Big Brother Diary Room

Big Brother Back to Dreamworld

2012-01-09T22:20:00.002+11:00

Rumour has it, again from TV Tonight, that Dreamworld are preparing to once again host Big Brother Australia in 2012. Dreamworld has hosted every season of the show for Endemol/Southern Star and the TEN Network from 2001-2008, plus Celebrity Big Brother for Charity in 2002, and the spin-off series Friday Night Games in 2006.

Dreamworld's Amphitheatre was an existing structure before Big Brother. Just a short walk from the former Blue Lagoon pools and waterslides attraction, it was used to host partially covered live stage shows and corporate events. The venue was revamped for Big Brother's inaugural season in 2001, becoming a control room for the entire Big Brother House, production offices, a gift shop, a tourist attraction, a TV set, and an Outside Broadcast facility for up to three consecutive live events (two 24x7 streams recorded from inside the House and broadcast on the web, and a live studio show airing on the TEN Network).

The Big Brother House was purpose-built for the series amidst bushland, though only 250 metres from the back of the Amphitheatre. The outer shell of the House has remained basically unchanged through the 8 seasons. It is an approximately 55 x 30 metre compound, roughly half covered to form the "house" and half uncovered to form the "backyard". Interior walls and rooms can be pulled down and rebuilt between seasons (or during seasons, see 2003!). The structure has occasionally been added to-- a higher wall was added to the back of the house in 2003 to better hide Dreamworld's Tower of Terror from sight, an open-air Friday Night Live Arena was built onto the north side of the house in 2005, then rebuilt more professionally with canvas roofing in 2006, and the Holiday House and Lanai with a second pool were added to the west side of the house in 2008.

The area where the House stands is currently slated for redevelopment into a shopping complex, though ongoing delays have prevented it from yet being touched. It is unknown whether the same House shell will be used for the 2012 season, as it will be needed late in the year (August-November). The latest overhead photos from Nearmap show the House is still standing and in neat condition. The FNL Arena roofing has been removed in the late half of 2010. Other options would be to build a new House closer to the highway or behind Whitewater World, but either of these would reduce the secluded feeling of the Housemates with the operational noises of the two theme parks so nearby.

Sonia Kruger to Host

2011-11-19T18:18:00.001+11:00

TV Tonight have announced Sonia Kruger (Dancing with the Stars) is in negotiations with Nine to sign a long term contract that will see her host a "morning show" (step aside Kerri Anne!), Big Brother, and be involved with The Olympic Games coverage.

DWTS has proven her interviewing skills and ability to ad lib. It sounds like a good fit.

It is not known yet how many hosts there will be on Nine's version of the show. If they again have spin-off shows like Ten did with FNL, Big Mouth, Uncut, Adults Only, Up Late, and The Insider, there may be more hosts yet to be announced. It sounds like Sonia will be the main "Evictions" live host. There is likely also a position of narrator to be filled for Daily Shows. No reason Sonia couldn't do this to keep the cast small. I'm still hoping Mikey G will be asked back for that role though.

Nine's 2012 Schedule Prediction

2011-11-19T18:11:00.001+11:00

Nine announce their 2012 programming schedule next week. They have already hinted they will kick off the year with The Block stripped at 7pm. That will probably run Feb-Apr.

I'm guessing BB will run May-Aug as it did in the past in the same timeslot, finishing up before The Olympic Games.

After The Olympics we are likely to see another season of The Celebrity Apprentice fill the space.

We'll see how I did after the big announcement during the week.

Possible Earlier Start

2011-10-01T16:22:00.002+10:00

I read recently Nine will be kicking off its ratings year with The Block rather than holding it back til mid-year. If they are planning to strip BB at 7pm weeknights, there is a chance it could take back its old start time of April, probably running through to July or August.

No Secret: More Big Brother in 2012 on Nine

2011-09-22T08:14:00.005+10:00

Channel Nine have announced on September 9 that it has signed a deal with Endemol Southen Star to revive Big Brother Australia in 2012.

The show will be titled "Big Brother: Secrets", where every HM has a secret to be found out by the others, encouraging interaction between all contestants. A past French version of this format offered cash prizes for contestants who discovered others' secrets.

With the success of other "stripped" (5 nights a week) TV formats (MasterChef, The Block, The Biggest Loser) t seems like the right time. Also in our new digital multichannel environment, Nine can put supplementary programming on GEM or GO! without pulling too much out of its primary channel's programming. Original Big Brother fans know that 8 hours of primetime viewing and up to 12 hours of late night viewing a week takes its toll.

Rumours have begun forming about when the series will begin. ESS have not yet begun asking for applications for the series so it will have to be later in the year. Speculation is that BB will take The Block's 7pm timeslot after The Olympic Games ends in August.

As for a venue for the series, Dreamworld have let ESS know they are happy for them to move back into their production facility and "house" on the Gold Coast. It is all still standing, and its seclusion and weather makes it ideal. However, Nine may be looking for a brand new look for the series in which case it could be looking at other cities or locations. There is always Melbourne's under-utilised Docklands Film Studios, though its situation under a freeway could make it impossible to keep contestants away from "reality" for 3 months.

Another question is over who will host. It is unlikely Gretel or Kyle and Jackie O will return. Hopefully Nine will not use its new acquisition of Hamish and Andy, as they always make the show about themselves. Perhaps they could look at former HMs. It's a shame Chrissie Swan is at Ten because she would be perfect. There is always Mike Goldman who always remained loyal to the show, and had a shot at hosting with Jackie O when Kyle was sick.

For the moment we can only speculate, and wait for more announcements over the coming months.

BB House Tours to Close?

2008-12-31T17:54:00.003+11:00

I just got word from Dreamworld. It seems the BB House tours are starting to wind down now. The House is currently known to be open on these dates:

Mon 5 Jan - Fri 9 Jan: 12:30pm - 4:00pm
Mon 12 Jan - Tue 13 Jan: 12:30pm - 4:00pm

After that there is no official word on whether it will be open, closed, or... otherwise!

Looks like I miss out on saying goodbye.

Gretel Does the Time Warp Again

2008-11-16T20:28:00.002+11:00

I just went to see the Rocky Horror Show with Gretel as the Narrator. At first it seemed weird with a female narrator, after seeing the movie so many times with the old man, but by the end I couldn't imagine this particular production with a male in the role (all the other performers of the role in this production have been male). She seemed to fit the role so well-- think BB06's Adults Only, that kind of school meadmistress persona. At first her lines seemed rushed, but it was in line with the rest of the show that was very fast paced.

Her costume was a tight skirt, button up blouse, high belt, glasses and a beehive wig. The wig was funny because when she moved around the stage it bounced up and down. For the finale, she took off the grey top and had a strapless sparkly red number underneath.

Although she is the narrator she does have a few scenes where she interacts with the cast, and a couple of little dance cues. And at the end she sings and dances to the Time Warp with the rest of the cast.

She did a great job in the role and I'm glad I was lucky enough to see her in it, especially when I thought her run in the show was over back when it was in Sydney.

It's Time To Go... To Rocky Horror

2008-11-12T16:06:00.002+11:00

I bought tickets months ago to The Rocky Horror Show in Melbourne. The day comes this Sunday the 16th November. And to my surprise, Gretel Killeen is in town this week reprising her temporary role of the Narrator of the show! I never had any idea I'd get to see Gretel in the show when I bought the tickets, so it is a fantastic twist of fate that I should get to see her. I'll report back here after the show how it was.

Final Insult: Replaced by a Cooking Show

2008-11-12T15:57:00.002+11:00

BB's final insult is to b replaced by a reality cooking show in 2009.

The show will air in BB's usual Daily Show timeslot of 7pm, 6 nights a week, for 10 weeks, probably from April to July, between TBL and Idol (if Idol gets another series after this year-- Ten are having a bad run aren't they?).

The show will be produced locally, based on an old BBC format. It will see amateurs inventing their own recipes in a limited timeframe, working in a restaurant, and cooking a 2 course meal. They are then judged on their results, so get ready for another Aussie TV judging panel.

How long will this thing last? A week? 2? Sadly, episode one of a new show generally gets the curiosity ratings, then episode 2 decides whether it will continue, without the chance to gain an audience. I think cooking at 7pm vs Home & Away and probably 2 and a Half Men on 9 won't last too long.

BB09 Out of the Question

2008-11-12T15:50:00.003+11:00

Channels 7 and 9 have both confirmed they are not interested in picking up the Ten-axed Big Brother for 2009.

This is good and bad news. Bad because there will be no BB in 2009. Good because it gives Channel Ten the opportunity to try other things and fail, and perhaps revive BB in some format in 2010. Bad also because Endemol's lease of the Dreamworld space and studio expires next year, meaning if the show was revived in later years, it could lose the Dreamworld tie-in, and may move production to Sydney like other reality shows The Biggest Loser and Idol.

(Unrelated, but The Biggest Loser has also been kicked out of their usual filming premises "The White House" by angry neighbours. They need to find a new location before their next series filming begins, probably quite soon!)

Official Site Winds Down

2008-08-16T14:41:00.002+10:00

The OS is winding down now. The main menu and news stories have been removed. All that is left on the front page are a few highlight videos. Normally around this time of year a placeholder goes up mentioning auditions for next year. This year, it will probably just disapear at some point.

Hopes High for BB09 on 9

2008-07-31T17:46:00.003+10:00

The rumour currently going around is that the Nine Network put pen to paper today on the contract to pick up the rights to BB for 3 years.

Ten only ever negotiated one season at a time.

If this is true and BB returns in 2009, they still hold the contract with Dreamworld to produce the series from the existing facilities, meaning there would be no time lost setting up the series.

With ESS scared they would lose their biggest production, it is likely they'll be more willing to change the format, audience, and timeslot. According to Kyle and Jackie O, it was ESS, and not Ten, that demanded the Daily Show remain in its 7pm timeslot-- the battle against Home & Away probably being what killed it.

Nine is looking to draw in the young adult demographic, so a later timeslot and a more adult-oriented show could be on the cards, taking the focus away from teenage soap storylines of the past.

The rumoured official announcement is 10am tomorrow (Friday). Here's hoping this is true!

Last Nail in the Coffin for ESS?

2008-07-29T16:49:00.003+10:00

BB's axeing could be behind Fairfax Media's decision to sell off production company Endemol Southern Star, which they bought only 8 months ago. BB was ESS's biggest production. ESS have had a few other shows canned recently, such as Monster House, 1 vs 100, and Out of the Blue. Other ongoing ESS productions include Deal or No Deal, Gladiators, Ready Steady Cook, and Mike, Bree & Fitzy's Download.

Almost a Winning Disaster

2008-07-24T18:12:00.004+10:00

We all know what happened last year-- they decided to show the voting graph with the faces during the Finale show, it crashed their servers, and the show turned into a huge mess while they tried to figure out who was supposed to win the damn thing, running an hour overtime in the process.

