The Winner is… Jamie!

There you have it, the end of BB06 and Jamie was the winner.  I’m glad that someone interesting with a real personality won it this year.  He really did contribute to the drama in the house and for that reason, I think him a worthy winner.

Camilla did put her heart into it and showed her true character.  She was the mouthpiece for the other housemates when they wouldn’t speak out against new personalities, in particular, Perry.  I do think she would have been extremely difficult to live with, but she also was a major contributor to the drama and interest in the house.  I think the final three were all worthwhile finalists.

This year’s grand finale show was a massive effort.  I think it is the biggest production yet.  It was nice to see all of the former housemates come back to watch the show with Jamie and Camilla.  The dramatic lovers reunion with Jamie and Katie was as well staged as their farewell kiss.  The drinks in the house were a nice touch too, but for the housemates it would have seemed far too short a time.  It was more for the benefit of the viewers.

The announcement of the winner was shifted back into the house this year.  I think they must have realised that the way they did it last year was a disservice to the runner up.  I think it is better in the house… we get to watch the winner pace around the house in hysterics!

John and Ashley weren’t invited back to the grand finale which must have made them feel awful.  I know I would feel like crap if that was me.  I’m glad that their ejection from the house wasn’t excluded in the season recap.

The Underneath the Radar cover version that Danielle performed with the aid of the housemate dancers was fun.  It would have taken a lot of guts for me to go out dressed like Gaelan and Dino!  Rob was funny with his cheerleader skirt too!  I bet Krystal was pissed off that she missed to opportunity to sing instead of Danielle.

It was also good that the Friday Night Games people got to make an appearance on the final show.  They have been a big part of the show this year and should be acknowledged.  I can’t believe last night was the first time that Gretel Killeen and Mike Goldman have appeared on camera together.  Is it just me or did Gretel seem to have a kind of arrogance toward Mike as if she thinks is the true star of the show.  Mike works a lot harder each series with his voiceovers, Up Late and Friday Night Games.

So, all in all, it has been an interesting season.  As I have mentioned previously, I think the actual show would have been more interesting if the housemates had have been more diverse and Big Brother was more cheeky than mean.  There were a lot of good points, with the addition of the one hour weekend recap on Sunday nights before the eviction show.  The added dimension of the 2SAVE votes was also good.  I thought it was a pity that Adult’s Only didn’t make it to the end of the season.  Next year, if there is a series, AO should be more personality than sex driven… but make sure the humorous montages are retained!

Finally I would personally like to thank all of visitor to Brad’s Big Brother Blog.  It has been an interesting ride for someone with very little previous success in blogging.  I have had over 57,000 hits since the start of the series.  I would also dearly like to thank all of the regular commenters… you most of all have made this worthwhile.  It’s nice to talk about Big Brother and to me, discussing it is what it’s all about.

All the best,

Brad.

Ashley and John – Saga Continues

As I walked in the door at home last night, I was greeted by Channel 7 News (no not their hard biting current affairs program) to find them doing a story on the Big Brother incident.

They actually showed the footage (with blurs), but without any of the context.  They proceeded to inverview a rape counsellor, show sound bites from the Prime Minister and short words from Ashley (Michael) and John’s (Michael’s) fathers.

Channel 10 aired the interview with Ashley, John and Gretel Killeen last night at 9.40pm.  It didn’t really say much that press releases hadn’t already said.  I guess it just confirmed that Ashley and John are still alive and not incarcerated.

What I find hypocritical is that Channel 10 is in a position where they have to explain the incident without actually saying what happened and vowing never to show footage that you had to originally see at 4am on the Internet, while Channel 7 and apparently Channel 9 show what happened while the family eat dinner.  I know which I think is more irresponsible.

The only thing I can add is that I think by not saying what happened exactly, people’s imaginations are left to assume an act far worse than what actually took place.

Ashley and John – Further Writings

In all of this frenzied media surrounding the eviction of Ashley and John, my blog has rocketed to the number 4 position on WordPress.com’s top blogs.  This is out of 243,000 blogs, so I am feeling pretty amazed!  If the popularity of my blog can be correlated to that of the current series of Big Brother, this event is completely off the scale!

