House Plans Leaked: Follow-Up

Although any potential HMs surely would have seen the leaked House plans by now, I am personally happy to discuss some of the more secretive looking things on the leaked houseplans now that all HMs are in lockdown.

Nom(inee)'s Room
Past the Diary Room door is a ramp leading to a "Nom's Room" which I am guessing is a Nominees' Room. The room has double doors leading in, and a single door leading out into the camera run at about the point where the red eviction door from BB08 is. The room also has a shower and toilet, so it is likely nominated HMs could be held here for some time. Perhaps we'll see a "3 HMs go in, 2 come out" type scenario on Eviction night.

Hidden Bathroom
At the back of the bedroom is a wall labeled "Secret Door", behind which is an air lock and a room labeled "Ex Bathrm".  Extra bathroom?  It shows a bath, a proper shower with a door, two basins, and a toilet. Unlike other toilets in the house, this one is in a bigger room, rather than being more shielded from cameras. Instructions on the plans stated "Walls (between the Ex Bathrm and Bedroom) to be Sound Proofed". Leads us to wonder who will be using the private bathroom, and if the sound proofing is for the benefit of sleeping HMs, or because it will be used in secret.

Utility Room
At the back of the Lounge Room is a section labeled "Moveable Wall (something)" leading to a room labeled "Utility Room", again with its own shower and toilet, so long stays may be expected. This could be used as a holding area for HMs during maintenance or task set-ups, but seems to have no furnishing. It could also be used for the various weekly tasks.

Sin Bin
The Lounge Room looks onto a small room with "Switchable Glass Partition" called the "Sin Bin". There is a door leading in, and a door into the camera run for "Tasks" to be loaded into the room. This looks like another attempt at BB06's Punishment Room where HMs are isolated to do tedious tasks as punishment while their HMs watch them. In 06 it never went overly well with HMs often using it as a method of getting extra attention.

Rewards Space
Probably the most interesting area of the House is the Rewards Space. Previous series have had Rewards Rooms. BB08 has the Holiday House which was a Lanai (sheltered outdoor area) and separate garden and pool. This year the Holiday House has been turned into a separate indoor living area including a Bathroom with bath, shower, basin and toilet, a "Revolving TV", seating areas, presumably a bed will be in there, an a Dumb Waiter, probably for delivery of food. This room then steps out into the old Holiday House Garden which will be completely decked along with the existing Pool, plus a Sauna. The outdoor area has been reshaped like the bow of a ship and a note on the plans calls for "Scenic Cloth" at the ship's bow, so it looks like they are going to make it look like the Rewards Area is at sea. With no Friday Night Games scheduled this year, who knows what HMs will have to do to get access to the Rewards Area, but it looks like it will be worth it.

Now for more detail on the rooms mentioned in the previous post:

Bedroom
Yes, of course there is a bedroom, but the point to note is that the plan shows 5 double-beds (or single beds pushed together) and 2 single beds, totaling 12 sleeping spaces. It has now been revealed that 14 HMs will enter on Launch Night. Will 2 go without beds? Will 2 be evicted before even getting to the bedroom? Will 2 immediately get access to the Rewards Space?

Bathroom
The bathroom looks to be set up like a gym locker room with 6 shower heads in a single row (similar to BB08's showers), and what looks like a change area. A new feature now seen before in a BB House is the inclusion of wardrobes between the Bathroom and Bedroom. BB08 had lockers that could be accessed 2-ways. Other houses have just had hanging areas inside the bedrooms.

Backyard
The pool and spa this year are enormous and take up the whole centre of the backyard. The plans also show "Extent of Original Pool" as a dotted line, proving BB03/04's pool had just been filled in for later seasons and still existed when they built this one (as we saw in the Nearmap photos). There is also a 360-degree Camera Pole actually in the pool. Should make for some interesting camera angles.
The "Wash Tubs" area also back, so more hand-washed laundry for HMs this year. Yuck.

Kitchen
The Kitchen is once again detached from the House, as in BB03/04. It will now be in the area originally built in BB05 for the extra Logan twin to live in, and later was the White Room in BB06, the Rewards Room in BB07 and the Aeroplane Simulator in BB08.
There is nothing really special about the Kitchen itself, other than we now know this is what is inside the 70s Weatherboard House we saw in the original sneak peak photos. Rumour has it each room will be decorated in the style of a different era, so this sets the expectations for the interior of the Kitchen. Maybe think browns, oranges and greens?

So that's it based on the plans. Can't wait to get a look at the finished product though. Only a week to go!

So Much For Diversity

In an interview with the Executive Producer of this year's BB, Alex Mavroidakis says HMs are now in lockdown, and range in age from late teens to late 30s. Hang on. With no upper age limit for applicants we still ended up with an age spread of only 20 years?

We have had HMs in their 40s in the past, and don't forget BB08 winner Terri who was a 52 year old grandmother, and cohabitant Terrence who was 51.

But I guess BB is a young person's game. You have to leave your life for 3 months and sever contact with all family and friends. It is likely there just weren't enough applicants to choose from in the older age range.

At least we won't be in for another 05 season in which everyone was single and under 30. SOME diversity is better than none.