This year they tried again, at the start of the Finale showing Rory was the slim favourite to win over Terri. This time it led viewers to cast the "wrong votes". Voters just started voting out Terri and Rory, ignoring Ben, and Ben slipped into the winner's position (just as Mike Goldman predicted-- spooky!).

Realising what they had done, Jackie O urged viewers to not forget about the one who didn't look like they would win, clearly pointing out that the original favourite evictee had now become favourite to win because of their blunder. Obviously this did not sink in, because despite promising they would not show the voting tally again, they did-- and showed the nation what their votes had done. Terri was now favourite to be evicted, and Ben was favourite to win. Nothing like what the blind votes had reflected, and certaily not what the producers wanted!

But, as expected, like sheep the viewers just reversed their voting pattern yet again and tipped the see-saw back the other way, leaving Ben to be evicted, and Rory and Terri to fight it out, averting a crisis the producers had stupidly not forseen. (Did they think the voting public all had maths degrees or something?)

With Ben gone, it made for a much more gripping winner announcement. Had the public done enough to bring Terri back? Or did the Rory fans get in enough votes to see the Nanna kicked to the curb?

We all know Kyle's favorite was Terri from Day 1, and Jackie O also said she wanted Terri to win out of the three finalists. It was obviously in the producers' interests to have their oldest ever HM, also be their last ever winner. So I'm sure there was many a wiped brow in the control room when it was announced that Terri had actually made it back into the winning position.

It could have been another monumental cock-up in the axed show's history if Ben had wrongly won just because they wanted to get those last few voting dollars. (Make that thousands of dollars!) Thankfully they managed to turn their mistake back around before it was too late....

But we never did see that final voting tally, did we?!

AND THE WINNER IS... TERRI!

2008-07-24T17:29:00.002+10:00

52 year old Coles deli manager Terri Munroe has taken home the $250,000 reward for winning BB08, and winning our hearts.

She was the first one through the doors all those 85 days ago, and was also the first out of the doors 84 days ago when she was voted out, by one vote, by her much younger fellow HMs.

BB was not about to let his biggest asset for the year go so easily though. He had a backup plan. With the arrival of Corey Worthington on Day 7, Terri re-entered the House after a week in lockdown as Corey's chaperone. Terri failed her mission to keep Corey under control, finding it impossible to get the 17 year old to go to bed at a "reasonable hour", and he ended up holding a grudge against his temporary-nanna, purposefully ignoring all of her requests. So it came down to "Plan C" for BB to keep her in the House. When Corey refused to choose 2 of the viewer-voted WebMates to be evicted, Terri was given the responsibility, and after swiftly booting Michael and Barney, keeping Nathan in the House, Terri was granted full HM status again.

Terri lived a relatively Nomination-free life in the House. She did not once sit in the Nomination HotSeats in the Eviction Room during the initial weeks when the public nominated and the HMs evicted. In fact her first taste of Nomination wasn't until Day 56 when Nobbi's FNL Twist left a total of 6 HMs facing eviction.

Terri was originally talked up as the racist Pauline Hanson lover, which was only exacerbated when she chose the Asian guy to be banished to the backyard and sleep in the Combi Van. But when it came down to it, she was nothing like that at all. She had a few non-PC things to say, but polical correctness and racism are confused too often these days. She told Nobbi he had "slits" for eyes, which isn't racist at all-- it is just not politically correct to point it out. Terri was just a patriot, and a little bit old fashioned, but you can't say she hated anyone.

Early on Ben told Terri that he being in the House was like being in there with his mother. A statement I'm sure he soon regretted, both for hisa mother's sake, and because Terri did a fantastic job at fitting in with the young HMs. She did very well during Friday Night Games, played a few games of Truth or Dare, and told her fair share of sex stories-- some that even grossed out the kids, like lactating during sex. Sometimes the others became a bit rowdy for her and she knew when to give them their space. Luckily she had level-headed Alice there who was always cooking or cleaning, and later Terrence came along for a bit of a yarn.

Terri took it in her stride when the tables were turned and she got banished to the Combi Van with Terrence for a week. She even quite enjoyed a bit of time away.

When it came down to the end, Terri survived a fake eviction by the HMs and a real eviction by the public, both over the other expected finalist, Travis, proving her support from both camps, and her competition, Ben and Rory, both knew their elder was likely to take out the grand prize.

While the final win was a little controversial (that's for another post), it was the right HM that won the big prize. Terri's plans for the cash windfall were to take her partner and see what they hadn't seen of Australia, and the world. She plans to keep her job at the supermarket but just reduce her hours a bit to take some of the stress off and spend time with her grandson.

CONGRATULATIONS TERRI!

Ex-HMs to be Publicly Humiliated Again

2008-07-21T17:54:00.003+10:00

Sadly the last 3 years of BB have ended with producers assuming ex-HMs have talents other than popping each others pimples and thinking of creative ways to bribe BB to give them more toilet paper.

BB05 saw HMs stomp-dance in Blundstone boots to I Like the Way You Move.

BB06 let Danielle sing her no-hit wonder cover of Underneath the Radar while HMs danced along.

BB07 at least took the choreography aspect out of it and saw them perform a pantomime based on charicaturised versions of each of their in-House traits.

In BB08, dance is back, and their voices may be making an appearance too! After politely grinning through Mike, Bree and Fitzy butchering Farnesy's Playing to Win, photos have been leaked today, and a group-shot put up on the OS, of all BB08 ex-HMs rehearsing a dance routine for the Finale, and yes... microphones are present. Don't be too off-put by this-- they may just be miming.

Luckily Kyle will be there with his Idol scorecards to shoot them down before they get too full of themselves. Or maybe he'll be holding application forms! Oh dear.

Ben Assumes New Persona

2008-07-21T17:45:00.002+10:00

Today Ben has come to the realisation that from tonight, he will forever be known as "Ben from Big Brother". And so he has been commentating his day referring to himself as "Ben from Big Brother".

Ben and Rory also seem to have spent the whole day singing almost everything they say.

Inaugural Winner Shuns Finale

2008-07-21T17:14:00.002+10:00

Ben Williams, winner of BB01, has declined an invitation to appear on tonight's final Finale, reportedly saying he doesn't want it to affect his professional reputation-- in the business his BB winnings helped him set up.

All other season winners will be present.

With runner-up Blair presumably still overseas, BB01's second runner-up, Sara Marie Fedele, has been elected to "represent" her season, having already been involved in BB08 as a Big Mouth panelist. She's a much better choice anyway.

But it's not like Ben has always had a grudge against the series. He did appear in BB05's Launch Show along with all the previous winners. Let's go to the videotape:

From L-R: BB02's Peter Corbett, BB01's Ben Williams, La Gretel, BB03's Regina Bird, and BB04's Trevor Butler. At least 3, and at most 4, of whom we'll be seeing tonight.

FNL Cast Co-Hosting Backstage

2008-07-21T17:09:00.002+10:00

Mike Goldman confirmed today that he and his FNL team will be "backstage" hosting the show with the ex-HMs. They will also have a chat with the final 2 remaining in the House, confirming there will be an eviction before the winner announcement. How things have changed since last week when he was saying he was so sad he was not invited to the Finale! I wonder if he's outside Kyle's dressing room banging pots and pans together, trying to bring on a migraine right now!

Gretel Confirmed for Finale: UPDATE (Or is she?)

2008-07-21T13:30:00.004+10:00

9am with David & Kim this morning confirmed that 7-year host Gretel Killeen will appear on the BB Final Finale show tonight. Whether it is live or in a recorded message, or live by satellite, is yet to be seen. It is great she would come back for the last show ever, since she was there for the first show. It shows maybe there really were no hard feelings between her and producers.

UPDATE: Seems to still be some question about whether she will be there or not, and in what capacity. If she is there, will she just be interviewed, or co-host with Kyle & Jackie? If she's not there, will there be a recorded message, recorded interview, or live cross to her in Sydney? Or could it just be that her involvement will be clips from previous seasons?

Raking in the Voting Dollars

2008-07-21T13:26:00.002+10:00

BB has set up a good thing for himself this year. Of course the final night of BB attracts the most SMS votes for the year. Probably many many times any other single week. So this year, having 3 finalists means if you want one of them to win, you have to vote for 2 to be evicted. Double the votes! Double the revenue! BB-- the entrepreneur!

HMs Spend Final Day in the House

2008-07-21T13:18:00.002+10:00

For the last 3 years, the finalists have been locked away early in the day of the Finale, either in the Rewards Room, or Revenge Room, and not allowed out until the 7pm Launch, so ninjas can clean and prepare the House for the Finale show.

This year, thankfully, BB is letting them spend their final day together IN the House, which is really as it should be. Hopefully some footage of the final day will be cut together for tonight's show.

Ben Summarises Final Day

2008-07-21T13:00:00.001+10:00

This morning, Ben summarised his feelings of being a BB08 finalist thusly:

It's the 21st of July and I'm in Queensland making scrambled eggs with a 52 year old!

GO TERRI!

2008-07-20T23:01:00.002+10:00

Terri is deservedly favourite to take out the crown tomorrow night. Betting odds have her as favourite to win on $1.66, followed by Rory on $2.50, and long-shot Ben on $7.00. According to the OS poll, 49% want Terri to win, with the remainder split slightly in Rory's favour.

With Travis gone, Terri's chances are higher, which is good. And with Alice gone, it leaves only 1 totally undeserving person (Ben) left in the House.

If Terri takes it out tomorrow night it will show the producers what they have been doing wrong all this time. Terri has been a real Housemate with life experience, knowledge, opinions, and feelings. A lot of the others were young, dumb, and only cared about number one.

But is it the fact that Terri is so different in age that makes her appealing? Is it because she has gotten along in there while being the odd one out? If they had cast more HMs from varying age groups, would there have been more HMs to love, or would they all just seem the same?

It was definitely Terri's ages difference that made it easy for the others to gang up on her on Day 1 and evict her in the first snap eviction. Thank god BB gave her the second chance and put her back in there.

Since then she has been motherly to all the HMs, but also has become their friend. She has joined in with a lot of their sex talk, played a few games of truth or dare in the spa, and has been tough competition in the Friday Night Games. She has, to her credit, given it her all in that House, and she would make the most deserving winner yet.

GO TERRI!

Alice & Travis Evicted Backwards

2008-07-20T22:34:00.002+10:00

In tonight's Eviction Alice was evicted, followed by Travis. When they showed the voting graph, Travis had more votes to go. Really Travis should have been the first one evicted tonight, then Alice. I know the voting closed at the same time and it doesn't matter that much, but it affects the evictee positions for the two of them, who was 5th last, and who was 4th last. They probably did it for the tension, keeping the more popular one in there til later in the show. Just seemed like a strange thing to do.

