| Season Number: | 9 | ||||||||||
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| Network: | Nine Network |
Big Brother Australia 2012, also known as Big Brother 9, was the ninth season of the Australian reality television series Big Brother. It was the first to air on the Nine Network who signed a deal with Southern Star Group in September 2011 to broadcast the show.[1] The season began with a pre-recorded launch show on 13 August 2012.[2] [3] [4] Benjamin Norris was announced the winner of the ninth season on 7 November 2012, making him the first openly gay person to win Big Brother Australia. Benjamin proposed to his boyfriend, also named Ben, during the show's finale.[5]
This season introduced Sonia Kruger as the new host of Big Brother. Mike Goldman continued his role of providing voice over narration for the show.[6] The production was based at the same compound, located within the Dreamworld theme park, that had been used in all previous series of Big Brother Australia. This season also use some of the game mechanics from the Secret Story franchise.
After four years off air, the Nine Network confirmed on 9 September 2011 that they had signed a contract with Southern Star Group to air the series in 2012; the first time a broadcaster other than Network Ten has broadcast the show in Australia. In September 2011, when the location of the Big Brother compound had not yet been officially confirmed, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh stated that she would do everything possible to see the show return to the Gold Coast.[7] A spokesperson from Dreamworld, the original home of Big Brother, stated on 21 September 2011 that nothing was locked in but that the theme park would welcome the return of the show.[8] In December 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported that Fox Studios Australia and Warner Bros. Movie World had also expressed interest.[9] [10] In an interview ahead of the season launch, Kruger suggested that Big Brother would be family friendly and air at 7.00 pm.[11]
Several days after the news Big Brother was to return, Southern Star Group announced on their casting website that they would be accepting pre-audition applications for people who were interested in participating on the season.[12] The official Facebook page for the show, as directed to by the Southern Star website, was opened on 15 September 2011.[13] On 22 February 2012, it was officially announced that Big Brother would return to Dreamworld in 2012.[14] Auditions began on 15 March, and took place in all major capital cities, as well as Gold Coast, in April and May 2012.[15] More than twenty thousand people applied to be on the ninth season.[16] The Official Big Brother Australia website reported that 14 housemates would be entering the house after going into lockdown on 4 August.[17]
Big Brother Australia is based on the international Big Brother series produced by Endemol in the Netherlands which began in 1999. The show's name comes from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which revolves around a dystopia in which dictator Big Brother is the all-seeing leader. The series generally constitutes 14 or more contestants who live in an isolated house for several months. Housemates are at all times under the control of Big Brother, a rule enforcing authority figure who monitors behaviour of the housemates, sets tasks and punishments and provides the mechanism for contestants to make external requests. Each week, the housemates will cast votes to nominate two other housemates for eviction using five nomination points inside the Nominations Room. These points can be allocated however a housemate wishes (either 4 points to one housemate and 1 point to another; or 3 points to one and 2 points to another). Housemates are not permitted to discuss nominations. The three (or more in the case of a tie) housemates with the most nomination votes will be nominated. The viewers will then decide which of the nominees is evicted. This process continues until only one housemate remains to win the grand prize of $250,000.
This season each of the original fourteen housemates entered with a secret. The task in the first week was for the female housemates to match up the male housemates with their secrets.[18] The secrets were that: one has the IQ of a genius (Michael), one became scared of birds after an emu attack (Bradley), one has been fired from every job he's ever had (Benjamin), one hasn't had a girlfriend since he was 11 (Ryan), one was a juvenile offender (Ray), one has dated more than 100 women (Josh), and one is a multimillionaire (George).[19] The following week the girl's secrets were revealed for the male members of the house to solve. The secrets were that: one had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Charne), one was a champion weightlifter (Angie), one is a high school dropout (Estelle), one was a nude protester (Sarah), one used to be an emo (Zoe), one was a hand model (Stacey) and that one is a member of a royal family (Layla).[20]
The purpose-built house was located at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, Australia.
Rooms/Areas in the house included:
The house contained rolling cameras hidden behind one-way mirrors which had been situated around the house walls. This was done so that camera operators did not roll cameras around the house.
