BBAU Rewatch

[Fuzz]

I can kind of see what you mean. It does in someway take away from this idea of what Gretel was to the show. But it also reminds us that she is a human being and not just what she appeared as in front of the audience. How you react to the age difference is up to the individual, to each their own either way.

I agree Z. Its just imo that the high horse she rode morally so often about certain behaviours loses validity. Its not about age diffrence so much to me as to where it all spawned from. She saw the foibles of a young 19 year old. But was attracted obviously still.
Overlooking his bad behaviour when she was quick to pull other males up on. Lust.
We are all human. I just thought the whole thing reflected very badly on her and was irresponsible. I dont hate the woman. I do have respect for her intelligence.
Your point about being human is apt and true. As it was borne out. Perhaps she should have thought previously of how hard she went on certain males before realising we all have our foibles and its a risky perch to sit upon a high horse.

 

[Zcsund1234]

I agree Z. Its just imo that the high horse she rode morally so often about certain behaviours loses validity. Its not about age diffrence so much to me as to where it all spawned from. She saw the foibles of a young 19 year old. But was attracted obviously still.
Overlooking his bad behaviour when she was quick to pull other males up on. Lust.
We are all human. I just thought the whole thing reflected very badly on her and was irresponsible. I dont hate the woman. I do have respect for her intelligence.
Your point about being human is apt and true. As it was borne out. Perhaps she should have thought previously of how hard she went on certain males before realising we all have our foibles and its its a risky perch to sit upon a high horse.

I agree with your point about her high horse. It does kind of take away from it. It reminds me of watching talk show hosts or interviewers hound the interviews and then off air be kind. So yes I do get what you mean about the validity behind her approach to interviewing housemates. I think she just found a liking to him and went with it later on.

However, going onto future seasons, I think her treatment toward certain male housemates was impossible to go unnoticed. But the fact we're discussing her is what makes her a top tier television host. We have multiple angles to look at and different opinions on different aspects of her.

 

[Fuzz]

Give me a chance Z. Im still battling thru 2003. Ill get to the others sequentially in time. And no doubt learn more.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Give me a chance Z. Im still battling thru 2003. Ill get to the others sequentially in time. And no doubt learn more.

Have fun and best of luck! Excited to see some more people comment their thoughts.

 

[Zcsund1234]

The Day 99 eviction episode was a really great one. For the first time in a while all of the housemates left had storylines and connections with each other throughout the series just like 01 and 03. It felt very satisfying for a conclusion and everything self like it was ending right. Travis seeing his son and wife on stage made me cry it was really wholesome. Also so funny when Gretel asks him what he missed the most and he answers by saying he wanked when he was chained to Zack. I was PISSING myself.

I actually felt sad watching it as I realised suddenly that was it for the seasons of Big Brother that I grew up knowing as a great big thing. No more Gretel and no more original Big Brother until the next time I decide to rewatch. 2008 onward is a constant reminder for me of my childhood ending (as corny as that is). I associate Big Brother with being a kid so the closer I get to the modern seasons the more I realise I am not a child anymore.

 

[Brekkie]

Respect your opinion Theo.
But in light of Saxon's obvious age and immaturity , its disturbing to me.
Very predatorial. And her ediface and philosophies of criticising others for crass or or demeaning behaviour loses all its meaning.
Making her obvious dislikes towards certain housemates completely redundant.
Let us not forget. Yes it happened post bb. But it was a borne out of an instituionalised environment where she clearly held some powerful reins and influence.

I agree it was inappropriate, almost regardless of age, but also I think there has been a noticeable shift in how society views older teenagers nowadays, with 18/19 year olds (and older infact) still somewhat treated as children in society, when 20-30 years ago you were more likely to see 16-17 year olds treated as adults.

 

[Zcsund1234]

I agree it was inappropriate, almost regardless of age, but also I think there has been a noticeable shift in how society views older teenagers nowadays, with 18/19 year olds (and older infact) still somewhat treated as children in society, when 20-30 years ago you were more likely to see 16-17 year olds treated as adults.

I definitely agree. I'm not sure why that it is, maybe my age group truly is the Peter Pan generation an it's because we don't want to grow up. I'm not sure. But watching these older seasons of Big Brother, I look at people like Bree who was 21 (same as I am right now) and I just can't comprehend that I am the same as the person I was watching in her season. It's almost as if people appear or present themselves as younger these days. I can't pin point it, but there is something different these days.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Watching the 2007 finale right now. I watched the rehearsal video before hand to see what @the Theorist was referring to about a silly mistake that ruined the finale. I am guessing Theo you were referring to showing faces on the graphs? Otherwise there is nothing in the first 40 minutes I can think of.

 

[Kingston]

Speaking from experience*, it’s often not a great move. It can be fun in the moment - but it usually never works out well in the end.

However, I will say that while I see your point about Gretel’s responsibility, I can’t say I completely agree as they were both consenting adults and the age difference just shouldn’t matter. She was not his “authoritarian parent figure”. She was the host of a television show he happened to be on. Why is it “a very bad decision”? From what I understand, their fling was also post finale/contracts. I say good on them for having a bit of fun on the side.

*What isn’t right is this… under the guise of anonymity, I’ve been in a situation similar to what you compared Gretel and Saxon to… only the uni lecturer in my situation was actually a couple years younger than me… and I was the student… and what’s worse is he was/is in a relationship while he pursued me outside of uni… but we did have a thing going for a couple years. I fully admit that is a situation worth stating is morally wrong (on both his and my behalf). Not what Gretel and Saxon did, in my opinion.