DVD Collection

2008-07-19T16:40:00.005+10:00

As the series nears the end I've almost finished putting together this year's DVDs of the show. This series is made up of:

1 disc for Launch Show
11 discs for Daily Show
3 discs for Big Mouth
6 discs for Friday Night Live
5 discs for Evictions
1 disc for Finale

The covers are based on the opening titles of the shows (which made them very easy to create!)

The DVDs take their place in my collection of:

BB02 (Launch, early episodes & Uncut)
Celebrity BB (Finale)
BB04 (Launch, Specials, Evictions, Uncut, Finale)
BB05 (Almost everything)
BB06 (Entire series)
BB07 (Entire series)

Mike Making Sure Ben is Evicted

2008-07-19T13:32:00.002+10:00

Mike Goldman has spent the week ensuring Ben is evicted this weekend and does not have a chance of winning the grand prize. Mike has used his own blog several times, and the FNL Finale show to promote the fact he thinks Ben will be "forgotten about" and win the series through lack of votes. This could only be to ensure he "reminds us" about Ben and that we start voting for him again to get rid of him on Sunday night.

Hopefully it works!

Each HM Gets a Daily Show Story

2008-07-19T13:25:00.002+10:00

In the final week of BB, each HM was given a big story as part of one of the Daily Shows:

Terri: National Nana Day where HMs entertained Terri to win her care package.
Travis: Cooked each HM their favourite meal in a 6 hour kitchen marathon.
Alice: Had a date with BB (and a segment on her love for the treadmill and not wanting to give it up for Terri).
Rory: Finally getting his hands on some real bricks and building a letterbox with Travis.
Ben: A few small stories: as Head of House got to do the Vending Machine and host the Family Dinner, and was reprieved from sleeping in the Combi Van.

The Combi Van itself got its own farewell in Friday's Daily Show with a "lights out" tribute reminiscent of BB04's Finale Show. Hopefully they will do that again with the House at the end of this year's Finale.

FNL Hosts will get a Send-Off at Finale

2008-07-19T13:16:00.002+10:00

A Channel Ten spokesperson has confirmed that Mike Goldman, Bree Amer, and Ryan Fitzgerald will in fact be involved in the Finale on Monday night. This may be in response to outrage by fans on Mike's blog after he said he was told he wouldn't be required.

All the past winners will be there: Ben, Peter, Regina, Trevor, Greg & David, Jamie, and Aleisha.

Still no word on whether Gretel will have any part in it. She is probably one of the only celebs Vile Kyle doesn't have a problem with these days, so you never know.

FNL #12: Finale Night - UPDATED

2008-07-18T17:57:00.004+10:00

Tonight is the final ever FNL! It is also one of Dreamworld's "Screamworld" nights where the theme park adjoining the BB House opens its gates late to create the After-Dark Park.

The FNL winner tonight will have the opportunity to enter Dreamworld for "a few hours" to go on some of the rides.

HMs will be lifted higher than ever before. There will be live rats. There will be... pavlovas? And Mike, Bree & Fitzy will sing John Farnham/Little River Band's "Playing To Win".

All this on the last ever Friday Night Live!

UPDATE: What was Mike on about in his blog. The HMs didn't go to Dreamworld. Their families did. The winner got 60 seconds to spend with his accidentally slime-covered brother! It goes to show the format must change right up until the last minute.

Mail Bonding

2008-07-17T21:57:00.002+10:00

(I love a blog entry with a good pun in the title.)

For weeks Rory and Travis have been planning a day where they will do a "life swap" in the outside world, where Travis will take on Rory's job as a brickie and go out partying, and Rory will do Travis' job as a PA, and go horse riding. Rory has been giving Travis lessons in how to be him by teaching him to lay bricks. Very expensive bricks so far, as the only thing they've had to practise with in the House are the $25,000 cash bricks from the Prize Money wall.

Today BB answered their requests and delivered a wheelbarrow full of real housebricks and a bag of lime to make mortar. Rory and Travis' task was to build the first ever BB mailbox. He even gave them a real taste of the tradie's life by offering them a "smoko" of coffee and sausage rolls with sauce.

After a couple of hours, the letterbox was complete, right beside the Combi Van, and Rory and Travis etched their names and "BB08" into the wet cement. The job looks pretty good, and it will be something to see when doing the BB House Tour when the series ends.

Mike Goldman "Not Needed" for Finale

2008-07-17T21:40:00.002+10:00

Are the producers morons or something?

Mike Goldman showed up for work on BB on Launch Night 2001, and has not missed a day in 8 years. He has done:

voice overs for about 600 Daily Shows
live crowd warm-ups for 6 years of Evictions, Nominations and specials
hosted about 260 episodes of UpLate by himself for up to 2 1/2 hours a night
co-hosted 54 episodes of Friday Night Live
co-hosted 2 live evictions when Kyle got sick

And the producers have the nerve to call and say they don't need him to be there for the Finale of all Finales.

From the response Mike got to this revelation on his live blog on the Courier Mail website it is obvious fans want to see him at the Finale, if not hosting it over Kyle "I always hated BB" Sandilands. He did say things could change at any time and we may still see Mike, Bree and Fitzy make an appearance during the final show. Let's hope they come to their senses and let Mike give his show a big send-off.

Unfortunately chances are looking slim that Gretel Killeen could possibly make an appearance as she is in the middle of a month's run in The Rocky Horror Show in Sydney.

Terri Turns on Travis

2008-07-16T22:22:00.002+10:00

Terri's had some words to say about Travis lately.

In The Big Sting on Sunday night, Terri voted for Travis to be "evicted" from the House. She claimed he would not spend the prize money wisely if he won.

On Monday when they got their ironing task and were told to cover the clothing from the rain, Terri had a go at Travis for mucking around too much instead of getting a job done, which she reiterated on Tuesday.

In tonight's Family Dinner, Terri said that living with Travis is getting difficult with less people in the House to distract him.

Does she see him as her threat? Is Terri out to eliminate the competition and win?

Alice Selfish in Final Days

2008-07-16T20:41:00.002+10:00

Did no one tell Alice how to win BB? Surely a selfish act like keeping the treadmill in the House instead of letting Terri get her care package from home, including a gift from her grandson, won't do her any favours. Couldn't she just jog around the backyard for 4 more days?

I don't think Ben's decision to buy himself and Travis their care packages and leave Terri out was selfish, because she did get a letter from home the previous week, and Ben and Travis had gotten nothing. When Terri missed out on her package, Alice and Rory both concurred that they would have sacrificed their own packages to get Terri's, but when they got the second chance to get Terri's as well in exchange for Alice's beloved treadmill, her generosity was revoked and she flat out refused to give up her luxury for Terri.

This... is Big Brother?!

2008-07-16T18:18:00.005+10:00

He's only been the main Big Brother for one year, but he has come to be known as "the funny Big Brother" after taking over from past Big-BBs Peter Abbott (01-03) and Nick Colquhoun (04-07). So after all this time, what does BB08's BB look like?

Not what you expected, right? Leon Murray has been with BB for many years and even had some on-screen time in BB04's UpLate where he would read a poem about the events of the week every Friday night. Here's his name in the credits of BB05 UpLate as an Editor:

It's weird putting a face to the voice. Like finding out Daniel Stern was Kevin Arnold's uncredited grown-up voice in The Wonder Years, or that Drew Forsythe (who I remember from The Miraculous Mellops!) was the man behind David Tench.

Now that BB has been outed, can he go on if the show is picked up by Channel 9 next year? Or would they source their own BB voice? Surely Mr Channel 9, Eddie McGuire, could do it. "This is Big Brother... the winner of BB09 will be a quarter of a mi-yen-airre!"

Cast Members Jump From Sinking Ship

2008-07-15T19:46:00.006+10:00

No loyalty around here anymore! 2 BB hosts have come out after the announcement of the show's axeing and said they wanted to leave the show.

Kyle Sandilands who only signed onto the show last year for the BB08 season says he is glad the show was axed and now he gets 6 months of his life back (presumably the period of next season). Was his plan to sign on to a show he hated and bring it down from the inside?

Even Mike Goldman told the Courier Mail that if the show was picked up for a 9th season, "I probably wouldn't want to work on it". Seems a bit funny that later in the article he says he doesn't know what he's going to do next. You'd think if he was planning on quitting at the end of the season he might have thought about future prospects!

I get the feeling they are distancing themselves from the doomed program to save face. (Gee, Kyle wouldn't be underhanded and selfish now would he?) Would they really have left if the show hadn't been axed? Only 2 days earlier Mike Goldman was saying on his live blog on the Courier Mail site that BB09 was defintiely on and how much he loved the show.

Also on the finale of Big Mouth last night, semi-regular panelist Tom Gleeson turned his back on the show, saying he was only upset that he had attached himself to a dud. I'm sure you had heaps of other offers Tom with that one joke you know-- "I have red hair!"

Brigitte Turns Orange

2008-07-14T22:39:00.002+10:00

In the House her hair extensions turned green from the chlorine in the spa, and her roots turned black from too long between hairdresser visits. But who can explain why 4 days after leaving the House, Brigitte's skin has turned orange? She's either been on an all-carrot diet, or paid a visit to the Gold Coast's budget spray tan salon.

Ten Dumps BB (The Logistical Viewpoint)

2008-07-14T20:19:00.003+10:00

I really didn't think it could happen. Ten have announced it is dropping BB from its 2009 schedule. Regardless of the declining ratings, BB08 has been Ten's top rating show every night and has still done well in the all-important 18-49 age group.

BB is an established show with an existing infrastructure at Dreamworld, and a huge crew. Piloting new programs is so hit and miss these days, it would take forever for Ten to produce new programming that would find an audience, or to find a balance of existing shows that will rate any better.

Without BB Ten have to fill 120 hours of primetime programming, not to mention it was a huge chunk of its required Australian programming quota.

Idol's ratings are also dropping massively year by year, and with no Mark Holden this year it may cause another drop. Could Ten possibly axe its 2 reality staples in one year? Will they spread So You Think You Can Dance and The Biggest Loser across more of the year to fill the gaps?

Eviction #11: The Penultimate Eviction

2008-07-13T12:37:00.002+10:00

Who should go? CHERRY! The guy hasn't made a word of conversation the whole time he's been in there. Lucky he can surf, otherwise he'd be crap at everything! He's a sleaze, and I would have said that even before I saw him latch onto Pamela Anderson's arse in his "goodbye hug". (Doesn't he get evicted for sexual harassment BB?-- of a celebrity guest! I didn't hear her ask him to do it.)

Luckily Cherry is favourite to go, and least favourite to win. Though Rory will get a lot of votes and is in danger of going tonight too.

Ben and Alice are the boring ones who need to go before the final though. Travis and Terri are the perfect finalist duo, though it looks like next week with be a double eviction with a trio in the final.

