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Davina hosts BBUK: Best Episodes Ever from 14 June

As BB Spy points out, Fight Night (and most of the other episodes from BB5 that are worth picking) are kind of the exact opposite of the tone this is trying to strike.
 
As BB Spy points out, Fight Night (and most of the other episodes from BB5 that are worth picking) are kind of the exact opposite of the tone this is trying to strike.

Kittens Eviction or Michelle and Emma being sent to the Bedsit would have been perfect for BB5. Nadia winning was also pretty iconic...
 
The one that's surprising me is Helen's blinking clip, because that's not actually from a highlights episode. It only ever appeared in the weekly catch-up.
 
Not quite sure which episode it did appear in but it was early on as it was her catchphrase throughout on the outside at least. Date night in the den is the more obvious episode to show - so possible they will do as they did on Thursday and open with the famous clip then skip to an episode.

BB2 though for me is when Big Brother really became more than just a TV show - I found Big Brother Australia and became aware of BBUSA and them changing the rules, both of which I followed through just the official site and fansites for a number of years before actually watching episode.
 
BB2 though for me is when Big Brother really became more than just a TV show - I found Big Brother Australia and became aware of BBUSA and them changing the rules, both of which I followed through just the official site and fansites for a number of years before actually watching episode.

I think for me my first deep dive in the international world was 2002... But mostly stuck with BBUK. BBAU caught my attention with the 2 houses twist in BB3. I‘d spent what little time I had with public computers trying to figure out how that all worked. I remember being shocked that the US was the only series to adapt new rules... I couldn’t figure out why the rest of the world was stuck on a format that had such a mediocre reputation in North America.
 
Yes, that really caught my attention too. I was aware of the Battle series in the Netherlands and Germany but never really began looking at the non-English versions till later (certainly BB6 Germany, when they had a village, and a bit of the year long version that was BB5 - indeed don't think BB6 was every supposed to end). In 2003 here in the UK we had the Africa swap too which bought the international aspect into focus, plus E4 screened episodes of Big Brother Africa and also that season of BBUSA too, although I didn't have E4 at the time as it was still a subscription channel then.
 
Yes, that really caught my attention too. I was aware of the Battle series in the Netherlands and Germany but never really began looking at the non-English versions till later (certainly BB6 Germany, when they had a village, and a bit of the year long version that was BB5 - indeed don't think BB6 was every supposed to end). In 2003 here in the UK we had the Africa swap too which bought the international aspect into focus, plus E4 screened episodes of Big Brother Africa and also that season of BBUSA too, although I didn't have E4 at the time as it was still a subscription channel then.

Back when twists and changes in the format were exciting, fresh, and truly groundbreaking...

That mention of BBUS airing on E4 that was about the time that I started posting on the Channel 4 official forums. You were in for a treat if you had E4 as I believe they even did the live feed on red button.
 
I watched BBAU from the start but even with BBUK making the news down here a few times (Shilpagate obviously, but Fight Night and Germaine Greer also), and with Anouska and Nadia making cameos, and with BB Uncut routinely trotting out the "other countries' housemates are sluts, look!" specials whenever they ran out of tit slips to show, I didn't watch a UK episode until the first couple of days of BB11, and not a full season until CBB13. I've dipped in and out of Canada over the years but was definitely there when it started, but BBUS I don't even remember any more. It was definitely BBUS4 that I watched first (and I'm pretty sure I only picked that one because I knew Alison from her brief flop on The Amazing Race) but it wasn't until much later that I actually watched it, like maybe between BB12 and BB13?
 
I watched BBAU from the start but even with BBUK making the news down here a few times (Shilpagate obviously, but Fight Night and Germaine Greer also), and with Anouska and Nadia making cameos, and with BB Uncut routinely trotting out the "other countries' housemates are sluts, look!" specials whenever they ran out of tit slips to show, I didn't watch a UK episode until the first couple of days of BB11, and not a full season until CBB13. I've dipped in and out of Canada over the years but was definitely there when it started, but BBUS I don't even remember any more. It was definitely BBUS4 that I watched first (and I'm pretty sure I only picked that one because I knew Alison from her brief flop on The Amazing Race) but it wasn't until much later that I actually watched it, like maybe between BB12 and BB13?