The whole Gretel/Saxon thing was very much played up in the media. I believe both have since denied it was anything more than just friendship. I tend to think that even if there was something it didn’t evolve past a few sparks. No doubt both played in to speculation and especially in Saxon’s case it was done in an attempt to stay relevant.

 

[jessy_girl]

Watching the 2007 finale right now. I watched the rehearsal video before hand to see what @the Theorist was referring to about a silly mistake that ruined the finale. I am guessing Theo you were referring to showing faces on the graphs? Otherwise there is nothing in the first 40 minutes I can think of.

No way are you up to the finale, haha damn I am impressed. I feel like you sped through this season and I barely even commented on it.

 

[jessy_girl]

As for Gretel and Saxon, I didn’t personally have an issue with it. Maybe Saxon being so much younger and crying for his mum on the show makes it seem wrong. Age differences don’t bother me for the most part, but if it was the case that Gretel asserted power over him then that is obviously wrong. But Saxon would have come out of the show as a big star (for a bit anyway) so there is less of a power imbalance. It’s not like either benefited or suffered in any way that I’m aware of, beyond a relationship and break up that is, so it doesn’t seem too bad?

 

[braydenharvey]

Watching the 2007 finale right now. I watched the rehearsal video before hand to see what @the Theorist was referring to about a silly mistake that ruined the finale. I am guessing Theo you were referring to showing faces on the graphs? Otherwise there is nothing in the first 40 minutes I can think of.

To watch 2007 in 12 days is impressive I must say. A chunk of those episodes were a lengthy watch.

 

[braydenharvey]

Legion Interactive really fucked up big time. When Bree went it was her on 20% and then 19%, 17%, 17% and 15%. When Wesley was the one to go, he got 23.3% and the 2nd person got 18.4%. A whole 4.9% difference. I thought it was just still a 1% difference. Wow. Completely makes sense to why if Bree denied to go back in she could’ve sued the show. At least she got a Maccas cheeseburger as compensation lol.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Finished 2007, a lot quicker than the last few seasons. Just like I expected, I really enjoyed it. I understand it gets slow towards the end, but I don't agree with the at time opinion of it being boring. I don't think the ratings it got truly reflects how great of a season it is and there was huge potential moving forward for the show. It wasn't as heavy with gimmicks, the twists didn't impact the season too drastically and the cast was fairly strong. Not having uncut does make the cast appear as more cartoony and over the top than normal, but for a binge having no uncut actually made it easier. The only reason the season becomes slow is due to big characters going such as Emma, Bodie, TJ, Kate, Laura and even Demet who were all the centre of storylines and were ousted prematurely. A lot of this is just how the audience votes so it's inescapable, but there were unnecessary double evictions such as TJ and Bodie as well as still employing vote to evict that didn't help the season at all.

The twists specifically in the season were fine. The white room was an interesting concept which I think maybe would have worked better later in the season rather than the beginning, it was also funny to see it go the complete opposite way the show wanted it to. I wanted Demet in there the least of the four but she ended up bringing entertainment. The couple twist was better than the twins and mother/daughter twists. I liked how every housemate was under the impression they were the only one with the task, although what I have noticed with these types of twists in BBAU is that there are inconsistencies with how they pass or fail. The twins failed by having one housemate guess, Hayley and Andrew passed as a majority did not guess correctly and later on Drew and Jade were completely thrown under the bus and should have passed. The added element of Billy was on paper really intriguing, it's just he wasn't the correct type of person to assist in executing this to what it could potentially be for great television. It seems he was added extremely late into it and the Mr X twist was a VERY last-minute addition, as Billy has different photos and graphics taken for voting numbers and phone number packages. The housemate's decide eviction was another intriguing concept that the cast didn't utilise so the same result of the public vote occurred anyway. The vote to save and evict method is good on paper. But, in practice the votes to save rarely impact the result because twice or even three times as many votes are evict votes. The only way the method could work effectively is if the votes were equal, so if the audience had to cast a vote for each to evict and save. But way too hard to actually achieve. So the twists were interesting choices that didn't actually result in much occurring.

The cast itself is fantastic. I loved that the naughty young people approach was dropped in favour of diverse personalities. There were more conversations this season than there had been for a while which I did like a lot. There was also a lot more conflict shown than in previous seasons, there was Kate vs Emma, Bodie vs TJ, Bodie vs Hayley, TJ vs Thomas, Demet vs Andrew, Emma vs the nerds, Laura vs Daniela, Laura vs EVERYONE and of course the infamous fight between Aleisha and Michelle. It started to all feel a lot closer to the UK version than any other season and I feel like the show was on its way to being extremely entertaining from this point. They were fun, different and decently distinct from other casts. However, I do look at the group and struggle to pick ONE as a legendary housemate. I guess Emma is the biggest character but I can't really pick one and think yes, you stick out amongst all the rest. The cast had the potential to be entertaining throughout the entirety of the season, but unnecessary double evictions and production decisions allowed for housemates to go before their time, specifically Bodie, Hayley and Emma. The house had a fun design, I want a chill-out room in my house. I loved the tasks, especially the no rules task and the number 1-9 task, the tasks this series allows for different personalities to show and test them all as a group. The cast was a bit big, probably too big. The golden key winner didn't really need to happen as it was blatant copying from BBUK and there probably could have been an intruder eviction between either pair.

