What's With Nominations?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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?

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nominees

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

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

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.

Latest Annoying Phrase in the House

"Coin"

Anything to do with money they call "coin". And they say it all the time now! It's so annoying.

Last night at The Dump, the HMs were talking about who is well-off by saying how much "coin" they have. Just now they are talking about getting ripped off at the checkout at they are saying things like "give me the coin", and "the coin is mine".

Do these people only work in small denominations? Have they never heard of notes? Are their wallets just really heavy all the time with all these coins?

This one is going up there with annoying BB words like rate ("I really rate him") and Nobbi's dog (meaning bad, apparently).

Travis Loses Posimism

Who would have though it? Travis has finally seen a bad side in someone and stood up for himself. Finally he sees through the boys' facade of friendship.

In what was the best 15 minutes of Daily Show for the year, Rory, Ben, and Nobbi got their comeuppance for 6 weeks of taunting Travis and taking advantage of his naivety.

On Wednesday, the 3 boys, lead by Nobbi, told Travis that despite Alice telling Travis she was his friend, she was backstabbing him and telling them the other boys he was her least favourite in the House, and even that she said she hated him. Travis was very hurt by this, and when the topic came up with Alice herself, he asked her what she thought of their friendship. Alice's story was that she would just not like to have a friend on the outside who let others take advantage of him like the other boys do. Travis informed the cabal of what she had said to him, and they turned on him calling him a traitor for speaking to Alice about what they had told him, questionning his trust in them. (See this blog for what I think of that!)

After all this was put into place, Nobbi then made his dirtiest play to turn the HMs against Travis. While playing Truth or Dare in the spa, Nobbi asked Travis the truth on who was his least favourite Housemate, and then went on to qualify Travis' answer by adding the phrase "based on recent conversations". Travis is now between a rock and a hard place. After the boys' accusation of his disloyalty, he couldn't not name Alice, for fear of further rejection by the boys. If he named Alice, what would the girls think of him. He had been set up by the one he trusted most in there-- Nobbi!

So, being the loyal person he is, Travis sided with Nobbi and the boys and named Alice his least favourite and gave the reasons the boys had planted in his head. This brought Alice to tears, and then brought Travis to tears, much to the unhidable delight of Nobbi who looked like he was about to explode with his love for himself. His usually smug, ugly face that looks like he chases parked cars for a living was beaming.

Travis runs to the sanctuary of the bedroom with Cherry. The inncoent one has now seen the evil side of his HMs. The spa games have ended in tears, and some HMs come to Travis' side, including Ben. The other perpetrators stay in the spa and are questionned by Alice. Ben tries to comfort Travis, however when he leaves Travis tells the girls that Ben was as much behind it as Nobbi and Rory were. The girls know.

Finally, Alice and Travis get together in the bedroom and talk about it. Travis tells her Nobbi's move was very underhanded and I think he now knows not to trust the other boys so much. Alice understands, probably giving him extra credit because he is Travis and probably didn't even see the mess he was getting himself into. The story ended on Alice and Travis making up, but now against the other boys, especially Nobbi.

The fan's reaction to this, and their support for Travis, was later seen on FNL where the crowd actually booed Nobbi as the winner, possibly either told to by the crowd warmup guy, or at least led to by the hosts' comments about the incident.

Hopefully they keep the anti-Nobbi pot boiling for the next 2 weeks, because he may get the chnace to save himself from eviction this week. If he was nominated this week, that would have been the end of him.

BB Goes Green Again

After a whole series last year devoted to saving the planet and resources, BB will slip back into green mode again tonight.

It is part of Channel 10's celebration of World Environment Day: a week-long schedule of green-themed shows and appearances, including Rove, 9am With David & Kim, The Simpsons, Ready Steady Cook, Video Hits, and Good News Week.

Tonight BB makes its contribution by a green-themed (or possibly super heroes themed!) Friday Night Live.

