Peter: I remember liking him the first two times I watched, but this time I didn't. I did not find him and Christina cute, I actually found him at times to be quite rude to her when she spoke up or in general I found him to be quite on his high horse. He was entertaining to a degree and was Christina's whole personality for the first 4 weeks. His eviction was probably the first where I actually noticed someone's absence. I did like his friendship with Johnnie. He did have redeeming qualities I just don't particularly love him. I also don't think he actually wanted to stay with Christina, I got the sense he just was sexually attracted to her, if he really liked her he'd understand why she didn't want to do bednight cuddles anymore. Yet they continued.
Anita: Like most of the other housemates I remember her being more shown that what she was (recency bias plays cheeky tricks on your memory doesn't it) I do feel bad as an intruder she was always going to struggle. The boys were very anti-Anita and it seemed her only friend was Sara-Marie. I loved the entertainment she brought in her last week. The fight with Johnnie and Blair has been ingrained in my memory since I first watched it. I was happy she called out Blair for being a smug little prick because he honestly was. I don't think Anita had any chance ever in surviving long in the house. I appreciate her explosiveness in that last week (for 2001's standard) as it even lasted on impact for the remainder of the time in the house.
Johnnie: I actually really enjoyed Johnnie. More each time I've watched. I found him to be likeable, aware and also had fun times in the house. I wonder if the whole Johnnie Rotten thing came from some form of homophobia or stereotyping? Then again gay contestants after him seemed to do extremely well repeatedly so I am unsure on that. I find his whole villain persona to be so deluded by the audience. Obviously its the first ever show, nominations may have been perceived the same way Richard Hatch's alliance was in the same way but wow I cannot believe that he is really in the category of TV villain. He is I guess the Jerri Manthey of Big Brother Australia. I did find him entertaining, but hey maybe in today's world he would have lasted longer. I think he'd do very well in modern Big Brother he knew how to be likeable, socially amazing and physically fit.
Jemma: I didn't love her as much as I did the previous time but she is all around a nice person who I did find to be likeable. I have no issue with her being image focused, thats her own choice so you do do Jemma. I found the whole argument about her not wanting to be naked in the shower to be so disrespectful. I don't understand why it needed to be discussed, if I was on the show I probably wouldn't shower naked either. She was very aware of what Big Brother was as she mentioned the UK version very much with Craig and Nasty Nick. I do wonder if she went on with the intention of brand deals but I don't resent people who do that as long as they are entertaining television. She wasn't incredibly dynamic all of the time, but I did enjoy her life stories or her opinions as she always seemed to have opinions on people and events. I don't like that she was evicted largely due to her being so called "self obsessed" but what can you do.
Christina: On my first watch I hated her, second watch I loved her and now my third watch she is just okay. She was funnily enough a huge character in terms of screen time from start to end. Mainly due to Peter at first and then her whole journey of wanting to be more loud and opinionated. I felt bad for her as she was clearly as very insecure and shy person and she may have found comfort with Pete but it wasn't shared in the same way I think between the both of them. Watching this show as a 14 yea old I didn't seem to really think about how it would feel to be nominated so much. But I do feel bad that she was the only one nominated three times in a row. She spent 5 of her last 6 weeks nominated. What makes me feel bad for her in that sense is she knew she wasn't meshing with most people anyway so I did feel bad. Not enough to really want her to stay but I do feel bad for her. She was rather a sad figure in the entire season, I think she had a lot of insecurities when in there. I did learn about her more than I did most housemates so I am pretty satisfied with that. I struggle to actually believe she got into stand up comedy. I just cannot see it.
Sara-Marie: I could talk for weeks and weeks on end about how much I love her. She started off a bit irritating I can't lie. I was thinking to myself hmmm I remember loving you so why am I not. But after the first month when she survives a few evictions she shines brighter than anyone on reality TV ever will again. Her laugh, her humour, her pyjamas and her bum dance all together create a dynamic and entertaining character that never failed to make me smile and laugh out loud. She is what I want Big Brother to be, she physically is someone who you'd be likely to run into in your daily life, yet her personality is so unique she is someone you'd be lucky to meet more than once. Her being useless in the tasks and bursting out laughing whenever Big Brother told them their dismal shopping budget, her speaking to the chickens like their dogs, her being genuinely interested in getting to know other people and most importantly her confidence in herself and not not caring abut what other people think are the reasons why I love her and I can so easily see how the audience felt the same. I honestly don't laugh very often at reality TV anymore, but it is impossible to not laugh with her. She took being nominated so much very well and never let it stop her from enjoying her time in there. I don't ever believe there will ever be a housemates who makes me laugh as much as she did (Not gonna quote myself on that as I am very excited for Vesna and Reggie). She is really the star of the season and I honestly don't see why I wouldn't want to rewatch for the sole purpose of watching her again. I will also say however like things I've mentioned throughout my rewatch is a lot of these trademarks by the housemates are not shown very often in the edit? like the lipgloss of Jemma or Sara-Marie's bum dance, they come very late into the edit and aren't shown to a great degree. But obviously live feeds like I keep mentioning were a thing so that is what I assume caused these little things to explode as much as they did.
Blair: I loved him the first time I watched, second time loved him and third time I did not like him. I found him so much more boring than I remembered and he wasn't incredibly dynamic. It is so clear he has grown up with brothers as he was quite critical of the females in the house either for being too boring or too loud. For a 19 year old he is quite reserved and quiet, other than being cute he is not exactly amazing television. He isn't that cute IMO but I understand why girls were obsessed with him. He wasn't exactly amazing television in my opinion I didn't really like him at all on this rewatch. Constantly on his moral high ground and getting pissed off when people disagreed with him. I didn't fall for his apology to Jemma nor did I find him charming. I used to say I'd vote him over Ben but I now largely rethink that statement. I'm not entirely sure what it is about me that's different that has caused me to dislike him this time watching? But I cannot say I enjoyed him this time around.
Ben: He still to me is largely forgettable. He's extremely diplomatic and gives me teacher's pet vibes. He's the one that always had to say "Big Brother we'd like to thank you" which IDK I find cringe over and over again. He had more interesting stories and input than I recall. I used to never understand how he won over Blair and I came to the conclusion that the audience was confused with voting and vote to evict Blair thinking it was a vote for him to win. But now I see Ben as the more satisfying option in all honesty. He wasn't really ever in conflict or ever rude or nasty, he was having fun at times and I think his friendship with Sara-Marie towards the end made me more higher on him than I have been. But yeah I don't have a hell of a lot to say about him overall and I do still think he shouldn't have won as there were better bigger characters who I'd prefer, and he largely wins due to the voting format. But overall my opinion on him did increase. I cannot believe he was 21 though, he was giant and looked and appeared so much older.
Those are my thoughts for 2001, which I generally did enjoy and I do plan on one day rewatching it again with no issues. I do hope the rumour of Sara-Marie being on 2022 is true. I am not really looking forward to my 2002 rewatch as I remember really disliking it and finding it boring, maybe I'll feel different when I start it tonight? wish me luck.