The popular people vs nerdy people was an interesting part of the narrative. For me, I feel it does accurately reflect how social tiers and groups form in every day life, particularly with younger people. It does look like bullying at times and in today's world, this season would probably be ridiculed because of so. The cast was also the most strategically aware of the bunch yet, however, that is not to say they had the ability to make correct decisions. With the benefits that came from Friday Night Live, there were opportunities for housemates to not necessarily vote who they want out, but to potentially save themselves with not only the twist but also the privilege of discussing nominations. But yet, not much occurred. In the back half of the season, the person who was saved was then just evicted the next week anyway. I think Daniela and Michelle even hatched a plan to tackle nominations a specific way and didn't even follow through with it. I'd like to see this cast play strategically,

I think production made several mistakes throughout that did not only taint the back half of the season but also ruin the potential the show had moving forward. Again like I have said, they made some silly calls with evictions and nominations that let big characters go. The last month is fairly quiet and becomes boring at the end, but in fairness so were the first 5 seasons in the last week or two. This all just makes me feel strongly that vote to save is better and the switch should have been made earlier.

Speaking of mistakes, the finale... What a dragged out piece of shit it ended up being. I cannot believe that actually was broadcasted for over three long hours. I watched the rehearsal video and as @the Theorist mentioned earlier, it had the potential to be a great finale that was similar to the earlier seasons. I noticed with BB6 Camilla and Jamie were hardly spoken to which I would have liked to have seen more of. It's a shame that by showing the faces on the graph the votes became closer and closer due to an influx of votes to evict Aleisha coming in. So much random shit to fill in time like silly packages, interviewing audience members and waffling on about the show to draw out time. It's a shame really, Aleisha and Zach got no time to celebrate their time in the house or discuss it because of the drawn-out finale. I would have preferred they had just been interviewed together and met their families on stage, but with all the stress a proper decision was never going to be made. Showing the graph was so fucking stupid, the votes were obviously going to become close. Obviously with the result being a 65 vote difference then that would mean the votes to evict would have ended up almost matching the votes to save by the end of the show, so they asked for this all to happen in all honesty.

Glad Aleisha won, she stuck out more than several of the people left towards the end and was easy to root for. Another female winner was LONG overdue and it was nice to see two people in the finale who normally haven't made it to the finale prior. I think this season deserves more credit than what it's remembered for. I think it is unfortunate it was a time after the Turkey slap and when the show's name was very tarnished in the public eye. It's a really strong season on its own and I like it even though it does feel like I am not supposed to like @jessy_girl said. I am happy to see others agree. I did enjoy the season again even if did get slow towards the back half. I am sad I am finished with Gretel. I have now entered the messy era of Big Brother AU. I have no idea how to feel about going into my 2008 rewatch. I don't know if I'll have a lot to say or not much as I recall almost nothing from this season. I will post my housemates thoughts very soon.

 

[Zcsund1234]

2007 Housemate thoughts

Cruz: An idiot for taking $750. I was indifferent about him going into the house.

Kara: She looked like she could have been fun in the house, almost like a younger Vesna. Her crying would have been enjoyable to mock.

Harrison: Mega cute, wish he went in as well. Looks like the housemates were threatened by him physically. He probably SHOULD have gone in.

Kate: Initially I hated her, she was too proud to be humble and was too comfortable in being nasty and didn’t care about consequences. She felt insecure around the girls, that would suck but I don’t want to watch someone winge about it and hate others for things they aren’t at fault for. I did however feel guilty disliking her after the baby incident. I almost wanted her to stay after that, she even apologised to Emma and rectifies all her mistakes. I’m glad however that Bodie survived over her, so she had to be expendable. I have met a lot of people like Kate in real life, her personality is exactly like anyone I’ve met who look like her as well. She is just the type of person I have come across many times in my life, and those people have been very difficult to get along with.

TJ: Oh my god, she was a complete psycho. I don’t know if this was because she was from Darwin, or if she was just naturally that crazy but dear god. Some harmless and innocent flirting from Thomas caused her to get too attached early on and she was EXTREMELY offended when he told her it was casual fun. She was a bit of a pick me girl who looks like also got too attached to men and couldn’t read signals very well. Her storyline with Bodie was something else. She was lowkey obsessed with him and couldn’t handle him not feeling the same way. Another female couldn’t even talk to him without her getting paranoid. She was an extremely paranoid woman who took everything personally and jumped to her own conclusions. She strikes me as someone who struggled with relationships/friendships as everything was always someone else’s fault and she got unnecessarily angry. Her going early along with Bodie was poor for the series as it was one of the more notable storylines early on.

Bodie: He is probably my favourite housemate ever to be evicted within the first month. He was undeniably the star of the show in those first few weeks and him leaving so early was a travesty. He was crazy, cooky, naughty and so inconsiderate of the other housemates and I was honestly in stitches laughing. He didn’t seem to care about winning and was genuinely there not only for fun, but to also be himself and to say whatever he thinks even if that means hurting others. I don’t doubt dealing with TJ was an experience, to say the least, but he was hilarious with how he acted. The rapid pressing of the diary room button when TJ said: “I hope it’s a double and we leave together” KILLED ME. I appreciated his honesty; he didn’t give a fuck who he said what to and we need more of that on BB. Good on him for calling out the power-hungry couple for what they were, I couldn’t imagine being able to handle going against two people on my own, but he did it well. I really thought he was funny and had so much more to offer, the entertainment he offered was just getting started and we were robbed of more of it. Not only was he such a fun guy but he was such a hottie as well, which made him even more enjoyable to watch. He was so robbed by being evicted in an incredibly pointless double eviction. I think he could have lasted a while longer; he may have bowed out along with Emma but who knows. Fuck you Big Brother for letting him go so soon.

