving winner. Her perception after the fight with Bianca was overblown, she didn’t say anything morally wrong in my opinion. I would have liked to see her stay, but I wasn’t too upset to see her go so early, but she still is one of the better characters of this strange cast.
Rima: I was really interested to get to know her more and hear about her life experiences. Whilst I don’t really care about the stunt casting choices for this season, I think the inclusion of someone like her necessary do diversity. I remember her FNL accident so vividly, watching it again made my life feel like it rewound 14 years. Shame she had to leave so early, I liked her “I don’t take shit from anyone” attitude and I would have liked to hear more about her life experiences. I liked that she got to return but was wasted upon that. It's a shame she wasn't at the finale, but I understand why.
Michael: I have literally nothing to say. The most forgettable housemate ever probably. I’ve never heard of his band before, did he get the publicity he wanted.
Barney: I kind of wish he went in, purely because he was cute. That is all.
Saxon: I found him to be really aggressive and too much of a judgmental prick. I mean good on him for wanting to change his ways from being a self-proclaimed bigot, but he didn’t exactly come across as nice. Believing in aliens also doesn’t make you a unique human…
Rebecca: She wasn’t anything I didn’t expect her to be upon seeing her intro package. She wasn’t completely unlikeable, a tad irrelevant to begin but her whole edit was being Brigitte’s friend and having Bianca dislike her. She had some issues with the girls particularly Dixie so I would have liked to see that develop more, but I mostly don’t really care that much for her. She wanted to leave and then gave herself the four points to evict. She got massively screwed by the downgrade in prizes in FNL. I know the voting format made it impossible for the winner to receive immunity, but she should have been able to be safe from the eviction. Regardless of who was saved, she was going to be nominated and evicted so that isn’t great from a format perspective.
Nathan: I don’t think I’ve watched a housemate whose’ storyline is explained through the words of others rather than his own. He is predominantly boring and is only relevant towards his later days when he is flirting with Renee. There was debate over whether or not he was leading her on. I say yes, I guess. There isn’t much content to go off, but he told her he didn’t want anything in the house but progressed to flirt with her. He is largely forgettable other than that and was constantly referred to as playing the game, he was apparently too nice, so I guess that checks out. I just didn’t care that much for him.
David: His archetype like I have said before is my least favourite. I don’t care that you’re a generic, arguably good-looking nice guy. These guys are not entertaining television. He had the potential to be interesting with his story of the cult, but he didn’t talk about it a lot so there was hardly anything to interest me.
Dixie: For the most part of the first three weeks I really could not stand her because of the constant crying, whinging, complaining and her overly emotional personality. But, in her last two weeks, I really changed my opinion of her. She was the only person to feel sorry for Brigitte and acknowledge that the Big Brother house is not real life, if Brigitte had no clothes and wanted to be sad about it then so be it. I agreed with her wholeheartedly about the whole issue, if giving Brigitte her stuff back to stop her crying is giving in then who really cares? I too like Dixie would choose to have someone in the house happy and make my time in the house easier, so she really won me over. I was very shocked with how prominent of a character she was to the storyline, I barely remember anything of her, but she was probably the biggest character at one point in terms of airtime. I also think it is a bit sad it took eight seasons to have an Aboriginal representative. She educated other housemates on their ignorance which I appreciated and wish we saw more of in reality television down here in Australia. I really wish she stayed longer; she was becoming such a likeable character at the end of her stay, but I understand why she wanted to leave. Her hand grenade was making living in the house unbearable, and she felt out of place in the house. It is a shame that her voting herself out evicted her and kept Bianca there, I would have much preferred Dixie over Bianca.
Renee: I liked her, she was cool and stuck out amongst the others as one of the more endearing characters. She wasn’t exactly a standout character, but she was easy to root for. I felt sorry for her when Nathan was allegedly leading her on, so that made it easy to like her. I’ve read people compare her to Reggie and that she was the bookies' favourite to win, I guess it see it. Kind of, not really. Her simple-minded nature made her endearing to watch but by no means was she the one person amongst the cast who stuck out to me as a deserving winner. Her perception after the fight with Bianca was overblown, she didn’t say anything morally wrong in my opinion. I would have liked to see her stay, but I wasn’t too upset to see her go so early, but she still is one of the better characters of this strange cast.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Rhianna: She was okay, nice but that is all really. She hooked up with Rory and everyone said she didn’t do much work around the house. That pretty much sums up her two weeks on the show. Oh, and Cherry had a very strange vendetta against her. I don’t understand why exactly she was evicted over Terrence and Cherry, but at least she got to give Rory a hand job!
Nobbi: I thoroughly enjoyed him at the beginning of the series. He was outspoken, confident and wasn’t afraid to do or say what he pleased which made for fantastic television. I did also like the Kombi situation, I thought it tested him hard initially but later on, he became accustomed to it, which allowed for the twist to not fully impact his narrative but to also add something to it. I did like how this twist was not abandoned shortly after and it was stuck to him for his entire stay. It was easy to guess he was one of the most popular housemates in the beginning, and it was fairly deserved. A huge character who did stick out amongst everyone else but did meet a nasty downfall later on. For the first sixish weeks he was obviously loved by a majority of fans (the kombi situation tbh was a ticket to popularity) but that nasty spa incident essentially guaranteed him eviction whenever he was next nominated. After watching it, I strongly feel that Nobbi did know what he was doing when he asked Travis to say his least favourite housemate in Infront of everyone. He knew Travis would say Alice after overexaggerating to him previously about what Alice had said, and he just wanted to watch the drama unfold. He stated he wanted to put Travis on the spot and yes, he did, he just knew what he’d say.
