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[Fashion Zombies!]

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23713627-10229,00.html

THE new series of Big Brother will be its last, according to former contestants, as viewers turn off the once popular reality TV show.

Ratings for this year's series on Channel 10 are so dire that last Tuesday night's program was beaten by Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan delivering the Rudd Government's Budget on ABC TV.

These results follow Big Brother's disastrous launch two weeks ago, which drew a meagre national audience of 1.51 million.

It was the worst launch in the program's eight-year history.

The daily shows have fallen to as few as 852,000 viewers, with last Sunday's first eviction - which ousted UFO fanatic Saxon Pepper - just reaching the million mark.

In its heyday, Big Brother evictions would attract up to two million people. The 2004 winner, Trevor Butler, said the obvious public animosity towards the program could spell its end.

"This is their last shot. If they don't get the ratings they need this year - and, so far, they're not showing up - I don't think you'll see Big Brother again," Mr Butler said.

Reality television expert and Queensland University of Technology's Associate Professor of Film and Television Alan McKee said the departure of former host Gretel Killeen had damaged the show.

"What made it outstanding was that you always had Gretel Killeen there, who was the show's moral centre," he said.

"If you were watching it and somebody was behaving obnoxiously when they came out, you knew that Gretel would tear strips off them.

"Kyle and Jackie O just don't serve the same purpose. Jackie is quite limp and Kyle prides himself on being wrong - he will always say the wrong, obnoxious thing and hurt people."

Mr Butler pointed to the program's extreme casting as the key to its problems.

"They have got some far-out choices. It's clear they went for shock (value)," he said.

This year's housemates include Travis, a self-declared young virgin with a high-pitched voice; David, a former cult member; Terri, a 52-year-old outmoded grandmother; party boy Corey Worthington, and Rima, a 1m-tall bellydancer.

Rima has since left the house, after breaking her leg during a game.

Big Brother 2006 contestant Claire Madden agreed producers had gone too far with this year's casting.

"A quarter of the people in there you are unlikely to meet in a normal situation," she said.

"The consensus from the public - who still feel they need to tell me their opinion on everything to do with Big Brother - is that they want to see it stripped back to its natural form and the way it was in series one and two, when it was brilliant."

Last week, selected housemates were taken to a secluded area, dubbed "Bali".

A Big Brother source said this allowed producers to serve alcohol - which they can't, in the presence of 17-year-old Worthington - in the hope that it would lead to sexual activity between housemates and boost ratings.

Stephen Tate, Ten executive producer for Big Brother, laughed off suggestions that this would be the program's final season.

"In a fragmenting (TV) market, I think it's been a stellar performance," he said. "Every series tends to J-curve - they start high, fall away a little bit, then climb again towards the end."

Mr Tate said he was pleased with the casting.

"We wanted a house of extremes. The philosophy this year was about throwing a group of people together into the house who would not normally socialise with each other - so that they all faced challenges," he said.

"What we didn't want this year was a clique developing, which we've seen in previous years."

I was going to post this in the Corey thread, but he's out, so I thought may as well make a new topic.

Discuss. Are you happy after so many years of the same show with a new twist or two will be over? Or do you find this show hilarious to laugh at ignorant people who are making fools of themselves and don't know it, and will miss it?

[ilikebeeef]

I read that in the paper today. Anyways, to be honest, I actually don't really care if the show's on or not, I don't watch Big Brother.

[Lexii-]

I'm over Big Brother, I'd be more than happy to see it go.

[Bookworm.]

"Kyle and Jackie O just don't serve the same purpose. Jackie is quite limp and Kyle prides himself on being wrong - he will always say the wrong, obnoxious thing and hurt people."

Hmm. Those words are quite as emotive as I would have put them, but he seems to get the general idea.

Just take the stupid show off the air, and put on something else that I will regret not having the time to watch.

[Thaluikhain]

Ratings for this year's series on Channel 10 are so dire that last Tuesday night's program was beaten by Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan delivering the Rudd Government's Budget on ABC TV.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Naf]

Kyle and Jackie want the money. That's why they're there.

[ilikebeeef]

Kyle and Jackie want the money. That's why they're there.

And fame (for being in a crap show).

[Erubadhriel]

And fame (for being in a crap show).

they've had that for years.

kyle is a twat and jackie o is an airhead.

[Nick 2]

THIS MAN IS DANCING ON A GRAVE



THE GRAVE REPRESENTING BIG BROTHERS DEMISE AND THE DANCING OF COURSE REPRESENTS MY FEELINGS TOWARDS SAID DEMISE

[Invisible Friend.]

Oh I love his pants and shoes!
Seriously.

[eclectic]

This years big brother shows how desperate they're getting. I hope the ratings keep dropping for that show. I didnt think big brother could get worse ( eg Camilla and her turkey slap) but it does. The monkeys at Taronga Zoo are more entertaining.

[Thaluikhain]

This years big brother shows how desperate they're getting. I hope the ratings keep dropping for that show.

Wait...so if the ratings get worse, then they'll get even more desperate?  This may not be a good thing.

[Mez]

I was laughing for a while, but I'm starting to cringe now. 

What amazes me the most is the way Byle and Hackie cling to their ice-cream-cone microphones (or macrophones, in this case).  They get the guests to don the quiet, restrained mike gear, but they hide themselves behind their cone-'phones.  This is a big fat clue that they are well past their use-by date and ought to be humanely shot.

They are dense, tacky and clueless.

I always liked Gretel's take on things, though she did shit me a bit towards the end - and I've only watched BB twice before.

[Lexii-]

The monkeys at Taronga Zoo are more entertaining.

The monkeys at Taronga Zoo probably have more training/education than BB contestants.

[ilikebeeef]

Wait...so if the ratings get worse, then they'll get even more desperate?  This may not be a good thing.

Well it is quite amusing, the lengths to which they go to because they are so desperate.

The monkeys at Taronga Zoo probably have more training/education than BB contestants.

Haha yeah I think so too.