Demet: Initially, I was disappointed she was the one chosen to enter the house from the white room, as of the four occupants I thought she was the most boring from what was shown. She was pretty much a non-entity until her final week when she blows up Andrew and Hayley’s ‘game’. I enjoyed the argument and I enjoyed seeing the couple be knocked off their pedestal so yay for that. It seems she may have overexaggerated what had been said but I like that she stirred the pot and did offer something. I did like her by the time she left, if only the audience just thought sensibly and voted out Zoran.

Hayley: I started off liking her, I felt sorry for her for having to stray away from Andrew in the first week, but I also think she had a bit too much fun flirting with Thomas to throw the house off the scent. I think she was fully aware of how to last long in the show, she transparently tried to win over housemates especially late entrants onto her side. Bodie and Demet were right about her, she was there to play the game and was upset she was called out. She went from sort of likeable to all high and mighty and needed to desperately be thrown off her throne. Her attitude towards Billy owing her loyalty was fucking stupid, she had too much of a high opinion of herself. I am undecided if I had wanted her to stay longer over Andrew, I think she likely goes not long after regardless. I was shocked to learn she was so popular on the popularity polls. She made good TV, but it became grating, and her leaving was extremely beneficial for Andrew’s perception.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Nick: What a disappointment of a housemate. The golden key twist was such a waste of time and Nick’s whole arc was a simple wait for him to be ridden by the voting public. He had some potential I guess, but he wasn’t open enough socially and was far too judgmental to ever integrate well within the group. He was nasty, petty and too much of a pessimist to be entertaining. He did get a really shit deal with the task, but honestly, hugging people isn’t that big of a deal. If my task was to hug before I spoke to people, I’d be fine with it, but it depends on the person. He let it ruin his experience far too much and he wasn’t socially adept enough to overcome it which led to a very expected and desired departure for him.

Susannah: She really did surprise me on this rewatch. I have for so long remembered her as the most insignificant and boring of this group, but I have changed my opinion largely on that. She may not have been shown a lot, but I found her likeable. Yes, for the first month or so she kind of just exists on her own in the storyline, with everyone else overshadowing her. It wasn’t until her last week in the house that I finally understood which clique she mostly hung with and who her friends were. But I did find her princessy ways funny and her denial of her attraction to Thomas was laughable (I think it was mostly this that resulted in her eviction). It's funny that she ended up dating him as well after all of that. I can’t really explain it, but I did like her, and she has been massively underrated by me as a fun housemate. She also looked so much younger than 30, like wow.

Emma: She is possibly my favourite housemate of the season and there is so much I have to say about her, whether that be what I have already said or what I’m about to. At first glance, she is nothing out of the ordinary for a reality show participant. Blonde hair, big boobs and skinny body, nothing short of what we have on a generic cast. Whilst she does play a role that is always played by her archetype, she is most definitely the nastiest housemate to ever live in the Australian Big Brother house. She came across as so cold-hearted, uninterested in others and extremely judgmental, yet I loved it. All the storylines seemed to in some way come back to her whether she was directly involved or not, but every housemate commented on her and she did as well. It’s easy to see what type of person she was in school, the same as she was in the house. I have never watched someone on this show rip into people’s physical appearances as much as she did, nor have I seen someone who was so unwilling to get to know others who were not cut from her cloth. Whether it was her commenting on Susannah’s legs, Thomas’s body or Rebecca and/or Jamie in general; everything that came out of her mouth was nasty. It’s almost hard to thoroughly describe her because when it comes down to it, nasty is all she was.

She may have been nasty, but she is amazing viewing. She is mainly a side character initially who just happens to be in the cool group, but when Bodie is evicted, she does a lot of the heavy lifting for the daily shows. Without her the series would have no leg to stand on in the early weeks, without her there is no villain and without her, there is no reason for a lot of the other characters to develop. She is the polarising talking point of the series that intrigued me to watch the episodes as fast as I did. It’s strange how generic she appeared at face value but under the surface lay such a fascinating character of pure nasty. Maybe it was because she has grown up with siblings that she was used to conflict, maybe in school, she stuck too tight to her group of friends or maybe just simply she didn’t see a reason to make effort for people in the house that she didn’t see a reason to. I just cannot believe a person could freely bitch as often as she did and delude herself into thinking she wasn’t? Did she truly believe she wasn’t a bitchy person? She would constantly bitch behind people’s backs and crucify anyone who was said to do the same thing. By the end of the first month, she had such a stronghold on a majority of the group to the point of her being able to get away with bitching because of her position. It is around this point the “nerds” have almost no way of knocking her off the throne, especially when Laura comes in and assists in giving her information. Emma had a brief rocky start but managed to win over allies by the point of her eviction. There are scenarios where she would have been able to win out to a deep point in the game IMO, although with vote to evict she had no shot at winning she could have lasted a little bit longer.

