Big Brother News
Big Brother 8 - BB 8 Commentary Diary
Week two: FNL summary, Week three: other news, FNL summary
BB news, rumours, gossip and commentary
Author: Ridge Rogue
May 2008
Continues from week 4 page.
FNL summary
May 18th, 2008 at 6:05pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue
This update is just a summary of FNL, for those that missed it or live in parts of the country where it doesn't air. The theme was a celebrities behaving badly one and Rebecca won. So, at the start of the show, Nathan was asked to hand in his HoH armband to a BB ninja. I don't think this part is necessary in the proceedings because no one cares about the armband. It's a little extra touch this year but no one cares. It's not like viewers have seen any HoH action since Sunday, so it really is quite a watered down title to have (the HoH). After this, BB announced that Brigitte's tantrum earlier in the week had earnt her an automatic place in round two.
The first round began by spitting the group up into teams of two for a one on one play off in a variety of games. The teams were: Ben and Travis; David and Nathan; Alice and Renee; Nobbi and Rory; Dixie and Terri; Bianca and Rebecca. The first game required Ben and Travis to take it turns to moonwalk backwards, blindfolded, to a portrait of Michael Jackson (minus his nose) and stick the nose on his face. The person that was closest progressed to the next round. That person was Ben. They both stuck the nose to the side of his face but Ben was closest anyway.
David and Nathan then competed in a handbag throwing competition. They took it in turns to put a handbag in their mouth, spin around a few times and throw it as far as possible. Nathan won. Then Renee and Alice competed in the David Hasselhoff hamburger race. Crawling on the floor, with their hands tied, the two raced to the hamburger at the other end of the floor. They each then had to eat as much as possible with their mouth (no hands) in the time limit. Alice won.
Nobbi and Rory had it easy by comparison. All they had to do was wear high heals and bend it like Beckham. They each took it turns to kick a ball close to the David Beckham cutout. The closest ball of the two balls they each had to kick would win. Nobbi won. Dixie and Terri, dressed in baby clothes, had to do a dummy spit (literally). They each had a statement to read and then had to spit a dummy out of their mouth as far as possible. Dixie won.
The two beautiful babes of BB were last to compete in a twist and shout contest. The ninjas spun Rebecca around on a small platform and released her after 12 spins. She then had to run up to a decibel reader and shout "Show me the money!" She was supposed to look up during the spinning process but didn't and was disqualified after Bianca fell flat on her funbags and recorded a reading of 93.0db to Rebecca's 109.6db.
The next round was the Britney Spear chuck. The remaining HMs took it turns to throw a stick with a ball attached that was dipped in the paint of the colour of the some parts of their clothes. They were aiming at a cutout of a limo with cutouts of the paparazzi behind it. They each had two throws to get a mark in their colour as close as possible to a photographer. Bianca scored the lowest and was out of the games. All the others progressed.
The group then split into two teams with Brigitte along for the ride by then as well. The teams were: Nobbi, Alice and Dixie in one team and Brigitte, Nathan and Ben in the other team. The teams competed in the Tom Cruise Couch Jump race. Teams selected one HM to stand on the couch and the others would push the couch around a course to grab Tom Cruise paraphernalia related to some of his old movies. The first was a Risky Business outfit that had to be put on during the process; the next was a Cocktail; then the Top Gun; and then a fluffy goose. The person on the couch had to repeatedly say "I love Katie Holmes" and at the end high five an Oprah cutout. Brigitte, Ben and Nathan did it all in 38 seconds and won (the others took 48 seconds).
The remaining three were then asked by BB to choose another HM to join them for the next round. They chose Rebecca because it was her birthday party day. Brigitte and Ben then teamed up and Rebecca and Nathan did as well. The next round was something of a recycled game from previous years. The HMs had to fill containers on their head with fake cement and ride a small trike to their Hollywood star holder container and fill it with as much cement as possible within the time limit of 2 and a half minutes. Nathan and Rebecca had 3.30kg to 2.50kg for the others.
