Big Brother 8 Commentary Diary
Weeks 10 to 12 news & commentary.

BB news, rumours, gossip and commentary

Author: Ridge Rogue

July 2008

Continued from the week 13 page.

And the Grand Champion of FNL is ... Rory!

July 20th, 2008 at 10:35pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

This update is a summary of the final ever Big Brother Friday Night Live. I bet Network Ten tries to run something similar next year to fill the time slot, but it least it won't be this cringeworthy rubbish from Big Brother. I'm thrilled that this is over! Anyway, Mike started off the show by attempting to sing with Bree and Ryan. They butchered the song "Playing To Win" by John Farnham. Then the HMs entered the games arena for the final time and an Asian guy dressed as a BB ninja sang "Waltzing Matilda" with the HMs. BB then explained that the winner would receive a plasma TV and the glory of being Grand Champion. All this effort and expense was just for that.

After the ad break, the hosts talked up Terri as the winner of this series. Bree said she had changed her mind from Travis to Terri after saying all series that Travis would win. It must be the short odds at betting agencies for Terri, and the HMs showing through conversations that they want Terri to win, that has made her finally wake up to what we've all known for weeks: that Terri has been the favourite and still is. All of the remaining HMs are pot plants so I couldn't care less who wins this year. The public mostly seems to feel the same way. That's how uninterested everyone has been with this series of BB.

Round 1: Let's get ready to tumble

With the points system from last week, without BB telling them this time until the end, the HMs prepared to compete. One at a time, the HMs were spun around ten times to get them dizzy. There were seven mannequins of boys with jackets with hoods that the HMs had to punch out. The idea was to hit as many as possible. Alice was first up and after being spun she got all of the dummies, or so it appeared but BB wasn't saying. Ben was next and it seemed like he knocked over four dummies and a BB ninja (almost). The remaining three HMs then competed. Rory was up next and it looked like he knocked five over. Then Terri got four dummies and didn't seem too dizzy (none of them really did). Travis was last and hit three dummies. BB didn't reveal the scores to the HMs.

Round 2: Judgement day

Last year's Grand Champion, Zach, joined the hosts. They had a quick chat and then Zach (now a brunette) turned up in front of the HMs (via TV screen) as a judge in the next game. In this round, the HMs had thirty seconds to perform parts of various sporting games. Travis was first to compete in a pretend equestrian event. His horse "Thunder" wasn't there to kick him in the nuts to see if it actually deepens his voice :) What? His voice can't get any more higher pitched than it is so it's only a reversal you could hope for in this scenario :) Zach commented that Travis's performance was like a scene from Brokeback Mountain.

The others then took their turn at the role play. Terri was next up and did an aerobics performance (with Mike making farting noises as she jumped around). Zach quoted a line from the lyrics of "Maniac" and said "I don't think so!" because she was good, he thought. He said it had "pure sex written all over it. Jane Fonda would be really proud of you." He is so friggin camp sometimes, this guy, and was in full swing here. Rory was next up with a gymnastics floor routine (female viewers probably loved the tights he was wearing). Zach bagged him. Moron! Ben had a figure skating routine (on concrete tiles). Zach said that Ben would've scored more points from him if he'd taken his shirt off. Alice then had a synchronised swimming routine (on the concrete). She got on the floor and rolled around with her arms waving around. Zach liked it. The scores were decided by Zach and given to BB via the FNL hosting desk. He voted for Travis to win.

Round 3: A hair-raising ordeal

All the HMs had to do in this round was to watch their loved ones hold as much water as possible in their mouth while they rode a rollercoaster at Dreamworld. BB showed the HMs some footage of their loved ones taking the ride earlier in the day. He started with Alice's friend who held it all in and spat it out into the measuring container at the end of her ride. Ben's brother was next, followed by Rory's brother. They both seemed to do well. Then Terri's partner had a go and I think he swallowed most of the water he drank but was supposed to hold in his mouth. Travis's cousin went next to finish off the round. The winner was Travis's cousin who collected 5 points for Travis and the other points were recorded by BB for the rest of the HMs.

Round 4: Mascot merry-go-round

Fryzie turned up after the ad break as his character this year, Bryce Fitzberg. He chatted to Mike and Bree and I hit the fast forward button at this point. When the HMs were ready for the next round, BB told them that they had two minutes to collect "champagne" in their cups to fill their individual giant glass flute. They did this by standing on the merry-go-round under a shower head with water coming out. They jostled for the water and then jumped off and filled their flutes before returning for more water. It looked like Rory had the most water.

Round 5: The rat trap

Each HM was laying on a ramp with their head over a container. They had sticks in the helmets on their head with cheese on the end of the sticks. Underneath them was a container of rats. One at a time they were each asked a question by BB. If they got it right the other HMs would have their head lowered a bit to the rats (via the BB ninjas tilting the other end of the ramps). If they were wrong then they would be. The last person without their head in the container would win. Rory was asked what Brigitte's middle name is and he said "bimbo" and was lowered to the rats (correct answer is Sarah).

Ben was then asked in what country was Pamela Anderson born. He said in Vancouver in Canada and was correct. Terri was asked how old Cherry is and she said 23 and was wrong (22 was the right answer). Alice was asked how many nights Nobbi was in the Kombi and she said 55 and was right. Travis was asked whom Bianca voted for in the very first snap eviction and he answered that it was Terri (he was wrong, it was Nobbi). Rory was asked how many days Ollie was in the house for and he said 13 and was wrong and was out of the round with a rat swinging off his cheese soon after his head was in the container.

