Skip to main content

BBAU Rewatch

How could I forget. He's the only thing thats exciting me for 2008
IIRC he tried being a little bit strategic on occasion too so not just a pretty face in the scheme of the game.

its a topsy-turvy season with the HM Hand Grenades, the vote to save from nomination, then reverting to the previous format mid-way though etc.
 
2005 is interesting to rewatch, much better than 2004 in my opinion, it had a pretty decent cast and with the stupid and poorly executed twin twist and the (possibly planned?) liar bit it moved a lot quicker, even if they didn’t feel organic like 2004’s incidents.

I find it quite staggering that Constance would go on to be the most famous cast member. Tim might have more credibility but for a bit there Constance was shining bright. But in saying that, no one really stood out as someone who would have a media career (again excluding Tim).
 
I find it quite staggering that Constance would go on to be the most famous cast member. Tim might have more credibility but for a bit there Constance was shining bright. But in saying that, no one really stood out as someone who would have a media career (again excluding Tim).
She had a funny scene in the first daily show where BB gets them all into the diary room to decide who won't get their suitcase. Constance says she can't remember anyone's names and then Big Brother says "Constance, theres a board with all your housemates photos and names next to you".

I remember going to a DWTS show on her season and seeing her. She was really nice to the crowd.
 
She had a funny scene in the first daily show where BB gets them all into the diary room to decide who won't get their suitcase. Constance says she can't remember anyone's names and then Big Brother says "Constance, theres a board with all your housemates photos and names next to you".

I remember going to a DWTS show on her season and seeing her. She was really nice to the crowd.

Oh that’s nice. I actually found her likeable for the most part, to begin with anyway, and I guess it helps that her fame came from not being polished and perfect. But no way would I have predicted she would be the “star” of her season.
 
I found Gianna to be extremely irritating and she lacked accountability and self reflection and seemed to think people were jealous, but I do wish she had stayed for longer because I think she made for good tv.

Literally no one cares but physically she was like my dream woman 10/10
 

13:00

I am loving the drama that has started already between the women. Michelle, Gianna and Christie feel left out by Angela, Constance and Geneva whilst the latter claim the former have no reason to feel excluded. Angela is very patronising and sanctimonious, she already feels like she's the top dog and she's right in all conversations.

Christie (Ashalea 2.0) was my favourite last time I watched after Vesna and I don't expect that to change. Also what the Logan boys failed to understand was whilst avoiding conversations is successful in the short term, people will eventually speak and compare notes, which they have, and more attention is drawn to you.
 
Also thanks to @timmy for the great idea of looking at Whirlpool whilst I watch. It does help with understanding the audience thinking and I plan to do the same for the rest of my rewatch.
LOL have fun reading what all he uber-haters have to say there! But yeah I knew you'd find answers to the "what did people think of XXX?" aspect that you'd been asking over the previous seasons that we're all too old to remember. You should cross post some of the posts from there in your ongoing reviews.

I'm really enjoying this. Keep up the good work. I don't have the willpower to watch any more seasons. I'd like to revisit BBUK S07 but I'd probably cry seeing Nikki again. Really conflicted as that really was a great season.
 
BB01 Review:

I had finished BB01 last night, took me 18 days which was a little longer than expected. Assuming due to Christmas and a non-existent sleeping pattern lmao. There were parts that definitely felt slow, but I don’t think it’s entirely fair to hold that against it as it was the show’s first ever season. Weeks 5-9 really stood out as storyline’s were cemented and the intruders had already been thrown in. I will get into more detail about certain things when I go through the cast later on.



Growing up, I had faint memories of Channel 10 BB. So therefore, I always really grew up with the Channel 9 era and the hosting of Sonia Kruger. But by far Gretel really is the superior host. I believe both are great in their own respective qualities. But Gretel had that memorability, it was quite mesmerising how she carried herself even in the show’s earliest days. Her wittiness, humour and star power were just a few things that stood out most. I’m excited to see the progress over the years as she were to become more comfortable in the show’s running.



Now this being a time when I was literally not even born. I found there was a lot of exaggeration on how the housemates were to each other. Nominations were seen as backstabbing and something simple as hugging someone was deemed being two-faced. It was a little odd, I mean did people really see this as a bad thing in the landscape of 2001 reality tv? The vote to evict wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t the greatest thing known to humankind either. It did end resulting in a lot of big personalities being sent / almost sent out of the house. Especially the vote between the final 3 & even more between Ben & Blair. You vote person A for person B to win and vice versa. Yeah people are eventually gonna catch on, but I can’t imagine how confusing it would’ve been.



