Best Ch 9 Big Brother Season

[Shackles]

I've always been in the minority to say that Big Brother 2012 was my favourite season of the 9 era, through and through (since most folks tend to prefer 2013, which I found too gimmicky). It had one of the best winners (the finale touched me with the marriage proposal). A likable set of housemates (Estelle, Michael, Layla, Angie, Stacey, Bradley, etc) and a cute looking house. Oh and I thought Sonia was fresh and appealing.

Never liked Surly though.

 

[insider06]

2013 and it isn’t close. One of the better casts assembled for an Australian season (Worthy of an og Channel 10 season cast wise).

2012 Alex Mav and Channel 9 played it way to safe and whilst I understand the strategy for the reboot, the cast was same-same, lacked diversity, and was overall pretty boring I thought. I got an insight into some of the housemates they rejected for this season in the fear that they would be overly controversial for the reboot (9 wanted a clean slated, family friendly iteration to kick things off) and it is so disappointing some of the potential housemates they rejected who would have been far better choices over those who made it on (Tim Dormer was one of them!). They had another dreadlocked, male from WA lined up, he was an African immigrant and highly intelligent and articulate, funny and not afraid of confrontation. Would have made a brilliant housemate. They went with George over him due to the “I’m a millionaire” storyline for the secrets element. What an absolute miss that was. This potential housemate decided to call it quits on applying again despite the producers begging him to apply again in 2013 as he also made it to the final 25ish in 2008 and I believe at one point was told he’d been selected in both 2008 and 2012 before being cut last minute so he was fed up with it all at that point.

2014 though… what a disaster. Could kind of see what they were going for with some of the housemate selections but it just didn’t come off at all. I’d say almost the entire cast underperformed relative to what the producers expectations would have been selecting them for the series.

 

[Rison]

2014 though… what a disaster

Agreed.

How they managed to go from the highs of 2013 to the depths of 2014 in the blink of an eye is beyond me.

 

[dasnico]

You know, I couldn’t even tell you anything about 2012. I literally do not remember it. Tho Tim using garden stones to make eviction predictions is something I remember well from 2013. Tully and Tehan too.

2014 didn’t really hit. The house was so strange, among many other things. If I had to pick between 2014 and a 7 season I’d choose 2014.

To each their own. One of my favourite 10 seasons is season 6, which I know isn’t a popular opinion.

 

[the Theorist]

I have a slightly opposing perspective to @insider06, although I agree to some extent.

I still voted 2013 - that season is already regarded as one of the best and, in particular, the casting was a nearly flawless collective. I agree it was easily one of the best groups we've ever had, if not the best cast. The exception is (and always was for Nine) we didn't get to see enough of them. I remember that being really noticeable at the time. They were a brilliant dynamic bunch, there was a lot of organic things going on, we just didn't get to see it all. Ironic too, given the length of the season and the supersized duration of every episode.

I re-watched the Nine era a couple years ago and came away with fresh thoughts. We (I) criticized the show to death at the time and, yes, there was a lot of questionable choices during its run. (Not least of all, Sonia Kruger.) But... I disagree that all Nine's seasons are awful.

When I re-watched, I found myself actually enjoying 2012 far more than I did when it first aired and found it reasonably well executed. Despite the typical twists and cartoon-ish elements like Surly, it was evident from very early that production were sailing the ship with the right intent. Even the initial Daily Shows that year had a very Ten era feel to them. They actually got a lot right imo, including the 2012 cast. In fact, I also believe the 2014 cast was vey good (Priya was totally underappreciated). Which brings me to why I think it failed...