The situation with her dad is a hard one that I think was dealt with the right way. The family had requested she not know and that was what happened so there’s not much else to discuss from it. In terms of the show itself as a TV show, they benefited from having her stay. Morally that may sound wrong but there is truth behind it, she makes the show entertaining, and polarising and I firmly believe her departure is premature. I do wonder if she didn’t discuss nominating with Aleisha, would Big Brother have implemented the strategic nominations and the five-nominee requirement? If so, Emma screwed herself accidentally. If not, then she gets massively screwed by a silly production gimmick. The storylines do pretty much die without her, and the show is left without a figurehead. I don’t think from a moral standpoint she was a deserving winner, but who else is there really who overtakes her in terms of contribution to the narrative? She is another strong argument towards why vote to save is better. I do wonder if she was as bad as the show made her out to be. Was it because of the situation? A person could not possibly be that nasty in real life. She was entertaining anyway, an all-time great housemate who would have been fun to see return. I hope she has changed for the better by now.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Rebecca: I used to love her when I was younger and was sad she left in the double with such a low result, but this time I didn’t care that much for her either way. I didn’t dislike her enough to want her out but also didn’t love her enough to want her to stay. It was sad and disheartening watching someone try as hard as she did with her housemates only to be completely ostracised and ignored. I think if I was in the house I’d engage in games with her, but I also understand that an overly positive attitude like hers can be grating to some extent. Her upbringing intrigues me, as does the Mormon religion as I don’t understand how she couldn’t comprehend that the reality is not everyone will like you. I like that she wanted to try with everyone, but she was never going to get through to Emma and needed to give up on that. Part of me thinks she was foolish to not expect people like Emma to be in the house, it’s Big Brother, there was always going to be younger people who enjoy drinking and bitching. I don’t get how she didn’t expect to be the odd one out. Personality aside, she was bullied. My biggest pet hate in life is people ignoring someone or not letting someone say their piece, especially in group discussions. She was straight up ignored purposely, and her input was never valued and was made a mockery of. I totally get Jamie’s frustration for the others shutting her down, I get the woman was a bit hard to live with, but she wasn’t treated like a human being, and it was saddening to watch. She was a very socially awkward person and that may come from her being surrounded by people who are different to the typical twenty-something-year-olds.

Laura: Laura is someone who I truly believe to be as irritating to live with as she was on the TV show. She did provide some entertainment after Emma left but it wasn’t really all that fun to watch. She did a lot of the damage to herself with her lying to Daniele about bitching to Emma. She pretty much had her bed made and refused to lie in it. I wouldn’t call her likeable by any means, but she was an interesting character, but in fairness, I think she had offered everything she could by the point of her leaving. I’m all for people being environmentally friendly, but no one likes a Nazi. I’ve met people like Laura before who do my head in, so she was hard for me to warm to. By the end of the series, I actually missed the drama she brought to the house. I am PMSL that she got arrested and couldn’t attend the finale. Partying like a good Aussie girl should lol. Although please everyone respect health care workers.

Andrew: My opinion of him is pretty much neutral. He starts as semi-likeable with the Hayley situation, he then goes on to be her biggest advocate but also talked sense into her. I liked that he told her that Billy owes her nothing, so whilst Bodie was correct in saying that it was always two against someone else I was happy that Andrew was able to see another person’s point of view to a degree. He does come across as likeable once Hayley leaves and becomes very well insulated within the house for a while and manages a winning streak on Friday Night Live which I wasn’t too phased about. He then became the head honcho of the group and I think he knew it but didn’t want to admit it. In any other reality TV show, he is probably the stock standard threatening, generic white guy who has a good chance at winning, for Big Brother I was simply whelmed by him if anything. He probably was there to be this game player everyone made him out to be, but I don’t really care enough.

Thomas: I really hate the captain America archetype for these shows. I don’t care that was a generally nice guy, or that he was good looking (arguably) or that he was successful in life whilst being humble. I found him to be super uninteresting for a good chunk of the series up until the Big Brother isn’t watching task, where he shows a more aggressive attitude within himself. He always had to be diplomatic, apologise, neutral and it grated me. He was a nice guy cool, but boring TV. If I had been watching this live at the time I would have been pleasantly surprised to see him evicted with a very low save vote, I was worried teenage girls would have been swooned by him. Thankfully not so much.

Jamie: Whether it be Big Brother, Survivor, Amazing race or any other reality show, I never care for the nerdy character. Maybe I’m heartless, maybe I’m judgmental, but I just don’t buy into the sympathy for them, nor do I relate to them. Jamie was someone that I like seeing in the house, a person who I’d run into in daily life. But he wasn’t a unique character. I am shocked with how much of a nothing he was for a huge majority of the edit. I can understand the sympathy early on, but I wouldn’t have jumped on the bandwagon, I actually would have voted to evict him in that first eviction over Kate and Bodie. I did feel sorry for him initially with the housemate’s treatment of him and Rebecca. Although, it did just seem for a lot of them that they didn’t have much in common with him or that they found it hard to get to know him because he was constantly analysing and also withheld opinions from group conversations.

The I’m not crying!” moment is probably his most notable contribution to the series, it did show a complex and caring side to him and that he was able to stand up for what he did believe (however, alcohol reportedly assisted so how much credit goes to him is questionable). But once Rebecca leaves, he completely vanishes. In his last few weeks, he doesn’t even speak in most of the daily shows, and I would see him and think “oh that’s right you exist”. He was very clearly an intelligent man who, despite his upbringing, was surprisingly highly skilled at reading social cues and body language. I didn’t believe he was there to play a game until his eviction interview. He was a completely different person on stage and also again the next night on nominations as well as FNL. I now do believe the housemate’s opinion that he attempted to go under the radar and overplay the nerd story to win. He had stated he watched the show before, had acting experience and also above average intelligence, so I see no reason why he didn’t go in attempting to pull off the Tim Brunero strategy like @theorist mentioned earlier. The difference between them however is that Tim never begged for sympathy, nor did he withhold his own personality, Jamie did both. I still don’t care for him that much, I am happy that the audience did turn on quieter characters towards the end, I do however wish they did so earlier.

