July 15, 2004
Ryan, MLS, BBBA & Today Tonight
As many of you probably know, tonight Josh from Behind Big Brother was on Today Tonight - erm - tonight actually, talking about the MLS t-shirt sales that are funding Ryan’s stay in the house. Here are my thoughts on the whole thing.
I’ve mentioned quite a few times on here that I don’t want Ryan to win Big Brother for quite a few reasons. At first, my reasoning was that I’m sick of predictable winners, and Ryan has been the favourite to win the competition since the word go.
After a while, the blatant favouritism by Big Brother towards Ryan became apparent and I thought “God, I don’t really want to give Southern Star\Endemol the ending they want simply because it’s meant to be my choice as a viewer who wins.”
I believe it was epicurus (ausculture.com commenter, not the Greek) who noted regarding this year’s ridiculously biased production that when the producers get overly involved in manipulating the way the show evolves over the season, the entire point behind the show is lost. The slogan used to be “You decide” but series four seems to have changed it to “Kris Noble decides”
But the straw that finally broke the camels back’s for me was the realisation that Ryan’s MLS shirts were being sold to fund his stay in the house. At first, it seems like a smart thing for his mates to do - as Ryan’s mum said on Today Tonight, “Good on them”.
Looking further into the issue, however, and it is revealed that the shirts are being sold at Dreamworld, where the Big Brother house is situated. Sounding slightly more dodgy? And they’re being sold because of their new popularity through Ryan wearing the t-shirts constantly in the Big Brother house, effectively advertising the shirts every weeknight to a huge audience. Dodgier. And then we come to the fact that housemates are discouraged from wearing (obviously) branded clothing, and one is forced to wonder - how can Big Brother producers allow one housemate to wear a brand of clothing in the house, sell the brand at the actual Dreamworld site, and use the money to fund his stay in the house? How is this possibly fair on the other housemates? Whether or not it’s breaking any “technical” rules of the house, it doesn’t sit well with me. Ideally, I’d love for it to be a waste of time for them with Ryan missing out on the million and someone who hasn’t had such a bankroll behind them winning.
How do we know all this stuff about the MLS shirts - indeed, how do we know about most of the production’s dirty laundry? It’s thanks to sites like Behind Big Brother.
It’s important to remember that Behind Big Brother is a fan site - it’s not obligated to report on the goings on in the house like the Official Site, it doesn’t have the resources of other media outlets (but gets the scoops regardless), and it is run by people who take time out of their daily lives to give fans an alternative to the propaganda packed Official Site.
Recently BBBA forum users argued over whether the site itself, after complaining about bias on the Official Site and in the editing of the show, was guilty of exactly the same thing after it launched a campaign to evict Ryan. Shortly afterwards, a moderator posted an article online claiming the Herald-Sun’s gossip column The Eye had plagiarised them after the paper published an opinion piece regarding Bree’s eviction and host Gretel Killeen’s “encouraging” of viewers to vote out the “boring” housemates which expressed similar thoughts as an article posted on BBBA earlier. Fans were divided as to whether “ego” had gotten in the way of Big Brother commentary.
The site isn’t perfect - hell, what website is? - but it’s an alternative and a pretty great one at that. The Official Site closed down it’s forums this year, leaving many fans without a place to talk about the show (and there I was thinking audience interaction and participation was a key element of the show?). Lucky then that BBBA provides a forum for it’s readers to chat and debate.
All in all, I think the MLS t-shirt controversy has highlighted the importance of fansites. Yes, BBBA makes mistakes. As does ausculture.com. As do most sites who don’t have the luxuries of time, money and resources to utilise while writing news and commentary. But let’s appreciate what we do have and thank our lucky stars that Big Brother and his team of lackeys aren’t able to pull the wool over our eyes - at least, not completely.
It’s been a disappointing year, and I don’t think the choice of housemates are to blame (at least, not completely). Big Brother has insulted its viewers through heavy handed editing, over-involvement (since when did Gretel tell us who we should vote for?) and an Official Site which is worth reading purely to study modern propaganda techniques. It’ll take a hell of a lot of work to repair the damage done this year, and I’m not entirely sure there’s enough time for them to it.
Posted by Jess at July 15, 2004 08:50 PM— Filed under Big Brother Bonanza 2004
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Big Brother Up Late
Is it just me, or were those two dudes on bb up late Thurday night as high as a kite? There was also sexual tension between the host and the two guys how host cheese tv. Please put my little my at rest and just say it was me! :)
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Well put, Jess.
Personally, I do not watch reality TV - with the singular exception of big brother. I would call myself a stalwart BB fan. It is a novel concept, and when done honestly I consider it good entertainment and a psychological microcosm of Australian society.
For the reasons you have summated above, as well as the increasing focus on negative character assassinations, I’ve somewhat reluctantly resigned to giving BB ‘the flick’ - or perhaps ‘the flush’ is more apropos. The remainder of this year is, to myself and my friends at least, only about seeing whether those rorting the BB system get their just desserts or not.
You can’t fool all of the people, all of the time, eh?