It is largely because of Nobbi that this boy’s group forms between him, Ben and Rory and occasionally Travis when necessary or convenient. Due to him being outside at dinner time it is Rory and Ben who spend more time than others outside eating dinner with him. And thus, that’s how the spa mafia boys (or the black crows) group became to be. Which then leans into, the bullying of Travis. I’ll go into more detail in the Travis write up, but Nobbi is equally as guilty as the other boys. It isn’t just him. The edited shows do a lot of work to pin all of the blame onto Nobbi. His edit is SOOOO negative in his last few days where they even show him getting scolded by Big Brother personally. Obviously, something needed to be said but Ben and Rory escape largely unharmed compared to Nobbi. So, whilst I don’t disagree with Nobbi being told off, he was pretty much highlighted as the ringleader behind the treatment of Travis. He didn’t exactly help his case though, every time he was called upon it he tended to get angry and would argue back, especially to Alice. He was probably just very young and hadn’t learnt to take responsibility maturely yet. In saying all of this, once he leaves, he hands over the entertainment responsibilities to Brigitte. He does leave a very large hole in the show once he leaves as he was imperative to the narrative and entertainment value of the show. Overall, I did find him enjoyable, whilst at the same time there were some questionable motives, but he did end up getting a very rough deal both inside the house as well as through the edit of the show.
Terrence: Much like some of his iconic predecessors along with the likes of Kim, Rita, Perry and Michelle, Terrence very much INTRUDED on the dynamics of the Big Brother housemates. He came into a house full of youngsters and to say he made his presence known is very much underselling it. He was of great value for drama and entertainment and drove people like Rory, Nobbi and none other than Brigitte absolutely mad with his never-ending stories and overly upbeat attitude. It was humorous watching him send them all mental, but at times it did drive me mental just watching and listening to him on the daily shows. He reminded me too much of dads, stepdads, uncles and people I serve at work who need to tell me every detail of their lives and stories that they see relevant to a situation. And may I add how little interest I have in hearing them without sounding rude LMAO. I can see how the housemates got annoyed, with them being so much younger than it would definitely have been hard to seriously sit down and listen without falling asleep. Whilst he was fun, he did have that typical side to him to which I’d say, “Okay boomer”, especially when constantly needing to compare Gen Y to Gen Boomer. He was a little on his high horse, a tad politically incorrect and thought a bit too highly of himself and his opinions at times. It’s funny that during his whole argument with Brigitte he was actually wrong, claiming she said she remained in the house she was “hated” when she actually said “nasty”. So, in real life, he would really irritate me but possibly also be someone I could get along with. But also, much like Terri, he is a very old fifty-one-year-old. I know many people in real life his age who act nothing like him or Terri. Possibly he was cast because of that but I feel like he and Terri did not accurately represent people their age in the best way.
Nobbi: I thoroughly enjoyed him at the beginning of the series. He was outspoken, confident and wasn’t afraid to do or say what he pleased which made for fantastic television. I did also like the Kombi situation, I thought it tested him hard initially but later on, he became accustomed to it, which allowed for the twist to not fully impact his narrative but to also add something to it. I did like how this twist was not abandoned shortly after and it was stuck to him for his entire stay. It was easy to guess he was one of the most popular housemates in the beginning, and it was fairly deserved. A huge character who did stick out amongst everyone else but did meet a nasty downfall later on. For the first sixish weeks he was obviously loved by a majority of fans (the kombi situation tbh was a ticket to popularity) but that nasty spa incident essentially guaranteed him eviction whenever he was next nominated. After watching it, I strongly feel that Nobbi did know what he was doing when he asked Travis to say his least favourite housemate in Infront of everyone. He knew Travis would say Alice after overexaggerating to him previously about what Alice had said, and he just wanted to watch the drama unfold. He stated he wanted to put Travis on the spot and yes, he did, he just knew what he’d say.
It is largely because of Nobbi that this boy’s group forms between him, Ben and Rory and occasionally Travis when necessary or convenient. Due to him being outside at dinner time it is Rory and Ben who spend more time than others outside eating dinner with him. And thus, that’s how the spa mafia boys (or the black crows) group became to be. Which then leans into, the bullying of Travis. I’ll go into more detail in the Travis write up, but Nobbi is equally as guilty as the other boys. It isn’t just him. The edited shows do a lot of work to pin all of the blame onto Nobbi. His edit is SOOOO negative in his last few days where they even show him getting scolded by Big Brother personally. Obviously, something needed to be said but Ben and Rory escape largely unharmed compared to Nobbi. So, whilst I don’t disagree with Nobbi being told off, he was pretty much highlighted as the ringleader behind the treatment of Travis. He didn’t exactly help his case though, every time he was called upon it he tended to get angry and would argue back, especially to Alice. He was probably just very young and hadn’t learnt to take responsibility maturely yet. In saying all of this, once he leaves, he hands over the entertainment responsibilities to Brigitte. He does leave a very large hole in the show once he leaves as he was imperative to the narrative and entertainment value of the show. Overall, I did find him enjoyable, whilst at the same time there were some questionable motives, but he did end up getting a very rough deal both inside the house as well as through the edit of the show.