The round continued. Ben was asked what the number of the first train the train spotting task was and he correctly said 8. Several rats were swinging off Rory's cheese. Most of the others were by now out of the game. Alice was asked what hand grenade Dixie got and whom it was from. She said clothes washing from Rebecca which was correct. Ben was lowered further. He was then asked what Rhianna's daughter's name is and he couldn't remember and said Dan (it's Mia). Alice was then asked what Terrence's kids are named and she said Michael, Luke and Dan. She was correct with the first two but Brett is the other. So Ben was asked who Cherry took with him to see Get Smart and he incorrectly answered Terrence, Alice and Travis (it was Terrence, Bianca and Brigitte). Alice won.

Round 6: The giant drop

Holding a cake, each HM was lifted one at a time 25 metres into the air on a large platform suspended by flimsy-looking cables and straps (if one broke a HM would've come crashing to the ground). Then they were swung around and had 10 seconds to drop their cake onto a target below with point zones (the bullseye being the highest point area). Rory was harnessed so that his privates hurts and he was complaining but scored 4 points. Ben's nuts hurt as well because the harness was right under them. Mike joked that they'd soon be talking like Travis (high pitched voice). Ben scored 4 points. Alice then scored 2 points it seemed (on the line). Travis was next and he hates heights and was supposedly praying on the way up. He kept his eyes closed, screamed like a girl and dropped his cake and picked up 3 points by the look of it. BB taunted him by asking him if he wanted to open his eyes. When he did open them he just about shat himself. Terri finished off the game and scored 3 points.

Result

With the games now finished, BB asked the HMs to return to the games arena. Their loved ones were being readied to be slimed. The scores were revealed to HMs with sliming occurring along the way. Alice received 15 points and her friend was slimed. In fourth place with 18 points was Terri. In third place with 19 points was Ben. The runner-up with 20 points was Travis but the BB ninjas accidentally slimed Rory's brother (BB apologised after). That left Rory as the winner of the final FNL ever. Zach was on hand to deliver the grand champion's trophy to Rory.

And with that, the worst show on television came to an end. The hosts thanked their fellow FNL staff. Poor Bree was almost a blubbering mess as she realised that her career was left to hosting Friday Night Download now. Mike thanked Chris Blackburn for giving him his first job on BB (voice overs) and a few producers. Thankfully that was it and I have nothing more to say about that shit (apart from to wish everyone, including the BB ninjas, all the best)!

Late entry: a summary of Ben's win on last week's FNL.

July 18th, 2008 at 12:55pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

You can probably tell that I haven't gone to a lot of trouble here this year (lame series and all). So this is quite sloppy timing but here's my summary of last week's FNL for those that missed it. Tonight is the final FNL and I couldn't be more thrilled to see the last of FNL (I blame it in part for the downfall of Big Brother in this country).

The theme was a circus one and the HMs were dressed as clowns. Magician Matt Hollywood was there to waste time in the studio at the start of the show (and before some of the ad breaks), while the HMs were readying themselves for the games. When they finally entered the games arena, BB told the HMs that the winner's prize was a plasma television and that they were competing as individuals this time, not in teams. The person with the most points would win.

Round 1: Pie face

One at a time, the HMs (wearing huge clown shoes) had to carry two cream pies through an obstacle course. This consisted of: two hoops; a door; a set of acrobat bars and two more hoops. There were two clowns at the end of the course to slap the pies onto the faces of. If a HM dropped a pie there'd be a time penalty.

Cherry was first up and the others followed with Terri competing last. She was the slowest (taking 1:05) and scored zero points. The other scores were:

Travis: 1 point from a time of 31 seconds
Alice: 2 points from 23 seconds
Ben: 3 points from 21 seconds
Cherry: 4 points from 20 seconds
Rory: 5 points from 17 seconds

Round 2: Kissing booth

Bianca joined the hosts of FNL on the stage after the ad break. She looked beautiful and Mike couldn't stop staring at her boobs. Anyway, in the next round the HMs had to choose one among them to go into a kissing booth (with a fat, bearded lady on the front). The others chose a kisser to go there to kiss the blindfolded other HM (a recycled round from previous years, you might recall). A correct identification of whom they were being kissed by would earn them 5 points.

Alice was the first kissee and the others chose Terri to kiss her. She kissed her on the cheek and Alice guessed that it was her. Ben was the next kissee and Cherry was the kisser. He kissed him on the cheek and Ben guessed that it was Cherry (the cologne gave it away). Cherry then became the kissee and the others chose Ben as the kisser. He kissed him on the cheek and Cherry guessed that it was Alice. Rory then became the kissee and Ben was the kisser. He kissed him on the cheek while Rory was wagging his tongue (with tongue stud) around. He guessed Travis as the kisser. Terri was the next kissee and Rory was the kisser. She guessed that it was him. Travis was the kissee next and Cherry licked his cheek and kissed it and then licked his nose. Travis was horrified and knew it was Cherry.