Since my last entry about this scandal, I have seen last night’s daily and eviction show, listen to conservatives crap on about axing the show and seen the actual footage with my own two eyes.

I think that they handled the daily show quite well in terms of explaining what transpired while being sensitive to the fact that children would be watching.  What I couldn’t believe was how the housemates reacted.  They were seemingly all comforting each other… except for Camilla.  For Jamie, the whole incident seemed to be about him, which was in character.  Perry did lot’s of mumsy type things.  Claire felt sorry for Ashley and John, Gaelan didn’t say a damn thing and Krystal thought she could negotiate their return.  David was criticised for not saying anything much, but I think he knew the whole thing wasn’t about him, he seemed to be the most concerned for Camilla.

There have been further calls by conservative politicians and the like for Big Brother to be axed.  I can’t believe the kinds of issues that mobilise such passion in these people.  Get a life.  I don’t agree with what happened, but this is hardly the thing that is going to bring down our civilisation is it?  Maybe you could focus on the fact that Global Warming is a reality and stop worrying about other (not you) people watching a television show.

I saw the footage thanks to a few commentors on this blog and found the behaviour dissapointing.  John and Ashley seemed to conspire the situation in bed as a joke.  There wasn’t any hyperactivity before it and Camilla seemed to suspect what they were going to do.  Despite her protestations, she still got into the bed.  I don’t think she was truly offended, but I think their activity was degrading towards her and they wouldn’t have done it to any of the other housemates.

This situation has boosted Big Brother’s popularity at time when interest was flagging.  Will they bring new housemates in at this late stage?  Or maybe bring back two previously evicted housemates.  They could have phone vote for who to reinstate.

Ashley and John – Update

I have been able to get a rundown of the incident from the Behind Big Brother feed as the actual site is down due to excess traffic.

Ashley and John were actually evicted yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, after an incident involving Camilla that took place at 4.30am that morning.

Here is a section of the rundown from Behind Big Brother.

Ashley and John jumped onto Camilla’s bed. John held down Camilla while Ashley knelt over her, apparently slapping her in the face with his penis. At one stage John was holding Camilla down by her head. The incident went to air over the internet streams and several users recorded screen captures which are now circulating the internet. At the time Camilla was quoted as saying “thats not cool”.   Later that afternoon Ashley and John were called to the diary room and remained there for several hours. During this time the other housemates were led outside for the planned Rogue Traders concert, which was set up by the spa deck. While the concert took place Ashley and John were removed from the house by security guards via the diary room.  Housemates were only informed the two had been ejected and would not be
returning later in the evening.

I’m not sure what prefaced the incident, but I don’t think anything could put this behaviour into a justifiable context.

This is another black mark against the BB06 series and I am dissapointed that it has come to this. In my opinion, the producers have cast far too many immature people as housemates this year and it is coming back to bite them in big way. An earlier entry on Behind Big Brother, claims that channel 10 senior management and the producers, Southern Star Endemol were considering axing the series and cutting their losses. They would split the remaining prize money 8 ways between the remaing contestants and pretend the whole thing never happened.

According the ABC news website, an entry posted at 8am this morning states that “David, Camilla, Gaelan and Krystal are up for elimination tonight and the producers say the vote will still go ahead.”

Ashley and John Evicted!

Early this morning at around 4am, Ashley and John were evicted from the Big Brother house for apparent sexual misconduct.  The producers, Southern Star Endemol have not yet released further details, but it appears their actions involved Camilla.

I am trying to find out further details and will report them as they come to hand.

Long Episode

Last night we were treated to a one hour episode.  It’s funny, it didn’t seem to be longer to fit more in.  Maybe it had something to do with stopping viewers from switching over to watch the first episode of a new show on Channel 7.  Or am I being cynical again?

We were treated to…

John’s mexican hat dance.

Krystal putting the hard word on Gaelan.  Is that the most uninspiring relationship you’ve ever seen on television?

Ashley wanting to kiss Claire, while Camilla wanted to kiss Ashley. Man oh man!  Talk about cringeworthy!

