BB08 Houseplan (Updates)

THIS POST UPDATED IF THERE ARE CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO THE HOUSE

Given that the Official Site has not provided a floorplan of this year's House, I have gone back to BB06's plan and updated it with this year's layout. This should help you understand where everything is in relation to each other.


(Click image to view it full size in a new window)

"Sunday Magazine" Article

In the Sunday magazine in today's Sunday Herald Sun, an article spills some more beans on the already highly-spilled-bean-stained series. Mostly in the form of photos, as all the other spoilers have already come out.

A photo of the backyard shows us a half-desert, half-footy-field-green outdoor area. The verandah is replaced by tinted glass panels. the pool has been replaced by a smaller L-shaped pool, in the same area as last year with an outdoor shower nearby. A bare-looking tree stands where last year's hot tub was. The upper half of the compound's outdoor area has been painted sky blue, while most of the rest is in browny colours.

The interior photo only shows the diary room. The walls now resemble the eviction hallway from last year-- coloured squares of fabric covering light bulbs hidden behind. Two unfortunate things are: the DR looks to be the same shape as last years, which may mean it has not moved, which may mean a similar house layout again! And the chair looks to be a recovered version of last year's chair, though it may just be a stand-in for the real thing to be revealed on launch night. It could just be the pink lighting in the photo making the old blue chair look black/grey.

The Twists

This is different from"gimicks". The gimicks are the quirky living arrangements for the year. The twists are the surpises that will happen along the way. However BB usually has a hard time keeping his twists in his pants for too long.

Usually twists are all used up by the 2nd or 3rd week. Secret relationships in the house that are revealed on the first Sunday show. The hidden bowling alley in BB05 that was revealed in FNL Week 2! Farmyards, Rewards Rooms, Punishment Rooms. White Rooms that don't even get to play out because the White Room HMs have more stamina than the producers.

In BB02 they only managed to hold off revealing the in ground spa (covered over by a fake garden) until the arrival of the Intruders in about week 3. Even in BB03, the joining of the Square and Round houses could have been held off longer than 4 weeks. Last year's telephone sitting in the living room all season was held off nicely, but when its use was revealed it was a real disappointment, so they tried to make up for it by using fans' suggestions for additional twists the phone could be used for, like the call from the BBUK Housemates.

The only time we've had a real twist that they have hung on to until the end is last year's Ice Cave, which was pretty spectacular for BB.

This year I'm hoping that there are twists already built in to the House, but that we won't even know about until the late weeks.

The Gimicks

I was pretty much expecting a back-to-basics year given that they have the opportunity to draw new fans to the show, however many gimicks of the year have already been released.

• HMs will sleep in one giant bed, with 1 sheet, 1 doona, and one long pillow made out of 14 pillows sewn together. This definitiely throws them out of their comfort zone from night 1, and will force them to get close to each other. It also allows for less real estate inside the compound to be used up by the bedroom! But how much does BB expect to get out of this gimick? How long can it go on for before the HMs just get used to it and get over it? And do we then have to watch it for the rest of the series? Or is this just a week 1 special and a normal bedroom will eventually be revealed after their bonding?
• No kitchen in the house, minimal kitchen facilities in the backyard, and the dining table has a conveyor belt along it coming out from a hole in the wall. So what does this mean? Housemates' meals will be served to them by BB? Not that awful porridge they had last year. Maybe a 3 course banquet. Maybe they will muck around with their diets a bit. They have said there will be no grocery shopping, but HMs will need coins. Do they have to buy their food? Again this doesn't sound like something that can last the whole season. I smell a BB03 rat where extra rooms will be revealed half way through the series, including a bedroom and kitchen.

I guess we will see tonight (or tomorrow) when the floorplan of the inside of the house is revealed whether there are extra rooms hidden away.

We have seen there is an additional house and backyard built onto the compound this year. This could be a luxury house containing a kitchen and proper sleeping facilities, but we may not know for some time.

It Begins

Although the countdown on this blog is counting down to the first TV airing of BB08, it all begins tonight.

While the nation's media are all interested in who our favourite dancer is, a little shed in Coomera will be rocking, and nearly 40 cameras start rolling, on the biggest popularity contest of the year.

Over 1000 fans will witness it all live: The first entrance of Kyle and Jackie O onto the stage, the first look at the new House, the first look at the new show titles and theme music, the first over-40, let alone over-FIFTY, Housemate we have had. The most culturally diverse assortment of HMs ever.

It is make or break for BB this year, and their last chance begins tonight.

Big Brother: The Character

Remember back in the Peter Abbott days when the HMs would just go the Diary Room for a good chat. And BB would do something almost unheard of for the last few years-- Answer!

The "nasty" Big Brother character they have tried (and failed) to pull off for the last few years has made BB more afraid of breaking rules than the HMs. How often do we hear the HMs talk about how they ask a question and sit there for 15 mins while the BB voice goes and rings up a producer and checks the rules and gets someone to write a script, then has a smoke and finally comes back and answers the HM, who has probably forgotten what they asked.

BB needs to be spontaneous, and doesn't necessarily have to be nasty. BB should be just that-- a Big Brother to the housemates. An entity watching over them.

HMs should be let into the Diary Room as soon as they press the button. Someone should be there at all times, otherwise the feeling they have of being watched 24x7 will be destroyed.

It took a strong personality like Kyle Sandilands to break Big Brother last year, by standing up for himself, not being afraid of rules, and getting pissed off when BB seemed to disappear on him. Now Kyle is on BB's team, but hopefully the HMs we have this year will walk in his shoes. But BB has to have the balls to answer them right back!

Housemates are Out There-- At Last!

I'll give it to BB. The HMs we have seen so far are out there. Can you imagine them in any other BB series? I don't think so. Well, not all together anyway.

For the past 4 years the HMs we have been served all looked like they were plucked from the "cool kids" table at a high school graduation party. This year's HMs so far look like your average bus stop or post office queue.

I think we are getting a much broader slice of society this year, which means we'll get a lot more clashing opinions and personalities, and more stories. While it may not be a glamour-fest this year, it will be reality TV.