Round 3: Musical chairs

The hosts played a game with Bianca after the ad break. Mike presented scenarios to her and she had to pick the one that annoyed her most and grab a clothes horse and throw it in anger (like she did a few weeks ago in the BB house). After that, BB presented the next round to the HMs. It's a recycled game and I won't explain it because it's obvious. The results were: Terri out first (0 points); Travis out second (1 point); Alice out third (2 points); Rory out fourth (3 points) and Cherry won (4 points for Ben and 5 for Cherry). At this point, Matt Hollywood "levitated" Bree. I wonder how big the forklift with the conveniently bent fork behind the curtain was? Did you know Matt that we've all seen the masked magican show?

Round 4: The great escape

Bianca was shoved out the door so Brigitte could join the hosts. That idiotic Bree (whom I normally don't mind, but not at this point in the show) did the whole "let's praise Brigitte" routine to guilt trip viewers for voting her out and cover up the betting scandal and make the show look innocent. It was such a shock Bree that the ditz finally got the boot. Not! She should've gone weeks ago because she wasn't entertaining at all, contrary to your spin. Not too many would've bought that crap from Bree. Then the audience was encouraged to applaud one example of how entertaining Brigitte was. It was laughable.

Anyway, the next round began. Each HM was locked in a straight jacket (of sorts) and they had one minute to get out. To do this they had to find the two keys out of eight they were each given that would open the two padlocks. After that they could remove their straight jacket and run to a pile of disks (numbered from 1 to 5 for points). When they got there they just had to yell, "I am Houdini, the greatest escape artist ever!" The HMs were seated under a sliming platform for those that didn't get out within the minute. The three HMs with the highest overall scores at the end of this game would progress to the next round.

So the buzzer went and Terri was the first to grab the five point disk and she did it within 30 seconds. All the others couldn't make it and a few got out from under the sliming platform at the last second while the rest got slimed. The total points at this stage were: Alice: 13; Ben: 12; Cherry: 9; Rory: 8 and Terri: 10; Travis: 7. Alice, Ben and Terri progressed but it wasn't over for the losing HMs. They had a custard pie eating contest where they sat at the table with their hands behind their back and ate only with their mouth (of course). Travis won and was back in the games.

Round 5: Clown head

The FNL hosts played "Are You Smarter Than Bree Amer?" with Brigitte and, of course, you couldn't half tell that it was all rigged so that Brigitte, the ditz, won. In the games arena, two of the HMs were standing in front of sideshow alley clowns that shoot balls out of pipes in their mouths (instead of having them thrown in their like they normally would). The HMs had 1.5 minutes to catch as many balls as possible in their colour (red or blue) in the cone they were each wearing on their head. Ben and Alice were first to compete. Ben caught 13 balls and Alice got 11. At this point they got rid of Brigitte so they could bring out Pamela Anderson after the ad break (poor Brigitte was told she'd meet her but probably did't backstage).

Ryan was acting the buffoon all night (about Pammy) and to think that this was being filmed by her show for an international audience. He asked to sign a Baywatch DVD and they chatted to her about how she spent each day of her stay on the Gold Coast sleeping in the hotel room. (She was paid somewhere between $150 000 to $500 000 for that.) Then the hosts remembered that there were HMs waiting to play the next round of the game. Terri scored 7 and Travis scored 23 when they had their turn at the game.

Round 6: Circus putt putt

Travis and Ben were in the final round. Mike was making a big deal to Pammy about the plasma TV that the winner of FNL would receive. She probably thought it was all a joke. But Fryzie gave her some roses and they thanked her and she left. Back in the games arena, the guys played golf. All they had to do was run around a course and get their ball through some hoops and over a ramp and into the hole at the end. Ben won. In the Diary Room he told BB that he was pleased he won the TV because he'd rather that than a meal that could help him put on two kilograms. But if he becomes a couch potato he'll put on the weight anyway :)

General discussion about today's shows & BB's axing.

July 14th, 2008 at 11:55pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

The hosts of Big Mouth acknowledged at the start that BB has been axed. I think it has been quite gutless of Ten to leave it to Rove last night and Tony on tonight's show to mention that BB had been axed (but it's what you can expect from Ten, they're weak - can't stand up to ACMA and love firing pregnant female employees). The discussion then moved to tonight's daily show action. This covered the fake eviction after the genuine one last night.

I think that the whole "Big Sting" daily show tonight was the most cringeworthy piece of rubbish that has ever been presented on BB. How dumb are the HMs? They all know how this works and should've seen it a mile away. But, no, Ben had to be over-dramatic about it and Rory pretended to be shocked. It was exactly what BB hoped for. This s**t might work in the UK BB but here we know better - or at least the HMs are supposed to.

One article I read today blamed the show's demise on the fact that the "audience erosion" is because viewers and HMs know what to expect. But it isn't this at all. I firmly believe that the producers have massively underestimated the audience in so many ways. It's easy to come up with decent ideas for BB if you try and the fans have always done it, so why can't television producers?

I now want this show to be moved to Sydney, where it belongs, and to be bought by a better television network that actually has a clue. The drop in viewers can be blamed squarely on the amateurish wankers that run the show (too focused on giving us the opposite of what we want to watch).

No one else can be blamed at all for the mediocre production we've seen in recent years. It is funny how this show still works overseas and they're into a tenth series in America, for example. But here in Australia, our television industry still hasn't grown up yet and is too used to producing mediocrity for the sake of the bottom line. There are no quality productions on commercial television in this country, I believe, and that has to stop. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to say about that topic (of BB's axing) soon.