BB Silences HMs

2008-07-12T15:21:00.003+10:00

Right now on the live feed the HMs are dancing up a storm, but all we can hear is their feet tapping on the ground. BB has invented the silent disco!

Armed with a blindfold, a fluro costume, and a personal music player (OK, it's a promo for a new LG phone), they must dance on the spot for as long as possible to 4 songs on a loop. The HM who lasts the longest wins a prize. I'm guessing they win one of the phones they are using.

It's one of the funniest sights I've seen. All you hear is Rory coughing every now and then. How long will they keep this up?

The Many Faces of... The Combi

2008-07-10T18:43:00.003+10:00

One thing that has set this season of BB apart from the rest is a dirty great hunk of scrap metal in the backyard, also known as The Combi Van.

Who came up with the idea of putting the vehicle in the backyard and getting one unlucky HM to spend their entire BB existence sleeping in it? And were they smoking the same stuff when they came up with the idea as they were in the 60s when they were driving one around?

The Combi has become a character itself, and has had a few facelifts to keep it looking fresh for its inhabitants.

When Nobbi moved in on Day 1, the Combi was proudly sporting its hippie heritage design of large brightly coloured flower decals.

During his 5th week living in the van, BB decided Nobbi required a bit more style, and the HMs pimped out the Combi with zebra stripes, matching sheets, mirror balls, and fluffy dice.

When Nobbi was finally evicted, he flipped the grenade Terri gave him and sent her packing to the backyard with Terrence to keep her company. On Day 57 the HMs rid the Combi of all trace of Nobbi and set it up for the Grey Nomads, with a fitting grey paint job, featuring designs from each of the HMs.

Terrence was then evicted and told Terri she could move back into the House, so the vacated Combi got its final redesign in a rainbow grafiti style, again with a motif from each HM, and a multicoloured row of HM hand prints to make their mark on the Van.

The van is now inhabited by Ben due to his insubordination. Will he be the Combi's final occupant?

Well, Didn't We Get It All Backwards (Maybe?)

2008-07-10T18:11:00.002+10:00

Brigitte's claims throughout the latter part of the season that if she hooked up with a boy in the House it would ruin her life, seem to have been taken rather the wrong way.

While it was speculated in and out of the House that Brigitte actually had a boyfriend on the outside named Eric who threatened her if she should make him look to be a fool by breaking up with him on national TV were almost the complete opposite of the story that has come out today.

And if it is possible to have two complete opposites of something, a further story told by Eric this week was that they were nothing more than friends and she wanted to be more than that, threatening to hurt herself if he saw other girls, and threatening to kill girls he would get together with to put her off him. He made her out to be a bit of a bunny boiler.

The third (and final?) story that has come out today from Brigitte herself is that Eric wanted to be more than friends with Brigitte, and she didn't, but he was threatening to release a sex tape he had secretly made of them together if she should do anything with any guys in the House.

The story is so bizarre it could not be made up. So who do we believe? With the evidence given, all 3 make sense. So did BB invite Eric onto the eviction show not knowing about the sex tape story, and when Kyle knew all about it that's when they decided not to pair them up on stage? Did BB inadvertently invite Brigitte's blackmailer to meet her?

Just when you though Brigitte could not be any more mentally draining!

Pamela's Quick Pop-In

2008-07-09T23:11:00.002+10:00

I can't believe how quickly the HMs realised the "Pamela Anderson impersonator" was really Pamela Anderson. Good call. Rory was still skeptical when he saw her in the Diary Room, though I think he just didn't know whether to gush or act cool. He did get his hands on her as many times as possible in the Diary Room, just in case.

I cringed when they went into the Banquet Room and there were glasses of champagne on the table. You can just imagine someone like Pamela Anderson drinking BB-quality champagne! A nice 2008 vintage from Dreamworld Winery!

Pamela mentioned a few times that they don't have a Big Brother in the USA. I guess her tastes don't go as far as CBS. BB USA has been running as long as ours has!

Alice was a very good interviewer and knew all the questions to ask from the magazines, about Tommy Lee and her kids. They asked about parent-teacher night at her kids' school and she said she is a member of the Parents and Teachers Association and does crossing guard duty on Mondays. (Did you just imagine a car not stopping and Pamela in the red swimsuit go slow-mo jogging after it too?)

But then halfway through their meal, it was time for Pamela to leave. She promised she would be back tomorrow and would do something to do with abs and glitter. She said she would be in and out of the House until Saturday.

The HMs can't believe their luck getting to hang out with a celebrity, and they have already speculated what she must be thinking of them-- mainly that they are losers and they are crap. Alice has set to work cleaning everything in the House for her return tomorrow.

I guess tomorrow's 1 hour Daily Show will include tonight's events plus Thursday morning's. I still wonder if they will edit it to look like Pamela never left the House. Though airing Brigitte's goodbye message and hand grenade in the middle will show she is missing from their midst.

HMs Tipped Off

2008-07-09T18:39:00.003+10:00

BB has a hard time surprising HMs with anything. Why? Because he goes and changes routine when some thing special is coming up. Today BB let HMs sleep in until 1pm. Usually a sleep in is reserved for the weekends and then it is until maybe 10. So because their routine was changed, HMs already suspect a celebrity intruder is coming tonight. They are nowhere near close with their guesses-- Travis guessed Vanessa Amarossi, and the others decided on Natalie Bassingthwaighte (who already intruded in BB06) or Axle Whitehead (though he probably wouldn't be invited to a House where BB tells you off for flashing your genitals). Will they be more or less surprised when they find out it is PamAn?

Surprise Eviction #10: Who Will Go?

2008-07-09T17:44:00.003+10:00

No, it's not the 10th Surprise Eviction. It's the 10th Eviction, which is a surprise. Anyway...

Nominated are the usually-saved Alice, the usually-nominated Rory, fan-favourite Terri, over-the-top Brigitte, and under-the-radar Ben. With all those names Nominated, who then is safe?? Just lucky Cherry (who saved himself with the FNL Powers), and Travis.

Betting odds say favourite to be evicted is Rory (at 2:1), closely followed by Brigitte (at 11:4)-- perhaps an effect of the possible "Eric" making allegations about her being a bunny boiler, but fan votes may not follow betting trends. Ben is at 4:1, Alice 11:1. Terri would seem to be safe as houses at 31:1!

The OS poll says Rory is favourite to go (30.3%), then Alice (28.5%). Ben and Brigitte are close at 18.1% and 16.7% respectively, and true to form Terri is at only 6.4%.

Hopefully Alice will pull some votes from somewhere and get kicked out of there. We just have to see Rory in there with Pamela Anderson. Plus Alice doesn't give us much, other than treadmill mileage. If Alice does get evicted, it leaves Brigitte and Terri as the only remaining females! How funny would that be? But if it has to be out of Rory and Brigitte, I say get rid of Rory.

Celebrity Guest VS Major Sponsor

2008-07-09T17:31:00.003+10:00

Pamela Anderson has more than BB on her schedule during her Aussie visit. She also plans to speak out against KFC's poor treatment of their chickens.

Since "Yum! Foods" are one of BB's major sponsors with their KFC and Pizza Hut brands, how will they take BB inviting a celebrity rival through its doors onto national TV? What will Pamela think tonight watching the Eviction from her dressing room when they say "Big Brother's Nominations Twist brought to you by KFC Twisters"?

Don't worry, Pammy. I'm sure the Twister lived a long, full, and happy life, and has gone to Double Sweet Chili Heaven!

Ticket Troubles?

2008-07-08T19:08:00.002+10:00

Look for plenty of empty seats at tomorrow night's Surprise Midweek Eviction / Pamela Anderson special. They have been flogging the hell out of them for weeks to a point where I think maybe not so many people want to go. The hosts have been reminding people every chance they get, and there have been emails and ads from Dreamworld and Big Brother. Pamela may arrive on stage to the sound of crickets chirping.

Unlucky Shot

2008-07-07T20:15:00.002+10:00

How unlucky was Ben to smash the water tank indicator on the first shot after being reprimanded by BB not to throw the ball at the tanks! It was almost like it was scripted that way. Bizarre. It's a wonder the BB House didn't float away after seeing how bad the backyard drainage is during the treasure hunt task.

Blonde Mice Hook Up

2008-07-07T20:07:00.002+10:00

Strangely, I was happy to see Brigitte finally let her guard down with Cherry. Cherry has been determined since his first day in the House to make his move on Brigitte, and despite her special friend Eric on the outside, Brigitte had a snuggle and a smooch with Cherry for the last 2 nights. Brigitte has said a relationship in the House could "ruin her life". No one quite knows what her arrangement with Eric is, so we can only speculate what this comment means, or if she is just being overreactive. Maybe her story will come out when she is evicted.

Eviction #9: Who Will Go?

2008-07-06T17:23:00.003+10:00

Easy one this week: Bianca.

But let's extrapolate on that a bit more. Alice was nominated by the HMs, and saved by fellow Blonde Mouse, Cherry. She has been saved from nomination so many times now, I'm sure she'll be a little embarassed, and grateful, to get another free pass.

Rory, on the other hand, has actually been up for eviction so many times and survived, he will just get more cocky than ever and be sure the world loves him. Although, if Bianca somehow makes it through this eviction, it will be Rory that goes.

Terri and Travis replace Alice in the mix, and are both huge fan-favourites, so look for their eviction percentages at the bottom of the graph when Kyle and Jackie show it.

Bianca has been having tantrums all week about the mole task, flaring up at the others, and wasn't really one of the favourites to begin with. She has a temper and that never goes down well with viewers. Plus, other than the ones with Corey, her arguments are never very entertaining. It's time to go Bianca.

Some People Stand in the Darkness...

2008-07-06T13:51:00.002+10:00

The last time we saw Pamela Anderson she was inside Borat's hessian sack, and she was probably safer in there than she is going to be in the BB House this week. Pamela and her pair of floatation devices will go in live on Wednesday night, presumably after a Surprise Eviction, though plans for that have not been officially announced yet.

Unfortunately it looks like Bianca will be gone by tonight, so she won't be able to show Pammy what a real rack of Double-Gs looks like, compared to her plastic set of Double-Ds.

Looks like she won't be staying over full time though. Her schedule supposedly includes 3 separate entrances into the BB House-- Wednesday night, a dinner, and a slumber party, though Pamela won't be spending the night. Perhaps this will be done in the Holiday House, as it has been suggested the BB Airlines gimmick still has 1 trip left in it. It will be interesting to see if BB edits the 2 Daily Shows to make it look as if she was there the whole time!

Her visit will tie in with a papparazzi-themed task. What will she teach them? How to keep your home-made sex tapes out of papparazzi hands? I think they'd fail the task!