On launch night, ten housemates (seven women and three men) entered the house on Day 0. The seven women first entered through a room called the parlour for a secret task, but later entered the house. Two more male housemates entered the house on Day 2, two via a live special, and two more revealed on the next day's show. After Week 5's and Week 6's nominations, a female and male intruder entered the house. Ava entered on Day 29, and Sam entered on Day 36. Unlike the original fourteen housemates, no intruders are keeping a secret in the house.
| Name | Age on entry | Hometown | Secret | Day entered | Day exited | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Norris | 32 | Victoria | "I have been fired from every job I've had" | 3 | 87 | ||
| Layla Subritzky | 24 | Brisbane/Hambleton, England | "I am a member of a royal family" | 0 | 87 | ||
| Estelle Landy | 24 | Morwell, Victoria | "I was a high-school drop out" | 0 | 87 | ||
| Michael Beveridge | 26 | Brisbane/Wollongong | "I have the IQ of a genius" | 0 | 85 | ||
| Zoe Westgarth | 23 | New South Wales | "I used to be an emo" | 0 | 85 | ||
| Sam Wallace | 21 | Gold Coast/ Tamworth, New South Wales | 36 | 84 | |||
| Stacey Wren | 24 | Sydney | "I was a hand model" | 0 | 77 | ||
| Angela "Angie" Murray | 21 | Gold Coast | "I was a champion weight lifter" | 0 | 70 | ||
| Josh Moore | 28 | South Australia | "I have dated over 100 women" | 0 | 60 | ||
| Bradley Darke | 19 | Coraki | "I have Ornithophobia as the result of an emu attack" | 0 | 56 | ||
| Ava David | 29 | Victoria | 29 | 51 | |||
| George Baramily | 25 | Western Australia | "I am a multi-millionaire" | 2 | 42 | ||
| Ray Baxter | 25 | Brisbane | "I was a juvenile offender" | 3 | 35 | ||
| Sarah Wentworth-Perry | 30 | Wagga Wagga | "I was a nude protester" | 0 | 28 | ||
| Ryan Buckingham | 22 | Victoria | "I haven't had a girlfriend since I was 11" | 2 | 21 | ||
| Charne Louise | 31 | Gold Coast | "I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" | 0 | 14 |
| Week 1 | Major events |
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| Week 2 | Group task |
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| Week 3 | Group task |
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| Week 4 | Group task |
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| Week 5 | Major events |
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| Group task |
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| Week 6 | Major events |
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| Week 7 | Major events |
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| Group task |
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| Week 8 | Group task |
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| Week 9 | Major events |
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| Week 10 | Group task |
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| Week 11 | Group task |
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| Week 12 | Major events |
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| Week 13 | Evictions |
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On Day 59, Josh was called to the Captains Quarters, where he was taken out of the house to see his parents. They told him of the sudden death of his only sibling, Toby. Josh spent the night outside of the house, where he made the decision to stay with his family and not return to the house.On Day 60, housemates were informed of the situation, and said their goodbyes in the early hours of Day 60. Out of respect for Josh and his family, Big Brother turned the cameras off for these goodbyes. As a result of Josh leaving, voting lines for eviction were closed—with any votes cast prior being invalidated—and the funds donated to the Salvation Army; a choice by Josh and his family. Also, the weekly challenge was ended prematurely and live feeds from the official website were paused. The upcoming eviction was also canceled, instead replaced with Josh's return to say thank you to the public for their support which was followed by the routinely used 'highlights' show.
This series, housemates were allowed to distribute five nomination points between their two nominations, with a maximum of four points to be allocated to one housemate. The three or more housemates with the most votes face the public vote to save. In addition, nominations are now held in a sound-proof chamber inside a Nominations Room, as opposed to the Diary Room.
From Week 4 to Week 11, the Nominations Super Power was as a weekly twist to nominations. It was a special secret power given to a chosen housemate by a previous week's evictee. The Nominations Super Power gives an advantage to one housemate for nominations in a given week. The most recent evictee decides on which housemate they would like to have the power, without knowing what that power is.
