Big Brother Australia is the Australian version of Big Brother.
Big Brother Australia first aired in 2001 and ran for eight civilian seasons and one celebrity edition on Network Ten. In July 2008 the show was cancelled following audience erosion and controversy.
On 13 August 2012, Big Brother Australia returned for its ninth season, airing on the Nine Network with the tenth season airing from 29 July 2013 to 6 November 2013 and the eleventh season airing from 8 September 2014 to 26 November 2014. Nine did not renew the show for a twelfth season.
In 2019, Seven Network acquired the rights and confirmed that the show’s second revival would launch in June 2020. Following four civilian seasons and one celebrity edition Seven did not proceed with a 2024 season.
On 16 September 2024, Network 10 announced that Big Brother is returning home, where it belongs, for a sixteen season and with the original eviction format. Following the announcement the Seven Network issued a legal letter towards Endemol Shine Australia, citing a breach in their “Hold Back” agreement, an agreement that prevents negotiations with another network for the series rights.[1]
How it works[]
For more information, check out Big Brother House/Australia
Original Logo of Big Brother Australia
Big Brother produced by Endemol in the Netherlands which began in 1999, is a reality television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic evictions from the house.
Australian Series[]
Original Format[]
The series generally constitutes 14 or more contestants who live in an isolated house for several months. Housemates are at all times under the control of Big Brother, a rule enforcing authority figure who monitors the behaviour of the housemates, set tasks and punishments and provides the mechanism for contestants to make external requests.
Housemates must remain in the house at all times, and avoid being evicted by viewers of the show with the aim of winning a substantial cash prize at the end of the series. Alternatively, housemates can also be removed from the house if Big Brother feels this is necessary, and can voluntarily leave the show at any time. In order to support the housemates' well-being on matters such as wanting to leave the house, all participants have access to the Big Brother psychologist Carmel Hill, and a doctor, at all times.
Housemates are filmed 24 hours per day with edited highlights broadcast during prime time slots every evening.
The series returned to this format starting with Big Brother Australia 16.
2020 Format[]
Casting[]
The show's producers aim to get "real people" in the house. This has been done by personality testing, engaging with people around the country and appearances. While there are housemates who are "unique" and reflect many diverse people in Australia, there has been a high number of individuals each season who come from a modeling background which has alienated them from the public audience.
The Big Brother House[]
First House[]
Banners advertising the show in Dreamworld's Main Street
The view from the front Gate of the Big Brother House in Dreamworld
The purpose built Australian Big Brother house was located within Dreamworld, a theme park in Coomera, Gold Coast in Queensland.
Only slight modifications were made to the interior of the house for the second series and the special Celebrity Big Brother Australia series that were screened in 2002. Subsequent to those series', the interior of the house has been rebuilt or extensively remodeled for each new series. Two separate houses were built for Big Brother 2003, and they were merged twenty-three days into the series when previously-hidden connecting rooms were revealed. The fifth series introduced a Friday Night Live games arena. An animal enclosure was added to the side of the compound for the sixth series. It was retained for the seventh series.
Footage from the house is monitored and edited in Dreamworld Studios, There was also an open-air auditorium where the live audience shows, such as the eviction and finale episodes, are staged.
The home had become a popular accommodation choice for fans of the show visiting the Gold Coast. Every end of each series, the house organize an open house tour for the Dreamworld Visitors where they could get a glimpse of what the house looked like. It would last in a specific amount of weeks before the house officially closes from public view.
Since Big Brother Australia 2014 ended, the house was left unoccupied and eventually fell into disrepair. As it was left abandoned for years, the compound was left unsupervised and vandals started trespassing in to the house. YouTubers also began exploring the abandoned compound.
Aerial Shot of the Big Brother House after the fire courtesy of Courier Mail.
In June 2019, the house was set ablaze and was entirely burned down. Queensland Police confirmed that the fire was caused by arson and arrested four teens aged between 11 and 15 years old as the arsonists according to the witnesses.
Second House[]
The former warehouse in North Head Sanctuary is transforming to become the new Big Brother House.
Since the original house was completely destroyed by fire prior to the Seven Network reboot, the network had to find a new location for the Big Brother House.