Big Brother Friday Night Live
Friday, June 6: The theme of the show is "superheroes save the world". Big Brother housemates will dress-up as global crusaders and play games involving saving water, green wheelie bins and recycling.

So tune in tonight to watch HMs race to separate their papers from their plastics. It will be a marked change from normal FNL games, usually based on wasting water!

Brigitte: Terri's Project

Brigitte's rudeness towards Terri is getting more blatant every day. She constantly makes nasty comments to Terri's face, calling her a Witch, saying she cackles like a witch, telling her she is her least favourite in the House, pointing out some of Terri's physical features that come with age.

But in all, Brigitte is actually spending a lot more time with Terri. I think the nasty comments are reverse self-psychology, because Brigitte really likes Terri and enjoys having an older person around.

Terri has taken Brigitte on as her special project. As she said yesterday, Brigitte is the childish brat that says "I hate you Mummy", and Terri just has to ignore it and turn it around.

BB has even provided a task for the two to complete together. Terri is knitting Brigitte a pair of shorts (yes, knitted shorts!) and teaching Brigitte how to knit along the way. Despite Brigitte's mockery of the art, she is really getting into it and has knitted a few rows herself, finding it easy to do, and is getting involved with the design of the garment.

Hopefully this bonding will make Brigitte realise how lucky she is to have an older person in the House to teach her what the world is really like outside her mummy and daddy's nest. Not that Terri is a perfect role model, but she will sure show Brigitte the other side of the coin!

Housemate Hookups

At the Family Dinner the topic of "which HM would you hook up with" came up. The reciprocated answers were:

• Brigitte and Nobbi
• Rory and Rhianna
• Alice and Cherry

Since then, the House has been abuzz with talk about the latter, from both the boys and the girls.

BB, knowing when to play his cards, has provided a bucket of alcoholic drinks to the HMs tonight after a day full of flirting and sexual tension. Maybe the drinks will be enough to provide some footage for Big Mouth next week!

Bosom Buddies

Nice to see during tonight's Family Dinner, Renee and Bianca have just made up after their over-sensationalised fight about Renee's comments about Bianca's boobs, and her concerns about breast reduction surgery.

Since even Big Mouth edited the fight down (more likely to save time than to editorialise), it is difficult to tell exactly what happened. The basic idea of it was Bianca was talking about getting a reduction and Renee made comments about it that hit a nerve, ending up with a huge yelling match, and the pair each getting a strike for threatening physical violence.

They both decided they are hot-heads and overreacted and were both too stubborn to be the first to break the silence. They said they were getting along well and they still have time for each other, so they hqve put the fight behind them.

Renee was the one that brought it up as a topic for the Family Dinner, so maybe she can be known as the one who caved first. She said that bringing it up at the FD was so the HMs they have confided in and who have offered advice during the 2 day stand-off could have their say to both of them and hear the resolution.

And a good thing too. Cherry has taken an important lesson away from this conversation. He was surprised to find out that the term "funbags" can be offensive to women!

Compliments of Bianca

I don't know how this works exactly, but I think people who get a lot of compliments on their "hotness" must come up with responses to fire back to their complimentors.

Unimaginative (and stuck-up) people like Bianca only come up with one. Hers is "Oh, why, thank you!"

Just in her conversation with Carson Kressley she must have spouted this line a dozen times in a row. And in so many conversations when she gets a compliment, this is her standard, repetitive, reply.

But who really talks like that? Unless you are from the American deep south, "why" is a question, not an exclamation. So it sounds a bit fake and stuck up just because it sounds so out of place. Next we'll hear her coming out with stuff like, "Why I do declare Mr Big Brother!"

The Money or the Task

Today as part of the "Ignore the Obvious" task, BB put $2,000 on the kitchen bench, with the intention being that HMs should ignore the money and go about their business.

Bianca had her eyes on the prize though. She went and questionned BB about the cash, which is already a fail of the task since she has not ignored it. She went and gathered up the $100 bills and returned to the Diary Room to say she had decided to keep the cash, at the expense of failing the task.