Note: The housemate holding the superpower, each week it was in play, is marked in green.
| Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Nomination points received | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 85 | Finale | |||||||||||||||||
| Benjamin | 4-Layla 1-Angie | 3-Ryan 2-Bradley | 1-Angie | 1-Josh 4-Angie | 4-Sam 1-Angie | 4-Sam 1-Angie | 4-Layla 1-Zoe | 4-Sam 1-Layla | No nominations | No nominations | Winner (Day 87) | 44 | ||||||
| Layla | 3-Estelle 2-Charne | 3-Ryan 2-Benjamin | 4-Bradley 1-Ray | 4-Estelle 1-Bradley | 4-Estelle 1-Bradley | 6-Estelle | 4-Bradley 1-Angie | 3-Angie 2-Estelle | 3-Benjamin 2-Stacey | 3-Stacey | No nominations | No nominations | (Day 87) | 37 | ||||
| Estelle | 3-Layla 2-Stacey | 4-Sarah 1-Angie | 3-Stacey 2-Zoe | 3-Angie 2-Bradley | 2-Angie 3-Stacey | 2-Michael 3-Bradley | 3-Stacey 2-Michael | 1-Michael | No nominations | No nominations | Evicted (Day 87) | 89 | ||||||
| Michael | 4-Charne 1-Estelle | 3-Ray 2-Ryan | 4-Ray 1-Bradley | 3-Ray 2-Estelle | 4-George 1-Estelle | 4-Ava 1-Estelle | 2-Sam 3-Estelle | 2-Estelle 3-Sam | 3-Zoe 2-Layla | 4-Estelle 1-Layla | No nominations | No nominations | Evicted (Day 85) | 30 | ||||
| Zoe | 4-Estelle 1-Sarah | 3-Bradley 2-Ryan | 3-Ray 2-Estelle | 3-Estelle 2-Ray | 3-Bradley 2-Angie | 2-Ava 3-Angie | 3-Michael 2-Sam | 3-Angie 2-Sam | 3-Stacey 2-Layla | 4-Stacey 1-Sam | No nominations | No nominations | Evicted (Day 85) | 20 | ||||
| Sam | Not In House | Exempt | 4-Josh 1-Stacey | 2-Zoe | 4-Benjamin 1-Stacey | No nominations | Evicted (Day 84) | 29 | ||||||||||
| Stacey | 3-Charne 2-Estelle | 3-Bradley 2-Ray | 3-Ray 2-Bradley | 3-Ray 2-Angie | 3-Bradley 2-Estelle | 3-Michael 2-Angie | 3-Bradley 2-Josh | 3-Sam 2-Estelle | 3-Layla 2-Michael | 4-Estelle 1-Sam | Evicted (Day 77) | 37 | ||||||
| Angie | 4-Ray 1-Estelle | 3-Estelle 2-Ray | 3-Estelle 2-Bradley | 3-Estelle 2-Ava | 3-Sam 2-Bradley | 3-Michael 2-Estelle | 3-Zoe 2-Layla | Evicted (Day 70) | 61 | |||||||||
| Josh | 3-Charne 2-Sarah | 3-Ryan 2-George | 4-Estelle 1-Layla | 3-Ray 2-Bradley | 3-Estelle 2-George | 3-Estelle 2-Angie | 4-Angie 1-Stacey | 5-Angie 3-Layla | Walked (Day 60) | 8 | ||||||||
| Bradley | 4-Charne 1-Zoe | 3-Benjamin 2-Ryan | 4-Sarah 1-Michael | 2-Stacey | 4-Estelle 1-Stacey | 2-Zoe | 4-Layla 1-Michael | Evicted (Day 56) | 67 | |||||||||
| Ava | Not In House | Exempt | 3-Bradley 2-Stacey | Evicted (Day 51) | 8 | |||||||||||||
| George | 3-Angie 2-Layla | 1-Ryan | 3-Sarah 2-Bradley | 3-Angie 2-Bradley | Evicted (Day 42) | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Ray | 4-Charne 1-Estelle | 4-Benjamin 1-Bradley | 4-Angie 1-Sarah | Evicted (Day 35) | 36 | |||||||||||||
| Sarah | 3-Angie 2-Layla | 4-Michael 1-Josh | 2-Angie | Evicted (Day 28) | 15 | |||||||||||||
| Ryan | 4-Stacey 1-Layla | 4-Bradley 1-Benjamin | Evicted (Day 21) | 16 | ||||||||||||||
| Charne | 3-Zoe 2-Stacey | Evicted (Day 14) | 22 | |||||||||||||||
| Notes | 1 | 2 | None | 3, 4 | None | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Nominations Super Power | none | Estelle | Benjamin | George | Layla | Estelle | Josh | Michael | Layla | none | ||||||||
| Nominated For Eviction | Charne, Estelle, Layla | Benjamin, Bradley, Ryan | Bradley, Ray, Sarah | Angie, Estelle, Ray | Bradley, Estelle, George | Angie, Ava, Estelle | Angie, Bradley, Michael, Sam | Angie, Estelle, Sam | Angie, Benjamin, Estelle, Layla, Sam, Zoe | Benjamin, Estelle, Stacey | Benjamin, Estelle, Layla, Michael, Sam, Zoe | Benjamin, Estelle, Layla, Michael, Zoe | Benjamin, Estelle, Layla | |||||
| Walked | none | Josh | none | |||||||||||||||
| Evicted | Charne 24% to save | Ryan 32% to save | Sarah 18% to save | Ray 26% to save | George 30% to save | Ava 14% to save | Bradley 14% to save | Eviction cancelled | Angie 10.6% to save | Stacey 24% to save | Sam 7% to win | Zoe 14% to win | Estelle 29% to win | |||||
