Yeh the Captain's Quarters was pretty pointless as well. And most of the tasks for it were cheap. The best ones were more reminiscent of the lost Friday Night Games. Also people got rewards for doing nothing except keeping their microphones on, and the naughty corner wasn't that big a penalty often either.

Split points system wasn't new?

Nominations booth was kind of window dressing, not that important in the game. Looked ok I suppose, but again that's just visuals like so much in this. And the background posing was very similar to C5, don't remember it quite like that before or as evident and distracting at evictions.

The weekly house meeting was a regular event before and meant there was less stuff just said behind people's backs.

When they did twists they were half-assed. The second house twist wasn't convincing, the teams task wasn't carried through fully. The Superpower was the best twist but is wasn't always that super, and the crowd and the host had a big influence on who people chose. The grenades in 8 had more long term effect in the show, and were reflective of how tougher that series was. The friends and families nominations and some of the nastier things said in the house should have been shown to all in a proper unveiling of secrets.

The new HMs (intruders) were weak, and didn't shake the positions in the house much at all.

They should have allowed evicted HMs back for further BB shows too. They kept live nominations but it was nice to see the evicted HM giving comments. Friday night games was good too, the extra shows they did this year pandered more to the very young audience and were cheap.

Sonia was better than Kyle, not sure if she was better than the Jackie/Goldman combination used for two evictions. And she was certainly without the authority of Gretel. The intervews were soft.

I kept watching largely for Estelle and Angie, if Estelle hadn't made it so far it's probable I would have stopped watching as there was nobody else to oppose Ben and so someone for me to root for. And Ben did act like a villain he was totally preoccupied with the game [this is not the American style BB], that's not a bad thing in itself you need that for a storyline. But you need someone who can carry the conflict against them and so few actually could. And there was a serious lack of respect from him at times which turned his bitchiness from funny to just deluded and stupid. So her turned from a fun schemer to someone who just seemed mean.

I'm really really surprised Ben won. I think he was the most honest HM out of the three that were left and we really did get to see his bad side, but there were moments of good and the other HM's seem to think he was the one to talk to when traumatised. i think we saw the whole of Ben, which wasn't always a good or pleasant thing to see. But I don't believe we saw that of Layla and Estelle, just what they wanted us to see.

Saying that, can't believe someone who was so much of a mega bitch won. I really didn't want Estelle to win so am happy about that, but still mega shocked that Ben got there. Don't really agree someone who is such a bitch should win BB, even if they are aware of what they're like.

I did love the format of the finale. The ex-housemates dance routines, their conga through the garden, and the final montage complete with echoes and lights switching off!

They always do a dance routine or pantomime thing.

I do think we saw all of the finalists, you can't be in the house that long and be fake.

One thing that really bugs me is the percents, especially the fact they felt the need to reveal them on Sam's eviction.
Sonia claimed at the double eviction that the order was constantly changing, and yet Zoe's percent had barely changed, Michael's had barely changed, and then at the final Estelle's percent had still barely changed either. lol
The only ones that made any gains seemed to be Layla and Ben, who suddenly jumped from 18% and 20% to 30-40%.

Maybe it wouldn't have changed the order, but it's just blatantly obvious after revealing the percents that after Zoe and Michael went that their fans then went and blockvoted Ben, and maybe Sam's fans went to Layla.
Shame the final couldn't have been when Estelle was ahead on Sunday.

It wasn't the ending I wanted, I was hoping for Estelle to win.

That aside, thanks Australia for a great series!

I love the way you have a minimum of three up each time, it works much better than the two up we have here in the U.K.

I like the way it was the crowd are altogether more friendly than over here.

They at least try to stop nomination talk in BBAU, they get away with too much here.

This was the first time i have seen your series, but I will be back for the next one.

I really enjoyed the eviction show, it was a lot more fun than our BB's ever have been. I like the idea of three left and all given a decent time interviewed etc once evicted. It just seemed more of a party atmosphere which was a nice change from our booing crowds.

Problem is, couldn't see BBUK HM's all getting together and having a dance and sing. Could you imagine it after BBUK this year? They'd be trying to trip each other up and shove them off the stage at every chance they got! It is funny how I can well believe the Aus HM's doing that but not the Brits. Think that may be down to BBUK picking some mega unpleasant HM's and not ones who want to sing and dance all over the place!!