Terrence: Much like some of his iconic predecessors along with the likes of Kim, Rita, Perry and Michelle, Terrence very much INTRUDED on the dynamics of the Big Brother housemates. He came into a house full of youngsters and to say he made his presence known is very much underselling it. He was of great value for drama and entertainment and drove people like Rory, Nobbi and none other than Brigitte absolutely mad with his never-ending stories and overly upbeat attitude. It was humorous watching him send them all mental, but at times it did drive me mental just watching and listening to him on the daily shows. He reminded me too much of dads, stepdads, uncles and people I serve at work who need to tell me every detail of their lives and stories that they see relevant to a situation. And may I add how little interest I have in hearing them without sounding rude LMAO. I can see how the housemates got annoyed, with them being so much younger than it would definitely have been hard to seriously sit down and listen without falling asleep. Whilst he was fun, he did have that typical side to him to which I’d say, “Okay boomer”, especially when constantly needing to compare Gen Y to Gen Boomer. He was a little on his high horse, a tad politically incorrect and thought a bit too highly of himself and his opinions at times. It’s funny that during his whole argument with Brigitte he was actually wrong, claiming she said she remained in the house she was “hated” when she actually said “nasty”. So, in real life, he would really irritate me but possibly also be someone I could get along with. But also, much like Terri, he is a very old fifty-one-year-old. I know many people in real life his age who act nothing like him or Terri. Possibly he was cast because of that but I feel like he and Terri did not accurately represent people their age in the best way.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Bianca: I really did try to like her, but I just can’t. I’m all for having housemates you love to hate for entertainment, but it pained me to watch her. She was so pompous, conceited and overly bad-tempered. I hated how she came in as this stuck up eighteen-year-old who looked down on her peers who enjoyed partying and drinking. You don’t have to approve of certain behaviours, but you’re no better than anyone because you don’t engage in them. I just found her an aggravating presence on the series that just made me screw my face up and scream “shut the fuck up” at my TV. It’s probably because I have had to deal with people who share her views, and they really annoy me. She got extremely lucky to survive that week 5 eviction. Had Dixie not been given such a gruelling hand grenade Bianca would have been out of that door so fast you’d even miss her boobs heading out. The girl had some serious anger management issues she needed to work through, and I hope for her sake that she did. I’ve read somewhere a few years ago she became a teacher after the show, looks like the politics route didn’t work out, I hope she didn’t scare the kids too much. And did she ever get the breast reduction?
Three major incidents elucidated her angry personality: Corey entering the house, the boob fight and the mole incident. With Corey, I think Bianca was way too judgmental and high and mighty towards him. He threw a party and got in trouble boo hoo, you’re no better than him and it’s really rich to tell him he has a social responsibility to uphold whilst you were on a show that had a scummy reputation and proceeded to throw tantrums every week. The boob fight was something where I could kind of see her point of view, but an extreme overreaction, nonetheless. And the mole incident was just ridiculous. She took that wayyyyyyy too personally, her reaction to Rima was completely unnecessary and disgusting and throwing the washing just showed how angry of a person she could be. It was a fucking mission from Big Brother, Rima didn’t just go “oh yeah I’ll mentally fuck them up”. It’s Big Brother Bianca, you signed up to be mentally fucked up in a house for three months. I get she was very young and had so much more mental, emotional and physical maturing to experience, but I felt embarrassed for her. This girl was not someone I would get along with in everyday life. But yes, I can see why she was good TV.
Brigitte: Wow. I forgot how fucking fantastic she was. I really did. I knew I loved her, and I knew I’d love her again, I just did not expect to love her that much. I can’t even think of a summary to write for her because it’s almost impossible. She was everything I loved about Nikki Graham from BBUK (rest in peace <3) she was Australia’s perfect bratty, complaining princess. Usually, my criteria for a good housemate requires a housemate to defy stereotypes associated with them, but Brigitte not only was everything you’d expect her to be, but she was also a massively unexpected, extraordinary version of these stereotypes. She was so unapologetically abrupt to the point of it catching people off guard and putting a huge spotlight on her that was IMPOSSIBLE to ignore. The spitting of her tongue, the swearing, the yelling, the screaming, it was all so over the top and so unprecedented. She was so typical to her archetype that she was somehow at the same time a unique version of it. I have always said Sara-Marie, Vesna and Reggie are my top three housemates of all time, I never expected to say this, but Brigitte rounds out my top four. I have not laughed as hard at loud at a series since Sara-Marie. I love Brigitte that much.
Her reactions with Terri and Terrence were hilarious, the hand grenade situation had me hysterical, and the way she just spoke to Big Brother and the other housemates, in general, was so dry and unexpected it honestly had me in stitches. Whether it be her saying “shut up idiot” or “go away Terrence, you old freak” or even “Terri you’re a witch” led me to tears. It was just simply her abrasive and unexpected comments that threw people off guard that made her stand out. “Get fucked Saxon” will replay in my head for months on end now and I’ll silently laugh to myself because of it. I loved her storyline as well. She went from this isolated figure who the others didn’t respect which resulted in her feeling ostracised, to then later her being seen as their little sister and watching her cry in her eviction message highlights how far she came in this experience. She was the only person in the cast I can say I loved the entire way through, and she is the only one I would call worthy of winning. Her eviction was shocking, even knowing it happened. Reading online the betting odds, the popularity polls and her general reception, her eviction was well and truly a shock. I don’t think she would ever win the show due to its format, but she should have been there at least to the second last day. To me, she is a legendary Big Brother housemate that should be spoken about more. Channel Ten went out with a bang with her and I am so happy someone like her made it onto the show. I wish she won a car just so everyone who didn’t want her to win the money would spit the dummy. I don’t really care that she was spoilt and wasn’t into doing hard work. It’s comical. And who tf wouldn’t wanna live like that lol.
I feel very sorry that she had that outside burden with Eric whilst she was in the house. From what it sounds like he had major dirt on her that he was threatening to expose if she didn’t behave in a way that he saw fit on the show. Whether or not there was a sex tape is still unclear to me but reading online it seems on this very site there was some information released about it with Eric actually commenting on here. It’s a shame she was subjected to that mental torture, and she deserved so much better than that. I hope she is living her absolute best life right now free of anything of the sort that she endured from that man. Whether she is still shopping for a living or if she did take on a career, I hope she is happy either way.