Big Mouth then moved to the topic of Brigitte's sex tape (she thinks it was a bluff from Eric). She (as a guest on the panel) and the hosts then set about making him out to be a control freak. There were "best moments" interspersed among all this and Cherry joined the panel. There was a little bit of discussion about his attitude towards women and he tried to suggest that it was all taken out of context.

A few other segments followed this on Big Mouth. There was a chat with the HMs about last night's action. There was also some of the usual nudity. Highlights of Pammy's stay in the house were given a run for several minutes and that's really all there was of any real interest (if you can call it interesting). The whole concept of Big Mouth on Big Brother in this country was undoubtedly the dumbest idea yet and the low ratings were proof of that. That was the final episdode and good riddance to that crap!

Cherry evicted!

July 13th, 2008 at 11:45pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

This update is just a brief summary of tonight's shows. The daily show saw Pammy visiting the house one last time over the weekend. They had drinks and a general chat and then a slumber party after she left. There was a boring silent dance competition the next day. Two HMs were there for more than ten hours. The result was a tie between Rory and Alice. They both won treats and letters and photos from home.

The start of the eviction show saw one HM collecting 51.5% of the eviction vote tally. The hosts had a chat to the HMs and then there was some filler for quite a while about Pammy. Jackie had interviewed her the other day and this was shown tonight. After that, the hosts had a chat to a few of the guys in the house who were in the Diary Room. They discussed their initial reaction to seeing Pammy when she first turned up.

After chats with the others in the Diary Room, the hosts started announcing which HMs were safe. It came down to Cherry and Ben and it was Cherry that was evicted. He had 50.5% of the votes and was well out in front of the others in the final voting tally. The hosts talked to him about his relationship with Brigitte. Then she was brought out on to the stage for a minute. That was the show. They didn't mention the axing of BB but probably will during the upcoming double eviction and finale. (That liar Rove was left to say that it was axed but he said forever when it's not, just resting for a year.)

And later in the evening, BB announced that there is another eviction. Alice and Travis were the housemates' choice for this. This will be on the extended daily show on Monday night.

OS announces BB axing!

July 13th, 2008 at 4:25pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

I mentioned in May in the forum that I found out that Ten was thinking about resting BB in 2009. As it turns out today, it's true. I'm not the least bit surprised. This was posted on the official forum:

Posted By: Lulu_b
Created in: Category: Big Brother
Posted: 13/07/2008 16:18

Hi everyone
I can confirm Big Brother won't be renewed on Channel 10 in 2009. v
A statement with more information will be forthcoming.

Thank you
Lulu

Pammy busts in as the ditz finally evicted!

July 10th, 2008 at 3:25am, EST, by Ridge Rogue

This update is a summary of last night's Pammy special. First up was the voting tally and this was close for most of the nominees. The producers milked that sucker for all it was worth by closing the lines 45 minutes into the show. For once I didn't actually mind this rip off because Brigitte was finally evicted (she should never have been cast in the first place and should've got the boot weeks ago). But well before she was evicted, there was this little matter of a certain other blonde for the show to deal with.

Pammy introduced to viewers

The hosts surprised the HMs by having a chat and telling them that there was a snap eviction. The HMs were a little bit surprised. BB then informed the HMs that a few more of them were in the list of eviction nominees. But who cares, let's get to Pammy. She came walking down the gangplank and Kyle launched straight into the whole Aussie slang topic. Then the hosts discussed, among other topics, Pammy's thirteen Playboy covers and her Baywatch stardom. Then came the topic of her flexibility. Jackie asked her if she can do the splits. Pammy, in cute little shorts, then actually did the splits (there's a ratings moment for you).

Kyle then started calling Rima a midget again and the bleeping didn't quite catch it all. It was an introduction to one of the next segments in which the HMs were introduced to Pammy via a video montage. (In one scene, Alice was seen to say that her father used to call Baywatch, "Boobwatch", which we all used to call it.) Pammy was asked to give Kyle some marriage advice. She said, "Just keep doing it." Jackie then mentioned Pammy's joke about calling Jessica Simpson a whore last week. This question moved to how Pammy handles the gossip tabloids. After answering that, she watched the montage of the HMs.

Of course, that little pervert, Kyle, was full of inuendo and I saw criticism of that on the official BB forum. But then it was time to show Pammy that the HMs were doing a paparazzi task this week. Then, Kyle offered Pammy some action in the sack and then she finally took off to the house. Before she could go in, though, one HM had to leave. This segment was dragged out with chats to the loved ones of the nominees, followed by chats to the nominees in the Diary Room.

The Eric saga

One of the loved ones that the hosts talked to was Brigitte's male friend, Eric. Kyle talked about the News Ltd blog he read. Eric said he wanted to clear up with the public that he is not Brigitte's boyfriend and therefore couldn't have been dumped on national television, as Tony said on Big Mouth the other night. Eric was interviewed by News Ltd on Tuesday (see forum for all the posts about this) and he insinuated that Brigitte is a stalker.

(Note: This all started after Big Mouth when Eric posted on the official site on Monday and when that was removed he went to the only other place you'd expect to find critics (a slam site - one that proceeded to defame him in clear breach of the hosting terms and conditions that the site's host seems to condone; not a good reputation there)).

