Big Brother ratings erode away

Fans snub sanitised 'family friendly' concept

Day 5
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Producers are starting to feel the heat for not offering any live feeds or ‘Uplate’ content. They’ve lost 600,000 viewers over the four days since Big Brother launched. Last night’s daily show did not break the 1 million viewer mark.

Here’s how ratings have panned out so far:

Launch show: 1.6m
Tuesday live show: 1.3m
Wednesday daily: 1.1m
Thursday daily: 973,000

Meanwhile the official Big Brother Facebook page has been bombarded with messages from fans angry over the lack of live feeds, Uplate show and Friday Night Live.

The consensus among viewers returning from older seasons is that Big Brother has been sterilised to the point of becoming boring, and they’re now tuning out. One fan from our own forums described this season as “diet Big Brother”.

But why are there no feeds from the house? The official word from Big Brother is that it cost too much. We don’t believe that’s true. Channel Nine have been riding the ‘family friendly’ concept since the BB return was announced and ultimately they’re terrified of another turkey slap.

And what happened to the nightly adult show that was promised by Channel Nine? We suspect it’s been canned in the name of being ‘safe’.

We previously reported how viewers can voice their concerns. Fans are hoping producers and Channel Nine will turn the show around and avoid “diet Big Brother”.

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Want to watch the live stream?

Just take a step back in time

Day 5
Posted on

Here’s a great find courtesy of Marquisite in our forums – one clever Justin.tv user has responded to the lack of a live feed this year by replaying the live feed from 2006!

So until Southern Star and Channel Nine listen to pleas from fans to bring back the live feed (come on guys, you can find a way to make it work), perhaps this will satisfy some of your cravings.

Head to justin.tv/bigbrotheriswatching to check it out!

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Was Layla imported from the UK?

On air slip of the mouth raises questions

Day 4
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Layla interview

Layla interviewUpdate: This audio happened in the parlour, not on stage with Sonia.

Hot on the heels of rumours that Ryan and Estelle were hired through a casting agency, new questions are being raised about whether Layla was imported specifically for Big Brother.

During the launch show taping on Sunday night, Layla let slip in the parlour that she auditioned in England. When the other girls gave a confused response, Layla quickly corrected herself:

Other HMs: (inaudible question, girls laugh)

Layla: Well, cos like I auditioned in England… and was like…

Other HMs: You what!?

Layla: … what?

Other HMs: What?

Layla: Oh… to go on in England (UK Big Brother)

The segment was never played when the launch was televised on Monday night. According to her interview with Sonia, Layla moved to Brisbane in February. Big Brother auditions were held there in April.

Was she plucked from overseas by producers not content with Australian auditionees or is she simply a reject from Big Brother UK? You decide – here is the raw audio from Sunday night’s taping (with thanks to E.D.):

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New look at the rewards area

We can see what the housemates can't

Day 3
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You can try and jump the fence at the Big Brother compound but sometimes it’s easier to just look from above.

We positioned the Behind Big Brother spy satellite above the BB house to take a closer look at what’s inside the rewards area (actually it’s aerial photography from Nearmap).

The rewards area was seen in the previous leaked house blueprints, and from this photo you can now make out a decked area with a small pool, and what looks like a green shade. One end looks shaped like a ship. We know from previous leaks that the rewards space will include a self contained bedroom, sauna and food delivery dumbwaiter.

House from the air

Interestingly in this photo you can see the old Friday Night Games area – now desolate and deteriorating.

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Fans blow up over lack of live feeds

Day 3 and no idea what's happening in the house

Day 3
Posted on

A huge backlash is brewing on social media over Big Brother producers’ decision not to offer live internet feeds or an ‘Uplate’ program this season.

Compounding anger is the fact that BB is now in it’s third day and audiences have yet to see any daily show or highlight footage, other than short segments mixed into live specials.

The @BBAULIVE twitter account, which was supposed to replace live feeds, closes down at 11pm. Last night it stopped tweeting only minutes after a whole new housemate entered – not good enough for a 24/7 show.

We’ve collected some recent tweets from angry fans below (there’s many, many more out there). Many complaints have also been posted to the official BB Facebook page but are quickly deleted by Big Brother and the users banned from commenting again.

Are you angry over no feeds? You can voice yourself on twitter by letting these people know: @AlexMavroidakis (executive producer), @southernstaraus (production company) and @channel9.

You can also contact Channel Nine and email Southern star to voice your concerns.

As always, you can discuss the show in our unofficial forums.

And so on…

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The housemate hunt

Rumour: some didn't audition

Day 3
Posted on

Tidbits coming from our sources are adding fuel to the rumour that some housemates were selected for Big Brother through means other than the nationwide search – specifically Victorian housemates Ryan and Estelle.

So where else would Big Brother find housemates? Modelling and casting agencies, perhaps.

Ryan has also been linked as a buddy of Scott McGreggor, the Australian model/actor with ties to Nine Network from his previous role as a model on Temptation. Draw your own conclusions.

Housemates are barred from talking about auditions when inside the walls of the Big Brother compound.

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