The extra shows added throughout the week were nice. They really focussed on the psychological aspects of the experience which was expected considering it’s first season. Even though there were times where it was tedious, this being the first ever season holds a huge amount of nostalgia and a sense of being. No one expected it to grow as much as it did. Sara-Marie is the only person who really I think experienced a full on “celebrity / A-List” moment. The cast overall bounced off each other well, and that was in the house and after the experience. They were the first group of people to experience this, so it was like they only had each other really who understood what it was like. It was clear who were the front runners and there were others who seemed to fade into obscurity. For what it is, it set the foundation for what was to come.
 
Now this being a time when I was literally not even born. I found there was a lot of exaggeration on how the housemates were to each other. Nominations were seen as backstabbing and something simple as hugging someone was deemed being two-faced. It was a little odd, I mean did people really see this as a bad thing in the landscape of 2001 reality tv?
The stigma attached to 'playing the game' did linger throughout the TEN era, but being the first season especially a lot of them were probably more just interested in being a part of the 'Social experiment' and the experience. You wanted to play a 'game'? You went on shows like The Mole, or Survivor (which didn't have an Australian version at the time, only that 2nd season of the US series that was filmed in the Outback).

Big Brother was probably at the time seen as more a show were you went on for the experience, but ultimately took a back seat and let the public decide and 'play the game' of who should win or be voted out.

There was a lot of pushback and distaste among a lot of the housemates in those early seasons towards nominations being this necessary evil that took them out of their 'journey' in the house in a way to be involved in 'genuine' connections and friendships with other housemates, and a general sense amongst some that the winner should be someone who was entertaining, effortless in their movement through the experience but wasn't actively trying to play the game and maneuver their way through it at the same time.
 
Last edited:
So Constance, Dean and Nelson have been exposed for their lies about their relationship status. Why would you talk about lying and being worried about production being annoyed openly infront of cameras? Hello do you not know where you are? Sucked in Nelson for wanting the car and then getting nothing LOL that was so satisfying to watch. Gretel states "you must make Big Brother aware of any changes to your personal circumstances" jeez auditioning for Big Brother sounds stricter than claiming Centrelink payments.
 
The stigma attached to 'playing the game' did linger throughout the TEN era, but being the first season especially a lot of them were probably more just interested in being a part of the 'Social experiment' and the experience. You wanted to play a 'game'? You went on shows like The Mole, or Survivor (which didn't have an Australian version at the time, only that 2nd season of the US series that was filmed in the Outback).

Big Brother was probably at the time seen as more a show were you went on for the experience, but ultimately took a back seat and let the public decide and 'play the game' of who should win or be voted out.

There was a lot of pushback and distaste among a lot of the housemates in those early seasons towards nominations being this necessary evil that took them out of their 'journey' in the house in a way to be involved in 'genuine' connections and friendships with other housemates, and a general sense amongst some that the winner should be someone who was entertaining, effortless in their movement through the experience but wasn't actively trying to play the game and maneuver their way through it at the same time.
I completely got the vibe that the housemates weren’t fond of it. I mean it was the topic of conversation the entire season. I think if you’re someone who genuinely doesn’t have a bad thing to say about anyone in the house. I can’t imagine what that would feel like.

My biggest point of contention is that for example Johnnie got a lot of flack from the public for nominating someone and then hugging them when they were upset. It felt like this mob mentality of “Johnnie’s a bad person” when literally all the housemates were very close with him and said he’s nothing of the sort. I didn’t see Johnnie as wanting to “play the game”, he was like a lot of others caught in this twilight zone of I have to nominate someone but I don’t want to. But I’m glad things cleared up over time.
 
One week down for BB5, Bogan twin twist flopped, it was seriously never gonna work. They look different once you really focus on their facial features which makes them easily distinguishable, but what ever they end up not facing eviction until the double anyway so regardless if they play together or alone was there ever gonna be a difference? Is it also really that big of an issue that three people lied about their relationship status? Yes maybe being single increases your odds but what fucking ever Big Brother, drop the superiority complex of yours you evil entity. Ten just wanted something that meshed in with their Logan twins reveal special, you would have to be stupidly naive to really believe no one ever lied on their application before and haven't since then as well.

Interesting that BB seems to encourage housemates to nominate "under the radar" housemates. Whilst again they are clearly trying to avoid a pot plant winner again this is better than the constant forcing of who to vote out on the audience vote by Gretel. But really just use vote to save, it seriously could not have been that hard to figure out in all seriousness. The 3 point twist is interesting yet from what I have read it was actually used on another version internationally (unless I am wrong) but what else is new in the Kris Noble era? I'm happy they decided to include BB roasting nomination reasons again, I like the mean Big Brother, I want these housemates to feel powerless.
 
