So we’ve pieced together the details from our spies in the audience and it was an eventful (albeit long) Big Brother launch!
Mike Goldman was back on board to keep the crowd excited – and the fact that he came out shuffling set the tone for the night pretty early! A couple of times throughout the night they got the whole audience shuffling to use in TV promos for show that will air throughout the day tomorrow. Mike also played games, asking people to point out anyone taking pictures. And there were a LOT of tickets for the Tuesday night show being handed out! By the end of the show a roll of tickets was just being passed around for anyone who wanted some.
The fire:
The show opened with a short montage video and a group of dancers doing the shuffle to introduce new host Sonia Kruger. There were even pyrotechnics going off around them – but after the new opening titles had rolled, a couple of the pyro launchers on the roof caught fire and dropped to the stage. It left a nasty black mark on their shiny new entrance ramp! Luckily the fires were very small, and there wasn’t enough smoke that the auditorium had to be evacuated.
The Housemates:
After a delay while the damage was cleaned up, Sonia attempted her introduction again and we got to meet the first housemate of 2012 – Michael. He’s an advertising copywrier, and is quite charismatic and likeable. He’s the bloke with the long orange hair that was seen in one of the housemate promos.
Michael entered the house through the former arena doorway and proceeded to make himself very comfortable, flopping over chairs and inspecting just about every object in every room.
The next four housemates to enter were all women:
Sarah – works in car sales. Pretty likeable.
Angie – Bubbly blonde sales rep.
Zoe – farmer girl. Not keen on asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
Layla – Unemployed, from Manchester in the UK (and has the accent to match). Only came to Australia in February.
The women found themselves locked into the ‘parlour’, a closed-off room with a very pink colour scheme and a pair of monitors with a live feed showing Michael making himself at home in the main house (that’s right, the housemates got a live feed, unlike us!)
Finally Michael got a mate – rock singer and surfer Josh. Michael actually got called into the Diary Room (that conversation is covered on the official diary). As Michael and Josh got into the snacks another three women made their way into the parlour. By the time the last one arrived they’d already drunk all their alcohol!
Charne – Works at Draculas on the Gold Coast and likes the ‘vintage’ look.
Estelle – Law student and skater girl. She was in the promos wearing the Lakers top.
Stacey – Accounts manager.
By this point the blokes were aware there were women somewhere, they had been able to hear them through the walls.
The tenth and final housemate was ‘checkout chick’ Bradley. He’s small, a self-described geek, and suffers from a stutter. He lives in a town of only 1,200 and works (and lives) in his family’s supermarket. Being a bloke, he entered straight into the main house.
The ‘Secret’ task:
Big Brother spoke to the seven women and told them that they would be given a list of secrets, and had one week to match the secret to the male housemates. They could only discuss the task in the parlour, which would be opened at BB’s discretion. The task would be failed if the males found out about it. Pass the task, and they would be safe from the first eviction. Fail, and it would be one of them leaving. The eight secrets included having been fired from every job he ever had, had the IQ of a genius, had dated over 100 girls, is related to royalty, and is a multi-millionaire!
With that the girls were released into the house to meet the three blokes!
Tuesday:
More male housemates will be heading into the house on Tuesday night’s live show.
A few extra notes…
The House: You’ve probably already seen a lot of the photos, but here’s a few extra tidbits. Most of the doors between rooms are automatic sliding doors. The Parlour was accessed through a corridor at the side of the lounge area, to the left of the punishment room. The Diary Room had a red colour scheme, and the glass doors leading through to it were tinted red by lights. There’s a set of shelves in the bedroom that slides away to reveal a secret area (this was demonstrated in a video package, not live). The gym area in the backyard is empty for now. Also in the backyard is a pizza oven!
Prize money: Sonia confirmed the prize is once again $250,000.
Graphics: The opening titles for the show were the same look as the promo that saw the BB eye coming together from various pieces. Apparently they were nothing special – one person at the live show told us they were the weakest-looking titles the show has had; that the eye/logo animation was very flat and two-dimensional.
Theme: The iconic Big Brother theme is back, this time it was more like a dance remix.
The set: The UK-inspired stage saw housemates enter through a large eye (with an iris opening that stopped working and stayed open after the second housemate entered), chatting with Sonia for a few minutes, slapping hands with the carefully-trained front row, and then exiting up some stairs off to the side. On one side of the set was a large video screen, which was frequently used as a backdrop when Sonia spoke to the camera. One of the images used on it was a huge control room-style split screen showing live views from about 20-30 of the cameras in the house!
Thanks very much to those who contacted us as well as Josh, ChemicalFear and Phoenix12 in our forums. And be sure to join the chat right now!