Let's face it, the task is already failed, so that might make her very smart being the first to step in and collect the abandonned cash. It could have made her very unpopular with her HMs though surprisingly, in a place where every little detail is blown up into the hugest issue, none of the HMs seem to care (yet) that the collected the reward for herself. Maybe she'll be gone this weekend anyway. It is between her and Renee.

Another few failing points for the task: Cherry commenting on his shower water being blood red, and HMs in fits of laughter at spooky noises being played through the House last night. They might as well just ride this one out now and enjoy the quirky surprises BB has in for them. Either way it has made for very entertaining viewing.

Trust No One

Right now on the live stream, Nobbi, Rory and Ben are telling Travis he has "defied their trust" by asking Alice about something the boys told Travis about her.

This is coming from Nobbi, who is so trustworthy when handed a pair of scissors he will cut bald patches into Travis' hair without him knowing; Ben who is so trustworthy he busted in on Travis on the toilet and squirted him in the eye with shower gel causing him to need medical attention; and Rory who verbally abused Travis for having feminine qualities, allegedly making him gay.

I know who I'd trust out of the four.

Nobbi the Pimp

Today BB supplied Nobbi with a little reward for spending 5 weeks in the Combi Van. He got to "pimp it out" a bit and make it a bit more manly, removing the flower stickers from the outside, and replacing them with zebra stripe decals, along with bumper stickers "If the Combi si rocking, don't bother knocking", and "Honk if you're nominated".

The inside got a makeover too with matching zebra striped bed linen, and a mirror ball.

And what good is a combi makeover without Combi-Man getting spruced up too? Nobbi also got a pimp outfit-- a zebra striped coat, and a hat, complete with feather.

So, will Nobbi have any chicks stay the night in his van, or will it still mainly be the boys' club?

Terrence's Fashions

Did Terrence pack his suitcase just to get a reaction? His wardrobe consists of items such as his "GIVE OLD FARTS A CHANCE" t-shirt he entered the House in, several pairs of what look like MC Hammer happy pants, and a man sarong (he may have packed it just to use the line "What's sarong with that?").

He has budgie smugglers for the spa, giant patterned boxer shorts for sleeping... and nothing for the showers.

And his personality seems to be a flamboyant as his clothes. He has been joining in with all the 20 year olds acting like 8 year olds-- a big age gap for a 51 year old.

The Nude Shower Debate

Over the years, some HMs have said they decided to shower naked in the BB House to show they are "being real". Other have been accused of not "being real" because they stay covered up.

In reality, the reality is based on pretending the cameras are not there, not that the HMs are not there.

In my house I don't have cameras watching me, but if I had 13 mates join me in the shower, I would probably want to wear underwear as well. So why should the HMs uncover amongst their peers?

A "real" situtation would be if they had shower cubicles the HMs couldn't see into, but cameras could. If the HM was really acting as they would if the cameras weren't there, then they would nude up in their perceived privacy. Making the showers open plan and shared among genders and ages doesn't prove anything about how the HM is "acting".

Nominations Return

This week the HMs voted for nomination for the first time this year.

The Noms were edited way down and made really streamlined. From a 70 minute weekly show, the nomination process has been reduced to 20 minutes of the Daily Show which condenses a bit of a boring and repetitve process and just shows us the bitchiness. This is going right back to the beginnings in BB01 when they would just include the interesting nominations in the Tuesday Daily Show.

At the end the Nominees were Alice, Bianca, and Brigitte.

Dixie got to use a Hand Grenade (obviously several pre-recorded selections, shown based on who was ultimately nominated), to decide who was saved from nomination. (The first positive hand grenade this year.) This means the next most voted HM(s) would fall into Alice's position.

The final list is Bianca, Brigitte, Renee, and Terri.

I think it is goodbye to Bianca this week!

For a list of all the HM Hand Grenades this year, click here.

