Category: News and goss

An Australian spa and sauna supplier have announced on their website that they will provide a unique barrel sauna and spa for this year’s Big Brother house. The supplier is notifying customers that all other orders have been pushed back to meet the needs of the show.

UPDATE: Within hours of posting this story Ukko Saunas have taken their Big Brother announcement off their website. We predict the show producers are freaking out again.

The barrel sauna – which is custom made in Canada – comes in three different models, two of which have transparent panels built-in: perfect for Big Brother’s cameras. The model most likely selected by the builders would be the ScenicView, which has a bubble wall built in to the side.

All spas from the manufacturer are below-ground, providing the optimal viewing angles for the cameras.

For this year’s house, both the barrel sauna and spa will be housed in the Rewards Room. It’s not yet known how housemates will win access to the room as Friday Night Live has been canned.

This isn’t the first time a Big Brother house has included a sauna – in 2005 and 2006 saunas were attached to the bathroom for all housemates to use. Unsurprisingly, some of Big Brother Uncut’s best footage was centred around housemates use of those facilities.

Thanks to Daltrim on our forums.

Now that we have an idea of how the outside of the Big Brother house will look, what about the inside? Behind Big Brother user Keagan let us know they’ve spotted Pacific Furniture trucks coming in and out of the BB compound at Dreamworld for the past few weeks.

Pacific Furniture were used to furnish the house in past seasons of the show, including the ‘modular’ couches in the 2004 and 2008 seasons (images below).

The Big Brother house blueprints show four sets of two-seater couches, which look similar to the modular couches.

Thanks to Keagan and haydenww.

Southern Star Entertainment’s lawyers have been firing legal threats around to all of the mirrors hosting copies of the house blueprints, and they’ve now all been taken down.

If you didn’t get a chance to see the plans while they were up, try your favourite social media website. Check out our latest podcast episode for discussion on what features may be in the house.

Here’s some vague, gloomy scare tactic legal letters:

Oops! Channel 9’s web design agency accidentally published a preview version of the official Big Brother website to the publicly accessible internet this week, providing new details about the season to come.

The site, which was accessible for several days until the leak was plugged, was a semi-complete design version with mostly filler content from Channel 9’s other large reality TV show, The Voice.

Here’s what the site tells us:

• No live feed. The main navigation contains no placeholders for a live internet feed. Channel 9 may provide this on one of their digital free to air channels, however this has yet to be confirmed. Cutting the live feed would cut costs for the show as it wouldn’t require a 24/7 producer. There is a Live Updates section of the website, but it is in a form similar to that of the diary from previous official sites.
• No premium content. Previous official websites offered an option to become a ‘premium’ member for a small fee, which gave users access to additional video content, alternative live streams and other exclusive features. This doesn’t look like it’ll be making a comeback.
• Full streaming episodes. Not surprising considering what Channel 9 offer for many of their other shows.
• 13 housemates. Code for the sliding housemate banner in the header has provision for 13 housemates – at least to begin with. Seasons 1 and 2 began with 12 housemates, Season 3, 4 and 8 with 14, Season 5 and 6 with 15 and Season 7 with 16.
• Public voting via Facebook. Social media has taken a massive step forward since the last incarnation of Big Brother, and it seems the show will be integrated tightly with Facebook. The Evictions page contains buttons to vote for nominated housemates via Facebook, as well as SMS and phone.
• Little Sister. An entire navigation item is dedicated to Little Sister, and the page itself has a different (pink) background to the rest of the site. Little Sister is being pitched as an ‘insider’, but whether or not this will be online-only or extend to a TV slot is yet to be determined.

Ninemsn don’t have a great track record with gaffes like this – in May a video announcing the winner of Celebrity Apprentice was published online a day before it went to air.

Let’s hope they don’t announce the winner of Big Brother too early this season.

Playing catch-up to our reveal of the first BB aerial photo five days ago, Big Brother has posted some shots of the under-construction house taken down at ground level.

Of course there isn’t much they will let us see at this point, but the photos do provide some insight into the new house.

The most noteworthy image is a large window/arch structure in the corner of the backyard to the side of the back door. It’s elevated well above ground level – will this be some kind of loft or balcony? Australia has never had a Big Brother house with a true second story.

Other images reveal a round swimming pool (could it be in the shape of the BB eye?) and a curved section of roof/overhang. There’s also a very ordinary-looking tile roof. Is that even in the house or is it just some other random Dreamworld building?

You can see all the pics here (Facebook account not required).

A reveal like this is certainly an unusual move by producers so far out from launch night, is it a sign of a more open Big Brother in the weeks leading up to the series?

If you’re keen to ask when BB is starting, head right on to the Official Big Brother Facebook page. Or if you’d prefer some actual discussion, our forums are the only place to be!

Photomapping company Nearmap have just updated their overhead view of the Gold Coast, giving us our first clear glimpse of the construction work currently underway in the BB compound at Dreamworld.

Source: NearMap

What can we see from this picture?

• – The first thing you notice is the hole in the middle of the backyard. A fair guess that will be the new swimming pool?
• – The former Games Arena has been cleared away (there’s been no mention of FNL this year so chances are it’s not coming back).
• – Fresh decking has been laid down in the ‘resort’ area to the left of the backyard. That space has also grown a little larger.
• – Some sort of overhang/awning in the upper-left of the backyard.
• – Some of the roofing over the bottom part of the backyard is gone.

Looking a bit further south at the auditorium, it looks like some production offices are in place and the grass has been brought back to health.

Share your thoughts below or join the discussion in our forums!