What were your thoughts on BB4? At the time I considered it pretty mediocre... Looking back now it was a pretty decent entry.

I’d consider Jun to be one of the most under appreciated players... Definitely my top contender for a second round of All-Stars. She’s quite critical of Julie Chen so I’d be surprised to see her again.

Also I’ve dabbled in bits and pieces of BBUK but it wasn’t until the Channel 5 era that I’d completely watched a full CBB series... Watching back old episodes can be tedious and I’ll forget where I left off etc. BB18 was the only civilian series I stuck with in its entirety.
 
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I think there are things in BB4 that would have been great ideas if the show believed in production values (the challenges are generally good ideas, and the camp beds is a nice precursor to Have Nots), but also the show as it is now is so over-produced that it's that cheap-and-nasty charm that makes it work in hindsight. Definitely one of the better BBUS seasons overall, but that's not a high hurdle to clear and it's still only equal to a mediocre BBAU or a bad BBUK. Canada's kind of a weird one where it takes like the "7/10" bits of BBUK and the "4/10" bits of BBUS and makes an end product that I appreciate in theory but don't actually like very much.

There's still seasons of all four I haven't watched, for various reasons (I was polishing off a year-long ranking of every BBAU housemate ever when Nine's last season began and was too burnt out to watch live but still haven't caught up, for example), but I'd easily rank catching up on BBUS as the least pressing priority.
 
Tonight's episode is one that nobody would have chosen and from the reaction on Twitter I don't think many minds were changed, but it was enjoyable enough and really shouldn't have been a surprise considering they put both Coolio and Ulrika out of this series into Ultimate Big Brother.
I didn't watch this season, and looking at this ep maybe it was because I don't have a clue who any of them were except Coolio and La Toyah... and I only know Ulrika from Ultimate BB. Was this the most Z grade cast they did? Or did you just have to be British to appreciate it?
 
If anything, it's one of the biggest casts they ever had (and that's probably part of the issue with the season as a whole; it's fun, but everyone was so brand-conscious that there wasn't much drama outside of Coolio getting on everyone's tits). Coolio is legit one of the biggest names CBB ever got (like certainly top ten, and probably closer to top five?), La Toya's a freaking Jackson, Mutya's a freaking Sugababe, Verne Troyer is iconic both as a celebrity and as a Person Who Does The Reality Show Circuit, Ulrika is a national institution who hosted two major 1990s shows (Gladiators and the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest) whose audiences would have overlapped with CBB, Tina Malone was a major star of what was C4's biggest drama at the time, Terry was essentially the Dermot O'Leary of the 1990s, and even if you don't recognise Michelle or her band Liberty X by name you'd recognise their song "Just a Little" if you heard it. The only real nobodies are Tommy (low-tier politician who got in because the show wanted to recreate Galloway), Lucy (who's out first anyway), and maybe Ben (who was somehow famous enough to finish runner-up on Norwegian Dancing with the Stars a year later). That's a MUCH better hit rate than other seasons.
 
Interesting to watch the show crop up for the first time ever on Celebrity Gogglebox with the BB1 Nasty Nick ep, especially as I think two of the googleboxers were I believe in the frame to host the show back in 2000, one of whom was reportedly on standby in 2001 if a pregnant Davina didn't make it till finale night.


P.S. Didn't realise BB Uncut showed bits of international series too. We had a couple of specials here in the UK after the first and second series at least which covered the show around the world. Indeed one does seem to be missing from the internet - Big Brother Small World from early 2002.
 
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I didn't watch this season, and looking at this ep maybe it was because I don't have a clue who any of them were except Coolio and La Toyah... and I only know Ulrika from Ultimate BB. Was this the most Z grade cast they did? Or did you just have to be British to appreciate it?

You’ve got to be kidding me... You must have at least heard Michelle and Mutya’s music in the early 2000’s. Verne Troyer as well... He was only in one of the biggest comedy movies of the late 90’s!!!
 
Still, my reaction watching this was "Who are they? Who ARE they??? Where did they find them!??"
 
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