Obviously, Ignorance is Bliss

The task for the week is for the HMs to ignore all the strange goings-on that BB will introduce into the House. Kind of sounds like the Scare Task last year where HMs were not allowed to react to frightening things BB would do, but has the potential to be a lot funnier.

So far the HMs woke to a circus laughing clown game with mouth stuffed with hamburgers in the Temptation Window, and everything in the backyard being wrapped in aluminium foil. Brigitte reacted immediately, and was quickly told to be quiet by Rory.

BB also put a man in a gorilla suit in the Temptation Window. Ben and Rory had a hard time not reacting to it. I don't blame them. I would want to watch the monkey too. Ben pretended he was looking at the pot plants.

A marching band later paraded through the backyard, and Nobbi and Ben were both reduced to fits of laughter, probably already failing the task for them.

Tonight I see some of the boys, including big boy Terrence, are unwrapping the foil from the objects in the backyard and making clothing out of it. I'm not sure that constitutes ignoring it!

This will be a funny task, but completely unpassable for these guys.

Intruders Intrude

Cherry, Rhianna, and Terrence entered the House tonight.

It's like there are 3 genders in the House now: male, female, and old! The boys were introduced to Rhianna, the girls to Cherry, and Terri to Terrence.

Brigitte managed to look shocked, disgusted, and confused all at once which really twisted her face into something out of this world.

Arguments have already broken out about where each of them will sleep. Despite Terri having a separate bed to herself, Terrence is all up for jumping into the communal bed. He also said he was going to shower naked! Some footage for Big Mouth to show the oldies.

Cherry said all he wants to do in BB is play Friday Night Games. When Bianca said she'd do better if it was about using your brain Cherry quipped "Then it would be called Uni Night Games".

Cherry and Rhianna are already handing over clothes to the charity case, Brigitte.

My predictions for them:

Terrence: Will get along with the young HMs as a group mus better than Terri does, but as soon as he starts preaching to them and tells them what to do he will be kicked out of the gang. He will enjoy Terri's company separately though and use her as a break from the kids.

Cherry: Will become a boy's boy. He will join the Combi gang and might even draw Rory back outside with the guys more often.

Rhianna: Said she wanted to become Brigitte's friend, but I think Brigitte might reject her opting to stay friendless. I'm sure she'll "borrow" all the clothes she can from her first though. Rhianna will probably end up getting along with Alice and Renee, and, as an intruder, possibly Cherry from the boys.

Dixie Eats Her Way Out

Dixie asked her HMs to evict her, and even voted for herself to leave tonight, ala Rebecca. And just like Rebecca, she got her wish, despite Renee throwing her 4 points at Nobbi.

Dixie was entertaining in the House, but she was so up and down. She would hate someone one day, then love them the next. She overreacted to "bitching" which she though was anyone saying her name when she wasn't around. (Paranoid!) And she cried and asked to leave so many times. So maybe it is better off that she is gone. Plus there was her reverse-racism, saying she misses hanging out with "black fellas".

So, Dixie came down to the stage, and Mike produced a bucket of cold KFC and a Pepsi Max from underneath the couch. This was obviously meant as a joke and they probably expected her to laugh and maybe have a bite and that's the end of it. But, no! Dixie hoed into that chicken, bones and all! Even pieces of chicken falling out of her mouth did not deter her from continuing through her feast. Mike and Jackie tried to interview her, but she was in her own red and white striped world. So Mike managed to prise the bucket from her greasy hands, and Dixie let out a burp into her microphone. (Didn't Jackie look disgusted at that?!)

So, look out staff at the Maccas across the road from Dreamworld tonight. Get plenty of Double Quarter Pounders ready in the heat chute for Dixie's arrival. You'll hear her coming! BUUUUURRRRRP!

Mike Was Gold, Man!