Last edited:
regardless if they play together or alone was there ever gonna be a difference?
I think David definitely would've been nominated a lot more if they were individual housemates - he clashed with quite a lot of the women in the house. Whether he would've been evicted or not, we'll never know. I suppose it depends who he would've been up against.
Is it also really that big of an issue that three people lied about their relationship status? Yes maybe being single increases your odds but what fucking ever Big Brother, drop the superiority complex of yours you evil entity.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I do think it's an issue. If the criteria for the season was single housemates only, that's the rule, and anyone who wasn't single shouldn't have been allowed in the house. Imagine if a housemate lied about their age and they were too young to be cast on the show. Obviously this is a lot more serious and would of course have been a lot harder to achieve, and it definitely would've resulted in immediate removal rather than just put up for eviction, but it would've been against the rules. So I deem this the same as being single was a rule of this specific season.
 
I think David definitely would've been nominated a lot more if they were individual housemates - he clashed with quite a lot of the women in the house. Whether he would've been evicted or not, we'll never know. I suppose it depends who he would've been up against.
Nominated for sure, evicted though? I don't think he would have gone before Hotdogs or Glenn or Geneva, but we will see if I'm persuaded to think otherwise.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I do think it's an issue. If the criteria for the season was single housemates only, that's the rule, and anyone who wasn't single shouldn't have been allowed in the house. Imagine if a housemate lied about their age and they were too young to be cast on the show. Obviously this is a lot more serious and would of course have been a lot harder to achieve, and it definitely would've resulted in immediate removal rather than just put up for eviction, but it would've been against the rules. So I deem this the same as being single was a rule of this specific season.
I used to think this as well when I watched the first time, then l understood that at the end of the day it's a produced television show that wants to engage viewers a much as possible. Was it really 100% the criteria to be single to be casted? I ask because I don't know. Dean got through in the end despite telling them he had a girlfriend at the last minute and it seems Glenn had a girlfriend during the audition process. I firmly believe though that many housemates have gotten away with fibbing about themselves in the application process before and I am sure as hell people still do it to this day.

From a production point of view if this really was an issue then I get it, but the fact they throw it to the viewers to decide who stays kinda seems like they didn't care THAT much about it if they were happy to let one of them stay. If they really were completely pissed off with them than all three would have been ejected and replaced. To me it screams like they wanted to make something out of it to fill in that week one Sunday episode that never really had a consistent spot other than finalising the twist of that particular season.
 
Yeah it was bit of a desperate overreach (although it did have that payoff with Nelson not getting any prizes that made for good TV). I think they even have a conversation about some of the pre-season buzz in the house and Gianna says something like 'I'm not here to 'seduct' anyone..' lol.
 
Also wanna say I tried looking for it but couldn't find it, Does anyone remember the Nicabate patches ads that Sara Marie did sitting in the BB2004 Diary room?

Found a few news article/forum mentions, here's one from Jan 2005 before she was on the 2nd season of Aus Dancing With The Stars:
"In the past six months, Sara-Marie, originally from Perth, was the face of a national advertising campaign for Nicabate, has shed 20kg on the Betalife program, now has long dark wavy hair and works in child care in Sydney."

a bored of studies forum thread about 'Annoying TV Commercials' in 2005:
"i find the sarah-marie nicabate commercial annoying. i think she looked better before she lost all that weight, coz i dunno her face is all gaunt and weird now"

and Someone on Twitter in 2014 responding to a 'where is she now?' tweet:
"Didn't she once do Nicabate commercials with a shitload of Botox?"
 
Last edited:
Yeah it was bit of a desperate overreach (although it did have that payoff with Nelson not getting any prizes that made for good TV). I think they even have a conversation about some of the pre-season buzz in the house and Gianna says something like 'I'm not here to 'seduct' anyone..' lol.
Wasn’t the whole thing set-up? IIRC BB05 was pitched as a series where BB wasn’t taking shit from anyone… So what a great way to kick off the season to have BB boot two HM’s production knew all along were “lying” and who did the show just for the prizes.
 
Gianna says something like 'I'm not here to 'seduct' anyone
And yet, she took that nurse outfit in... 🤔

I always thought it was big rough she didn’t get to be centre stage of her own eviction. I recall they they pulled Nelson, Constance and Angela on stage for quite a bit of her eviction show for some reason and they just dominated the conversation the whole time.
 
Last edited:
And yet, she took that nurse outfit in... 🤔

I always thought it was big rough she didn’t get to be centre stage of her own eviction. I recall they they pulled Nelson, Constance and Angela on stage for quite a bit of her eviction show for some reason and they just dominated the conversation the whole time.

She was so cringe putting that nurse outfit on repeatedly and saying she was dared and lapping it up by the pole. But good on her I guess.

And yep I thought at the same at her eviction. And the others still managed to ge kind of rude towards her.
 
Back
Top