Cherry: If you asked me who the hottest guy was in this season when I was 14, I would have answered Cherry, now at 22 I would say, Rory. Cherry was not really much more than just a generically good-looking surfer guy on a reality show. He came in and the boys were threatened but then befriended him. He sighted Brigitte and snatched her right at the last minute, said some derogatory comments about women, won some FNLs and then got evicted. He was said to be strategically aware in comparison to the rest of the cast, but when you enter as an intruder knowing things beforehand, that isn’t too hard to do. He nominated as optimally as you could as far as strategy goes, nominate the person you think is most likely to go in case you’re nominated, so there is a positive there. I think he tried to get on with Brigitte in order to win over her fans to increase his odds at winning, I don’t think he had any interest in a relationship, nor does it look like he was interested in a relationship in general. He was a young womanizing, charming, good-looking guy who was used to female attention. He was always going to be the last intruder standing and would probably do well in both formats of the show. I think he actually thought in his mind he had the chance to win this, given his archetype does well usually, and his competitiveness was genuine. He was good looking but not much going on in the personality department.
Three major incidents elucidated her angry personality: Corey entering the house, the boob fight and the mole incident. With Corey, I think Bianca was way too judgmental and high and mighty towards him. He threw a party and got in trouble boo hoo, you’re no better than him and it’s really rich to tell him he has a social responsibility to uphold whilst you were on a show that had a scummy reputation and proceeded to throw tantrums every week. The boob fight was something where I could kind of see her point of view, but an extreme overreaction, nonetheless. And the mole incident was just ridiculous. She took that wayyyyyyy too personally, her reaction to Rima was completely unnecessary and disgusting and throwing the washing just showed how angry of a person she could be. It was a fucking mission from Big Brother, Rima didn’t just go “oh yeah I’ll mentally fuck them up”. It’s Big Brother Bianca, you signed up to be mentally fucked up in a house for three months. I get she was very young and had so much more mental, emotional and physical maturing to experience, but I felt embarrassed for her. This girl was not someone I would get along with in everyday life. But yes, I can see why she was good TV.
Brigitte: Wow. I forgot how fucking fantastic she was. I really did. I knew I loved her, and I knew I’d love her again, I just did not expect to love her that much. I can’t even think of a summary to write for her because it’s almost impossible. She was everything I loved about Nikki Graham from BBUK (rest in peace <3) she was Australia’s perfect bratty, complaining princess. Usually, my criteria for a good housemate requires a housemate to defy stereotypes associated with them, but Brigitte not only was everything you’d expect her to be, but she was also a massively unexpected, extraordinary version of these stereotypes. She was so unapologetically abrupt to the point of it catching people off guard and putting a huge spotlight on her that was IMPOSSIBLE to ignore. The spitting of her tongue, the swearing, the yelling, the screaming, it was all so over the top and so unprecedented. She was so typical to her archetype that she was somehow at the same time a unique version of it. I have always said Sara-Marie, Vesna and Reggie are my top three housemates of all time, I never expected to say this, but Brigitte rounds out my top four. I have not laughed as hard at loud at a series since Sara-Marie. I love Brigitte that much.
Her reactions with Terri and Terrence were hilarious, the hand grenade situation had me hysterical, and the way she just spoke to Big Brother and the other housemates, in general, was so dry and unexpected it honestly had me in stitches. Whether it be her saying “shut up idiot” or “go away Terrence, you old freak” or even “Terri you’re a witch” led me to tears. It was just simply her abrasive and unexpected comments that threw people off guard that made her stand out. “Get fucked Saxon” will replay in my head for months on end now and I’ll silently laugh to myself because of it. I loved her storyline as well. She went from this isolated figure who the others didn’t respect which resulted in her feeling ostracised, to then later her being seen as their little sister and watching her cry in her eviction message highlights how far she came in this experience. She was the only person in the cast I can say I loved the entire way through, and she is the only one I would call worthy of winning. Her eviction was shocking, even knowing it happened. Reading online the betting odds, the popularity polls and her general reception, her eviction was well and truly a shock. I don’t think she would ever win the show due to its format, but she should have been there at least to the second last day. To me, she is a legendary Big Brother housemate that should be spoken about more. Channel Ten went out with a bang with her and I am so happy someone like her made it onto the show. I wish she won a car just so everyone who didn’t want her to win the money would spit the dummy. I don’t really care that she was spoilt and wasn’t into doing hard work. It’s comical. And who tf wouldn’t wanna live like that lol.
I feel very sorry that she had that outside burden with Eric whilst she was in the house. From what it sounds like he had major dirt on her that he was threatening to expose if she didn’t behave in a way that he saw fit on the show. Whether or not there was a sex tape is still unclear to me but reading online it seems on this very site there was some information released about it with Eric actually commenting on here. It’s a shame she was subjected to that mental torture, and she deserved so much better than that. I hope she is living her absolute best life right now free of anything of the sort that she endured from that man. Whether she is still shopping for a living or if she did take on a career, I hope she is happy either way.