This may be an unpopular view but I strongly believe Nine's downfall was just that... Nine. The network got waaayy too involved, especially the longer it stayed on Nine. As noted above, they wanted family-friendly and that was a huge reason for its downfall. Yes, Alex isn't completely innocent either, but imo the only reason 2014 was as much of a disaster as it was is the fault of the network, not so much directly Big Brother. Nine's interference with the schedule, re-ordering the format, cutting the amount of episodes mid-season and changing plans for the show on the fly. There was a lot of poor management by 2014 and, at this stage, production's hands were clearly tied which resulted in a complete shitshow.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing... ultimately, I actually think all three seasons on Nine were decent enough. Some of my favourite ever BBAU HMs came from this era (Tahan, Priya, even Mikkayla... Ray ). Despite an inconsistent format, campy challenges and unncessary twists and format changes, we still had divisive characters (I can't recall as much a split within the fandom than the Estelle/Benjamin camps, then we had the mastermind of Tim) and natural controversies (fascination with couples like Tully/Drew and Cat/Lawson was unprecedented). Simply put, we just never saw enough. Of any of them. I remember getting frustrated when I re-watched 2012, 2013 and 2014 because the potential was there, you could tell a lot of was happening (2014) but they couldn't show any of it. Had their been true live streaming and a solid schedule, allowing the seasons to play out as intended (in a Ten era fashion), I think it could've hit the mark.

Anyway. I voted 2013.

 

[Hunter's_Mckay]

I think losing Sarah and Ray so early hurt 2012 a bit. They were housemates who didn't mind a bit of confrontation and who were willing to go against the 'popular crew' from time to time.

2013 had an absolutely incredible elimination order. The boring people went early for the most part, though for my own personal tastes Jade and Ed over stayed their welcome due to their showmance. Having housemates like Tully, Mikayla and possibly even Tahan all lasting that long was a bit unprecedented for Aus BB TBH.

2014 was a disaster from start to finish really. So many housemates who brought absolutely nothing to the table and Lina making it to the final week due to the parents nominating instead of the housemates angered me so much.

 

[jessy_girl]

A likable set of housemates (Estelle, Michael, Layla, Angie, Stacey, Bradley, etc)

Most of these people are really not likeable lol.

2013 cast was elite though.

 

[Kingston]

Most of these people are really not likeable lol.

2013 cast was elite though.

This is someone who openly admits to liking stale white bread

Oh and I thought Sonia was fresh and appealing.

 

[Zcsund1234]

2012 I think was executed well and was not too far off the Ch10 seasons, maybe just the Kris Noble seasons but still I feel like it isn't a bad season of Reality TV. And the only major interference that came from nine was due to the rugby finals, other than that the scheduling was fairly consistent. The cast was very safe but had some stars there. Take away the nastiness that came from the in group people such as Stacey, Benjamin, Michael and even people like Zoe/Layla/Angie there was some compelling parts to them. Estelle's saga is not an enjoyable watch but there were fun moments at times and it was structured really well. And Josh was such a babe.

When it comes to 2013 I am not as high on it as others are, but thats mainly because I found it to be a bit more predictable in comparison to 2012. At least Benjamin was not a clear front runner to win, whereas I felt like Tim's win was obvious way earlier on. But I will agree the dynamics of the cast were fantastic and they made great use of the length of the series. It didn't start to die down until way late into the series. It does have the whole Drew/Tully thing which was a very interesting storyline (in similar style to Vince and Morgan from this year's US Season for anyone who watched) and Tahan's rivarly with the Jade/Mikkayla/Sugar Sisters group was interesting as well. The group was well put together, but this is where it felt a bit too gimmicky for me and when Nine had a bit too much say, such as evictions changing to Wednesdays in the last third.

2014 is horrible and nine is to blame for it, the cast had promise but we hardly saw anything of them due to the Sunday and Friday shows being dropped halfway. And of the 4 remaining episodes each week had two eviction shows which was such overkill especially when there was a total of 22 housemates for what fucking reason? Apart from Skye I didn't care much for anyone. And that theme music horrible.

As much as I want to vote 2013 for how great the cast is I still vote for 2012 for it's simplicity and consistency. But I can understand why people don't like it as much as 2013.