It was revealed in December 2019 that the Big Brother house will be moving to a former warehouse used in World War 2 inside the North Head Sanctuary in Manly, New South Wales.[2] As of February 2020, the house is almost complete.[3]
Third House[]
It was announced on Thursday 15 July that the Big Brother house is being built at Sydney Olympic Park in the White Pavilion.
Presenters[]
The first seven seasons of the series were hosted by Gretel Killeen. She served as the show's host aired in Network Ten from 2001 to 2007. In 2008, Killeen was replaced by radio duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O.
On Nine Network's revival of the series, the show was hosted by one of Today's host, Sonia Kruger from 2012 to 2014. In 2019, it was announced that Sonia Kruger would be transferring to Nine's rival channel, Seven. In 2020, Seven confirmed that Sonia would return as host of Big Brother Australia.
The Network 10 revival of the series in 2024 saw Mel Tracina as the new host.
Meanwhile, Mike Goldman has narrated all first eleven seasons of the series from 2001 up to 2014.
Series[]
Ratings[]
| Big Brother Australia Average Viewers Per Season | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Premiere Date | Finale Date | Avg Viewers (in millions) |
Episodes | Network |
| Big Brother Australia 1 | April 23, 2001 | July 16, 2001 | 1.40 | 98 | Ten |
| Big Brother Australia 2 | April 8, 2002 | July 1, 2002 | 1.50 | 101 | |
| Celebrity Big Brother Australia 1 | July 21, 2002 | August 12, 2002 | 1.10 | 20 | |
| Big Brother Australia 3 | April 27, 2003 | July 21, 2003 | 1.70 | 179 | |
| Big Brother Australia 4 | May 2, 2004 | July 26, 2004 | 1.50 | 169 | |
| Big Brother Australia 5 | May 8, 2005 | August 15, 2005 | 1.20 | 209 | |
| Big Brother Australia 6 | April 22, 2006 | July 31, 2006 | 1.30 | 205 | |
| Big Brother Australia 7 | April 22, 2007 | July 30, 2007 | 1.07 | 211 | |
| Big Brother Australia 8 | April 28, 2008 | July 21, 2008 | 0.86 | 112 | |
| Big Brother Australia 9 | August 13, 2012 | November 7, 2012 | 1.04 | 89 | Nine |
| Big Brother Australia 10 | July 28, 2013 | November 6, 2013 | 0.89 | 89 | |
| Big Brother Australia 11 | September 8, 2014 | November 26, 2014 | 0.65 | 56 | |
| Big Brother Australia 12 | June 8, 2020 | July 22, 2020 | 0.83 | 21 | Seven |
| Big Brother Australia 13 | April 26, 2021 | June 29, 2021 | 0.66 | 31 | |
| Big Brother Australia VIP 2 | November 1, 2021 | November 23, 2021 | 0.65 | 11 | |
| Big Brother Australia 14 | May 9, 2022 | July 12, 2022 | 0.72 | 31 | |
| Big Brother Australia 15 | November 6, 2023 | December 6, 2023 | 0.39 | 20 | |
| Big Brother Australia 16 | 10 | ||||
Trivia[]
- Big Brother Australia is one of the longest running and most successful Big Brother franchises in the Asia-Pacific region, alongside Pinoy Big Brother in the Philippines, HaAh HaGadol in Israel and Bigg Boss in India.
- Since 2020, Big Brother Australia has appeared on Australia's three biggest television channels; Network 10, Nine Network and Channel 7. All of these channels were considered rival networks.
- The original house was used for both the Network 10 and the Nine Network iterations. In 2019, a year prior the first Channel 7 season, the original house was burned down by juvenile arsonists.
- Big Brother Australia 2020 is the first season of Big Brother Australia to be pre-recorded.
References[]
- ↑ https://tvtonight.com.au/2024/09/seven-issues-endemol-shine-legal-letter-over-big-brother-hold-back.html
- ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7770181/Big-Brother-filmed-inside-Sydney-warehouse-North-Head-Sanctuary.html
- ↑ https://7news.com.au/entertainment/big-brother-australia/big-brother-australia-2020-new-pictures-of-the-house-front-location-eviction-areas-c-711700
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