The final round was the Tori Spelling Bee. This was also a recycled game from previous years. Nathan and Rebecca were each seated on a platform over tanks of water. They each had to spell the names of celebrities with the person getting the most correct being the winner and the other being dunked in their tank. Both got two out three correct and BB gave them a choice to compete in a tie breaker question or pass it to the other person. Nathan decided to take the question and BB asked him to spell 'Schwarzenegger' of course (knowing Nathan might screw it up). Nathan missed an 'e' and was dunked.
BB revealed to Rebecca in the Diary Room that Bianca, Alice and herself was in the bottom three of the voting at the time. If that continues into tonight then it is obvious that Bianca will get the votes from the double points Rebecca can use. I will be mighty annoyed if Bianca gets the boot this early. Anyway, Rebecca chose to take the rich ditz into the Strategy Room and that was FNL. A birthday party for Rebecca followed and that will be seen on tonight's daily show.
General commentary about this week
May 17th, 2008 at 8:16pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue
Carson and Corey
I'd like to use this update to comment on some of the happenings on BB this week. I'll start with Carson's involvement earlier in the week. Since the last update, we've seen Carson Kressley going in on Tuesday to have a small makeover session with half of the HMs. This was seen on television on Wednesday and it rated reasonably well. The trouble is that it was very a short appearance. Here at this site, we've become known over the years for calling for celebritiy guests to spend time in the BB house. We know that this rates well and this week proved it. So, as short as Carson's appearance was, we're happy that the producers at least gave it a try. We hope they try again in three or four weeks with someone else.
I've probably mentioned Ronn Moss before as an example (he's one of Australia's favourite sons via America). He spends a lot of time here and also appears on another popular Network Ten show. I foresee a day (perhaps in a parallel universe if this show gets axed here) when Ten will nab him when he's here next and throw him into the house for a night. That could be seen during a special show and on the daily show the next day. If he's running around at the pool without his shirt on, like his character used to do on B&B, the ratings would go through the roof, believe me (and in every demo at that). I know the experiment is meant to be one without all these celebrity visitors but it is good for ratings. So, I hope the producers keep this mind for the future now that it has proven to be a winner to have special guests in the house (not wannabes like they've had staying there for 4 days in the past).
Anyway, in this week's appearance, Carson gave fashion tips to viewers and picked out some clothes for the HMs to try for the fashion parade. The two successes to me were Brigitte and Renee. I would've loved to have seen Rebecca and Bianca being made over (not that those two beauties need it) because they'd look even more hot. But I hear that my wish might be coming true next week. Speaking of celebrities, Corey was unceremoniously removed from the house on Thursday (as seen on Friday's daily show). He was called into the Diary Room, was told that his stay was over and then participated in a quiz to win the HMs $100k for the winner's prize money.
He competed against Nobbi in a game requiring his observations of the HMs during his stay. One of the questions for example was which HM was the best looking (both said Rebecca, which is correct in my opinion). The poor kid didn't get a chance to say goodbye but his parting gift was $60k for the prize money. His was a mostly uneventful stay but I'm glad he was given the opportunity to be involved with this show. I don't think it has really made much difference to the opinions of the mostly ignorant people that have bagged him, but it was worth a shot anyway. Our poll shows (results below) that roughly half of viewers have kept their opinion of him unchanged.
By the way, Happy Birthday to Rebecca for the other day!
A holiday and a protest on BB!
May 13th, 2008 at 04:08am, EST, by Ridge Rogue
Ratings, casting poll and Brigitte's protest
In this update, I'd like to talk a bit about the daily show and Big Mouth yesterday. I won't get into the sliding ratings and how worrying that is because it's week 3 and the ratings started to slide this time last year (Sunday Daily Show drew 995 000 and Sunday Eviction 1 got 1.038m which is very similar to this year), and Ten would still be reasonably pleased (they have lower standards than Seven and Nine).
So on the daily show, the four HMs I mentioned in the previous update, quickly worked out they were in a simulator, not surprisingly. I think the producers should've just skipped that part and sent them into the second house straight away. The main storyline arc, though, was Brigitte. This will have many complaint groups up in arms if she actually continues her hunger strike to get her personal belongings back.
