This is Outspoken. The podcast is not afraid to say exactly what you're thinking.
Our names are.
Amy Kate and Sophie Torbor. We're identical triplets, but we often don't have identical opinions, so sometimes things can get heated. Outspoken covers all things reality TV, influences, entertainment, and issues facing women.
That is so thatched.
Thank you, Welcome back to Outspoken Now. We are very excited today because we are finally getting to discuss Big Brother Now as Big Brother Tragics. We have been waiting six long years for its return, and it was pretty disappointing to be honest. Well, it's on a new network, it's got a new format, and everyone's talking about it,
but it seems everyone's talking about it for the wrong reasons. Yeah, I mean safe to say I was incredibly excited when we heard it was going to be airing, and you know, taking a trip down memory lane, you think of some of the housemates that came before, like Sarah Marie, even Sky Wheatley, Drew Tully, and the bar is set pretty high, and the contestants that we received on Monday were very,
very disappointing. Well, it really surprised me because I've been saying for a few weeks now that I was interested to see what the ratings were going to be, and I thought it might bomb, But actually it was the number one rating program in that time slot, so it outrated Master Chef. It got eight hundred and fifty three
thousand viewers. Do you think that's because everyone was hoping that it would be back like it normally was and we would be, you know, going back to this show that we loved growing up, and instead.
It's so different. It's the nostalgia of the show.
I mean, we all thought it was going to be the saving grace of this Lockdown slash Corona period, but it's just proven to be incredibly disappointing, and I do not think that it will hold the ratings it received on the first night. Well, it actually did pretty well in the ratings second night.
In really yeah, it was a number one rating.
It did drop by about I think it was about ten thousand, but it's still rating pretty well.
So I think people might be giving it a week because.
The first episode of reality shows is notoriously bad.
Did anyone else find it went for far too long?
So?
Oh, oh my gosh, yes, So obviously.
The opening night that went for about an hour and a half, which is expected because you're usually meeting all the contestants, but the second episode also went for an hour and a half. I don't have that amount of time to waste, as in, I watched the first episode and I wanted the hour and a half to two hours of my life back. Well. I used to like it because it was, you know, half an hour episode, sometimes a little bit longer, but you got your daily
intake of what was going on in the house. But now it seems like the episodes are bulked up because they're fitting like a couple of days into one episode. Can we start by talking about the absolute lack of hype surrounding the contestants arriving to meet Sonia. I mean, you think back to two thousand and one when Big Brother first came out and how crowds line the street
to get a glimpse of the first housemates. I understand this is prerecorded, but then don't have them arrive in front of the house with no one.
It just seems stupid.
It was very odd, I mean, but Sonya looked as if she was sort of cringing throughout the process. It was all very bizarre to watch. Yeah, it was very lackluster, and I found it really awkward when the footy guy I'm sorry, I can't even remember what his name's name is, Daniel Daniel rocked up and then started to have this awkward flirt with Sonya.
It was cringe. But then he also.
Drops that he's not going to get into any sort of romantic relationship in the house, and he's got someone waiting for him yet isn't he sort of linked to some other.
Blonde girl in the house next minute.
I think they're trying to create a storyline like they did with Lawson and Kat from Big Brother a number of years ago when he cheated on his girlfriend. So maybe they're kind of keeping that, keeping it interesting. I just mentioned that is a good point because we didn't see some of the other people arriving. Did you notice that some people were just tossed in the house, Like there's apparently a guy called Xavier in there, who he's just like the blonde guy in the background.
I hadn't seen him say.
Oh, Xavier, not Exavier, No, it's Xavier.
Yeah.
Well, I think the fact that we're know it's been pre recorded and it's been highly edited, suggests that the people that we're getting to know quite well are those that are going to stick around. That's, of course not to spoil it for anyone, but Alan, who got evicted, I actually thought he'd stick.
Around for a while.