I haven't mentioned this saga here this week because I don't believe that it has been newsworthy. The public (on the official forum and the slam sites) just plain don't believe a word he says (especially the OS forum members tonight after he said "no comment on that" in relation to his stalker allegation). Kyle also mentioned a sex tape (the censor tried to bleep that out) but that was denied. So that settles all that. But who really cares?

Brigitte finally evicted!

Soon after the chats with the loved ones, it was time to go ... Brigitte. Yippee!! It really is a shame that Eric wasn't brought out onto the stage again to accuse Brigitte of being a stalker, like he did in the News Ltd interview on Tuesday. Anyway, Brigitte had 29.7% of the vote. Not surprisingly, she cried like a frigging baby, the immature little shit! And when she met up with her parents she cried and made bizarre noises like a blubbering baby as well.

All I can say is, stick your fluffy toy up your pants and grow the **** up, Brigitte and act your age! I'm glad to see the last of you. Anyway, after Kyle mentioned Terrence, Brigitte's parents used the opportunity to make Terrence out to be a paedophile again, and then they unsuccessfully tried to justify her dumbass personality by blaming everyone else with the old "pack mentality" excuse. Bull****!

Pammy busts in

Pammy was then read the BB rules by BB in the Diary Room. He also flirted with her a bit. After the hosts had finished with Brigitte, Pammy was sent into the window area for the task. The HMs weren't sure if it really was her. Soon after, though, Rory was called to the Diary Room and the crowd went wild (because she was in there to greet him). When he escorted her out into the house, the others still couldn't believe it was her. So they had dinner and that was the show (yes, they left the best part until just a few minutes before the end, after dragging the whole show out for more than two hours).

In all, it was probably the only best show in this series. It resembled the more successful of BB live shows of yesteryear in some ways. If she was paid more than $500 000, like the rumours on the official site's forum have suggested, then it should be good for the ratings. Speaking of the official site, I kept an eye on the forum over a five hour period last night. More than 600 people signed up in the forum in that time and probably paid for the streaming.

I'm sure they would be feeling ripped off, given that Pammy left not long after the special show aired on TV. There were also locked Pammy topic threads and missing posts in some topic threads about Pammy in the forum. Obviously there's something BB doesn't want anyone to know (topics related to Pammy's protest about the junk food chain that sponsors BB was a classic example of censorship in the forum that I noticed, but, ah, who cares).

Given that I've spent years using this site to call for the use of celebrities on this show, I now hope that the ratings are up this week (otherwise I'll feel like a bit of a twit). It's just a pity they weren't higher for the previous ten weeks. Oh well, there's always next year! I'm Ridge Rogue. Say hi to your girlfriend for me. Enjoy Pammy and I'll see you here for FNL.

Pammy poll results & Terri now favourite!

July 8th, 2008 at 10:25pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

Terri now favourite

What a difference a week can make when you're in the running for $250 000 (or according to TV Week, it could be double that and a car)! Travis has been firm in the betting odds as the favourite to win this series since the opening night - when Jackie made it quite clear that he is her favourite HM (Kyle has changed his mind several times with his favourites).

But just last week, Cherry was the favourite in the betting odds (see right column of this page). With less than two weeks left of this crap series, I thought I'd take a look at what our betting partner is giving the shortest odds for (see left column). And, yes, they've finally figured out that Terri will win (Cherry never stood a chance) with Travis as the runner-up.

Pammy a fan favourite?

I've been running a poll on the home page lately. It asks if people are looking forward to Pammy's entrance into the BB house tomorrow (I posted a promo poster in the Pammy discussion topic in the forum yesterday, by the way, in case you want to see it). The results of the poll (see below) show that 42.50% of voters aren't looking forward to it, some are unsure and 47.50% of voters are looking forward to it.

Well, I still support the use of celebrities on this show and I'm thrilled that the producers have listened to me and others that have spent several years at this site and elsewhere calling for this type of situation to get the ratings up. Although they could've chosen someone better, I can't wait to see this (and I can't wait to see what sort of perverted comments Kyle makes and how much flak he cops for that).

5 nominees for snap eviction!

July 7th, 2008 at 11:55pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

In this update, I'd just like to mention the names of the eviction nominees and then provide a brief summary about the Big Mouth show last night. I remember that the hosts announced on Sunday night that there's a snap eviction on Wednesday and the voting is only open for 48 hours. The HMs nominated Rory, Ben, Terri and Cherry. Cherry saved himself, bringing Alice and Brigitte into the list. Anyone could go but I doubt that Rory will get the boot. I think it'll be Alice or Terri that will get evicted.

On Big Mouth, Rima was first up and the official spin that the producers obviously told her to say was that she was just playing the game. Bulls**t! The rest of the first quarter of the show was about Cherry and Brigitte. Her father thinks it's great that she's getting away from the boyfriend on the outside, but he doesn't seem impressed with Cherry.

Bianca then joined the panel (on the opposite end from Rima) for the second quarter of the show. They played footage of Bianca's outbursts last week and Rima commented that it was the media's fault that this has been blown up. She also reckons that she was desensitised to all the game playing and emotional investment in being a HM. Absolute bulls**t!

Bianca and Rima apologised to each other, but it wasn't a tearful feel good moment of TV or anything. Rima then continued to try to justify her role by saying that she gave them all hints about what was going on, but Bianca tried to argue against the whole idea.