 

[Shackles]

2012 I think was executed well and was not too far off the Ch10 seasons, maybe just the Kris Noble seasons but still I feel like it isn't a bad season of Reality TV. And the only major interference that came from nine was due to the rugby finals, other than that the scheduling was fairly consistent. The cast was very safe but had some stars there. Take away the nastiness that came from the in group people such as Stacey, Benjamin, Michael and even people like Zoe/Layla/Angie there was some compelling parts to them. Estelle's saga is not an enjoyable watch but there were fun moments at times and it was structured really well. And Josh was such a babe.

When it comes to 2013 I am not as high on it as others are, but thats mainly because I found it to be a bit more predictable in comparison to 2012. At least Benjamin was not a clear front runner to win, whereas I felt like Tim's win was obvious way earlier on. But I will agree the dynamics of the cast were fantastic and they made great use of the length of the series. It didn't start to die down until way late into the series. It does have the whole Drew/Tully thing which was a very interesting storyline (in similar style to Vince and Morgan from this year's US Season for anyone who watched) and Tahan's rivarly with the Jade/Mikkayla/Sugar Sisters group was interesting as well. The group was well put together, but this is where it felt a bit too gimmicky for me and when Nine had a bit too much say, such as evictions changing to Wednesdays in the last third.

2014 is horrible and nine is to blame for it, the cast had promise but we hardly saw anything of them due to the Sunday and Friday shows being dropped halfway. And of the 4 remaining episodes each week had two eviction shows which was such overkill especially when there was a total of 22 housemates for what fucking reason? Apart from Skye I didn't care much for anyone. And that theme music horrible.

As much as I want to vote 2013 for how great the cast is I still vote for 2012 for it's simplicity and consistency. But I can understand why people don't like it as much as 2013.

Yeah, I don't know why. I thought it went for too long, and they had a lot of housemates crammed into it! Also some housemates were barely shown that much (lack of screentime). I just didn't warm up to them and didn't like the most of them (besides Jade). Ben seemed like he was acting and Tim was also exaggerating his goofy behaviour for the cameras. Oh and I couldn't stand Mikkayla! Ukhh! A good thing about the season was that all the boring meatheads were evicted early thank God.

2014 was better for me. I just felt the housemates were an improvement over the 2013 ones (yeah bite me). I loved Priya and how she put Travis and David in their places. There was an interesting dynamic in that season. I liked Skye as well, and the relationship between Lawson and Cat.

I'm not saying you're stupid... I'm just saying you've got bad luck when it comes to thinking.

Really, this quote? Lol. Don’t worry, I’ll think twice next time so we can split the bad luck.

 

[BBantUK07]

I haven’t watched them since they aired, but my favourite would probably be 2013, with 2014 a close second. 2013 cast for me was almost perfect, despite would’ve been nicer to have some older housemates across all the seasons. 2013 and 2014 had a lot of layers to the casting which was nice, you had strategists Tim, priya, david, you had personalities skye, mikkayla, tahan, some hms I’d consider everyday Australians Sandra, cat, Sam, Lawson, Rohan. Emotional housemates tully, controversial ones, gemma. Mean girls jade, katie, Lisa, tahan. Gym bros Caleb, Travis, Dion. You had a nice, layered mix imo.
But yes 2012 was too safe for me, lacked a bit of spice.

Like has already been said, I honestly reckon channel 9 could’ve had more seasons in them if they didn’t move it to 8:40 time slot in 2014, it was an extremely solid season. I think at that point everyone just gave up on it. And yes 2014 got quite messy towards the end with the mass intruders and mass evictions, scheduling all over the place.
If I remember correctly as well, I do remember 2012 and 2013 being extremely family friendly where most of their content was just the housemates mucking around and tasks, almost targeted at kids pretty much where as 2014 had a better mix with more of a focus on dynamics and general conversations. That being said I haven’t watched them back since they aired.

All though all the stages were horrible, 2012 had the best stage imo.
2014 had the worst house I think across all the networks, it was horrible.