So we have her live entrance on Wednesday night, an extended Daily Show on Thursday, and she will be live on the FNL panel on Friday for Circus Night. I'm sure she will have Mike and Fitzy pitching circus tents of their own.

But what will the HMs make of her? Are they old enough, or in Terri's case young enough, to have watched Baywatch? I guess it's just another stunt to make us forget they are supposed to be locked in a House with no outside contact. Good luck Pammy!

Cherry Ripe for Finals

2008-07-04T23:44:00.002+10:00

Having won another FNL, Cherry would have to be pretty unlucky to not get into the final week of the show now. Last week he was the only HM to get NO nomination points, proving he is as far under the radar as he can go without dragging along the ground. If the public were nominating and HMs evicting like at the start of the season, I don't think he'd still be there.

So he is not nominated this week, and assuming they do go ahead with the midweek eviction this week, then Monday's nominations will be for Wednesday's eviction when Cherry will have the chance to save himself. If he is not unlucky enough to get himself nominated this time, then the earliest he will go is next Sunday.

But with HMs ignoring his nominatability and viewers seemingly liking him, we may see him get through to the final eviction the night before the Finale, or even in the final 3!

HMs Leave Their Marks

2008-07-03T21:47:00.002+10:00

At last they have created a memento system for each HM that has been in the House this year. Every year sees some kind of marker for evictees, and I thought this year it wouldn't happen, being so late in the piece.

This evening the HMs have cut up old cereal boxes into 22 shapes representing everyone that has been in the House this year, and stuck them in order of eviction/leaving along the purple wall next to the eviction door.

I was trying to figure out what each object was. So far I only got: Rima is a mole, Ollie is a dog, Travis is heart-shaped glasses, and Rory is a dick & balls!

Mole Unearthed

2008-07-02T18:41:00.003+10:00

After 3 days of non-stop speculation, BB has called in all the mole guesses from the HMs. The only one who was not a suspect was Cherry as he was an Intruder, and in turn he was the only one to not vote for Brigitte as the mole. The OS Diary doesn't specify who he did name though.

So did the task have the effect desired? It certainly made the HMs speculate strongly about each others' characteristics, and things about each other they may not think were genuine or being fully shown. How many times did people tell Brigitte she was really intelligent and was just playing a typical dumb blonde, only for her to know she really is a typical dumb blonde.

In a replay of the Travis-Alice spa incident, as soon as Travis named Brigitte as the mole he broke into tears. Seems the guy can't even force himself to say a bad word about someone. And this in turn made Rima start crying. Did she know what she was getting herself into with this task? Well when she revealed that there was no mole and this was just her Hand Grenade to the House, she did it via the plasma screens from the Diary Room, and announced she was not returning to the House again. Makes me think this was not planned, and she decided on the spot not to go back and face up to the fallout of her trick.

Maybe explaining herself might have helped though because Bianca seemed to blame Rima outright for the whole prank, and threw items around the backyard in a fury, and called her some pretty bad names.

A few hours on and the House seems to be back to normal, but I'm sure they'll still think of the things that have been said about each of them for the past 3 days.

What's With Nominations?

2008-06-30T20:13:00.002+10:00

When they announced that Nominations would be moved into a separate show from Week 10, they forgot to mention that all it would be is a dragged out version of what has been happening for the last month. Nominations are still built into the end of the Daily Show. There is no host. It is not live. In fact HMs nominated earlier than they have been previously, to give them time to edit together relevant clips.

Combi Vacated

2008-06-30T19:54:00.002+10:00

Nobbi spent 8 weeks outdoors and sleeping in the Kombi Van. Terri and Terrence did it for 1 week. And now, for the first week, the Van is empty. I guess now it becomes the Chill Out Van for small gatherings and bitch sessions. It has been a gimmick that has set this season apart from others. And probably the first time BB has seen something like this all the way through. With other endurance tasks like last year's White Room, BB gave up long before the Wild Cards ever planned to. So for Nobbi to not even get a chance to get out of the Combi was a welcome surprise.

Whole Day of Mole

2008-06-30T19:30:00.002+10:00

Rima is back and has brought with her a secret mission to make the HMs think there is a mole in their ranks and stir things up a bit-- and she has.

Thank god BB put a 3 day time limit on the Mole task, because all they have talked about for a whole day is who the mole could be! It has split them into little trust groups, made them secretive with each other, made them suspicious and watch every move everyone makes. They are doubting everything they know about each other including ages, occupations, intelligence, and backgrounds. They even guessed Terri had not really had a hysterectomy.

This is actually a pretty smart move because with only a few weeks to go, we are seeing a different side to some of the HMs, and learning what aspects of other HMs they have suspicions about. It could even help them realise some "playing the game" traits in others they had not yet realised.

Hopefully the revelation has been thought through and will be done in an interesting way.

HMs Nominating Sunday Night

2008-06-29T22:30:00.002+10:00

Tomorrow is the first separate Nominations show for BB08 and you'd think they'd do it live, wouldn't you? Well it is Sunday night and HMs are nominating now-- even earlier than they used to do it.

One possible explanation is, Kyle and Jackie O could be recording the Monday night show now, since they are already at Dreamworld. They could record it now as if it were live, to be shown tomorrow night at 8:00pm. But no mention was made tonight of the Nominations show.

And tomorrow Big Mouth creeps half an hour even later, thanks to Channel 10's brand new, destined-for-failure mockumentary-reality-sports-sitcom series spun off from a cancelled sketch show character.

A Way To Make FNL Fair for Terrence

2008-06-28T14:19:00.002+10:00

Terrence is at a serious disadvantage if he never gets to compete in FNL because of his neck issues. So, if he doesn't get evicted this week, or next week, here's a way to solve the problem...

Make the first game something non-physical-- a quiz or memory game that Terrence can compete in. If he goes out in this round, he is out: that's it. If he gets through the first round, Terrence gets to choose any eliminated HM to represent him in the following games. The player would play on and when they are eliminated they and Terrence are out. If Terrence's representative wins, Terrence gets the Eviction Twist, the representative player gets HoH, and they share the "mystery" prize-- a movie or a flight to the Holiday House.

Of course they should have done this 3 weeks ago, because there are really only 2 more FNLs that will give the HMs an advantage.

Early Bird Misses the Worm

2008-06-28T10:21:00.002+10:00

When Nathan was evicted, his Hand Grendade to Travis was that he was to be first HM awake every morning (on BB's alarm), and make breakfast and tea for BB before the other HM rose. But since Terrence has been in the Combi Van, he has been getting up before BB plays Travis' alarm, and BB lets Travis continue sleeping. I think there are some grenades BB wasn't even ready to see through.

Finale Date Set

2008-06-28T10:11:00.002+10:00

Monday, July 21 (Day 85) will be the Finale of BB08. And for the first time, 3 HMs will remain in the House until that night. Maybe that's to buy them time to figure out who the actual winner is this year, and avoid a debacle last year.

Get Smart Star Appearances Pre-Recorded

2008-06-26T20:46:00.004+10:00

Steve Carell and Anne Hathway's part in FNL tomorrow will not be live. They will be appearing as a pre-recorded interview. Mike Goldman says:

Steve and anne will talk about kissing each other, kissing easter island face from get smart, putting pegs on their nipples and having a laugh.
HMs will not know that theyre there.

Because they won't be! Oh well. It will be a good tie in with the theme of the week and the winning HM will get to watch Get Smart in the BB cinema, apparently.

No Round-the-Clock Tasks This Year

2008-06-26T17:57:00.002+10:00

While BB has done pretty well in the task department this year, we still have not seen any 24-hour type tasks like we used to. There have been tasks that they could be called on at any time of day or night, but none where groups of HMs must be on the task in shifts all day and night.

That type of task is good because it tests stamina, as well as gets small groups or pairs of HMs to make conversation non-stop, and creates extra footage for Daily Shows.

In the past we have seen things like BB07's Counting Sheep task, BB07's Soccer task, BB06's Fishing Hole task, BB06's Water Tank task, BB05's Clock task, BB04's famous Orb task where Paul Dyer refused to stand under the watermelon-on-an-electromagnet and catch it if it falls, BB02's Bunker task, and many others that don't come to mind right now.

The Trainspotting task would have been a perfect candidate for this type of task. BB could have just gotten 2 HMs to be on the platform at all times, and sent trains around at all hours of the night, but instead he tells them when it is time for a train.

Where's Mike?

2008-06-26T17:49:00.002+10:00

Mike Goldman didn't show up for his "live chat" on the Courier Mail site today at 2pm, even though his post early this morning said he would be. 10 comments have been moderated and added to the blog, but no responses were posted. Maybe there was some voice-over emergency he had to attend to.

Trick to the Train Task?

2008-06-26T17:36:00.002+10:00

For this week's Trainspotting task, the HMs have to memorise numbers on the carriage of trains that pass by the BB garden. The numbers they have to memorise on the trains are getting more and more complex. Such random numbers would be most difficult to remember in order for a whole week.

The housemates are doing a good job making up rhymes to remember the numbers, but BB instructed them they could use any method to remember the numbers, but no WRITING was allowed in the House.

I wonder if the trick to the task is that the HMs are supposed to use the digits stuck to the locker room wall to record the numbers of the trains. Or if the numbers of the trains is somewhere within the seemingly random numbers on the wall.

We know the task was planned from the beginning of the series, since one of the teasers was something about planes, trains and automobiles (BB's flight simulator, trainspotting task, and the combi van). Is this the reason for the numbers on the wall?

Rory Not On Par With Nobbi

2008-06-25T20:08:00.002+10:00

Newspapers are reporting that Rory is now favourite to be evcited this week, stating he has lost fans because he waved his dick in front of Terri in the showers. They report that this is the same reason Nobbi was evicted last week, so will be Rory's downfall this week.

I think the bookies aren't really thinking about that too well. Nobbi getting his bits out in the spa happened Saturday night, so the majority of fans who only get their updates from the TV shows would not have even known about that event until Kyle and Jackie briefly mentioned it on Sunday night, and it was not fully covered on TV until Monday night after the eviction. So how do they think Nobbi was evicted because of that?

No, Nobbi was evicted for his past 3 weeks' worth of shenanigans, upsetting one HM after another. And his reign over FNL was what kept him in there as long as he was. Nobbi's eviction was the result of viewers' built up frustrations for several weeks.

So, Rory might be going this week, but I would say it's more to do with the others' popularities, not because of anything he did to Terri, or because of any pattern building between him and Nobbi.

Guests Galore: Steve, Anne, Rima, and Pamela!

2008-06-25T16:44:00.002+10:00

Plenty more guests left to enter the BB House this year, or at least be involved with the show:

Steve Carrell & Anne Hathaway
Stars of Get Smart will appear live in the Dreamworld Amphitheatre this Friday night for FNL with Mike, Bree & Fitzy, playing games with the hosts. But will they make a House appearance?