With that out of the way, Bianca was soon asked if she'd do a Zoo shoot but she said that she wants to get into politics later and so it's obvious that there won't be any photo shoots of the type that Rebecca has done, for example. She also said that she doesn't have much feeling in one of her boobs. I just thought I'd throw that bit in.

Then the topic turned to Ben. Bianca said that she considers Ben to be nothing more than a friend. Then she was reunited with her dog. That was the big moment of the show. Yippee!!!

There was a relationship counsellor in the next segment. The panel turned into a bunch of experts all of a sudden. And with only a few trivial bits here and there after that (footage was shown, for example, of Rory telling Travis that Nobbi came in a blue cup and Travis believed it), the show was over.

Bianca evicted!

July 7th, 2008 at 02:31am, EST, by Ridge Rogue

This update is a brief mention of some of the points of note from last night's daily show and eviction show. On the daily show, BB announced that the HMs passed the wrestling task (only just, because a few of them didn't make it in time after their character's theme music started, but it was close enough). Fortunately, this dull task was not presented all that much on the show this week. This is because the storyline arc mostly revolved around "romances" between Bianca and Ben (he doesn't find her to be attractive enough) and Cherry and Brigitte (she'd be interested in him if she wasn't in a semi-comitted relationship with anyone else).

Other topics on the show included the Kombi and Cherry's potential to win BB. The HMs were given a chance to give the Kombi a makeover. It looks like it ran through a rainbow and looks awful now. There was some discussion about Cherry, the intruder, winning this series. Several HMs feel that this would be inappropriate, but the betting odds from this site's betting odds partner, Sporting Bet, since last week have shown that he's the favourite to win (Travis is no longer the favourite, after being so since day one). We'll have to see how close to winning he comes. One person I hoped would stay until the end is Bianca, but she was evicted last night. What a shame!

At the start of the eviction show, Bianca was way out in front in the voting with 48.8% of the votes. (Interestingly, the audience was booing her and Travis when the phone numbers where displayed). So, then the hosts chatted to all the HMs, BB revealed to the HMs which of them were up for eviction this week, and then the individual chats with the eviction nominees began, but not before King Kyle gave Terri a few compliments about her looks. Kyle soon asked Travis to yank his pants down to see the "manscaping" but all you could see was his awfully hairy legs (only his ankles had been shaved at the front by the looks of it).

After the chats with the nominees, it was time for the hosts to reveal the names of two of the HMs that were safe. These were Terri first and Travis next. I knew then that Bianca was a goner. I was happy that she had lasted ten weeks. In previous years, the big breasted beauty has usually only lasted four or five weeks at the most. Jackie announced after the ad break that it was Bianca that was leaving. It's annoying because I really like Bianca but what can you do? The vote tally hadn't changed much and she had 46.8% in the end.

During her chat with the hosts, Bianca talked about how she tamed herself a bit more while she was in the house. Her brother made a brief appearance and confirmed that she's even more agro normally. This fiery personality was the main reason, she said, she went into the house - to learn how to control it. One of the tantrums that was discussed was when Rima revealed there was no mole. Kyle was heard calling Rima a "lying midget" and the midget part was partly bleeped out.

The forum users at this site decided in March and April, when we exclusively named her as being in the cast, that it was more respectful to call her "height challenged" instead of a derogatory term you'd expect to see on the hate sites. So, I'm not surprised that the censor decided to bleep Kyle out there, so as not to offend people that are actually "midgets" (which Rima is not, as a doctor will tell you, because it's a different height disorder).

Anyway, the topic of Bianca's boobs was next on the agenda. She confirmed that she will have the breast reduction surgery one day, but it's just a matter of when it's the right time in her life to do it. Medical reasons aside, I think it's such a shame that she feels a need to conform to societal pressure. I'd be proud to call her my wife if I was married to her and I wouldn't feel at all humiliated if people looked down on me for having her on my arms when walking down the street, just because she's beautiful and has a good body. By the way, she said she'd do a magazine shoot if it was tasteful (something she said before she went into the house). So I don't think she'll be doing the type of photo shoots we're used to seeing former HMs doing. Darn it :)

Cherry wins FNL again!

July 6th, 2008 at 11:40pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

This update is a short summary of Cherry's FNL win on Friday. The theme was an "I love New York" one because it was Independence Day in the States. Carl Riseley was singing throughout the show in the lead up to the ad breaks. Mike asked him if he has caught up with the Idols and how he thought the HMs on this show might be feeling towards the business end of this series (he said they just have to come out and make the best of the experience).

Anyway, the prize for winning FNL was a dinner and the voting points for nominations. It must be very obvious to viewers by now that FNL's days are finished and it must be axed at the end of this series. I now believe that, apart from continually bad casting, FNL and the veto points is responsible in more than a big way for the decline in public and media interest in this show now.

