Rewatch Big Brother 2008 YouTube stream (Starts 7am 25 Oct)

Didn't they have Carson go in within the first two weeks? Screams them leaning further into what Kris Noble was doing than leaning away from it.
The year of Carson Kressley, Pamela Anderson, Corey Worthington, the SYTYCD judges and THE HYPNOTIST!

Oh we ready for this train wreck… or should I say, plane wreck. (Another cameo this season! lol)
 
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lol. Even without any FNL or Big Mouth episodes, the marathon would have to run for 58.68 hours. Some simple math would given that away to them you would've thought...

Also fun fact, FNL adds 18.28 hours (of dog shit content) to the marathons this season.
 
‘08 was an honest but clearly failed attempt at a refresh. I also think you can tell that some of the gimmicks were a result of crisis meetings where production were basically told to throw whatever at the wall and make it stick… or else!
The year of Carson Kressley, Pamela Anderson, Corey Worthington, the SYTYCD judges and THE HYPNOTIST!

💯 The fact that Kyle and Jackie O (who were already known at the time for having the TV kiss-of-death) were cast for this season is a classic example of the TV industry in Australia being extremely conservative, afraid of new ideas and new talent.

It was definitely a case of out-of-touch Ten executives freaking out and demanding that a cast of already-known celebrities/d-lebrities be thrown at the show as hosts or guests.

Unfortunately all of this shit still happens in 2025. That racist robot Sonia Kruger is still on a conveyor belt of shows, eating up roles that could go to up-and-comers. Weirdly the ABC seems to be the worst for it now - they offer absolutely nothing for young people and don't want to do anything about it. To the point where people are building their own streaming services that will compete with iView because the ABC is too difficult to work with.
 
Didn't they have Carson go in within the first two weeks? Screams them leaning further into what Kris Noble was doing than leaning away from it.
According to Wikipedia it was day 16 and IMG_6289.jpeg

Like I said to me it sounds like the gimmicks were the result of crisis talks and production being told to salvage what they could of the wreckage. Carson’s appearance coincided with planned promo for his show which was also airing on 10 and it seems to me like tacking on BB could have very easily been arranged in a scramble.

Pam’s appearance also felt like it was arranged in a scramble which is why when she was asked how much she was being paid she said "Much more than I am worth" and "I don't want to say how much but it is a lot.". It also coincided with a PETA anti-KFC campaign she worked on albeit may have been something she decided to do after agreeing to BB.
 
Did they invest more money into the technology side of things for this season? I notice the 10HD watermark. Would have sucked to put in a ton of money into new cameras and monitors to then pull the plug.
 
Corey Worthington, the SYTYCD judges and THE HYPNOTIST!
All things that very easily could have been arranged at a moments notice. Corey would have shown up to an envelop opening, SYTYCD Judges were already on 10 payroll, and an email to their agent, an open date in their calendar, and a signed paycheque. Gimmicks may have already been in Endemol’s repertoire but IIRC they weren’t in abundance like they were in ‘08. To me they scream last minute tricks not months of planning.
 
Did they invest more money into the technology side of things for this season? I notice the 10HD watermark. Would have sucked to put in a ton of money into new cameras and monitors to then pull the plug.
Given the refresh they had to have been given some sort of ultimate and conveniently 10 hadn’t committed to anything beyond ‘08.
 
Didn't they have Carson go in within the first two weeks? Screams them leaning further into what Kris Noble was doing than leaning away from it.
Blatant Channel Ten cross promotion, it was all tied into his version of that 'How To Look Good Naked' show (which I think Gok Wan did in the UK?) which was basically pretty much what he was doing on Queer Eye anyway (wardrobe makeovers) only it was just him. LOL.

So good they put together another special with him a few weeks later (which may or may not have just been leftover/additional footage from his original visit repackaged as if he made a return appearance without saying it iirc?)

Side note tangent, Makes me think of also earlier in 2008, when Good News Week had its revival on Ten, one of the first episodes (if not the first) had Jensen Ackles from Supernatural on as a very special guest and of course they went hard on the cross promotion because Supernatural followed its timeslot straight after on Monday nights, and at certain moments I'm sure he was thinking like 'why'd they book me for this show again? idk whats going on' lol. It was during the 2007-08 writer's strike as well.

 
So good they put together another special with him a few weeks later (which may or may not have just been leftover/additional footage from his original visit repackaged as if he made a return appearance without saying it iirc?)
It was, from memory. At the time it was one of the first examples of BBAU running pre-recorded footage from days (and then weeks) after the fact, which made these specials a big deal (in a very negative way).
 
I don’t remember the all the details but swapping evictions/nominations was to accommodate Kyle & Jackie O’s schedule as they were still hosting their radio show full time in addition to BB.

Midway through the season they went back to having housemates nominating and viewers evicting and just had the nominations part of the daily show. I think they should have done that earlier.

It’s possible that 10 wanted them to keep the new process, but that wouldn’t explain the one week of the drawn out reading of the voting numbers.

They’ve reacted quicker with the prize fund that housemates still had to earn. I remember one quiz with Nobbi in the van, when they earned some money towards the fund. But then it was dropped and there was a fixed $250,000.
 
SYTYCD AU was also quite an event for its time. Imagine if alt universe Natalie Bassingthwaighte did a Sonia Kruger and they also got her to Host BBAU straight after what that might've looked like?

I'd have to go back through my magazine scans but the way Kyle was talking in interviews at the time made it sound as if he had some input on the casting process with some of the 'wacky/out there' choices they seemed to be going for this season.
 
I know the age thing has been discussed lots but it’s not just from being young at the time, Terri really does look old right?

My mum is 56 (I think?) and looks younger and I’m not exaggerating when 08 Terri could pass for her mother. Jackie O would be roughly 52 now but has the advantage of millions of dollars I guess. But maybe back then that was how someone in their 50s looked?

They say you get the face you deserve though, so…
 
I don’t have good memories of BB08. They lost a lot with Gretel's departure. I wonder if it could have been redeemed if Gretel stayed on? The house was ugly as. The housemates aren’t overly memorable. And the obvious rigging to make Terri win.

Crazy we went from one of 10s best seasons in 2007, to arguably it’s worst in 2008.
 
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💯 The fact that Kyle and Jackie O (who were already known at the time for having the TV kiss-of-death) were cast for this season is a classic example of the TV industry in Australia being extremely conservative, afraid of new ideas and new talent.

It was definitely a case of out-of-touch Ten executives freaking out and demanding that a cast of already-known celebrities/d-lebrities be thrown at the show as hosts or guests.

Unfortunately all of this shit still happens in 2025. That racist robot Sonia Kruger is still on a conveyor belt of shows, eating up roles that could go to up-and-comers. Weirdly the ABC seems to be the worst for it now - they offer absolutely nothing for young people and don't want to do anything about it. To the point where people are building their own streaming services that will compete with iView because the ABC is too difficult to work with.
Racist? How?

I love Sonia btw. Really enjoyed her in the channel 9 BB era.
 
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