Rima
The bandages are off and Rima will be back in the House as a guest from this Sunday night, for an indefinite amount of time. Though she will not compete for the grand prize, she will have a secret mission to accomplish in the House upon her return.

Pamela Anderson
God knows what this is all about, but now Pammy is going to enter the House on Wednesday July 9 during the Surprise Eviction show.

At this rate Dreamworld might as well start letting the theme park guests do tours of the House before the show even finishes. Then they call all be special guests!

Big-Mouth Vesna Settles In

2008-06-24T06:14:00.005+10:00

Hopefully Vesna will join the Big Mouth panel as a permanent fixture. (As permanent as it can be with 3 weeks left.) After a quiet start to her hosting stint last week, this week she really relaxed and was really funny. Sitting her next to Tim probably helped because she has a close bond with him from their stay in the House.

Vesna and Nathan are probably 2 of the funniest HMs ever. Along with the intelligent (and funny) comments from Tim and Chrissie, they make up a great panel.

Of course the revolving panel really keeps it fresh every week, with a few special appearances like Susannah last night. But they really need to get rid of the "expert opionions"-- the dream guy, the relationship chick-- they do nothing for the show except slow it down.

Looks Like a Monday Finale After All

2008-06-23T21:28:00.002+10:00

Today tickets went on sale on the Dreamworld website for the eviction show on Sunday 20th July-- the day highly speculated to be the finale for the series. It looks like this will be a regular Eviction show, with the Finale likely following on the Monday night, because:

Dreamworld site says "Eviction", not "Finale".
Cocktail Party tickets are also on sale for that evening. They don't normally have a cocktail party before the finale show because ex-HMs are all busy getting ready for the show and can't attend. Plus the live show starts earlier for the finale, so Dreamworld is still open up til the audience is just about seated for the finale.
Cocktail party is scheduled for 5:30pm - 6:30pm. If this was the finale, the audience would be seated by 6 for a 6:30 start.
Plus, having 2 HMs rattling around in the House for longer than 24 hours would be a bit silly and boring.

Looks like the Finale will actually be Monday 21st July this year. I guess if this is true the tickets for the Finale will go on sale on the Dreamworld site sometime in the next week.

This is great news for me because I have theatre tickets for a matinee on Sunday 20th July so it would have been a big rush home for the finale if it was that night. Now at least all I'll miss is the start of the final Daily Show.

Looking forward to confirmation of this in the next few days!

Grey Nomads' Popularity to Soar

2008-06-23T19:44:00.005+10:00

For Nobbi it was likely the designation to the Kombi Van that increased his popularity. Both from those who saw it as an undeserved challenge, and from those who enjoyed watching the trouble-maker live through his punishment night after night. Will it have the same effect on Terri and Terrence?

Putting them in the Kombi together will likely create heaps of funny moments and lots of Daily Show footage of them camping out together. It will make the already popular HMs even stronger. Nobbi wasn't thinking ahead when he decided this would be a punishment for Terri, as he has now made her chances at a $250,000 retirement fund even better.

If Nobbi had put Terri in with one of the boring ones (Ben or Alice) it may have less of a positive effect on the viewing audience.

Now with Terrence nominated this week against 2 original HMs, will the new focus on him be enough to keep him there another week, or more?

BB Oldies Move Into Kombi

2008-06-22T23:00:00.002+10:00

After Nobbi's eviction tonight, the Kombi Man got to pass on his punishment to 2 HMs of his choice. Of course he repayed Terri with the honour after she bestowed it on him on Day 1. And he has chosen Terrence as her Kombi buddy.

Both HMs will be banished to outside the House. As a luxury Nobbi never got, they will be allowed inside for 20 minutes a day to use the indoor showers and ammenities. They will use separate sleeping bags.

Terri and Terrence have already started comparing stories about the worst houses they have lived in. Terri has slept in a house with fibro walls and a gap under the door "this big". Yada yada.

They are giving the bedding a good shake out after Nobbi has been in there for so long. Rory reassured Terri not to worry, Nobbi has only had a pull in there 3 times. Terri exclaimed she wasn't worried how many times Nobbi has pulled in there.

Eviction #7: Who Will Go?

2008-06-22T18:10:00.003+10:00

In a record for the season, 6 nominees face eviction tonight, but only 3 of them know it. Plus one may think he knows it, but he is not up for eviction at all.

Rory was saved by Nobbi's Eviction Twist. I'm sure he would have figured out it was him that was saved somehow.

But will Nobbi be expecting to be on the chopping block? Especially along with 2 others?

Who are the Nominees and what do they have for and against them?

Alice: Regular nominee, and most-saved HM for the year. She must be feeling unloved being nominated so many times by her HMs and the public. This week she is up again. While she was my least favourite in the first week, seeming a bit bland, she has grown on me over time. I don't want her to win, but she brings some stuff to the group dynamic. Maturity is one-- she doesn't fall into the kids category. She is smart. She doesn't really get involved in that much fun though. She gets into some of the spa antics with them but some of the more immature games she stays away from.
Brigitte: She seems to think that either hating people or being hated is what is keeping her in the House. She is the ditzy blonde of the year, and has lived a sheltered life, so she brings humour to the House. Not in a good way for her, as the joke is usually on herself. Her bad moods and tantrums could work in either way for her. Watching the spoilt little girl have everything taken away from her is entertaining though.
Cherry: Being this far up himself is probably not physiologically healthy for him. He thinks he is God's gift to women, though something tells me women like a bit of personality and likeability mixed in with their muscles. In 3 weeks he has failed to show any intelligence or charisma, and he has the nerve to tell Rhianna he "hates" her after a few days-- probably to get in further with the boys of the House, though I don't think it sat well with Travis or Rory.
Nobbi: He's the one we're supposed to love to hate. Most years I hate that one, but this year I am actually loving hating Nobbi. He is nasty, manipulative, rude, arrogant, and has little care for even his closest HMs, but something about him being stuck outside in that bloody van makes me laugh, because no matter what he does to upset the others, he is the loser at the end of the day.
Terrence: Give the old bloke a chance. He has more personality that any of the other boys (aside from Travis) combined. He seems like a nice guy and he really is trying to get along with everyone. The young ones won't gove him a chance, but that doesn't stop him. He is also revisiting his youth a bit too I think getting in on all the immature games and just having fun. The HMs don't like his jokes or his nudity, but they should give him more credit.
Terri: There is 1 year and a world of difference separating Terri from Terrence. She is your old-school Nanna. And while she has come around a bit and opened up to the younger HMs a lot over the series, she is still the mother figure to them and not the friend. That's nothing bad though if that's what she wants. She is a great HM for diveristy and should hang around.

So who will go? Hopefully Cherry. I doubt he'd even be missed from the show now. The next least impact would be Alice. All the others are pretty much necessary HMs and possible finalist material.

The viewing audience might go for Cherry, Alice, or Terrence. Nobbi has plenty of anti-fans on the outisde who have probaby been waiting for just this opportunity to get rid of him, but he has a lot of fans as well who want him in there for stirring things up. I think Brigitte and Terri will be safe this week.

But then again, I haven't voted.

Will Nobbi's Penis Go In Big Mouth?

2008-06-22T17:32:00.002+10:00

First of all, sorry, I could not help but use that title!

So, the "incident" went like this: boys in spa, Nobbi's takes nob out, Bianca calls Terri over, Terri disgusted, huge discussion about dicks ensues. Was it sexual harassment? That question is really up to the harassed to decide.

First of all, this is nothing like the Turkey Slapping of BB06. In that case Camilla was forcibly held down while John and Ashley put their bits in her face, possibly against her will. It also doesn't really hold up to the Celebrity BB incident where Warwick Capper exposed himself to Adriana Xenides and some of the other girls, just because of the nature of the Celebrity series, in that it was about celebrities raising money for children's charities, not a real reality series, nor an adult series.

Technically this would be counted as indecent exposure, which is illegal. When done in a joking way among a group of friends, there would be no problem though. If it was any of the other girls in the House there would be no fuss about this. But really it can't be categorised. It comes down to the individual and how they feel about the way they've been treated.

In this case, being just exposure, I'm sure Terri has seen her fair share of them in her life to not get too worked up over it. She is a bit of a fuddy duddy though. She would be well within her rights to go to BB and say it was the most horrific experience of her life, and BB would have no option but to evict Nobbi for breaking the rules. However I think she has more common sense than that. Going into the BB House she must have known she would be spending a lot of time with sexually-charged younger HMs and that this kind of prank might go on. Plus the fact that she is trying to be treated as an equal by them, and not a mother figure, would be affected if she did. Of course none of this gives anyone the right to make her feel uncomfortable, or takes away her right to feel uncomfortable about it. It just has to do with the way she chooses to perceive what happened.

There is also the fact that it was Bianca that called Terri's attention to what the boys were doing privately in the spa (though why they were is another question!). So is Bianca to blame for Terri seeing it?

And really, if exposing your genitals to other HMs is sexual harassment, why does BB give them the big open shower to share? Currently 3 of the men in the House are showering in all their glory (including Nobbi in the outdoor shower!). They have said it is for hygeine reasons, and because they are not ashamed of their bodies, however if it makes others uncomfortable, and if there is no way for any of them to shower privately, doesn't that count as harassment in a way too?

So the final question, and getting back to the title of this post, is what will Big Mouth make of this event tomorrow night? Will they touch it at all? Will they edit it in a positive or negative way? (Gretel, don't tell me they can't do that!) And the one thing we haven't even heard yet is, does Terri even care anymore, after her initial reaction? Maybe she did go away and have a big laugh about it. Maybe she came out 10 minutes later and gave all the boys a big flash of her own. Now that would stop them in their tracks!

Terrence Confronts Brigitte

2008-06-21T19:26:00.002+10:00

So, Terrence finally confronted Brigitte today about her being rude to him. And it sounds like while Terrence had a lot to say, Brigitte was nothing but uninterested.

What is her problem with him? So he tells lame jokes and long winded stories. What else do they have to do in there? While Brigitte wants to spend her entire BB stay lying in the sun in a bikini and straightening her hair, some people are in there to share their lives and their life experience.

I guess that's a big call for a girl who has no life experience, and who lives off Daddy's dollar. Someone like Terrence should be good for Brigitte, telling her what life is really like out from under her parents' wings. At least she has developed a relationship with Terri, though Terri's outlook on life may be a little too bleak for the poor little girl to handle.

So Terrence even tried to play the "you're playing the game" card, telling her Australia won't like that. Brigitte's comeback was that "Australia is not her friend". I bet she is hoping Australia is her friend when it comes to eviction voting though!

