Now, you see, I went into this final series (on Channel 4, if the Five rumours are to be believed) with the best of intentions. I used to watch the show religiously, right up until the final fortnight of Big Brother 6 when I decided I couldn’t be bothered, which as I was running a Fantasy Big Brother competition at the time was a bit of a pain. I’ve always said that the show going one hour a day seven days a week for over three months of the year is too much of a commitment, that it felt like work, and it’s interesting that when I stopped watching coincided with when it went like that (although it should be pointed out that that still makes UK BB one of the shorter international series).
Still, it was the last one so for three whole weeks I watched it properly and even enjoyed it. Then I missed one for whatever reason and never looked back. This is a shame, as I’ve still been following it through the websites and Digital Spy (and I particularly enjoyed Phil Edgar-Jones’ contributions to the DS forum), and they’ve certainly had some brilliantly creative tasks this year. I also thought Emma Willis was teriffic on BBLB, although the proposed change in the spin-off show’s direction doesn’t appear to have materialised.
Tonight is the grand final where probably Josie will walk away with £100,000, then turn around and walk straight back in again for the final fortnight of Ultimate Big Brother, where the winner will be joined by housemates of the past to decide who is the best housemate of all time, or something. At the beginning of the Summer this sounded like quite an appealing prospect, and I know a lot of people (other lapsed fans) who suggested they might give the main series a miss, but might tune in for the Ultimate series. The thing is, now it’s about to arrive, I’m not sure how bothered I am about it, by the sounds of it all the really good housemates of the past don’t need to do it so who is that going to leave? Find out tonight.
So there we are: Big Brother: a victim of its own success or basically a victim of everyone being ten years older? You decide.
I’ve still been following it through the websites and Digital Spy (and I particularly enjoyed Phil Edgar-Jones’ contributions to the DS forum)
These other interweb places exist solely to be made fun of. Because, goodness knows, if anyone started taking these conspiraloons seriously, they’d lose their marbles without drawing any circles on the living room floor.
Tonight is the grand final where probably Josie will walk away with £100,000, then turn around and walk straight back in again for the final fortnight of Ultimate Big Brother, where the winner will be joined by housemates of the past to decide who is the best housemate of all time, or something.
Josie. Not just of tonight, but she has to be favourite for the Ultimate Championship All-Stars thingummy, even without seeing the opposition. She’s got the momentum behind her.
they might give the main series a miss, but might tune in for the Ultimate series.
And if you’ve done that, folks, you’ve missed out. Big time. There is oil in your shower, the tablecloth has taken your meal with it, Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall, you have failed to slide down a slide properly, you have sprung a leak and have heinous splinters. Do not pass the Jaffa Cakes™, do not rise from your bed, do not cross the road, and don’t expect to avoid the glory of Ratings Bear.
The thing is, now it’s about to arrive, I’m not sure how bothered I am about it, by the sounds of it all the really good housemates of the past don’t need to do it so who is that going to leave? Find out tonight.
To be honest, I’ve not been watching for the people for well over a month, but for the challenges and tasks and entertainment. There’s more entertainment in an average episode of BB than in about twenty series of 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow.
Big Brother: a victim of its own success or basically a victim of everyone being ten years older? You decide.
Or a victim of changing demographics by the production team or Channel 4, letting go of thirtysomethings who like a bit of substance in their programmes for lightweight teenage fluff? <self_promotion style=”shameless”>There will be a special edition of the Week on the Sunday after the final final, and I want to keep some powder dry for then.</self_promotion>
Josie. Not just of tonight, but she has to be favourite for the Ultimate Championship All-Stars thingummy, even without seeing the opposition. She’s got the momentum behind her.
I’m not convinced that’s going to be the case. I think she’ll make it through to the final vote, then it will go to someone else.
Unless I’ve been reading the DS forums all wrong, the view of many of its posters is that BBUK 11 has rather fizzled out after such a strong start.
It certainly feels like there are less good things being said about it than there was before Caoimhe walked – and the quadruple eviction last week, which made Josie around 1/12 to win, was generally seen as ludicrous.
