Big Brother 06
Remember the days when Big Brother was new to our screens and neither the housemates nor the audience knew what to expect? The show was a televised social experiment - to see what happens when a disparate group of strangers are isolated from the outside world inside a house where there is very little to do yet every moment is caught on camera.
The first Big Brother house had only the bare necessities and, apart from a small suitcase of clothes, the housemates were not allowed personal items. When they stepped into the house they left their lives behind at the door. Life in the Big Brother house was simple and peaceful with only a few diversions such as the weekly tasks to determine their weekly shopping allowance. Six series down the track, a lot has changed. The Big Brother house more closely resembles a circus than a household and the show has become jam packed full of gimmicks and elaborate tasks. There is no time for boredom and the innocence of series one is long gone.
Big Brother 06 sees a dumbed down bunch of housemates, they are all thin and attractive and almost all are very young. While they like to think that they know how the game is played (and what the all important voting audience do and do not like), Big Brother has orchestrated some bizarre twists to keep them on their toes. We have already seen: the revelation of the mother-daughter relationship between Karen and Krystal; the 'coming out' of the token gay David; a double eviction into a 'revenge room' followed by a return to the house; the actions of the 'insider', Michael who, in return for immunity from eviction, tells whopping lies and sabotages the housemates' endeavours to successfully complete the tasks set by Big Brother; and, the rewards room and the punishment room.
Predictably, from the moment they arrived in the house, our housemates decided that they were instant best friends but now the honeymoon period is over and the tight knit friendships are starting to unravel. After just three weeks in the house we've seen a lot of tears, the girls are getting catty and the boys are getting fed up. Under the microscope of the television cameras, the trivial and petty get blown out of proportion. Our housemates are under the mistaken impression that their boasting and opinions are of vital importance but the world's great philosophers are not going to be challenged by the musings coming from inside the house.
In earlier series, Big Brother was a friendly voice booming out of speakers to the housemates, but not this time around. Big Brother has become a menacing presence who won’t tolerate misbehaving housemates. To show he means business, Big Brother takes $5,000 off the $1 million prize money each time a rule is broken. The housemates managed to lose almost $200,000 in their first week - mainly for forgetting to wear their microphones - and to date, have lost $375,000. When it comes to the Monday night eviction nominations (which are later shown to the evictee), Big Brother has little patience for housemates who aren't prepared to air their true feelings. The housemates have two minutes for each nomination and must satisfy Big Brother with their reasons or face nomination for eviction themselves.
If you flick your television on to Channel 10, it's hard to not to catch a glimpse of Big Brother 06. On weeknights there's the 30 minute Daily Show early in the evening and Up Late follows the late news, then there's Live Evictions on Sundays, and on Mondays there's Live Nominations and Adults Only. Unfortunately, the Big Brother Friday Night Games are back for 06. This was an idea that spilled over from the previous series into a stand alone game show and has been brought back for this series. The housemates escape to the special 'games arena' to dress up and compete in silly games. There is very little actual action and the bulk of the two hours is padded with mindless banter from the inept hosts. If all that isn't enough, devoted fans can keep up to date with the housemates on the show's website and watch footage from the house on their phones. There's so much on offer that fans will find themselves putting their own lives on hold to be able to keep up with life inside the Big Brother house.
yes, but we may have our first gay relationship in the house, when the hairdresser comes in on tuesday nite
pippi, May 15, 2006 4:29
I think that Big Brother's Friday Night Games are actually quite funny, with the only exception being Mike Goldman's jokes. Other than that, the huge Penguin suits of last year and the foam office workers of this year are fantastic to watch and can send even the biggest Big Brother critics (my Dad) in fits of laugther.
Kate Poulsen, May 15, 2006 12:15
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