 

[Zcsund1234]

Michelle: Wow, just wow. Up until this point, most intruders had been either insignificant, disappointing, mediocre or just slightly loud/opinionated at best. But Michelle was something else. Loud, obnoxious, funny, horrible, likeable, nasty, uneducated, simple, bogan, there are so many adjectives to describe her I can’t even narrow it down to a few let alone one. With Emma leaving she was definitely what the house needed, and when Laura left, she was one who was essentially carrying the entertainment on her back. At first, I found her hilarious, I loved her energy and I really enjoyed her over the top character. It was something the house was in desperate need of and without her, the last month of the series would have been extremely boring to watch. The robber moment was so hilarious, her Aussie Bloke like persona was funny too. but the fight with Aleisha did taint her likeability and revealed some truly ugly aspects to her personality that I didn’t enjoy seeing. There’s telling people you can’t help how you are but there is a level of respect you need to show people. Also, when you are having a serious discussion with a person that you don’t want to turn into an argument, don’t dismiss what they say and condescend them.

Michelle had a, let’s call it skilled way, at being able to infuriate people. She came across as enjoying poking the bear and laugh at the reaction she got because she purely enjoyed it. I didn’t like seeing her get on her high horse because of her age, I didn’t like seeing her consider Aleisha’s opinions as gibbering and I didn’t like seeing her follow and corner Aleisha into a corner and essentially force her to speak to her when she wanted to cool off. There was no reason to bring family into the argument (which is apparently what she did, but it wasn’t shown) and I think that argument set her death sentence. Michelle was decently likeable at points after that, but the damage was done, Zach and Aleisha were too likeable for her to survive at all. Seeing 92% vote to evict her was shocking to me at the time of my first watch, as I never expected the Australian public to vote someone out to that great extent. I am glad to see people side with Aleisha. Whilst I admit she was necessary for entertainment; she did have a really ugly side to her. I think it comes from her being uneducated and way too stuck to her ways. However, I will not say she was a bad intruder; I think she is one of the best intruders the show has had actually.

Daniela: I remembered liking her years ago, but this time around I mostly had little to no opinion. She came into a house with a set power structure which she didn’t approve of. She didn’t want to necessarily infiltrate it but rather bring all housemates to a level playing field, although this was to no avail. She was someone who didn’t want to play by the rules and had no intentions of following orders from Andrew and Billy. It just sucks for her that the others did and were happy to do so. She was more of an outcast in the house for a long time which made me feel awkward for her if anything. I don’t think there’s anything striking about her that sticks out compared to the others, I actually also think she is one of the luckiest housemates to ever enter the house.

Statistically, she has lived in the house for the second most days as an intruder with a total of 54 days. When hearing that for the first time, you’re probably inclined to think that she must have stuck out for the audience to keep her in so long. That isn’t the case at all. She gets very lucky with how the voting worked and that she faced eviction against Emma and Laura who were both going to attract a huge amount of evict votes. She gets lucky Big Brother gave her immunity for being female in week 9, where she would have 100% gone in the double, I bet my last dollar on it. She gets lucky she won out with FNL and then found herself in the final seven where she was set to go, she was NEVER going to last any longer.

She was a fun housemate at times, she called out things as little as Andrew taking the head chair at the table as well as double standards within the house, but she was never going to get through to anyone with the pact mentality the house had. She gets screwed a little by Laura who threw her under the bus to the popular crowd for bitching. I feel sorry for her that she was a decently fiery character and was thrown into a cast that was wrong for her. For the second half of her stay in the house, it was a waiting game for when she was to leave. I feel bad that she didn’t have the best experience in there, I think she could have thrived in another cast, I am not sure which one, but she had the potential to be a better housemate than she was.

Joel: I liked Joel last time and I liked Joel this time. I never managed to understand why he was evicted before Zoran, I still don’t completely, but I can sort of understand why his popularity decreased by this point. His popularity with the audience seemed to be conditional with the audience, they kept him to the end as they found him enjoyable, but they didn’t like him enough to hand him the win. I saw an abundance of similarities between him and Daniel from 2003, as both were described as hiding behind characters and voices due to their difficulty in opening up to people. Although, he wasn’t as introverted as Daniel was. Like Daniel, Joel’s fellow housemates would routinely comment on their thinking that Joel would avoid expressing opinions and hide behind his characters in order to avoid nominations and maintain popularity. I don’t know if I agree or disagree with this approach to analysing Joel’s character, I did find him funny and I also did see moments of him being complex and open. He spoke about his father possibly not approving of his choice to not excel in his Tennis career or university studies, and I can relate. I often feel I have been pressured by family and friends to be the type to excel with studying and I have come to realise uni might not be the ultimate path I want. I was able to truly empathise with him and I appreciated that moment.