Round 1: The big yellow taxi ride

There were two teams and in the first part of this round Rory, Bianca, Brigitte and Travis climbed into the plastic taxi. They had to hold it up and run around an obstacle course - a streetscape of New York City. The gals were the backseat drivers giving the blindfolded guys directions across a slippery surface with miniature buildings; over a miniature Brooklyn Bridge; through a wall (Wall St sign attached); over a square with a clock (Times Square); through downtown buildings and lapping the Statue of Liberty once. The guys had to make honking noises or a time penalty would be incurred. At the end they had to say, "I love New York" to finish the course. Their time was 2:11. When Alice, Terri, Cherry and Ben had their turn (with the guys in the back this time), it only took 1:28. So that might just go some way toward proving that female backseat drivers might not be all that good :)

Bonus round

Losing HMs so far, had an opportunity to "audition" for two spots back in the games. They were each dressed as a character and BB gave them a brief of what they had to improvise. BB was the sole judge but he stupidly picked Travis who gave a crap audition by singing when he didn't have to. Rory was a comedian and didn't do too badly. Brigitte was just wailing constantly and screwed up deliberately, but Bianca did a reasonable job at playing an irate Italian chef. She and Travis rejoined the games.

Round 2: Hotdog home run and Terrence talks about his privates

This was a recycled game from previous weeks in this series and from other years of BB. I won't bother to explain it too much. Teams had to make a hotdog out of one of the HMs they rolled along the floor while adding ingredients. You would've thought that the course they rolled around was supposed to be like a baseball pitch but there was just the slippery surface. Bianca, Travis and Cherry did it in 1:09 while Ben, Alice and Terri took 1:14.

After the ad break, Bree was "really curious" to hear from Terrence, who had joined the panel, about what his sons thought about his time on BB (she could've read the answer in an interview he gave earlier in the week). He said he had lived his dream and that one of his sons said that his school friends commented that they had seen his father's d**k on TV (the censor's bleeping completely missed the word). And he said this in front of all the kiddies in the audience.

Round 3: Central Park

Reverse parallel parking in golf carts never looked so good on BB, and there was an Evil Knievel stunt BB ninja to reset the cart after each attempt by the remaining HMs. Obviously the HMs just had to park without hitting anything or they'd incur a time penalty. The two fastest would go through to the final round. Cherry was first up and he was good, hitting nothing. His time was 43 seconds. Travis was next and he was absolutely hopeless, the poor guy. I'll skip all the objects he hit, like the kerb he got bogged in, and just tell you that his time was 2:12, but after time penalties his time was 2:42. Bianca finished off the round quite nicely (sort of) with a time of 1:47, but a time penalty pushed it out to 1:52. Who ever said woman drivers are bad?

Round 4: The Big Apple race

This was similar to games played in the past (e.g. Jamie won an episode of FNL like this in BB6). All they had to do was wiggle on their stomach in their caterpillar outfits to the finish line. Along the way was Madison Square Garden (a small ramp with fake plants); through the Big Apple (a hollowed out red circle); and across Central Park (a small brown mat with fake plants). I'm sure some people might've thought that Bianca had an advantage by bouncing along with her bazookas, but she barely got started when Cherry reached the end and won FNL. In the Diary Room, Cherry chose to take Ben, Rory and Alice with him to the dinner in the Banquet Room. And that was FNL and there's still about two weeks of this s**t to go! Next week is circus night with Pammy joining in again.

Ah Rima, you should've sued!!

July 4th, 2008 at 03:04am, EST, by Ridge Rogue

While my American friends get ready to celebrate ID4 later today, I reflect early this morning on what I've seen in recent days on BB (something much more trivial, of course). When it was exclusively revealed here months before this series began that Rima would be part of it, little did I know back then what she would go through on BB08. I'm not the least bit surprised that some people didn't like the fact that she was opening herself up to the sort of exploitation we often see on this show. Sure enough, just like clockwork, it's happened.

Rima obviously couldn't bring herself to do anything but succumb to the legal department's threats at ESS. I think she should've done what I said in early May: sue the bastards! But she took a "bribe" and went back into the house knowing fully well what BB could do to her reputation. Sometimes those legal eagles are just a bit too good at threatening people. Rima was given one last mission for this series. She really is the only person left that could tide the borefest over until next week's Pamela Anderson boobfest (my copy of the Dreamworld newsletter this week says she's saying overnight, contrary to what I recently said TV Week mentioned).

But, bribe or not in signing up for this, there was something strangely familiar in Rima's mission to mess with the heads of the HMs. It's much like what BB does in the UK but is rarely brave enough to try here (despite calls from local BB UK fans for BB Oz to do so). It didn't really work very well, but still gave the wankers ... er, I mean producers, something to work with. Yes, Rima left the house and revealed that there is no mole, much to the annoyance of some HMs. If she had stayed, the always angry Bianca would've knocked her block off and probably still will when she gets out of the house this week (it seems inevitable now).

But Rima's departing revelation and the three days leading up to it had the desired effect on a few of the HMs; the rest being smart enough to know what BB was really up to. (Note that the person they voted for, Brigitte, is supposed to leave the house, according to BB earlier in the week, but he must've forgotten about that part - so far.) This series has been quite a borefest and the lazy producers needed something for each daily show this week. How do you conjure up such material for your storyline arc? You mess with the HMs. How do you show that it's Bianca that you want the public to evict? You mess with her head.

It will probably work because the kiddies that vote will fall for it hook, line and sinker, like they always do. Screw you, Big Brother! I want Bianca to stay until the end. At least give me the showdown between her 10GG bazookas and the little apples by comparison belonging to Pammy. And coming up on Today Tonight ... I can just see it now. The public knows that tacky, trashy shows like TT and ACA are a complete joke, full of ads for comparison websites or whatever, all disguised as a "news" story. But they also know where to find a laughable beat-up in these shows as well.