| Michael 16% to win | Layla 31% to win | |||||||||||||||||
| Saved | Estelle 27% Layla 49% | Benjamin 33% Bradley 35% | Bradley 32% Ray 50% | Estelle 29% Angie 45% | Bradley 31% Estelle 39% | Estelle 38% Angie 48% | Angie 19% Sam 21% Michael 46% | Sam 11.4% Zoe 15.5% Estelle 20.1% Benjamin 20.8% Layla 21.6% | Benjamin 30% Estelle 46% | Zoe 15% Michael 16% Layla 18% Benjamin 20% Estelle 24% | ?? 23% ?? 23% ?? 24% | Benjamin 40% to win | ||||||
The female housemates were set a secret task to potentially earn immunity for the second week. They had to match up the seven given secrets to the seven male housemates who entered the house throughout the week. If all seven secrets were correctly matched to the correct male, all the female housemates would be immune. The females failed to match up the secrets, and therefore were the only ones who could be nominated in Week 2.
Right after the reveal of the males' secrets, the male housemates were set a secret task to potentially earn immunity for the third week. They were to match up seven given secrets to the seven female housemates throughout the week. If all seven secrets were correctly matched to the correct female, all the male housemates would be immune for the second straight week. On the night of the first live eviction, the males failed the task, making the females immune for the third week in the Big Brother house.
Because of scheduling conflicts with the network's airing of the NRL Grand Final, Week 7's eviction took place on Day 51 instead of Day 49.
This week's nominations contained a compulsory strategic vote, in which one nomination from each housemate had to be for strategic reasons. In addition, Big Brother set a new rule: housemates were no longer allowed to cover their mouths while in the Chamber; Big Brother would force them to open the Chamber door and state their nominations for everyone to hear if this rule was broken.
Josh left the Big Brother House on Day 60 due to a personal emergency. After his departure, voting lines were terminated – with the funds from the votes going to a charity of Josh's choice – and the eviction was cancelled. The eviction was replaced with a live special celebrating Josh's time in the House. The Housemates nominated for the cancelled eviction (Angie, Estelle and Sam) remained nominated for the next eviction, with a new round of Nomination Voting adding at least three more nominees for eviction (between Michael, Benjamin, Zoe, Stacey and Layla).
Week 11's nominations were the final nominations of the season. However, friends and family of the housemates – who entered the house as part of the "Open House" task – would perform the second nomination, nominating with one point, whereas the housemate themselves (apart from Layla, per her Nomination Super Power) had to nominate one housemate for four points. They were separated during the nominations process, with the relatives sitting in the lounge and called into the nominations room (and chamber) after their housemate had voted. Housemates sat in the nominations room as normal and were instructed to "ignore" their loved one for their weekly shopping task.
Following Week 11's eviction on Day 77, the public began voting for the winner. On Day 84, the lines froze for a vote reading; Sam was evicted, having garnered the fewest votes to win. Big Brother revealed the percentage of "win" votes each housemate garnered so as to give viewers a hint as to who may win and who may be evicted next. On Day 85, the season's first and only double eviction took place; Zoe and Michael were evicted, having garnered the fewest votes to win.