I did feel bad for him when he kept getting nominated due to the twist, constantly for the same reason of the nominator thinking he would be safe, which Joel clued onto and became sick of it. Whenever I hear people say some people are strategically avoiding conflict in the house to last longer, I don’t fully agree to an extent. It may be possible some were purposely doing so, but who’s to say that aren’t the same in real life. The housemate’s choice eviction spoke volumes about the housemate’s ability to optimally vote strategically, as well as their choice to value friendship over success. I can understand that he leaves when he does because he wasn’t as deep and open as the other housemates about his life, which I can agree to, but I think he deserved to at least beat Zoran and possibly Billy.

Zoran: If I am being completely honest, he is probably the most uninteresting housemate I have watched across all of the seasons so far. That is not to say that I dislike him, I just feel like he contributed almost nothing to the storylines of the season. In the beginning, he was said to be rude, obnoxious and inconsiderate, but he got such minimal airtime it was hard to formulate a warranted opinion on him. I largely just don’t think much about him when thinking about this season overall. He gets lucky with the voting formula and barely by an ant’s dick survives the double and then floats his way to the later weeks where he only still gets evicted because of a double. Zoran lasting so long is enough to argue why the net vote system is flawed in practice. He got fuck all save votes but also fuck all evict votes which allowed him to just balance out his total and survive week after week. He seemed like a really nice guy but I just don’t have much to comment on.

 

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Billy: As a teen, he was my high school crush. I was obsessed with his long messy bleached hair and halftoned body. I thought he was the hottest thing I had ever seen on TV. After this rewatch I am so disappointed in the housemate he was. He was at times, a grump. Other than the Mr X twist and his showmance with Aleisha he was super irrelevant for the first half of the series. It isn’t until Emma leaves and Zach enters that Billy becomes a major character in the series’ later storylines. And that is being the head of the house with Andrew. I thought he was dismissive of the intruders/nerds, ignorant to the idea that there was a power group in the house and wouldn’t admit to the power he held over the structure and dynamics of the house. Even with explosive intruders none of this was taken away from him. If the housemates were voting for the winner and evictions, he could have extremely likely won close to unanimously. I don’t consider him a horrible character or bad person, just really boring TV and a really generic casting choice. I did like his dynamic with Zach, it was cute and the way he spoke about it on stage made me feel like he was a good guy. Zach brought out better sides in him, if it weren’t for Billy being fairly accepting of a gay guy having a crush on him, I would have thought Billy’s only redeeming quality was his appearance.

His relationship with Aleisha was so odd on the rewatch. If you asked me before re-watching this season who my favourite showmance was, I would have answered Aleisha and Billy. Now, I got the impression he didn’t really like her that much compared to how she felt, and I think she knew that too. From reading interviews with Aleisha today it’s clear he went into the house intending to work in TV/Media, which rightly so he was successful in achieving so good on him, but it does make me wonder if his intentions with her were genuine. By the later parts of the series, the other housemates were commenting saying he was ignoring her, wanted his own space, was reluctant to talk about their situation and was sleeping in his own bed. But then also, it looks like he was the type of guy who wasn’t good at showing emotions or expressing feelings, so maybe I am being too harsh on him and that’s just his personality. I could go either way with what I really do think, but I get the vibe he was more focused on getting something out of the show and Aleisha whilst was a form of support for him and maybe he did like her, it was also a bonus to boost his popularity. I think he did like her, possibly just not as much as she liked him.

The Mr X twist was fun on paper, but he was too passive of a person to be explosive or make it what it had the potential to be. If he and Hayley had ended on bad terms it would have been more interesting to see it unfold, so whilst it wasn’t fantastic as a twist it wasn’t horrible. But most of it comes down to Billy being too much of a laid-back and easy-going guy. I have always thought of him to be a memorable figure and likeable character in the series, but he is a bit similar to Krystal from BB06 in the context that he probably could have been evicted if he’s up against the right mix. The only reason he outlasts Joel and Zoran to make the final 4 is because of him winning FNL and saving himself. His popularity had decreased a lot earlier than I remembered, which I would guess has to do with his treatment of Aleisha. I am not saying he was horrible or nasty to her, nor was a mean housemate in any regard. He was a nice guy and was likeable to a point, but he was so generic and edited a bit negatively for me to really like him. In saying this, I think he may have been likeable on any other series, I think it’s just he is a tad less likeable than the other members of the strong cast this is. He was a likeable presence on that Channel 11 show and social media. So, whilst I am disappointed I do still kind of like him, and I will probably still find him hot for a long while.

Travis: I like Travis. I don’t extensively love and adore him, but I do like him a lot. A lot was being said of him being part of an archetype that is over celebrated in BBAU, which is correct, but I still found myself enjoying him. Not enough to want him to win, he would have made a good winner if he had been on an earlier season, but by this point, that type of person winning again just would have felt worn out. He is mostly quieter than I recalled him being and wasn’t a huge dynamic figure but remained likeable throughout. His way of speaking was hilariously so Australian to the point of it being almost unheard of. Calling double evictions “Double O Bills”, calling the pretty boys “Romos” and saying “How you going” to Big Brother every single time he spoke to him. He came across as very likeable very early on, especially since he didn’t take a stance on the sides of the house and didn’t get involved in conflict. Some fans appear to view him as fake and acting, I don’t think that’s the case. I have met many blokey men who speak like Travis, and I think that’s just how he was and probably still is. I don’t think he was analytically intelligent enough to play the game. I understand that people can go into the house and change aspects of their personality to do well, but it takes a very devious, manipulative, self-aware and intelligent person to completely fake who they are. I don’t think Travis fits into that category.