He was actually my favorite because I thought, finally we've got someone who might actually shake things up in this house. Well, I think we should get into some of the changes regarding this season of Big Brother, And you did mention the very different style of housemates. What do you guys think because they are so different, Well, the initial bunch they put in the first episode are so different to
what we've seen in previous series. I definitely think that Big Brother hit the nail on the head with including a diverse cast and when we see a lot of different ethnicities, ages, sexual preferences. So I think that they were good in representing a wide range of people. Where I think that they went wrong though, is that there's a lot.
Of odd balls.
Yeah, in terms of the representation, which we've said are good. The disappointing thing is we don't get to hear any of their story. So can you imagine if Farmer Dave had gone in? Of course, he became famous because he actually came out as gay on Big Brother, which was such a big moment in reality TV history. And imagine if he had gone in there and then got voted out three days in and never got to.
Share a story.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like the intention of Big Brother is to actually well, is for us as a viewer, to get to know the contestants. It just seems to be all about strategy, which I hate. But then it's funny because they say it's all about strategy, but it actually seems like more of a popularity contest because the players like Kieran and Allen who actually tried to have some strategy everyone saw through and they got voted out or they got in trouble for wanting to strategize. Well,
that's the other huge change the rules of voting. So you know, back in the day, housemates put other housemates up previction, but now it's if you win a competition, you get to put up three housemates for eviction, and then the housemates decide who gets evicted rather than the public.
Do you guys like that style of voting? I'm assuming no.
Well, it's fairly obvious that the executive producer of Survivor has now come across to be the executive producer of Big Brother because a lot of people on Twitter have been calling this series a Big Brother as the backyard Survivor, which is I am not interested in seeing people do challenges,
especially people who we don't even know. I know there used to be Friday night games, but literally you could just not watch that if you weren't interested and you didn't lose out on anything that was going on in the house.
The thing about.
Friday night games, which was good was remember whoever won, they then had some huge booze up in the oh I love the piss up in a hideaway or whatever.
I know that's love Island, but whatever, it was, yeah and now.
And also with Friday night games, they were kind of funny games everyone can get behind.
But these just are boring, like.
People swinging and ice melting. We might as well been watching paint dry, because that's what it felt like watching a block of ice dry.
The only funny thing.
About that ice challenge though, sorry melts. The only funny thing about that ice challenge though, Did anyone else notice that it looked like when the guys were trying to get their flags out. It looked like they were having sort of a inappropriate motion.
In their hands. Big Brother on cut.
Yeah, it was a big Big Brother own cut for my liking. Well, it got pretty sick when Daniel tried to piss on the ice. I thought that was too far, So I actually thought that was something that was slightly exciting that happened.
What him getting his penis out, But at least it was entertaining.
We're going back to your question about the nominations. What I thought was so odd is the whole idea of Big Brother has been for people to cast a number of votes and actually give their reason as to why they don't want to live with these housemates. I mean, back in the day, there used to be an hour and a half long nomination session. Now people don't actually have to have a legitimate reason or they don't give a certain number of votes out.
Well, can you imagine.
If this voting style was back in the first series, Sarah Marie probably would have been voted out the first week. And it's giving housemates really trivial as you said, well not even excuses. But for example, if someone's snoring in the house, that's super entertaining. They can them out and we as viewers miss out, So we just are going
to see the people who were most pleasant to live with. Yeah, and I think what was interesting about the previous nomination process was that they were all secret, so no one was allowed to talk about who they were nominating, so people could actually then invest time into their friendship. And you could have given Daniel two votes for snoring and he probably wouldn't have been voted out if he was entertaining. But now it's like people are all I mean, I
suppose that's the point. They want people to turn on each other, but I do feel at the moment the house has got that cool kid vibe and it's like the King and the Queen of the House ruling it at the moment, and I don't really like that. But as you would, you touched on this new voting system, the inevitable result is the people who are annoying and interesting to watch they're just going to get rid of. So we're going to be left with some mediocre, plain boring people.