I'm almost willing to bet that at least one of them will give us our first negative BB story of the series next week when Pammy goes in (Hep C and all?). And I bet they mention Bianca and Rebecca's bosoms as well, just to get some ratings. Such great journalistic endeavours on those shows. Not! Am I looking forward to BB next week? Not much, but we'll see. It's just really obvious that the wankers ... er I mean, you know, are desperate now. Goodbye Rima! Sorry it didn't really work out.

June 2008

Four eviction nominees, plus fathers fight!

June 30th, 2008 at 11:54pm, EST, by Ridge Rogue

Pammy

This update covers a bit of news about Pammy, plus tonight's shows. TV Week mentioned today that Pammy will be in the BB house for three days and E! is filming it for her new reality show. It's going to extend our humiliation even more (worst series, bad cast and all). But I'm looking forward to seeing Rory's face when Pam enters the house.

A mole hunt

Where the daily show is concerned, it covered the mole situation. All the HMs have to do is correctly guess who the mole is and that person will be leaving the house. If they are smart enough to say it's Rima herself then Rima goes. But so far they are looking more closely at each other. If they fail to identify the mole then they'll at least know each other better and determine whom to give their $25k to when they're evicted. At the end, the most deserving person should win this series, not those that are laying low (like Ben and Alice). Will that still be Travis, the favourite from the start, or will it now be Terri, whom they all now think should win?

Eviction nominees

The nominations show went for one hour tonight. I think next year they should stick to the half hour format. The nominees this week for eviction are Bianca, Rory, Terri and Travis (Alice was up but was saved by Cherry). The public won't vote for anyone but Bianca this week. I want her to stay until Pammy goes into the house, so I hope people don't vote her out, but it's obvious she'll go.

Fathers fight on BM!

The first quarter of the Big Mouth show was about Rima and the mythical mole. But it was the second quarter of the show that pissed me off. Terrence - who was not earlier informed of what was about to happen - was ambushed by Brigitte's father and Rebecca (with only Tim trying to shift the focus to Brigitte's bad behaviour). Albert (Brigitte's father) tried to make Terrence out to be a paedophile. What a fucking arsehole!

He then claimed that Terrence was being a 4-year-old attention seeker on the show. All the HMs are there to be an attention seeker. But I was thrilled when Terrence told Albert at the end of the debate that his surname obviously isn't "Einstein". The fact remains that, despite Albert trying to defame Terrence (by sticking to the message that a 51-year-old adult shouldn't shower naked in front of a 21-year-old adult - which they both signed on to BB aware that this could happen, as Terrence claimed), there's still no answer on whether Brigitte is really on the outside like she is in the house (rude, violent, bratty).

Tony then had a chat to Rima in the Diary Room. They talked about her nude photos and showed some (I wish they hadn't). Then they had a world renowned psychic (a nobody that isn't famous). He tried to spin this crap that there are children ghosts in the house. Then he turned on Travis in a way that'll have conspiracy theorists saying that the producers want Travis out this week. The psychic reckons Travis is just attention seeking so Terri should win this series because she's been the most truthful person all along in her behaviour and opinions.

Big Mouth finished with a look at Rhianna's Zoo shoot (see gallery). She also talked about the footage of her whacking off Rory and said she doesn't regret "wandering hands". Then Tom Gleeson (a guest panelist) hit the nail on the head in a way when he said that BB jumped the sharked in 2001 when it started and it's been weird ever since!

Terrence evicted, Rima back in!

June 30th, 2008 at 12:25am, EST, by Ridge Rogue

This update is just a brief summary of some of what happened on last night's shows. On the daily show, the HMs remembered the train numbers for the train spotting task and passed the task as a result. They had a costume party later in the day, with the pole dancing pole and Bianca in a nurse's outfit. That reminded me of the lovely GG in BB 5. Aah the memories. But moving on and BB revealed to the HMs in the first few minutes of the eviction show that Bianca was in the eviction nominees list. Then Kyle and Jackie spent almost a quarter of the show talking to Rima. Her secret is the mindblowingly exciting task of telling the HMs there's a mole among them (and it's not Bianca as Kyle rudely suggested, but was just joking). There isn't a mole and the HMs won't believe it (except Travis and Brigitte).

So off Rima went to the house while Kyle revealed that the lovely Jackie O and her mother Julie did a camera run tour Sunday. Jackie revealed that she got BB to wake the resting HMs and when they took a shower, Julie and Jackie were perving on Rory's longish schlong. Perverts :) After the show messed around for a while, with the hosts preparing the HMs for the eviction, Terrence was evicted soon enough with 41.7% of the vote. His wife joined him on the stage and said that she wasn't asked to be in that video message a while ago. That seemed obvious at the time and it turned out to be the case.

Terrence was then asked about Brigitte and he indicated that he's not sure about how good her upbringing was by comparison to the other Gen Y HMs in the house, because he's not sure if she's acting or if she acts like that on the outside. Then he was shunted out the door and Rima went into the house. She lied to the HMs about being a HM instead of a guest and she blurted out to the HMs that she had a secret mission she couldn't explain yet. That buggered that whole idea up! But, at the end of the show, I was just relieved that Bianca is still there. I do want to see her there when Pamela Anderson goes into the house (see our forum). BB in various countries has had a string of larger-breasted beauties in the house. Bianca will put Pammy to shame and I can't wait.

Continues back to weeks 8 and 9 diary page.