I think the traffic light task is okay, but have you noticed the amber light doesn’t get used?

The New Intruders

The new intruders entered the house last night.

Before I go any further, can I just say this to the producers; What in the hell is going on with a 'one hour special' like that? You introduced us to three people and in that time you couldn't even show us all three entering the house? What is your logic? If you couldn't see any other way of fitting *so many* events (sarcasm), into a one hour format, how about you leave out interviews with the Intruder's lock down companions next time. Who Cares!!

Thank you, for indulging me in that rant, this year's series feels like the worst and it's hard for me to maintain the enthusiasm required to write this blog, however, dear reader, I will persist to the end.

Now, onto the intruders…

• Darren
• Lauren
• Perry

They all seem like decent people, but it's hard to tell what their really like with the introduction packages that are put together for them.

Darren seems like a quiet guy. He's young so it's understandable that he's a little shy and nervous to start with. It does seem like he and Ashley will get along well, they are both young and like cars. Ashley is dying to have someone that will talk cars with him.

Lauren seems confident and fairly sure of herself. I don't think she will crack in the house, but I don't think the other women will like her much.

Perry is one of those confident 'grown-ups' who can get away with being cheeky and outspoken. I think she will go down well with Rob because they seem similair… but her and Camilla will knock heads if Perry tries to take the role as the house mouthpiece.

That's my take on the tiny fraction of time I have seen the new Intruders in the house. My prediction for which of the three gets evicted on Sunday is… Lauren.

Nominations 7

This week's nominees for eviction are…

• David
• Jamie
• Katie

Well!  What an interesting selection we have this week.

Firstly I'll just say, what the hell was David thinking when he decided to give the 3 point deduction to Ashley?  Oh yeah, he's a martyr.  Ashley?  The guy nominated him for god's sake!  David says he is quite happy to be judged by the public and let them decide if they want him to stay in the house or not.  Hopefully this time next week he isn't too upset with the result.  I can't believe how astute Danielle was during the Nominations Show in predicting what he would do.

The other point I want to make is that I can't believe how cruel Big Brother is to Ashley during his nominations.  "Ashley, what do you mean David is 'over-mature'?"  C'mon Big Brother, the guy is just inarticulate.  Give him a break.  You know what he is trying to say.  I'm glad you gave him a nomination point, but I think you were a little unfair to him. 

Well I was hoping that Ashley could be evicted this week, but he has escaped again.  So I would like to see Katie evicted from the house.  That would have the double benefit of breaking her and Jamie up and allowing us to see how Jamie would behave without her in the house…  But my tip is that David is leaving on Sunday.

Nominations 5

The nominees for eviction this week are…

• Camilla
• Dino
• Jade
• John
• Krystal

Gretel told us last night that it was the first time that housemates faces and percentages had been shown before a vote was finalised.  Was this because they wanted to raise more cash?

Forgive me for being cynical, but I think it’s wrong to allow the viewers to nominate housemates for eviction.

I don’t believe that John or Krystal are ‘flying under the radar’ and it was unfair to have them up for this vote based on the results of a cheesy lie detector.  I can’t believe that Ashley and Gaelan netted so few of the votes.  Ashley is pretty bland and Gaelan is flying so low, he’s a worm burner.  I don’t blame John for being pissed off about being nominated.

As it’s a double eviction this week, my tips are Jade (easy) and Camilla (not so easy guess).

SAVE JOHN!

Big Brother Quiz

I’m looking forward to seeing the quiz BB gave Ashley, John, Jade and Krystal on (hopefully) tonight’s show.  John was good with the Maths questions.  I wonder if the selection of housemates was intentional.

Here is a preview of two of the questions…

Who is Australia’s first Prime Minister?
John: Bartman? It’s on that ad. You know that ad?
Jade (singing her answer): Sir Edward Barton.
BB: Incorrect.
Ashley: Bob Hawke.
BB: Incorrect.
Ashley: Sir Elton John.
BB: The correct answer is Edmund Barton.
John: Close enough Jade.

What is the name of J-Lo’s perfume?
Krystal: She’s got two. One is glow, one is Miami and one is Lime.
BB: Correct