Best eviction show yet this year! No Kyle spitting his fire in every direction. Just the biggest BB fan ever with great live audience skills having a chat about what is going on. Mike proved he knew about what was going on in the show, and got the audience more involved than ever. It almost got to a point where he was stealing the show from Jackie, but by the end the two of them were doing a great job together.

This was the first time Mike has ever gotten to speak to HMs while they were in the House. The HMs were as surprised as he was. Nobbi even got in a crack about him not having hair.

And what a great week for Mike to do his work experience hosting the Eviction show. He got to interview the 3 new Intruders before they entered, and host the additional part of the show where the Intruders entered the House.

I'm not sure how we can go back to Kyle after this treat for the week, but I'm sure he'll be back next week. The format of the show will be a lot more streamlined next week with the Noms and Evictions reverting to the way they used to be, so no more HMs nominating during the Eviction show. Let's just see if this gets Mike a bigger hosting job in future. So far, from what I have read on BBBA forums, the reaction is very positive. Maybe this will be his door back into hosting UpLate when the cricket is over.

Mike Goldman Lands Dream Role

The most dedicated member of the BB team since Day 1 in 2001, Mike Goldman, will tonight, at last, step up as co-host of the Live Eviction show. It's the role he was born to play.

His CV with BB includes:

• Voice-overs on Daily Shows and pre-recorded specials (BB01-present)
• Live Crowd Warm-Up: Launch, Evictions, Noms, Finale, Specials (BB01-BB07)
• Host of UpLate, live, 5 nights a week (BB03-BB07)
• Host of Friday Night Live (BB05-present)

Now, as we all expected, Kyle is sick! Not a migrane though, it is bronchitis. So tonight Mike and Jackie will host the Eviction and Intruder combo show. What a great night for him to get in on the action. And if the ratings are good, and fan response is positive, it might even pave the way to a full-time hosting role next year.

On the topic, Mike blogs:

I started out 8 years ago on Big Brother as the voice-over guy and crowd warm up dreaming one day of hosting its flagship Sunday show. Kind of weird doing it just because King Kyle is sick, but either way its going to be a blast. Kyle has been great for the show, they’re big shoes to fill and I hope he gets better. You never know, he might even show up just in time for tonights show and I could be in the audience knocking back a few beers.

Mike has already hosted with Jackie O before, stepping in for Kyle on their Sydney radio show several times when Kyle was unavailable or unwell.

Good on ya Mike. Break a leg!

Rebecca Wilson Sounds A Little Like Her

Listen out for it tomorrow night on Big Mouth...

Who thinks Rebecca Wilson sounds exactly like Jeanne Little! Ohhhh Gawwwd, Daaaarlings!

In fact she even looks a bit like her!

(Jeanne Little)

HMs Pass, Ollie Stays

I can't believe it, but Alice actually managed to train Ollie to perform 6 commands perfectly in five days. It is probably more to Ollie's credit than Alice's. But her final demonstration to BB was almost flawless, bringing the doctor to tears.

Alice passed the task for the HMs, providing them with luxury foods for the next week, but the HMs also passed a task. As they all followed the guidelines for caring for Ollie while he was in the House, Ollie gets to stay with them until further notice.

Hopefully he won't be too distracting from the show. All week we have watched a show about a dog. But he has helped the HMs to open up, providing listening ears and a closed mouth for them to share their secrets with.

Assuming they have to continue his training, it will be like doing this week's task over and over until he leaves. And I get the feeling Ollie will be leaving shortly after Alice gets evicted, whenever that might be.

Ollie has been added to my Housemates chart at the top of the front page of my blog now as a House Guest.

Poll About Nothing

The OS has a poll at the moment:

As Head of House, Renee will...

• Be amazing.
• Not as good as Alice.
• Struggle to boss the HMs.

Since when have we ever seen the HoH do any bossing? Aside from some small decision making, choosing what is bought from the Vending Machine, and hosting the Family Dinner, the HoH is never seen to do anything with their role. I think BB has introduced too many "powers" this year and is struggling to coordinate them all.