That's what happened with Alan.
It'll be really interesting to see how that affects Ian. So he was, of course the guy that's come in to make friends because he is a little bit socially awkward and I feel like he will be a favorite amongst Australia, but maybe some people will see that as a threat, or maybe he just doesn't have it in him to play the game. I feel quite sorry for him because when I saw his little intro tape, I just thought, is he just in there for people to snigger and laugh at?
I think he's an actor. I'm sorry.
I don't actually think that he would genuinely say those things, like the scene when they went to him looking at the fish.
I don't know.
It just all seemed a bit hammed up to me. Maybe not have a name for his squid. He's there hugging this plush toy squid. Yeah, it doesn't have a name and is the most imaginative name Sonya can come up with is squiddy. That's disappointing. Well, Bis, back to your point about actors. There has been a Daily Mail article which has come out accusing two of the housemates as being actors, and that's Xavier and Talia. I mean when they say secret actors, basically they have done acting before.
So who know, pretty obvious that people that are wanting to be in the limelight, are going to go on Big Brother for fame, and they might have acting experience. Can I just say, if these people are actually I would hope for a lot more entertainment than what is
being offered at the moment. Well, on the whole acting thing, what disappoints me the most about this series of Big Brother is the fact that it's pre recorded, because felt like there was an element of excitement, the fact that the house was going on while we were watching in that live element, and you actually felt like it was accountable, Like you could go on to the Big Brother website and there were literally people paid to write down everything
the contestants were saying, and you could of course check in with up late and you felt engaged. So you don't feel engaged because it's already been decided. I just feel like the whole series screams low budget, and you can see from Seven's perspective why they have been cautious. I mean, in my opinion, the house is a lot smaller than in previous years. See, I actually liked the house.
I thought it looked pretty cool. I just got a look time I was watching on my iPad, so it kind of looks like the villa they had on Love Island, Australia and Fiji Small and POxy. The other thing is you were talking about the excitement of having the crowd and it being in real time. I think back to yeah, the first the first few series, and there was that buzz of excitement. And also in the first year you knew that Channel ten had invested in Big Brother because they'd built an all purpose house.
It just had this real buzz about it.
The fact that it was tied in with was it dream World or whatever, Well I think that was a cool element. Because it's not filmed on the Gold Coast anymore. It's now in Manly. I don't know, it just it doesn't it's not the same.
But I felt like there.
Was something for everyone. I mean, as kids, you could go along to the live evictions and get dressed up in you know, your Pooh Bear pajamas and bunny Is to represent Sarah Marie. But now there's nothing, and I just feel like it's now just this really family friendly vibe. Before there was something for everyone with up Late or Uncut, you know, there were so many different elements to please everyone. And think back to the series that were really popular.
They all had massive twists.
I think it was either the second or third series they brought in the twins, the Logan Brothers. That was like, yeah, whenever they brought that in, and that was an amazing twist. And there's been mother and daughter maybe that was the second year, Crystal Dmerherst a really young mother and then
what was our twist this year? But the thing is with the twist, it's like all they've done is go back to basics but left out all the good parts because amy our twist was the fact that Kieran was asked to do a secret challenge on the first night. I've always had secrets, so that was so lame. It was literally like slapstick comedy. Oh, let's get him to
massage someone, Let's give them together a name. The whole thing is, though, everyone has been calling for more diversity in the house and so people can have those really interesting conversations that then spark the public to have conversations around the water cooler at work. I think what they should have had is each week a bit like how
they have the Math's dinner party. They should have a huge dinner party and people put in questions like, for instance, we could have questions about people's sexuality, the Black Lives Matter movement, things that are going to get people talking, and we're gonna hear lots of different opinions, different Australogy. Difficult for a commercial network to put themselves out like
that and air those sort of conversations. Podcast are so popular now because people want conversations that aren't edited, which something like up late actually could provide. I'd love to see some of them just sitting around talking about important issues. So that's the issue with having it all focused on
strategy and the game. We only are hearing conversations about who's voting who, and it's like I don't want to I literally want to sit and watch like I used to do with Christian Reggie, eating em and ms and talking shit. That's a big brother is I mean, I think the fact as well is it is. Even though
they've revented it, it is a very outdated concept. You think since the last episode aired, we've had shows like Love Island, We've had you know, Too Hot to Handle, recently, Maths, all these shows where people are filmed twenty four to seven and we get this fly on the wall look so We're kind of past the point of just watching people sit.