Cherry: If you asked me who the hottest guy was in this season when I was 14, I would have answered Cherry, now at 22 I would say, Rory. Cherry was not really much more than just a generically good-looking surfer guy on a reality show. He came in and the boys were threatened but then befriended him. He sighted Brigitte and snatched her right at the last minute, said some derogatory comments about women, won some FNLs and then got evicted. He was said to be strategically aware in comparison to the rest of the cast, but when you enter as an intruder knowing things beforehand, that isn’t too hard to do. He nominated as optimally as you could as far as strategy goes, nominate the person you think is most likely to go in case you’re nominated, so there is a positive there. I think he tried to get on with Brigitte in order to win over her fans to increase his odds at winning, I don’t think he had any interest in a relationship, nor does it look like he was interested in a relationship in general. He was a young womanizing, charming, good-looking guy who was used to female attention. He was always going to be the last intruder standing and would probably do well in both formats of the show. I think he actually thought in his mind he had the chance to win this, given his archetype does well usually, and his competitiveness was genuine. He was good looking but not much going on in the personality department.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Travis: It’s clear from the eyes of production and the editing team that you were supposed to like Travis, I did not. Of all people in the cast, he is probably the biggest personification of ‘stunt casting’. He was cast purely for his voice and the way he acts. Whilst it is refreshing to see some boys on this show who don’t fit into the blokey archetype, he wasn’t much more than the character he presented. He always had to be (to use his words) “posimistic” which got so draining after a few short episodes. No one could possibly be that positive and upbeat all of the time, there has to be a point where you do feel negative emotions such as getting annoyed, angry, upset or even just look at a shit situation for what it is. I can understand why he was popular, but I personally am not on that bandwagon and would not have voted to keep him in. I wouldn’t have evicted him, it’s just I can’t really warm to him all that much. He was very much one-note positive the entire time and it became frustrating to listen to him say shit like “we’re all winners of BB this year” “let’s look at the posimistic side” “I totally see your point of view”. Even disagreeing with people or having a discussion with him was like watching a Disney movie’s happy ending.
The bullying that was aimed towards him early on wasn’t pleasant to watch. I feel sorry for him that his voice became such a large part of his notability and that he had experienced bullying in his life beforehand. I think the boys started off making fun of him and laughing at him rather than with him initially, and when the male numbers were getting low, they changed their tune and began manipulating him to gain a number. I do think by the end the housemates did genuinely love him, but he was also very clearly hard to live with 24/7. I would have liked to see him stand up for himself a bit more, not try so hard to appease others and to understand when he was being teased. I am happy he didn’t win; however, it would have been purely because of sympathy. I am surprised the voting audience turned on him before Ben and Rory, but it seems people may have shared my opinion at the time. Whilst he was a different person than I would pick out from an average crowd of people, he lacked complexity. He also very much lost me when he said being gay was a choice, as I mentioned before. Ironically, his sexuality became a talking point for many housemates, fans and even Kyle. I wish feminine traits weren’t specifically attributed to sexual orientation, but unfortunately, that is the world we live in. It is a shame a man can’t be feminine and not have those labels thrown at him, so whilst I have a lot of negative things to say about Travis, I do appreciate that he was comfortable being himself with no fear of the unavoidable judgment.
Alice: I do like Alice as she was, but there was nothing really more to her than simply who she was. I guess because she was from Bendigo, which is where my family is from, I will always like her for that reason despite her having almost no storyline and lacking complex moments. Apart from being saved numerous times she has almost nothing worth mentioning apart from some circumstantial moments that she didn’t even initiate. She had THAT fight with Bianca, but Renee got more of the screen time than her, she was involved in that spa argument which did make me feel sorry for her and possibly gave her some popularity. And then there was the treadmill dummy-spit which painted her in such a bad light, and I am inclined to think this was done to ensure she was evicted so that Terri’s chances at winning increased. I do like Alice, she is someone who was more ‘normal’ and relatable than most of the others in this cast, but I think it’s the cast that was the biggest hurdle for her. She was thrown into a very young cast which resulted in her being pushed back to the sidelines in comparison to the younger and louder characters such as Travis, Brigitte, Rory and Nobbi. Terri had the privilege of standing out with her age, Alice was made to feel like a more boring, motherly and domestic figure than she would have liked to have been. I think she did struggle to mesh with the cast, and she would be more suited to a cast from the earlier years. I don’t have much more else to say as there isn’t that much more to go off, she had the potential to be great, but she was more disappointing than what I expected of her, especially on a rewatch.
Ben: How the fuck did this kid make it to the final. How? He got super lucky very early on almost being evicted twice and surviving purely on luck. He intended to vote for David on night one and only changed his vote when he and Terri started ranking in the most votes. Had he voted earlier there is one less vote for Terri and the two tie and Ben is a contender to be evicted on day one to never be mentioned again. Then, in week three if Rebecca didn’t vote for herself and had Alice not voted strategically, he goes. He then goes onto a long stretch of weeks where he hides in the edit and isn’t nominated for eviction. I absolutely hate when the younger guy follows the older boys like a younger cousin. It’s cringe, it’s boring and it makes me vomit. Ben was so slimy, running back and forth to the boys to spill information to please the head honchos Rory and Nobbi.
He was so much bitchier than most of the females in the house and extremely judgmental of the males outside of the spa mafia gang. Sure, he may have genuinely gotten along with the guys, but he kissed their arses so much that he’d even defend them where it was so transparently clear there was no merit to defend them, i.e., the spa incident. Without Nobbi and Rory, he is irrelevant for the first 60% of the series, until Bianca became horny for him, and he backed away without much thought but was too cowardly to say he wasn’t interested, and instead got himself stuck in a “is he gay” situation. Aside from his storyline he himself as a character is so boringly generic and uninteresting. I found him too mediocre and that he lacked endearment, I see people like Ben every day at uni, so he doesn’t even stick out in a crowd. The arguing with Big Brother wasn't funny, he came across as a sook from it. His survival through to the finale is purely conditional, had he been nominated against people like Brigitte, Travis or Terri he goes. He was lucky to escape the harsh villainising after the spa incident that Nobbi faced, very lucky. I am very glad he didn’t win, ending Big Brother at that time with a winner like him would have been so incredibly disappointing. As you can tell, I wasn’t a Ben fan.