HMs Passed Task, But Alice Cooks Staples

2008-06-20T16:38:00.003+10:00

Last week HMs passed their task and won themselves a week of luxury foods. It is probably right then that the HMs are bitching about Alice's lunch menu today, cooking chicken patties and boiled cabbage-- bland foods basically made only from their staple ingredients they would have whether they passed or failed the task. Bianca and Travis said there are plenty of other ingredients left to make a much better lunch, but Alice took over the kitchen. Maybe Alice is the first HM in history to be satisfied with BB's staple diet.

FNL Week 8: Heavy Metal Night

2008-06-20T16:14:00.002+10:00

For Heavy Metal Night there will be more games based on themed puns: Iron Maiden where HMs will be pushed around an obstacle course on an ironing board, Skid Row where HMs have to do the biggest skid, and a Pinata-type game with HMs smashing guitars into an amplifier.

What we definitely don't want to see is Nobbi win again. Terri or Bianca would be a good change. Terri would love Head of Household, getting everyone up doing chores all week.

I asked Mike Goldman on his live blog this week:

One of the FNL prizes is Head of Household, and HoH is supposed to be able to tell HMs to do certain chores whenever they want. The only time HoH uses their powers though is when BB instructs them to make decisions. Do you think this power is being wasted this year? I think maybe someone like Terri would utilise this power more effectively. I hope Terri wins an FNL this year!

His response was:

I want Terri to win too! It would be funny to see an old nanna smashing guitars tomorrow night on HEAVY METAL NIGHT!!!!! The power isnt being wasted they still have to be in charge and tell people what to do. That causes friction and that works well on BB.

Bit of a cop-out answer that just defends the prizes won out of his part of the show I guess. Where is the friction? Over the Vending Machine? Come on. Head of Household does not use the power available to them unless forced, therefore it is fake friction. I want to see a HoH boss the others around more. Of course it won't happen because it will just get them nominated.

This afternoon on live streaming I heard Travis say to Brigitte this is their week for FNL because they have come second more than anyone else. He thinks it will will be the two of them playing off against each other in the finale round. In his words "I'm always the bridesmaid, never the bride."

Also, news will come out tonight about Steve Carrell appearing on next week's show (Spy Week).

No word yet on what the "fun" prize will be for tonight's winner. No talk of another flight or movie yet. The girls are hoping for a movie if they win.

Ratings Down, But BB is Ten's Top Show

2008-06-18T20:25:00.002+10:00

Channel 10's ratings are down overall this year, but BB is still Ten's top programme each night.

Last week:

Wednesday - Daily Show - #19 - 902,000
Thursday - Daily Show - #23 - 816,000
Friday - Daily Show - #17 - 774,000
Friday - FNL - #10 - 977,000
Sunday - Daily Show - 859,000
Sunday - Eviction - 1,009,000
Monday - Daily Show - #19 - 901,000 (GNW made #16 on the night's list)
Monday - Big Mouth - 646,000
Tuesday - Daily Show - 852,000

At least Evictions are back over the 1m mark (slightly) after the long weekend brought it down.

Nobbi Sabotages Fake Task

2008-06-18T20:00:00.003+10:00

Nobbi has found a way to entertain himself today. Knowing that the Shark Attack task is a fake task and that their winning the luxury food package for next week relies only on himself and his Order of Moon Monks passing their mini task, he has been sabotaging the Shark task to stir things up. He has put objects in the way of the canoe so HMs fail to reach the bell in time, getting into the canoe and not rowing, and tieing the canoe up in a triple knot. HMs are quickly turning on him much to his delight. Whatever "floats his boat"!

Nobbi can't be held completely to blame for "failing" the fake task though. 6 HMs didn't even bother to participate in the task today, leaving Travis, Terri, Ben, and Alice to row the boat ashore each time the shark has threatened the backyard. Cherry and Bianca can't go into the sun, but Nobbi at least pitched in once, even though he didn't assist with rowing.

Task Cheat Cover-Up

2008-06-17T19:58:00.002+10:00

BB edited the events of last night to cover up his own cheating in the Moon Monks task.

When Bianca got up to go and do the moon ritual at 2am, Ben actually followed her out to the backyard, as he had said earlier he was wide awake. Nobbi called BB on the Kombi Phone and BB said he would handle it for them. Just before 2:00, BB called Ben to the Diary Room and made up a cover story about thinking he might be be suffering from insomnia and gave him joke suggestions on how to sleep better. This gave Nobbi and Bianca a chance to do their ritual undetected and produce good Daily Show footage.

According to the Daily Show edit, Bianca got up alone at 1:56am and their ritual went off with no interruptions.

I'm sure at some point BB will turn the task on them and try to make them fail, probably by calling the shark task just before or just after the moon ritual.

Weird Tasks

2008-06-17T19:54:00.002+10:00

This week's tasks are just bizarre. It's like there were 2 really crap suggestions left in the box and they combined them into a cover-task and a secret task to make them more interesting to watch.

Paddling a canoe on wheels across the backyard to ring a bell to raise a net to stop a shark attack! What the?

And the Moon Monks? Bianca and Nobbi have to secretly dress in robes every night at 2am and say a chant about loving the moon, and they are not allowed to go into the sunlight. And they can't get caught by their HMs. What were they smoking that day?

Still, I guess it's funny...

6 Nominated: Have the Rules Changed?

2008-06-16T20:39:00.002+10:00

Tonight the Nominations saw Cherry, Terrence, Alice, and Rory making up the HM-selected nominees. Nobbi got to save 1, choosing his mate Rory. This left 3 HMs up for evcition.

But then it was announced to viewers that the next highest nominated HMs would fall into Rory's place, adding Brigitte, Terri, and Nobbi himself into the lineup.

But isn't BB's rule that at least 3 HMs must be up for eviction? Should Rory's omission from the nominees been replaced by the other 3 at all, or should it have been left at just the top 3? Maybe BB just did this to ensure Nobbi got himself nominated because so many viewers are calling out for a chance to vote to evict him.

Nobbi has rekindled a bit of his likability since the Travis-Alice incident 2 weeks ago, buying time with his 2 consecutive FNL wins. Does he have enough against him on the outside to get rid of him? Does he have enough fans to save him? Maybe with 6 up, BB could make this week a Double Eviction to make double sure Nobbi goes. kombi-Man's Eviction show will at least draw a crowd.

Rhianna's Eviction a Bonus for Big Mouth

2008-06-16T19:57:00.004+10:00

After this week's dancing doona action between Rory and Rhianna, Big Mouth are set to score having one of the doona duo on the show tonight when they unveil the footage on national TV.

The story made it to the radio news this afternoon, saying producers promise to show the footage on tonight's show, and Rhianna was worried about seeing it, and it being seen.

How will the 25 year old single mother with a 7 year old daughter react when her private moment with her short-time boyfriend-of-the-House is exposed to the country? And will the low ratings for the show improve as a result? Last week got 669,000 viewers, and that was the highest figure yet!

Week 11 Snap Eviction

2008-06-16T18:33:00.002+10:00

Wednesday July 9 will see this year's first LIVE midweek special. A Surprise Eviction will be held to help cull the large number of HMs still remaining in the House.

This will happen after the 2nd Live Eviction show, so it is likely it will be a public vote over 48 hours to select the evictee. Either that or they will hold over results of Monday's nominations to see who is left after the midweek Eviction, or let the HMs vote on the following Sunday eviction.

Or maybe one of the 2 eviction nights will be a prize money twist, with a HM choosing to leave for a guaranteed cut of the prize.

Rove Runs Over Too

2008-06-16T18:29:00.001+10:00

At the start of Rove last night one of the cast, I think Peter Helliar, made a joke about TV shows starting and ending on time. Was he having a go at BB running 10 mins overtime last night pushing their show later? So, what was the running time of Rove's "1 hour" show last night? 1 hour 15 minutes! :-)

Treasure Unearthed

2008-06-16T18:05:00.002+10:00

It wasn't til about 2am when HMs finally unearthed the treasure chest form the backyard, fighting back rising water below the badly drained sandpit. BB might have thought this one through a bit more because the water had damaged the clue inside the box so the HMs could not read it. BB provided a "spare" for Nobbi to read to the House. (Now why didn't he just give them the spare to begin with. I wonder if they'll edit the Daily Show to make it look like the undamaged paper comes out of the box!)

Of course in true BB style, the live stream audio and for the most part video, was cut once the clue was found so the footage could be saved up to draw in ratings for the Daily Show.

The OS, however, reveals the full story. They found the prize in the Diary Room, by ripping the chair up with scissors! BB didn't let it too far out of his sight, did he? Each HM retrieved a box containing $25,000 cash. To add a real game-playing spin on the final 5 weeks, when a HM is evicted, they give their loot to the HM of their choice. The final HM in the House will win the total $250,000, so I'm trying to figure out how having more cash helps or hinders and individual HM, unless there will be cash-related prizes, offers, losses, etc.

But is $250K a good prize? Maybe the prize total was always going to be based on the ratings of the show, hence why they left the announcement so late?

BB01-03 rewarded their winners with $250K. BB04 made a big deal of increasing it four-fold to an even $1m going to Trevor. BB05-07 started out at $1m and quickly depleted as the season went on, with a chance to win back money in the final week's FNL, with about $860K going off in 05, and only just over $400K in 06 & 07. So maybe it is right that the prize money continues to plummet. Or maybe BB should have made an extravagant announcement of $500K or more to really entice HMs and viewers. Brigitte has already said $250K doesn't do it for her, but then she is the spoilt little rich kid.

The Prize Dig

2008-06-15T22:15:00.002+10:00

What a great task. Fill the backyard with a few thousand cubic metres of sand, and get the HMs to dig it all up. The place looks like a disaster area. Will they ever be able to put it back together after this?

The HMs are really banding together. Nobbi is the worst foreman there could be. He is so unorganised. Travis is wearing his duckie pajamas and an orange vest. Most of the HMs are barefoot. Brigitte almost looks like she is naked under her vest.

They have struck water from somehwere and their hole is filling up. The dig area seems to be roughly the shape of the BB03/04 pool which may still be under the ground. Maybe the drainage is not so good and the rain water has been seeping into the sand that was under the turf.

The mood lighting is adding a cool effect to it all. Nobbi also has a camera in his helmet so it will be interesting to see some of that footage mixed in with the House cameras tomorrow night.

How long will it take them to find the clue?

Prize Revealed Tonight

2008-06-15T17:58:00.002+10:00

So the ads are saying that tonight the BB grand prize will be revealed. I assume this means to the audience and to the HMs. The rumour also is that the HMs will have to find the prize somewhere in the House itself. Mike Goldman has said "won't the HMs be surprised when they find out it is right under their noses?" and Bree Amer has said it will involve "blood, sweat, and tears".

But the location of the prize probably isn't that much of a mystery. HMs have been locked out of the House all afternoon and told they will not be allowed out until after tonight's eviction. Travis was just saying he heard excavation machinery out there. Bianca said she heard them ripping up the astroturf.