Did enjoy the eviction show though, I like that format (ok the singing and dancing HM's aren't a necessity) but the rest seemed well planned.

I agree apart from the Estelle bit! It definitely works better with a minimum of three up. I really hope our BB follows that. There did seem to be a lot of tasks that were done in BBUK, but they did tend to choose the better ones, so that turned out fine. I also love Delilah being there. Most probably wouldn't want the same here, for the simple reason that after the last lot of HM's in BBUK, I'd really fear for the dog!

There are gripes re BBAUS, but I enjoyed it a massive amount more than BBUK the last couple of years.

A big thanks to those who put the links up, so I actually could watch a BB that didn't have me growling at the screen the whole way through it!

Nope. I can't see it with our latest BBUK either. The two sides hated each other! Although at least one of the nicer group won in ours!
Have to admit, I fast - forwarded through the dancing and prancing bits. I also liked that they all had a decent interview time, unlike in the U.K. final.
I agree with you that it was better than our last few series, in fact, better than an awful lot of ours. I liked that they all seemed pretty normal. It's been a fair bit better of late, but for quite a few years we had a whole load of oddball characters. real wanabees that bored the life out of me.

Great series though. I think we could learn a bit from them.

BBAU ratings report
http://www.behindbigbrother.com/2012...s-report-2012/

If you took Estelle and Angie out I don't think I would have found it very good, so I think the previous two series were better.

Congrats to Ben he played a good game and got the support of his group Michael, Stacey and Zoe who all supported him after coming out. I always knew Layla would do well as the pom with the accent and endearing nature. Estelle will go down as a non winner who everyone will most remember, a nice HM who through all odds lasted the whole 87 days where almost everyone in the house wanted her gone (Frustrated Ben throwing the horse over the wall after she left finally). It is a credit that her fans stuck by her and kept her in above all odds.

Disappointed Ben won.

He was not honest. An example of this was to trying to make Estelle feel bad for claiming he was one of the people behind having a go at her when he had not nominated her. When he had twice and claiming to be being completely honest with her.

He was also one of the biggest bitchers in the house.

What the heck Australia?

So it's ok to be nasty and down right horrible to and behind ppl back,bitch all the time,and lie,but as long as you're being "funny" it's okay

Overall,this was my first BBAU,really enjoyed it,thought the tasks were good,the housemates were good mix,apart from one or 2 deadwood characters:yawn:

I might be completely wrong,but what if they didn't show the percentages on Sunday night?

Shock! The was more than one Surly!
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1226514351859

Just finished reading that interview with Big Brother....

Thanks for the link. A really interesting read.

I agree with nominations. It's an upheld rule, and there is zero tolerance for breaking this rule (i.e. you earn the dreaded strike if you break this rule), unlike the stupid producers in the UK who think turning off the hot water is a good way to deter housemates from discussing noms.

Other than being rather disappointed that the wrong person won (wasn't a fan of Ben's from day dot), it was a rather good season of Big Brother; much better than the drivel C5 is putting out and claiming to be Big Brother. My highs and lows:

Highs:
[LIST][*]Tasks. A lot of the tasks were derived from the UK version (except for the Unwelcome Guests task, which was actually derived from BB8's "Ignore The Obvious" task), and they were all brilliantly executed. They were tough, but not impossible to complete. The only low to this was the Two House task; the way it was done was rather cheesy.[*]House: The Australian BB house always outdoes itself season after season, and this was no exception. Although I do miss Steadycam Steve doing the tour of the house with Gretel in previous years.[*]Big Brother: Big Brother is much more wittier and lippier, and the HM conversations with BB in the DR can often be much more entertaining than those in the UK. Some of the UK producers in the Voice of God booth really need to learn from their counterparts Down Under.[/LIST]
Lows:[LIST][*]The Voting System: Not a fan of the vote to save. Either a vote to evict, or a hybrid like in seasons past, where viewers could either evict or save a housemate, and after the votes are merged, the housemate with the most evict (or fewest save) votes is evicted. I also was not a fan of the fact that they revealed the eviction percentages during Sam's eviction. I also think the viewers should also have the option to Vote to Evict during the final, like they did in all seasons except 6 and 7. I think the eviction order would have changed dramatically had the old system been used, and a completely different winner would have been announced.[*]Intruders: Should have had more. They should have had Sam and Ava both come in at the same time. And not to mention they both were rather dull. I think four intruders is a perfect number for BBAU, and new housemates after the first eviction and after the halfway point are good entrance points.
[*]Nominations: The 5 point nominations were really good, but the fact that they made a useless room (with an even more useless booth) for nominations kinda made nominations rather weak. I think Big Brother should be extremely strict on the housemates, and the two-minute time limit should be reinstated. I loved seeing the housemates sweat under the pressure and try to quickly come up with another legit reason for their nomination, and in some cases, to no avail, thus forcing them to incur a penalty nomination point. The Superpower was an excellent idea, but poorly executed, because the evicted housemate was constantly influenced by the crowd as to who to choose.
[*]Family-Friendly: I don't know what Channel 9 was thinking when they thought this was a good idea. Big Brother never was, is not now, and never will be a family friendly show. I mean, the fact that it's a voyeuristic show indicates that it's not family friendly. You're watching people take a shower and change clothes, for crying out loud! How's that family friendly? I don't like sanitised Big Brother; I want unedited Big Brother! Which leads me to my last low:
[*]Live Feed: If there's no live feed, you cannot call the show Big Brother. As much as the social feeds are great, the show is a show of voyeurism, which involves watching the housemates 24/7 whenever we feel like it, not just 140 characters on Twitter or a memelike photo on Facebook. Every single version of Big Brother (including the American one, whose format is vastly different) has a live feed, and people DO watch.[/LIST]

Ok, I wanted to watch this year's BBAU, I downloaded it the first night etc. and have downloaded most episodes since, but never find the time to watch them. Literally, only a few days ago I watched episode 18 so yeah, just a bit behind...

Now, I was trying to avoid spoilers, at my current rate I may have just finished the series by next summer but after inadvertently coming across a spoiler telling me the results I wonder what is the point - What a godawful winner? He was the bitchiest, most unlikeable, most up himself housemate in there. What was Australia thinking??

Since I've watched the bare minimum, I have no clue who Ava and Sam are, but I'd rather they won. I liked Sarah, and Ray and Stacey. I'm really, really surprised at how early some people left the game.

This is why the Vote to Evict must return to the program alongside the vote to save. It gives each housemate a fair chance at staying, and prevents block voting from happening. As well, I loved the Vote to Win/Vote to Lose (technically still a Vote to Evict/Vote to Save) system used at the end of the season to determine the winner.

Vote to evict is terrible, any characters in the last series would have been evicted at the start. This has happened on many series in the past. The only way to avoid block voting in vote to evict OR save is to limit the number of votes per telephone line or isp address. One of the big weaknesses of Big Brother is producer manipulation to encourage more voting, the showing of the figures before the eviction (something they have done before) is an illustration of that. They should concentrate of getting money from advertising rather than manipulating those who vote.

It's back next year
http://www.bbspy.co.uk/cbb11/news/11...n-2013-on-nine

I always think that block voting should be banned! It does seem in BBUK or AUS, it comes down to who's willing to pay the dosh more than who may be the favourite. But they like making their money that way, so guess that's not going to change anyday soon.

I prefer vote to evict. I like the idea you can actually vote for the person you don't like. I think it's because I have issues with 'big characters' - normally they're pretty unbearable.

Layla & Sam still together
http://www.realityravings.com/2012/1...ll-macking-on/

First time i have watched the Oz version and thought it
was FANTASTICT!.
brilliantly put together and the housemate selection
was genius, literaly lol.
I'm glad Ben won, yes he could be bitchy and talk behind other house mates backs but they all did it, he just did it more so maybe he was being real more?
You have to remember his good side as well and he helped alot of the other house mates out with advice when they where down and thats how i shall remember him.
I'm just sad it's over as i watched everyday.
I have the USA version on file to watch but i dont think it can match the brilliance of the Australian show.
Big Brother Australia i shall miss you alot, i've laughed and cried for 80 odd days wayching you.