The bullying that was aimed towards him early on wasn’t pleasant to watch. I feel sorry for him that his voice became such a large part of his notability and that he had experienced bullying in his life beforehand. I think the boys started off making fun of him and laughing at him rather than with him initially, and when the male numbers were getting low, they changed their tune and began manipulating him to gain a number. I do think by the end the housemates did genuinely love him, but he was also very clearly hard to live with 24/7. I would have liked to see him stand up for himself a bit more, not try so hard to appease others and to understand when he was being teased. I am happy he didn’t win; however, it would have been purely because of sympathy. I am surprised the voting audience turned on him before Ben and Rory, but it seems people may have shared my opinion at the time. Whilst he was a different person than I would pick out from an average crowd of people, he lacked complexity. He also very much lost me when he said being gay was a choice, as I mentioned before. Ironically, his sexuality became a talking point for many housemates, fans and even Kyle. I wish feminine traits weren’t specifically attributed to sexual orientation, but unfortunately, that is the world we live in. It is a shame a man can’t be feminine and not have those labels thrown at him, so whilst I have a lot of negative things to say about Travis, I do appreciate that he was comfortable being himself with no fear of the unavoidable judgment.
Alice: I do like Alice as she was, but there was nothing really more to her than simply who she was. I guess because she was from Bendigo, which is where my family is from, I will always like her for that reason despite her having almost no storyline and lacking complex moments. Apart from being saved numerous times she has almost nothing worth mentioning apart from some circumstantial moments that she didn’t even initiate. She had THAT fight with Bianca, but Renee got more of the screen time than her, she was involved in that spa argument which did make me feel sorry for her and possibly gave her some popularity. And then there was the treadmill dummy-spit which painted her in such a bad light, and I am inclined to think this was done to ensure she was evicted so that Terri’s chances at winning increased. I do like Alice, she is someone who was more ‘normal’ and relatable than most of the others in this cast, but I think it’s the cast that was the biggest hurdle for her. She was thrown into a very young cast which resulted in her being pushed back to the sidelines in comparison to the younger and louder characters such as Travis, Brigitte, Rory and Nobbi. Terri had the privilege of standing out with her age, Alice was made to feel like a more boring, motherly and domestic figure than she would have liked to have been. I think she did struggle to mesh with the cast, and she would be more suited to a cast from the earlier years. I don’t have much more else to say as there isn’t that much more to go off, she had the potential to be great, but she was more disappointing than what I expected of her, especially on a rewatch.
Ben: How the fuck did this kid make it to the final. How? He got super lucky very early on almost being evicted twice and surviving purely on luck. He intended to vote for David on night one and only changed his vote when he and Terri started ranking in the most votes. Had he voted earlier there is one less vote for Terri and the two tie and Ben is a contender to be evicted on day one to never be mentioned again. Then, in week three if Rebecca didn’t vote for herself and had Alice not voted strategically, he goes. He then goes onto a long stretch of weeks where he hides in the edit and isn’t nominated for eviction. I absolutely hate when the younger guy follows the older boys like a younger cousin. It’s cringe, it’s boring and it makes me vomit. Ben was so slimy, running back and forth to the boys to spill information to please the head honchos Rory and Nobbi.
He was so much bitchier than most of the females in the house and extremely judgmental of the males outside of the spa mafia gang. Sure, he may have genuinely gotten along with the guys, but he kissed their arses so much that he’d even defend them where it was so transparently clear there was no merit to defend them, i.e., the spa incident. Without Nobbi and Rory, he is irrelevant for the first 60% of the series, until Bianca became horny for him, and he backed away without much thought but was too cowardly to say he wasn’t interested, and instead got himself stuck in a “is he gay” situation. Aside from his storyline he himself as a character is so boringly generic and uninteresting. I found him too mediocre and that he lacked endearment, I see people like Ben every day at uni, so he doesn’t even stick out in a crowd. The arguing with Big Brother wasn't funny, he came across as a sook from it. His survival through to the finale is purely conditional, had he been nominated against people like Brigitte, Travis or Terri he goes. He was lucky to escape the harsh villainising after the spa incident that Nobbi faced, very lucky. I am very glad he didn’t win, ending Big Brother at that time with a winner like him would have been so incredibly disappointing. As you can tell, I wasn’t a Ben fan.
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
Rory: I am relatively conflicted about how I feel about Rory as a character, potential winner and person in general. As a character, he provided entertainment there is no doubt about that, even if you hated him. From the get-go to the finale, he was key to storylines, drama and most of the relationships highlighted in the daily shows. He, like Nobbi, was at the top of the hierarchy in the early days of the show and judging by the “danger zone” shown every daily show, plus the cheers from the crowd, he was an early favourite amongst the teens. It just so happened that each weekend he’d end up in the bottom three, but that didn’t matter as his position in the house was so optimal, he probably survives in any single configuration of nominees. His back-and-forth arguments with Brigitte were fun, his relationship with people like Travis and Terri were fun to watch develop over time as well. I don’t care for showmances, but I guess he offered content, especially for Big Mouth. And look, he was hot, he had sex appeal. I’m not even gonna pretend I don’t think that. His G-string moments were fun, his shower scenes were fun, let’s not kid ourselves.