It is obvious from her childish crying and complaining in the Diary Room that the casting this year has completely failed on almost all fronts. It's not entertaining TV one bit. I have been running a poll on the home page about the casting and many people like the selection. However, there are plenty that don't as you can see in the results below. Having said all that, I have been wanting to see someone rebel against BB, so, although a hunger strike is inappropriate, a part of me is sort of intrigued to see how BB reacts to this.
Task
The weekly task was also introduced on the daily show. It's a recycled one from previous years. Many fans will remember it in 2006, for example. This year the HMs have to catch cricket balls fired out of the launcher. That's it, nothing else. All this while four of them are relaxing in the second house, and listening to the shouts from other others next door when they catch a ball. It's good to see two houses of sorts back again after all these years. I hope the second house is put to good use this year as much as possible.
Big Mouth
Moving on and Big Mouth was a dud again, but oh well, the ladies got to see Rory's penis. So that's Nobbi and Rory so far this year that have nuded up, and none of the females. That's a bit sad for all the perverts out there, isn't it? Anyway, the hosts managed to fool Angela Conway into an ambush that any viewer could see coming at the start. By the way, she's the wowser from the Australian Family Association that is good buddies with, the now thankfully retired, Trish Draper (they campaigned against the uncut show).
Angela barely got a word in because the hosts (Chrissie, Tim, Rebecca and Tony) stole the chat to make it all look good for the show (Paul Dyer was not involved this week). She wanted to make a few other comments but Tony quickly moved the discussion to something else that didn't involve her. She was then shunted out that revolving door, no doubt, and later on a writer from a newspaper was on the show for a few minutes (to talk about diddly squat mostly, just to fill air time).
In between these points in the show, they managed to bag Saxon (to his face) and show footage of their big drawcard for the night. This whole scenario of chasing after Johnny Boy in the streets was promoted on Ten but all they ended up showing was ten seconds of Lowie (the radio show host) trying to ask the former PM a few questions that were ignored. Big whoop that one! And that was yet another appallingly useless Big Mouth episode for the most part. I think it's safe to say that it can be axed now.
Saxon evicted, second house revealed!
May 12th, 2008 at 03:04am, EST, by Ridge Rogue
This update is a quick summary of some of last night's action on BB. On the daily show's highlights, BB revealed to Travis that the bottom three on Friday night were Dixie, Rebecca and Saxon. There was some discussion about all that and the rest of the show was arguments. Terri said that she'd be ashamed to have Corey as a son. There was much disagreement about that being a disgusting statement.
Other arguments were about the existence of aliens and Bianca was busy being a jerk again with Corey. And Rebecca still wants to leave. I can think of several people that made it to the group auditions that could've taken the place she no longer wants. Oh, and in case you missed it, they passed the task.
On the eviction show, the HMs were seated in the new Eviction Room. David, Rebecca, Saxon were announced by BB as being in the bottom three in the public voting. Travis saved Rebecca, and Rory dropped into the bottom three. Each HM was called to the Diary Room to vote for an evictee. This process was exactly the same as in previous years when HMs nominated. This dragged the show out unneccesarily.
The hosts take a relaxed style to their gig
Then the hosts introduced what was once a few months ago a rumoured, super duper, great big expensive, never-before-seen, cage that moves, and is not always on the ground, but wait for it: it's a revolving door. Ooh, let me cream myself over that one, kiddies! What a lame idea that was. I think the production company employees really believe their ideas are great on paper, but in reality they are highly lame. Anyway, all of the bottom three HMs go there to this door, and two get sent straight back in while the evictee goes out into the area next to the second house (to meet Jackie and some audience members, and get wet if it's raining, or freeze if it's a cold night).
And what a bloody circus this whole amateurish debacle turned out to be. God help us all! BB stuffed up and told the HMs to welcome back David but Rory walked in. And when David was next, the HMs didn't exactly act surprised. They are so unprofessional and disorganised at the production company, it's incredible. So, I said here the other day that Saxon would be booted and quite predictably he was. He's the first male evictee on a first official eviction in a series in years (since Damien in BB 2). Back on the main stage soon after, he chatted with the hosts and received a few lame prizes (lame by comparison to previous years).
