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.