As for his personality, he isn’t exactly someone I’d say I would get along with very well, in the early weeks at least. I saw some standard traits I’d expect from guys his age, a bit arrogant, stubborn, oversells accomplishments (whether that be inside or outside of the bedroom) and thought very highly of his morals. I will say he does cool down once Nobbi leaves. Like many any other previous housemate of his archetype, he tended to stick around with the boys and was largely uninvolved with the women. But he did change later on. He did form bonds with Terri, Bianca and in a way Brigitte. Yes, he was cocky at times and yes, he probably tried to overplay the “working-class Aussie battler” thing a bit too hard. But by the end, I didn’t totally dislike him. I found him humorous from time to time and he did bounce off the cast fairly well. But, like Nobbi and Ben, the bullying of Travis was something I can’t ignore. Rory displayed examples of ignorance especially towards LGBT stereotypes when grilling Travis on his sexuality. It’s something I could do without, but he did slightly redeem himself by the end. Like many of the cast members, he does lack a level of complexity and substance. It was a lot of the same Rory every episode with sprinkles of character development, but not too much to stand out (maybe his relationship with Travis is an exception, maybe). His claim to substance was mainly his opinions on general life as well as his fellow housemates. He was a tad too old school for my liking to some degree but, I do think under the surface there did exist a nice guy within the hard exterior.
In terms of his win equity, he does face a rough patch where it was highly possible, he could have gone, but thanks to the voting audience consisting of teenage girls he lucked out narrowly. When I look at this cast as a whole, it is so hard to single out a winner candidate. There is no Sara-Marie or a Reggie or even a Tim Dormer. There is a case for several people, but no one stood out as a clear deserving winner to me. Brigitte may have, but she was never going to actually win. If I was to pick someone who was a plausible option, I probably lean towards Rory and Terri (reluctantly). I think I have decided I would have preferred a Rory win, and he was leading in the vote. Much like Estelle who came to follow, he was literally robbed of the money. He was leading. He had achieved the necessary requirement of winning, which was to be the favourable option to the voting public. But like Estelle, he wasn’t the desired winner from the producer’s point of view. I am the last person to stand up for this archetype, but he was literally going to win, and it was taken away from him. I guess he really should have won, he did slightly win me over towards the end and I am glad he managed to survive. My opinions are mixed, but I do think overall, he was better than the edit made out at times, particularly early on. Honestly, maybe it’s because he’s from Geelong that I feel like I need to support him, but I do think he would have been a more palatable winner than most of the others on this cast, and probably Terri in all honesty.
Terri: And now to discuss BB08’s chosen one from months before she even set foot in the Dreamworld house. What is there to really say that hasn’t already been said? She was told she was evicted on night one with no chance of returning to the house, just for Big Brother to stomp his foot in rage and bring her back as he does not like “predictable outcomes”. She is then asked to babysit Australia’s biggest juvenile delinquent as a way to excuse her return. She is told she must put him to bed at a specific time in order to pass her mission, she quickly fails. Once her disobedient dependant refuses to evict two of the new housemates, the task is predictably handed over to her in order to reinstate her as a Big Brother housemate. Does it stop there? No. Every single live show Kyle and Jackie O have to painfully pretend like they aren’t trying to persuade the audience to jump on Nana’s bandwagon and vote to keep her in the house. Every Friday Night Live Mike, Bree and Fitzy need to constantly remind everyone that nana must remain in the house for the sake of entertainment.
And what happens when the show spins around back to its initial format? Whenever Terri is nominated, she is shown so positively in order to prevent her initial impending exit. They then proceed to emphasise her friendship with fan favourite Brigitte and further set up a storyline of the negative nana becoming a positive presence in the house, who is there to run amuck with the modern youth. Whenever a conversation about winning occurred, it involved someone discussing why they think Terri should win. I don’t mean to take away from that, I am sure they all meant it, but they never show the same conversations being said about the others unless Terri pops up. The edit massively hides her racial undertones, and any time she was caught saying something politically incorrect it was played off as a joke. Her edit was ridiculously positive towards the end, the entire last week especially was all about the housemates wanting to give her the care packages. And then the finale. Do I even need to explain any more than I have already? She didn’t win that money; she was gifted it.
As for a character, she was fine-ish. I can see the appeal to some viewers out there about watching a nana on TV, and in theory, I could get behind that idea. But she didn’t exactly represent the idea all too well. For a 52-year-old she was well edging close to fucking 80. I don’t know anyone of that age who presents themselves as a senior citizen as much as she did. My mum is only four years younger than Terri was when she was in the house, and she is NOTHING like that. How many women in their early fifties fucking knit? Obviously, this played into why she was cast, but it paints a horribly false picture of how people her age act. I am sure there are people her age now and her age then who wouldn't like to be looked at like they’re a few short years off receiving their pension and wheeling around in a nursing home. Her narrative however is, unfortunately, one of the more complex ones, and also airtime dense. Initially, she is the next to go, she was a goner any time she was nominated in that first month, but lucky nana got by just fine.
There needs to be credit given although, she did manage to create bonds with the majority of the housemates and manage to feel more comfortable in the environment. Terrence also did wonders for her perception amongst the other housemates; he was the annoying one and she was the more popular option to socialise with. I don’t think Terri was a hateful person, I think she was mostly uneducated, sheltered and lacked a broad social setting. She had some pretty backward opinions which I would say are wrong, but she doesn’t seem like she’s had an opportunity to educate herself on her ignorance. Nor did she seem interested either. I didn’t see her as hateable, just not someone I wanted to barrack for. I am left unimpressed by her win largely because of how it happened. Although she was one of the more complex characters within the season, she was more so a winner candidate because of her being the nana, and also because the producers wanted her to.