Then viewers saw proof that BB, of course, lied about the second house on opening night. It will be used this week and Alice, Rory, Travis and Renee are taking the "plane flight" now, I hear. And on Wednesday night, Carson Kressley crashes BB's closet, so look out for that one. It'll be about the only highlight of this week, I suspect; that and how quickly the HMs work out that they're in the second house and not overseas like the TV viewing audience was led to believe last night that they would be.
Nathan wins FNL (sort of)!
May 10th, 2008 at 02:04am, EST, by Ridge Rogue
So BB Oz has copied the Head of the Household (HoH) idea from BB U.S. finally (albeit in the usual watered down form we're all used to here on BB Oz). The HoH can vote for evictions with double points, BB told the HMs last night at the start of the hip hop themed FNL. The rest of the winner's prize includes a dinner for two in the Strategy Room, where they are told which HMs are currently in the bottom three in the public voting. They can then discuss which one they could evict. The HoH also allocates the chores as in previous years. So, it really isn't all that much; it's mostly the same as before with a new title.
Anyway, starting the proceedings off on FNL, BB told Alice she had a bye to round two. Corey and Terri were then made captains and picked teams. These were: Terri, Rory, Nobbi, Nathan, Renee, Bianca, Travis in one team and Corey, Saxon, David, Ben, Rebecca, Brigitte, Dixie in the other. I'm not going to go to as much trouble this week with this summary, but here goes a brief one.
The first round was a recycled game from previous years (see my commentary in archive). It's like musical chairs, with the HMs dressed as either 50 cents or M&Ms (the coin and the candy, rather than the rappers). To cut a long story short, Ben and Nathan were the final two to play. Nathan won and his team of 50 cents won that round and progressed.
Round two was the big booty camp. The team split in two and HMs in each team were tied together for an obstacle course race. They had to wear a big butt on their posterior and try to crawl through tyres and the like. The fastest team won. Nathan's team did it in 1:39 seconds, but he was beaten by Rory's team.
Nathan, Renee, Bianca and Nobbi then competed for two spots back in the games. BB did some rapping (not very well, but he tried) and each HM had to complete the rap. Nathan kept going on one occasion and BB told him to shut his mouth (he seriously did). But Nathan and Bianca were quite good and won their way back into the games.
In the third round, the HMs played hip hop bunnies. This required them to collect as much carrot juice as possible from a spinning record. Nathan, Terri and Travis did just that within the 2.5 minute time limit and BB asked Terri if she was OK (she seemed exhausted). Not surprisingly, when BB asked the three to kick one out so only two competed next up, they chose Terri.
The fourth and final round was another recycled idea from previous years. All the two guys had to do was shoot hoops (sort of). The one that scored the most balls in the hood of an old Beamer with no engine would be declared the winner. Nathan was that person.
The most ridiculous part of this whole show came next in the Diary Room. Nathan was completely robbed of his voting power and prize, just because he's immune from being evicted. Stiff cheese, he should still be able to vote. It was given instead to Travis, the runner-up. How completely absurd. There's nothing fair in this like these amateurs that run this show think.
So now Travis gets the double voting power points (4 to evict and 2 to save) on sunday. The catch is that the voting is still open and can change and he may not always be told who's in the bottom three. So he can now discuss any of this in the Strategy Room, BB told him, but he could still stuff it up if he's not given current information over the weekend. (Hopefully I'll be proven wrong on that point of current information being given.) Anyway, he snubbed Nathan and took Renee into the Strategy Room (which is the same sort of situation as the Rewards Room in previous years).
As of last night, the voting saw Dixie, Rebecca and Saxon in the bottom three, BB told Travis and Renee. Saxon has been there for most of the week. I bet Travis votes him out. So that was a typically lacklustre FNL again this week, in what has been another boring week of BB. God, I hope it gets better soon! On that note, I'm Ridge Rogue. Say hi to your girlfriend for me :) See you here Sunday night!
Continues back to week 2 diary page.