So will it be as simple as that? Will they just walk out and the prize will in some way be on display to them?

Or will it be this week's task? Will there will be something in the backyard and they have to in some way do something to ensure the prize stays as high as possible, involving blood, sweat and tears? I am imagining some kind of Jigsaw-type trap from the Saw movies! But it could be a lot tamer I guess.

The rumour is Kyle will enter the House to tell them about it all. Yet another visitor to take their minds off being isolated. He might as well bring the Sunday paper in with him and leave it for them to have a read. Oh well.

My hopes for the prize: cash! $1m-- like BB04. No fines or crap like that. Or if it is a task and they have to get as much as possible, start it nice and high. Give them something to aim for. Make them want-- or need --to stay. Give them something to get bitchy over. Watch them change, or not, over it.

Brigitte Gets Best Birthday

2008-06-14T22:39:00.004+10:00

Did anyone think Brigitte wouldn't get the favourite treatment for her birthday? Granted it is her 21st, but BB's birthday parties differ greatly depending on whose it is.

David got a pretty good party after the first FNL. Rebecca's was completely overlooked because Carson had to film his second special that night and they tried to pretend it was her birthday the next day after FNL. Alice and Rory had to share a party after another FNL, despite the fact their birthdays were on the Saturday and Sunday.

Brigitte is celebrating her her 21st in the House tonight. All HMs got to board the BB aeroplane for a quick flight and BB has opened up the Holiday House for the event and has turned it into Sparkle Land. They have painted the walls pink, cleaned out the pool after the Dump weekend, and fully decorated everything in pink and silver. The pink lips couch is in there and the round pink lounge from last year's House bathroom. She got the bubble blowers she wanted, a camera to take photos of the event, a champagne fountain, a birthday cake, and BB has even filled the yard with Princess Sparkle balloons.

When Nobbi bought her party dress out of the BB Vending Machine during the week, she was not grateful and said she didn't like it becuase it didn't match the only pair of shoes she had. So she asked BB if she could swap the dress for another pillowcase and ribbon. When BB delivered what she asked for, probably thinking he was doing the right thing, Brigitte laughed and said it wasn't the right colour, and as if she would swap a real dress for a pillowcase. BB later provided her with a white pillowcase which she also said was not good enough. So BB swapped her 2 pairs of shoes for the black ones she wanted from her confiscated luggage.

The 2 Hand Grendades Brigitte received are out the window now because BB played a birthday message from her family for her, which Renee said she was not to receive, and BB gave her Princess Sparkle back after having it confiscated by Saxon's grenade. Plus BB gave them music to dance to.

And what was the birthday girl's 21st speech? "Umm... I'm 21. Yay me!"

And now, they are all complaining because they are over it and want to go back to the House.

Late Series Shakeup

2008-06-13T19:45:00.002+10:00

BB will be making scheduling changes when they get down to only 3 weeks to go. As of Week 10 (June 30), a fully fledged live Nominations show will return on Mondays from 7:30 to 8:30, followed by the new The Wedge spin-off. The dismal ratings I predict for this show will be another nail in the coffin for Big Mouth which will be moved half an hour later to start at 10pm.

So who will host the Noms show? Kyle and Jackie will probably be unavailable because of their radio show. Maybe this is the network's response to the positive reviews of Mike Goldman's Eviction show hosting. Perhaps Mike will get the hosting gig on this show. That would be good.

Travis Asks: Who Is Sideshow Bob?

2008-06-12T18:05:00.002+10:00

The BB Hair Salon is open for business and Bianca is styling Travis' wig into blonde dreadlocks.

With the 'do almost complete, HMs started commenting on how he looked like Cecil Terwilliger, Sideshow Bob's brother from The Simpsons episode "Brother From Another Series".

Travis asked "Who is Sideshow Bob?" COME ON, TRAVIS! The one I would have picked to be the biggest Simpsons fan in there has never heard of one of the greatest recurring guest-role characters in the series? His guesses were "Is he related to Ned Flanders?" and "Is he the one with blue hair?"

Nobbi Seeks Trust

2008-06-12T16:52:00.002+10:00

Now that Nobbi is aware of how he is coming across as a bully and realises Travis has lost faith in his once good friend, Nobbi seems to be trying to earn back trust, possibly for strategic purposes.

Maybe he realises he is this close to being evicted and the only way to stay in the game is to do a 180.

After cutting chunks out of Travis' hair a few weeks ago leaving him with bald patches, and BB telling Nobbi this, along with all the other recent events, was a form of bullying, yesterday Nobbi approached Travis about giving him a haircut. Travis made a joke about whether he wanted a haircut like his own, having a jab at Nobbi for providing his ridiculous style. But it seemed as if Nobbi was trying to win back some trust by telling Travis he was the one Nobbi trusted with his own do.

If Travis was spiteful he could really go to town before Nobbi even realised it.

Idea: Twist on the Message From Home

2008-06-12T16:45:00.003+10:00

I know the HMs got their family video messages last night, so it's too late, but I was thinking of what could be a great twist on it for future reference.

Imagine each HM watches another random HM's message from their family, and it is up to them to relay it, or not, to the person it belonged to. They could make stuff up, or even accidentally get things wrong, or change the meaning of the message in translation, like a chinese whisper. It would make great footage to see who says what to whom about their personal messages.

Not A Very Hair-Raising Task

2008-06-12T16:28:00.002+10:00

This week's task is a bit bland. While it gets them to play characters and get involved in conversations with HMs they don't usually associate with, it is very light on coverage-- they aren't actually doing much for very long. Normally the task can give the HMs something to do rather than sleep if they are bored, e.g. practising their dance moves, fielding the cricket pitch, playing with the dog, etc. But for a rainy week, they are very understimulated by this task.

And what is the point? They cut and style a wig on someone's head. Not that interesting. The radio ad played it up like they were really giving each other haircuts and had all the dramatic music and stuff, but it really is very lame.

The only real purpose for doing this task is to promote the Adam Sandler movie where he plays an ex-terrorist hair dresser, You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

Apparently the winner of FNL will get to choose a small group of HMs to watch an advance screening of the movie in the House. I'm sure they'll get hours of footage from watching a few HMs sitting on a sofa, not talking, but just watching a screen. I'm sure there'll be shots of them laughing and having a great time put into the Daily Show so the advertisers get what they paid for.

FNL Week 7: Friday the 13th Theme & Promised A-List American Celebrity Visitor

2008-06-12T16:11:00.004+10:00

Mike Goldman has announced FNL this week will be themed by the date it falls on, Friday the 13th.

Games will include Deadly Bowling where the HMs are the pins, another eating gross stuff challenge, and something where the HMs dress up as characters from horror movies.

Mike has also promised that an A-List American Celebrity will be involved in FNL tomorrow. Not as an intruder, but on the show. He denies that it is Adam Sandler, Steve Carrell, or Ann Hathaway, all of whom are on the Gold Coast next week for a special episode of Rove from Movie World. He says it is one of his favourite celebrities. No one commenting on his live blog today guessed it. Who could it be?

Eyes on the Prize

2008-06-12T15:58:00.002+10:00

The TV ads are telling us that the BB grand prize will be announced this Sunday night.

On Mike Goldman's blog he said the HMs will be surprised when they find out the prize is right under their noses. This could mean physically, as in the prize is somewhere in the House and maybe has been since the beginning, and will be unveilled to them on Sunday. Maybe they'll have to dig up the backyard looking for it.

Maybe the prize is the House! But who would want a TV set in the bush out the back of a theme park? Maybe it is shares in Dreamworld. Now that's just getting silly.

Surely the prize will be cash. Maybe it will go back to $1m like in BB04. But will any type of fines be deducted from it?

The only time we've heard of cash prizes before in any official capacity is when Corey left the House and "won" the HMs $60,000. However, the HMs have sometimes talked about prize money on the live streams only to have the audio cut off, so maybe they know more than we do... and they are trapped in a House with no outside communication!!

If the prize is not part of the game like it has been the last few years with the fines and everything, then it really shouldn't matter to the viewers what the prize is, so it is kind of good BB has held onto some information until halfway through the series. At least there is something to announce rather than everything being spilled on opening night. Hopefully the prize is something interesting and they announce it in an interesting way. I hope the HMs really are surprised!

A Likely Lineup

2008-06-09T20:14:00.002+10:00

Nobbi's FNL Twist has been executed and leaves a likely lineup of the 3 intruders, plus picked-on Alice, nominated for eviction this weekend.

After Nobbi receiving a huge chunk of the nomination votes (8 in total, the highest this week), he got the opportunity to remove himself from the nominees, leaving Alice and Terrence on the chopping block.

The next most voted HMs happened to be the other 2 intruders, Cherry and Rhianna, on equal votes.

This leaves a tough choice for the voting public.

I'd say Alice is now safe being the only original up against the 3 newbies.

Terrence is by far the most annoying to the HMs, but that makes him a very funny one to watch on TV. In general the public fail to see the difference though, and often vote off the ones they wouldn't want to live with, rather than the ones that are least fun to watch.

Cherry has all the girls drooling, so might be saved for that reason. Most voters are young girls and will keep the eye candy in the House. Plus they will be hoping to see romance.

Which might be Rhianna's only saving grace as well. The "romance" between her and Rory is heating up. It doesn't look like it has the potential to get as big as other BB romances like Jamie & Katie, Marty & Jess, Peter & Christina, etc. But there is physical stuff going on there.

We'll have to see what the public perception of the nominees is. I would suggest getting rid of Cherry at this stage, as the least likeable, least funny, and least contributor of the four.

This Week's Grenade

2008-06-09T17:43:00.001+10:00

Renee threw her grenade into the House last night. Check out the details on the Grenade Page.

Nominees

2008-06-09T17:33:00.002+10:00

After this morning's round of nominations, the nominees are:

Alice
Terrence
Nobbi

Nobbi has the FNL Twist, and will obviously save himself, unfortunately.

Terrence was an obvious target for many HMs too. It's a shame Alice is up again, given that there are new HMs that could have easily been singled out.

So who will fall into Nobbi's place tonight? I'm guessing Cherry or Terri, or maybe even Ben or Brigitte next.

But I'm already predicting Terrence to be evicted next weekend. Maybe BB will make it a double eviction to keep some interest in it, because a first round intruder eviction might be a little too predictable for the audience.

Sir is a Saint

2008-06-09T17:24:00.001+10:00

Just now on the live stream:

Brigitte: When you're made a Saint, it's not called being Sainted... it's Knighted.

I think she's confusing "Saint" with "Sir".

Great FNL Game

2008-06-08T12:46:00.002+10:00

Friday night's "super heroes" themed FNL had one of the best games yet in it. Round two where a HM was harnessed to the roof by wires and spun around as if flying Superman-style. How fun would that have been flying around the Arena! And it was fun to watch too.