As for his personality, he isn’t exactly someone I’d say I would get along with very well, in the early weeks at least. I saw some standard traits I’d expect from guys his age, a bit arrogant, stubborn, oversells accomplishments (whether that be inside or outside of the bedroom) and thought very highly of his morals. I will say he does cool down once Nobbi leaves. Like many any other previous housemate of his archetype, he tended to stick around with the boys and was largely uninvolved with the women. But he did change later on. He did form bonds with Terri, Bianca and in a way Brigitte. Yes, he was cocky at times and yes, he probably tried to overplay the “working-class Aussie battler” thing a bit too hard. But by the end, I didn’t totally dislike him. I found him humorous from time to time and he did bounce off the cast fairly well. But, like Nobbi and Ben, the bullying of Travis was something I can’t ignore. Rory displayed examples of ignorance especially towards LGBT stereotypes when grilling Travis on his sexuality. It’s something I could do without, but he did slightly redeem himself by the end. Like many of the cast members, he does lack a level of complexity and substance. It was a lot of the same Rory every episode with sprinkles of character development, but not too much to stand out (maybe his relationship with Travis is an exception, maybe). His claim to substance was mainly his opinions on general life as well as his fellow housemates. He was a tad too old school for my liking to some degree but, I do think under the surface there did exist a nice guy within the hard exterior.
In terms of his win equity, he does face a rough patch where it was highly possible, he could have gone, but thanks to the voting audience consisting of teenage girls he lucked out narrowly. When I look at this cast as a whole, it is so hard to single out a winner candidate. There is no Sara-Marie or a Reggie or even a Tim Dormer. There is a case for several people, but no one stood out as a clear deserving winner to me. Brigitte may have, but she was never going to actually win. If I was to pick someone who was a plausible option, I probably lean towards Rory and Terri (reluctantly). I think I have decided I would have preferred a Rory win, and he was leading in the vote. Much like Estelle who came to follow, he was literally robbed of the money. He was leading. He had achieved the necessary requirement of winning, which was to be the favourable option to the voting public. But like Estelle, he wasn’t the desired winner from the producer’s point of view. I am the last person to stand up for this archetype, but he was literally going to win, and it was taken away from him. I guess he really should have won, he did slightly win me over towards the end and I am glad he managed to survive. My opinions are mixed, but I do think overall, he was better than the edit made out at times, particularly early on. Honestly, maybe it’s because he’s from Geelong that I feel like I need to support him, but I do think he would have been a more palatable winner than most of the others on this cast, and probably Terri in all honesty.
Terri: And now to discuss BB08’s chosen one from months before she even set foot in the Dreamworld house. What is there to really say that hasn’t already been said? She was told she was evicted on night one with no chance of returning to the house, just for Big Brother to stomp his foot in rage and bring her back as he does not like “predictable outcomes”. She is then asked to babysit Australia’s biggest juvenile delinquent as a way to excuse her return. She is told she must put him to bed at a specific time in order to pass her mission, she quickly fails. Once her disobedient dependant refuses to evict two of the new housemates, the task is predictably handed over to her in order to reinstate her as a Big Brother housemate. Does it stop there? No. Every single live show Kyle and Jackie O have to painfully pretend like they aren’t trying to persuade the audience to jump on Nana’s bandwagon and vote to keep her in the house. Every Friday Night Live Mike, Bree and Fitzy need to constantly remind everyone that nana must remain in the house for the sake of entertainment.
And what happens when the show spins around back to its initial format? Whenever Terri is nominated, she is shown so positively in order to prevent her initial impending exit. They then proceed to emphasise her friendship with fan favourite Brigitte and further set up a storyline of the negative nana becoming a positive presence in the house, who is there to run amuck with the modern youth. Whenever a conversation about winning occurred, it involved someone discussing why they think Terri should win. I don’t mean to take away from that, I am sure they all meant it, but they never show the same conversations being said about the others unless Terri pops up. The edit massively hides her racial undertones, and any time she was caught saying something politically incorrect it was played off as a joke. Her edit was ridiculously positive towards the end, the entire last week especially was all about the housemates wanting to give her the care packages. And then the finale. Do I even need to explain any more than I have already? She didn’t win that money; she was gifted it.
As for a character, she was fine-ish. I can see the appeal to some viewers out there about watching a nana on TV, and in theory, I could get behind that idea. But she didn’t exactly represent the idea all too well. For a 52-year-old she was well edging close to fucking 80. I don’t know anyone of that age who presents themselves as a senior citizen as much as she did. My mum is only four years younger than Terri was when she was in the house, and she is NOTHING like that. How many women in their early fifties fucking knit? Obviously, this played into why she was cast, but it paints a horribly false picture of how people her age act. I am sure there are people her age now and her age then who wouldn't like to be looked at like they’re a few short years off receiving their pension and wheeling around in a nursing home. Her narrative however is, unfortunately, one of the more complex ones, and also airtime dense. Initially, she is the next to go, she was a goner any time she was nominated in that first month, but lucky nana got by just fine.
There needs to be credit given although, she did manage to create bonds with the majority of the housemates and manage to feel more comfortable in the environment. Terrence also did wonders for her perception amongst the other housemates; he was the annoying one and she was the more popular option to socialise with. I don’t think Terri was a hateful person, I think she was mostly uneducated, sheltered and lacked a broad social setting. She had some pretty backward opinions which I would say are wrong, but she doesn’t seem like she’s had an opportunity to educate herself on her ignorance. Nor did she seem interested either. I didn’t see her as hateable, just not someone I wanted to barrack for. I am left unimpressed by her win largely because of how it happened. Although she was one of the more complex characters within the season, she was more so a winner candidate because of her being the nana, and also because the producers wanted her to.
I just peeked at the start and end of that ep. Mike Goldman gives a shout out to Alex Mav at the end there. How much involvement did he have with this season? Is that why it was such a train wreck?
Zcsund1234
Well-Known Member
No idea. Looking at the credits of past seasons he was at one stage the control room coordinator/producer. Was the executive producer of BB8 Virginia Hodgson or Tim Toni? I have alway been confused who it was.