In the house, like there's got to be something else to it.
As you said, even Jeordie, sure, there was a full twenty four to seven feeling about that show you saw people having sex. It's literally not that I want to see that on TV. But as you said, there's nothing. It's just like, oh, I'm trying to vote you for living in a house. They've all just been living in our houses, locked away for months and months, and there's no tea bags.
Who care?
I actually do really like Angela though she's probably my favorite.
I like her too, But.
I'm just saying I could imagine that maybe being a topic in the first series A Big Brother. But as you said, really sorry, the first series was the best. It was the best series, but we were first introduced to reality TV and it was more entertaining just seeing people live in a house and having that experience of
fly on the wall. Now, as you said, we've seen Geordie show people having sex, We've seen Love Island, you know, huge relations but even like the twists on X on the Beach getting people's exes into course trouble, how are they trying to cause trouble what by getting rid of people's vices. That being said, though, just back to the casting of the show, I think it's fair to say that a lot of the people who were put in on the first episode, you could describe them as a
little bit of misfits. See Ian and Kieran's a bit of a misfit, which is obviously great to see, but then isn't well. I feel like they add something to it, but I almost feel like there's too many misfits. I feel like that was almost the twist everyone was expecting, you know, the girl who wants the Instagram followers to come into the house, and now they've put in some sort of more typical hotties. They've got the male model, and they've got the you know, the blonde girl that is apparently going.
To hook up PA's not blonde's brunette or whatever.
Can I just say I love Garth I think it is who is the flamboyant guy with the flower on his shirt. He actually won the challenge, which was amazing. He is just wonderful. I really would like to see him win. But that's, you know, two episodes in. I think another point is the reason that the previous series of Big Brother didn't rate very well. Is we didn't
see enough of the housemates. Yeah, so that was a series when they got rid of up Late and they got rid of I think Friday night games and also uncut, and it literally was just a really edited I mean not anywhere you're as edited as this pre recorded version is. But it was just very half an hour and that's it. I would have thought Channel seven would have really been trying to push viewers to their back channel seven plus, and in doing so would have had something like up Late.
I know they can't have that obviously because it's not live, but have something ad it.
Do you know what? Though?
They could have had up Late, do you know? Because the worst thing when you chuned into uplate was when the housemates were asleep. Do you guys remember that?
You're like, oh no.
But what they could have done is they've got all of the tapes apparently of the whole night. Why don't they take highlights and do Uplate from that.
Night actually show quality stuff? I suppose the whole.
Edited fact though, because you don't want it to feel edited, you just want it to be a live stream. But they could just live stream an actual exciting conversation. Do you think they got rid of the live element because you know when Big Brother kind of turned bad when the Turkey slap incident happened. Do you think that's why they've kind of tried to make it.
I think so.
I think they definitely face lots of troubles with just live streaming the house because I remember on certain occasions people would swear or say inappropriate things. Do you know what the thing is is that no networks are willing to take a risk on a show that doesn't actually suit all of the demographics or fit.
In with them.
So it's ultra family friendly because Channel seven are playing it safe and it's actually working for them at the moment. Well, I feel like in this day and age, when people are very woke and aware of things, that one wrong thing said really could shut the whole show down.
That's what I thought that.