Throughout the series, some of the shows aired as specials; apart from the launch, daily shows, nomination shows, eviction shows, and the final.
"Live Special" was a live daily show that was broadcast on Day 2 in which the final four male housemates entered the House. Two were revealed live (George and Ryan), and two were revealed on the next day's daily show.
A second Live Special was broadcast on Day 63 to replace what was supposed to be the eighth eviction of the season, but was cancelled due to the sudden departure of housemate Josh on Day 60. Along with the regular highlights from the past few days, there was also clips reminiscing about Josh's time in the house.
"The New Housemates" was a live daily show that was broadcast on Day 3
"Secrets Revealed Live" was a live show that was broadcast on Day 7. The parlour twist was revealed to all the housemates, and the female housemates had to correctly match all the males' secrets without failing four times. The females failed to match the final secrets belonging to Benjamin and George, and so the females were to risk being nominated for Week 2. After the task, the male housemates were set the same task for the new week, and began to evaluate the females' secrets in the renovated parlour called the man cave.
The "4th Live Nominations" was the nomination and intruder special that was broadcast on Day 29.
"Intruder Incoming" was a live daily show that was broadcast on Day 37
"Live Josh Special" was a live special where instead of an eviction that was broadcast on Day 63.
"Big Brother's Little Sister" were two special episodes broadcast on Day 65 and 79 where Big Brother's "Little Sister" asked the housemates questions sent in by the viewers.[21]
"Big Secrets" was a live daily show that was broadcast on Day 78
The launch ratings for this season were up significantly from 2008 as the opening night show reached 2.1 million viewers at its peak and averaged at 1.6 million viewers, the franchise's highest ratings since the 2003 series.[22]
| scope=col colspan=13 | Viewers (millions) 5-City Metro | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | |||||||||||||||
| Sunday | style=background:#CCCCCC rowspan=2 | 0.23 | 1.30 | 1.00 | 1.09 | 1.05 | 1.05 | style=background:#CCCCCC colspan=1 rowspan=2 | 0.99 | 0.94 | 0.98 | 0.97 | 0.95 | ||||||||||||||
| 1.42 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday | 1.71 | 1.29 | 1.16 | 1.05 | 1.02 | 1.06 | 0.97 | 0.99 | 0.90 | 0.94 | 0.94 | 1.13 | 1.06 | ||||||||||||||
| 1.26 | 1.15 | 1.06 | 1.09 | 1.02 | 1.02 | 1.02 | 1.02 | 1.07 | 1.16 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday | 1.41 | 1.10 | 1.12 | 1.02 | 1.13 | 1.07 | 1.05 | 1.06 | 0.99 | 1.00 | 0.96 | 0.94 | 1.00 | ||||||||||||||
| Wednesday | 1.22 | 1.09 | 1.16 | 1.09 | 1.01 | 1.04 | 1.07 | 1.03 | 0.95 | 0.96 | 0.95 | 0.85 | 1.30 | ||||||||||||||
| 1.15 | 1.39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1.58 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday | 1.06 | 1.12 | 1.10 | 1.03 | 0.98 | 0.94 | 0.90 | 0.85 | 0.98 | 0.86 | 0.88 | 0.99 | style=background:#CCCCCC rowspan=2 | ||||||||||||||
| Friday | 0.90 | 0.97 | 0.87 | 0.82 | 0.82 | 0.86 | 0.87 | 0.86 | 0.92 | 0.76 | 0.71 | 0.76 | |||||||||||||||
| Weekly average | 1.26 | 1.18 | 1.12 | 1.01 | 1.02 | 1.00 | 0.99 | 0.99 | 0.96 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 0.94 | 1.21 | ||||||||||||||
| Running average | 1.26 | 1.22 | 1.19 | 1.14 | 1.12 | 1.11 | 1.08 | 1.07 | 1.06 | 1.05 | 1.04 | 1.03 | 1.04 | ||||||||||||||
| Series average | 1.04m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ratings are rounded to the nearest ten thousand. Shows on GO! are not included in official averages. Figures in bold include consolidated viewing figures.