Hopes of a good line-up for UBB aren’t high either.
Views expressed on Digital Spy may not be representative of the wider viewership. Viewers who were watching for conflict and arguments got something throughout: Ben and Shabby being uncompromising in their individuality, John James letting his mouth run ahead of his brain, and Sam’s screen test for Prank Patrol. Those of us who were watching for entertainment, for insight into the human condition, or just for warm and fuzzies, got it in spades.
The quad eviction was an interesting one, testing the popularity of all entrants in a fair manner, and one that might actually reduce phone revenue – fans of a particular contestant X would have to think about where to cast their votes rather than blindly voting a squillion times. Maybe that tactical voting is what caused other commentators so much pain.
I’ll discuss the Ultimate contenders in the other thread a little later.
There might still be some life in the format- but not as currently set up. If Channel 5 really wants to pick the show up, I’d go with the USA format for the most part, but some tweaks:
-Every week, there’s an HOH competition. The winner gets to pick two people to be nominated for eviction, and one person to be given safety for eviction.
-The home audience gets to vote on a third person to be nominated.
-There’s also a POV game each week (involving at least the HOH and the nominees, and sometimes others). The winner can choose to save one of the noms, but then has to pick an envelope if they use it. The envelopes will decide who picks the replacement- the HOH, the person winning the POV, the person who is taken down, or the audience (it would go to the next person in the vote who is eligible- POV winner is immune).
-The eviction vote is like the US (HOH only votes in case of a tie, nominees can’t vote), but the home audience also gets a vote (but only one vote in the group- thus their vote becomes more powerful as the season progresses).
-Winner is determined from final 3 players based on the following:
a final HOH comp (say 10 pts for the winner, 5 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd)
a jury vote from the evictees (a 2-1-0 per each person)
an audience vote (say 15-10-5)
If it’s a tie, whoever has most first places among the HG jury wins. If that’s tied, it goes to the audience vote.
That’s a bit complicated – I don’t see anything wrong about the US format of Big Brother for Five to use.
I think the UK audience is so used to voting for evictions, that they need some sort of interaction in the game- though not total control. Some sort of a hybrid of US/UK rules probably would work best.
And apparently Endemol picked up the lease of the BB house set for 3 years, so that strongly hints to me that Five will be trying something..
Rumours are that Five have picked it up and will announce after UBB has finished – those rumours are based on the website insidebigbrother.net
Hmmmmm. I don’t think that’s going to fly at all. Even allowing for a “new channel, new broom” feeling, some things are so much part of the UK Big Brother experience that they can’t be changed. Davina could, possibly, be replaced; but anyone who doesn’t at least offer the narrator’s job to Marcus Bentley deserves buckets of slop poured over their head.
Nominations from the whole house are something that it would be difficult to change entirely, but it could – just about – be replaced by a single nominator. Extending Save ‘n’ Replace to the whole house would be an interesting move, independent of who nominates, as the face-swaps are a brilliant idea to mix things up. But the public not deciding who goes would completely undermine the whole proceedings – we may as well call it Survivor Elstree and be done with it.
Ultimate Big Brother’s only 18 days, and still they’re going to bring two more people in on Friday? What the hell?
Well given McCrirrick is going to be given the boot by Big Brother probably…. I wonder if he’ll get his fee?
Anyway, a promising start to the line up, a bit of a damp fizzle towards the end of it.
Fair play, I wasn’t expecting Ultimate Big Brother to leave me feeling mildly sick with excitement… but it has!
Re: BBLB – to be fair although still a bit too much fluff there has been a clear change in direction this year and the show has had a solid structure throughout the series.
Emma Willis has been good – but as far as female co-hosts go she’s only got Zezi and Natalie Casey to compete with! However, it’s clearly been a one-man job divided between two people and I felt the couple of shows she was off last week ran much smoother with one host. She has bought a knowledge of the history of the show though that George was missing, and they have worked very well together.