Celebrity big brother Australia on e4

[Tv12345]

Yesterday E4 announced that Celeb big brother Australia will be airing soon, what is everyone’s thoughts on this?

[DeMarkay]

This doesn’t really warrant a thread.

[Jon]

This doesn’t really warrant a thread.

I found it pretty interesting actually, the original poster could have added more of an opinion though.

Isn’t the Australian version more like the US format now? If so Im guessing this is one of the reasons they’re showing it as it probably doesn’t require public votes etc. But also that it doesn’t feature Americans, as we tend to be more culturally aligned with the Aussies.

Also, I guess we can firmly say Big Brother is in a way a Channel 4 show again with this and that lockdown series. I wouldn’t be surprise if a UK reboot finally happens in the near future and Channel 4/E4 seems the most likely place for it happen.

[Ash101]

Isn’t the Australian version more like the US format now? If so Im guessing this is one of the reasons they’re showing it as it probably doesn’t require public votes etc. But also that it doesn’t feature Americans, as we tend to be more culturally aligned with the Aussies.

They've re-tooled this Australian series. It was totally pre-recorded before broadcast and features no public votes.

Caitlyn Jenner & Thomas Markle Jr are amongst the celebrities.

I can imagine they're trying to build on the success of Married at First Sight Australia & The Batchelor Aus they've been showing recently too. There's an audience for these things & fairly cheap as an import. Plus, like you say, maybe like MAFS may actually translate into a new version of the UK show.

[Brekkie]

The Aussie format is bargain basement Big Brother, pre-recorded months in advance with clear production interference for their favourites and in the case of Celebrity Big Brother (or BBVIP as they called it) some clear manipulation of the eviction order to fit pre-agreed contracts. The actual competitive format isn't bad - not quite as strong as the North American format, but does the job - though the challenges aren't as varied as it could be.

What baffles is they've opted for the celebrity version as it was a major flop in Australia, getting around half the audience the main series had for the two seasons on Seven. The so called celebs are hardly a draw too - only person E4 might be interested in is the one from MAFS.


If you want to check out a decent competitive Aussie reality show take a look at Australian Survivor. I've never been able to get into the US one but the Aussie version is brilliantly produced and most of the recent series are on Amazon. Ironically it's from the same production team as the Aussie version of Big Brother - but the quality of the end product on screen couldn't be more different.

[Mouseboy33]

Isn’t the Australian version more like the US format now? If so Im guessing this is one of the reasons they’re showing it as it probably doesn’t require public votes etc. But also that it doesn’t feature Americans, as we tend to be more culturally aligned with the Aussies.

Yes the show follows the North American format. This series actually featured 3 Americans and yes is does have a public vote, but just for the finale. As does the regular civilian version of Big Brother Australia. Even though the vast majority of the series is pre-recorded the decision to choose the winner is the open to a public vote and they bring back the finalists for a live finale. I like the production values of the show, but its hyper manipulated by production. Which kinda takes away the fun and I certainly dont like the pre--recorded aspect. The competitions arent that bad. ITs certainly better than the repetitive and over styled US games, which atually dont look all that good in the end. Its like whole lotta effort and money for nothing. That could be spent on building a better house frankly. I prefer the Canadian competitions and I do think the US producers can learn that the comps dont need to be so overly styled.
Big Brother Australia is not awful but its certainly not the best. I think its a fun watch. IMO better than the "forced dating/sexual relation ship gameshows" like Love Island and MAFS.....i will never understand the appeal of those shows.

[RDJ]

It’s certainly interesting to see that Channel 4 may well be feigning some potential interest in bringing Big Brother back.
Obviously during lockdown we had E4 show some best bits of previous Channel 4 series. And now with this, maybe they’ll see if there’s enough interest with this to potentially bring Celebrity Big Brother back to Channel 4 or maybe E4.

[Brekkie]

E4 have now dropped this four nights in, replacing it with Junior Bake Off. Not surprising given this serines in particular flopped in Australia and the BB fan alumni generally don't view this pre-recorded format favourably.

[Ash101]

That’s a shame. I always was a Big Brother fan, but this series was interesting to say the least. I was enjoying it so far, but maybe not as a “Big Brother” more generic reality show.

Hopefully they’ll put the rest up on All4.

But I can’t see how much an unadvertised show is going to change the figures in the 7:30 slot tonight? Trying to grab channel hoppers I guess.

[Brekkie]

The announcer said they'd go up daily on All4 at 7.30pm but no sign of tonights yet - suspect it's scheduled to appear at 9pm.

Agree about Junior Bake Off - can't see how that would pick up extra viewers unlike something like Big Bang Theory.