They had Laura in there for the feminists. I read her profile and it said that she stands up for herself and loves to have arguments, and then we get rid of her the first night. There are a lot of important conversations that could have been aired from her point of view, but they're not even going to air them. They're just going to, Oh, I'm going to vote for this person.
How old is that going to get?
In terms of the over editing, what does everyone think of the music, because that's really a motive and that's something that we saw that shows like The Bachelor using to give people different impressions of different characters, and I feel like that's quite a dangerous element that's now been added to the show. I found the music extremely over the top, the point where I was like, I cannot
actually watch this. This is so ridiculous. And they were also bringing out the really dramatic music when nothing dramatic was happening to be like ohh, and they've got rid of the theme song that we all love of Big Brother. I know there might be contractual agreements with using that theme song, but they's thought I love about it. I think if you've brought the Big Brother brand, you'd get the theme song. We're talking about the Big Brother brand. Big Brother's voice is completely different.
I hate it. It sounds almost really creep like I've been watching you.
Yeah, as Ian said it was quite seductive or something, which was a weird thing for him to say anyway, But yeah, I'm not a fan. I do love the og voice. And where is Mike Goldman? Because we were promised he would be a part of the production and he's meant to be coming back and hosting some sort of back show where they just chat and everything.
So I don't know when one's coming.
Maybe they'll be doing interviews with those that have been voted off, but they were voted off like two months ago, so really are they going to remember that much about their three days in the house.
Do you know what I find interesting though?
Going back to the voices on the old school Big Brother, do you remember when something was clearly shot at night, when the proper Big Brother wasn't there and there was like a secondary voice. I wonder if there will be a secondary voice in this, it'll show if it is just really edited and they've always got him there when they're trying to manipulate a situation, I'll just dub it. They'll just put Big Brother's dub voice over the top.
One other thing that I'm going to miss about this new series is the fact that they don't seem to be having those weekly tasks. You know, sometimes they would send babies in or they'd have to stay up all night and watch something or that.
That's what brought all the group together.
Remember in the first series when they had the fire pit and there was that controversy because there are a certain number of people were supposed to stay around the pit and Sarah Marie accidentally left. Yeah, we're talking about ways this show could have been better though this series.
You know what I would have done.
I would have taken the element of I'm a celebrity, get me out of here, and actually, well, the element of having the celebrities in the house and either chosen really well know people to be in the Big Brother House, or chosen previous favorite contestants of Big.
Brother, like what Master Chef have done.
Yeah, like bring back Sarah Marie Blair, have Sky.
Wheatley and then just have it as the normal format. How much better would that be?
Or even just big YouTube stars and influencers, like people with some sort of following. I suppose that would have been like the z great celebrities that were they were chosen. Can you imagine Michael Finch and Johnie grummand in the house.
I'd watched that.
I mean, at least we can know that people like Kieren and Ian perhaps aren't just after Instagram followers, and I don't quite know what they are. I experience maybe poor Ian's just after friends, not like fake followers. Was anyone else shocked that Kieran was twenty one? Oh my gosh, I thought he was so much older. Really, yeah, because they said he'd be driving on his ls for three years, and then I was like, hang on, how old is he? And then He's like, oh, yeah, I think I'm the
youngest contestant. I'm twenty one, And I was like, what did anyone else feel like there was a bit of a bullying vibe towards him, Like I thought some of the contestants were bring pretty awful, saying that he was a dead mouse in the house and not bothering to get to know him.
I don't know. I found him quite annoying.
To be honest, He's probably a really nice guy, but in terms of the snippets and highly edited material we saw, I feel like he do my head and if I was in the house. So is anyone going to continue watching? Because even though we've kind of just completely canned it, I probably will give it more of a chance to see how it evolved. I actually found in the second
episode a lot better than the first. Do you know what if they bring up Bachelor in Paradise and it's at the same time, I don't think I'll have time to watch both, and I'll probably choose Bachelor in Paradise over Big Brother.
But I want to.