The nomination rocks were funny, his nicknames were funny, his talking at great lengths to the point of Big Brother simply accepting horrible nomination reasons for the sake of time were funny. I just found him to be likeable and whilst he wasn’t as hugely dynamic as others, he was still really warming and did stick out. He also did challenge stereotypes of straight Aussie males. The man was so caring, had no judgments to make and had no malice anywhere near him. His treatment of Zach did make me think wow, there were men like him back then who were accepting. I think credit is due there for him. He was fun for Michelle to bounce off, and even funnier to watch him shut her down unexpectedly at times. His eviction interview made me cry; he was such a nice guy I can’t help but like him. I am relieved in a way he didn’t win, as it was definitely time for a different style of winner to be crowned. Overall, liked him but not enough for him to win.

 

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Zach: I do like Zach. A lot. He came in at the right time and was able to assist in keeping the narrative alive despite Emma’s departure. He was different and quirky which I loved, and not to mention the house needed a gay representative. He brought a nice level of positivity to a split house and was necessary for the likeability of serval housemates. There were too many blokey males at this point, so Zach’s character was needed. I enjoyed listening to him talk about his fears of the male housemates, growing up in the country and expressing his struggles with his sexuality. He brought out great sides to the personalities of Aleisha, Billy, Travis, Zoran and even Daniela. The other intruders all entered the house to find themselves either pot-stirring or exiled. It’s very telling how well Zach fitted in with the cast compared to the others and I think he would have thrived as a housemate from the beginning. I would have loved to have seen him meet TJ, Bodie and Emma but even the slightly dud bunch left at the end were enough for him to bounce off.

I am a little surprised though with some things with him. He was a bit whiney, and I don’t remember him initially feeling like an outsider. But towards the end, he does fit in well with the group so it’s nothing that majorly ruins him. He is probably more dynamic than any of the other housemates in the second half of the series. He is extremely complex, and we got to learn about him both inside and outside the house. What I love about both him and intruder Vesna is that both of them lasted so long and didn’t expect to. Neither had any faith in them winning or going far and it’s that innocence and genuine nature that makes them both likeable. He stuck out of a group of copies of each other, and it was great to see an intruder that the audience was wanting to get behind. And anyone who was gay and watched him could probably relate to having a crush on a straight guy. We’ve all been there so for me it was fun to see it expressed in the show and in a positive way. I enjoyed Zach a lot and I am happy he made it to the end. I probably wouldn’t have liked for him to win over Aleisha, I don’t love the idea of an intruder winning but I don’t disregard a quality over quantity approach either. And whilst this isn’t his fault, the closeness of him winning to Aleisha is very exaggerated and fans have been misinterpreted by media to think of him almost missing out. When in reality, the natural vote that was unharmed was almost a 60-40 split.

Aleisha: She surprised me a bit on this watch. I think after this rewatch I feel as if I like her more than I did the first time, and that I used to not fully understand how she won. I did like her, but I just didn’t see winner in her at the time. Now I do. She does start off fairly quiet and her narrative consists of her being Emma’s lapdog. I don’t see how they got along so well but I liked both, but Emma made Aleisha appear less likeable than she became later. The friendship did make Aleisha appear to be a tad bitchy and along with Emma didn’t come across as great with the nerds and A-Team split. But on her own, she was a really cute character who was very likeable. She had some heart-warming stories to share about her family which did touch my heart and made me like her a lot more now that I am her age and I got more of a perspective of what she had been through. I saw a lot of similarities between her and Sarah from Big Brother 2020, and I like both housemates, so it does make me think more highly of Aleisha’s character and I was much more able to relate to her at my age now than I did eight years ago.

It is when Emma leaves that she starts to show a better personality. Even still when Emma was in the house bitching about people, Aleisha did demonstrate maturity and even disagreed with Emma which did show she had potential. She just needed to be away from Emma to show it. Without Emma the bitchiness from her end does stop and adding in Zach allowed for her to show off her bubbly personality. I don’t see how someone could watch this and not want her to win over the others who remained in the house at the second half. So, I can see how she wins over everyone else. The fight with Michelle is a huge benefit to her. Before the fight, she was likeable enough to be a contender, but I would have probably considered Travis to be the front runner. But the argument with Michelle had Aleisha coming out of it looking so good and so likeable. It became her game to lose at that point and I am in no way shocked at all that she gained a lot of popularity after the incident. To add, she came across also looking better after Billy started being a dick to her. I feel like she was young and appreciated his companionship in the house, as well as being attracted to him, but ended up more invested than he was.

Like I have already said she was cute, giggly, funny and straight to the point likeable. Younger female housemates before her seemed to struggle to maintain popularity all the way through. Aleisha comes from an archetype that is popular but never seems to win because of one thing they do towards the end that annoys viewers. But Aleisha does stick out as the more complex and likeable one of that specific group. She is one of the stronger winners of BBAU and is the first to benefit from the vote to save method so there is a win for the twist with her. I really like Aleisha as a housemate and as a person. She is a fun presence on her social media as well, I would have really loved to have seen her on the new season this year. I would love to see a complex insight into who she is today. Happy for her that she won and very happy someone like her finally won the show.

I still can’t believe she is the only younger girl to have won the show across thirteen seasons. Will Australia ever get sick of crowning boring men the win? Probably not. Now onto 2008 so let’s see how that goes. Now well into March and still nothing about the 2022 season being released. Surely by the time I reach the channel nine seasons, there will be something?