Peter: He had redeeming qualities in the house. Which consisted of his friendship with Johnnie, he was entertaining and I did find him physically attractive. But overall was quite distasteful. Him & Christina were not the relationship that served. I feel like the “dancing doonas” really solidified why he possibly wanted her in bed with him all the time, even though she didn’t feel like it. There were times in which he came across as condescending towards her. He knew that she was a reserved person and sometimes spoke over her. His eviction was the first time where an absence was felt. He was a main part of the house for a long while, so when he went it was kinda weird.
Anita: In 2001’s reality tv standard, she was needed. Being an intruder, I can’t imagine how hard that would’ve been. The house dynamics were clearly set in stone and the boys wanted nothing to do with Anita, as her only friend seemed to be Sara-Marie. Her explosive argument with Blair & Johnnie will never not be iconic. She already felt out of the group, not just that she was also seen as being inadequate to the task at hand. I love that she dragged Blair, that comment will always be remembered & then she got him again in her goodbye message. She had the house in a chokehold even weeks after she departed. Truly iconic.
Johnnie: I heard about Johnnie prior to watching the season and watching him on screen, I found myself even more confused about the whole “Johnnie Rotten” thing. I really wonder if it came from stereotyping, maybe even to someone who’s a minority. Because Anita’s comment to him was something to think about. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed him. He was the glue that almost kept the house together and him lasting this long made sense. I can’t believe that he was considered an actual TV villain. It’s such a deluded statement created by the audience.
Jemma: She was a very likeable person all round. Her wanting to be image focussed was her own prerogative. The conversation regarding her not wanting to be naked on camera was so unnecessary and very disrespectful. Being naked isn’t a problem for me, but if someone else isn’t about that, then that shouldn’t be an issue in any capacity. Again this seeped out into the public as they evicted her for being “self obsessed”, which is just such a weird way to view especially since they already harped on about how Lisa was “so boring”.
Christina: I had a general liking to Christina the whole time. I mainly felt for her, she was a part of the group. But she never really seemed to have “fit in” properly so to speak. She had a subtle underdog story, wanting to overcome the pressures of being more opinionated and assertive. I always found her endearing and found myself rooting her to have a major breakthrough moment. It’s just sad that most of it was clouded by her relationship with Peter, not exactly meshing well with the other housemates and in which got her nominated 6 times in total. She was a main character without being a main character at the same time of that makes any sense.
Sara-Marie: I’ve always know Sara-Marie to be the “bum-dancing girl”. But watching her all the way through she’s seriously way much more than that. The moment I saw her I knew production had struck gold. She was polarising, but in the best way possible. As much as I love Andy, I genuinely can’t imagine the season ever being the level it is if Sara-Marie were to be the first evicted. She’s a person who knew how to light up a room, just by existing. Her bum dance, pyjamas, bunny ears, laughs, noises all made a unique personality I don’t think anyone in the world could ever recreate if they tried. But most importantly, she was a down to earth person. Sara-Marie is a rarity, and to have a bond with her is only something you must cherish. The vote was so close between her & Blair to evict, I believe she would’ve won if it wasn’t for that. I mean she had the entirety of Australia in a chokehold. The world shifted when she graced our screens.
Blair: A lot of the time I found Blair to be a follower. The men in the house were typically critical of the women, whether they were too loud, too quiet, too on the fence and he quickly fell complacent to it all, even involving himself in it all. He had definite moral high ground and didn’t like to believe he was ever in the wrong. Especially about the Jemma situation. Even though he apologised after the fact, him mentioning “I don’t like being wrong” kinda gives a slight indication that what he said about Jemma being modest was in the right. But quickly did he go back on his moral high ground when it came to Anita. His close friendships with Ben & Johnnie were a redeeming quality in him. Besides that he was quiet & reserved himself and didn’t seem to be dynamic television. I did generally find him attractive at times. But really that’s about it. I can largely understand why out of him & Ben why Ben would take out the win.
Ben: About 2/3 Ben was massively a background character and someone who I rarely thought of when watching. It wasn’t until around Anita’s eviction that he started to have some sort of traction. Even then it still was quite minimal compared to some of the established personalities left in the house. From what I can remember of Ben, I was generally fond of him. His friendship with Sara-Marie made me like him a little more than I did before. He was very diplomatic and never in any conflict with people. He always kept the peace a lot of the time. Do I think there is a better winner overall… yes. But between him & Blair, Ben was the more satisfying winner. Ben mainly benefitted from never being nominated for about 7-8 weeks and the “vote to evict” format, in which largely present polarising personalities being evicted early on. Little did we know that the character archetype Ben presented all through this season would be a running factor in future winners.
That’s my overall thoughts on BBAU 2001. Pretty enjoyable overall and finally get to move into a new season. I’ve heard that the general opinion of the 2002 season is pretty boring. As I’m finishing this I’m currently on the first eviction right now.