Give it some more time to see if it does get any better. I do like the preview we saw last night of the new housemates coming in and the King and Queen aka Talia and Daniel getting.
Quite upset about it.
I feel like there's a lot of territorial behavior going on that could be quite interesting. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Tylier at this stage. I found her a little bit clicky and a bit ridiculous that she was going off about the fact that they were originals. Honey, you've been there for like two days. Anyway, it was a lot to unpack. I am disappointed that we weren't happier with it, but I think you've got to give
it a couple more episodes. You know what, I'd be highly disappointed if I had signed up for Big Brother this year.
I would just not want to go, and I would never do that.
So no, but back in the day. I would have loved to have been a big brother. I thought it would be so cool, except for the whole having to go to the toilet in front of cameras and showering nude or whatever. Oh open showers. This year they haven't really made that a big thing. But they did have Garth I think his name is. He was the intruder. I was talking about that.
I love.
He had to sneak out because they were trying not to be seen by the housemates, and they showed him winging like you know, obviously with a booth around him, but.
You could hear the noise. I say. I was gonna say, do you be really bad?
Like back in the day, you know, and they used to have the people writing down every word they said the editor or sorry produces.
I was thinking, you could not get away with doing a secret fart.
Could you, because you think people write it down. No, but like as in people, we'd hear it. You're micd up twenty four seven people are writing everything people say, your whole twenty four hours being monitored. I was thinking, you couldn't even go away to the toilet.
How is that different this year? But I just was thinking how horrifying. Do you know what, I'm sure everyone's doing it.
Do you know what they didn't have this year was the walk through of the house. You know when Gretel or Sonya used to throw all the different areas.
Here's the camera. I loved that.
Talking about hosts, what do you guys think if Sonya compared to Gretel Because I'm an og Gretel Colleen fan. Oh my god, sorry, I have to butt in that Marissa the sixty year old in there. Someone in our group has pointed this out. She looks like Gretel Colleen with a blonde wig on. Yes, I actually from our groups. I actually saw a screenshot of and I was like, when did Gretel go in? And then I was like, oh,
that's her. She seems pretty cool. I love the in her addition, she was asking about her hair, dryer and makeup like that would be me. Just back to what people are bringing in. How the hell did Ian fit everything in that backpack? And then he brought that massive squidness and then all the presents for everyone that were like rocks that no one would want. I mean, really, he's just going to be wearing different shirts and shorts there's not that much for a man to bring in.
I wouldn't think you'd be very high maintenance. Just quickly back to the hosts, what what do you guys think? Oh, there's no comparison. I mean, oh, sorry, I forgot to add that Kyle and Jackie O were also hosted. Well, let's forget about them. Gretel Colleen. They should have brought her back. She was amazing. Sonya is not too bad.
She's definitely better than Kyle and Jackie. Oh. Oh, I actually thought Sonya's been quite good because when she has a little interviews with their whilst they're waiting to be evicted, she seemed to ask the difficult questions. Do you know what I loved when Gretel Colleen was on because she'd always sort of ask really cheeky questions.
And does everyone remember.
She actually hooked up with that really young guy Saxon. Yeah, has that blonde hottie that was in the house. Oh, she's just such a good host. I mean, remember when was it Marlon came out and he did the protest for the refugee That was pretty amazing for the time, and she was just so good. It would have been so hard to do that whole interview with someone refusing to speak for something over their mouth, but she did a great job of it. She was very professional. Well
that's probably all we've got time for. But we will be talking more about Big Brother and any other reality shows that up in our Facebook group, So come over there and join in the nightly threads we'll be having because we'd love to hear your thoughts. I mean, I might not be as vocal because I may give it a miss soon, but.
We'll see how we will push through.
Thank you very much for listening and indulging our Big Brother love and if you did enjoy hate and if you did enjoy the podcast, we'd really love if you could leave us a review because it really does help us out.
Thank you so much,