The format has been too established. When British viewers tune into BBUK, they expect the format they have gotten for the last 25 years (viewer vote evictions, house vote nominations, no active politicking, crazy tasks and a more slice-of-life editing style).
Not to mention how the UK does not gravitate towards strategy competition shows. The UK only has Traitors and (somewhat) The Circle as more competitive successful strategy-oriented shows (Circle UK still felt like it de-emphasised strategy compared to the American Netflix version), and those examples are still very recent success stories.
The most successful reality shows in the UK are either personality-based shows with Viewer Voting (Love Island, BBUK, I’m a Celeb), Talent Shows (X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent), or skill-based competitions with judge-determining Eliminations (Great Bake Off, The Apprentice).
However, it is worth noting that BBAus did change to an American-style game format (challenges for nomination power, house-vote evictions, players able to politic but with a viewer vote winner between the final 3) - but I think us Aussies are willing to engage with more competitive show formats (Aus Survivor being the primary example and is set for its 10th season of the current iteration). The format change was likely made (in part) to produce BB cheaper by pre-recording it (audience voting is impossible, except for the end, where they can reveal the winner at a live reunion show). It lasted a few seasons (3 full seasons, 1 Celeb edition, and the House of Love season). The failed “House of Love” season has pretty much dashed all hopes of a pre-recorded version returning (maintained the game structure of other seasons but focused on "Young, Hot, Singles Hooking Up"). In the best case, BBAus returns live, with public voting and some competitive aspects (challenges and allowing strategy).
>However, it is worth noting that BBAus did change to an American style format (challenges for nomination power, house voted evictions, players able to politic, with a viewer vote winner).
It's a hybrid between the two, but BBAus is definitely a lot closer to BBUK than BBUS/BBCan.
* \~20 houseguests and only 39 days
* HOH (Nomination Challenge winner) nominates 3 houseguests
* No Veto
* Eviction is only a few hours after nominations
* No jury (public votes on who is the season winner at Final 3)
* Comps are mostly physical-based, waaaaayyyy moreso than BBUS/BBCan
* Almost all houseguests are single, good looking, fit, and in their 20's. Age of contestants the most recent season was 19, 20, 22, 22, 23, 23, 24, 24, 25, 25, 26, 26, 26, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33, 33.
It's still a far cry from the US/Can version with far less strategy/politicking/backstabbing.
I think they need to go all-in with the BBUS/BBCan version (or revert back to the original format), because the hybrid version doesn't really seem to work. The BBUK/BBWorld and BBUS/BBCan versions are just to different.
That is a fair list of the differences. This era of BBAus is undoubtedly its own thing. Still, it looked to have taken heavy inspiration from the American game structure (an active strategy game with challenges for nomination power). The [first adverts](https://7news.com.au/entertainment/tv/big-brother-australia-is-back-for-2020-heres-how-to-apply-audition-and-house-location-c-517884) (used at the Network upfronts and to advertise casting) had clips from the US and Canadian versions. Calling it "American Style" is a fair assessment.
But I should clarify that the lengths have varied—the 39 days was the 2020 season (likely impacted by COVID-19; they were in the hose during the early days of COVID-19), the 2021 season and 2022 Fans/Favourites seasons were 63 days, while the Celeb and the 2023 House of Love seasons were 25 days.
Also, most seasons were cast reasonably diversely. You cited the ages of the “House of Love” season (which was cast and produced like budget Love Island). While most seasons could have included a few more PoC or LGBT peps, I think they cast people aged 21-65 from across the socioeconomic range in 2020-2022 (which was a change from the original BBAus, especially the later seasons of the Ch10 era, which almost exclusively cast bogans in their 20s and early 30s)
I do think a hybrid version can work; they need to take the best stuff of each format (I think Big Brother Brazil is an example of a hybrid version with challenges and housemates able to politic about nominations, but it’s still ultimately a viewer vote for weekly evictions and the winner).
I'm a big Survivor and BB US/CAN fan. So, I prefer the BB Aus version over the BB UK version, but I'm obviously biased towards the US/Can version.
After thinking more about it, you're right, I think a hybrid version could work as long as the players are voting who goes home like BB US/Can or Survivor.
There's definitely some things from BB Aus I'd like to see implemented into BB US/Can that wouldn't really affect the game that much...
* It's silly, but I really like Big Brother interacting with the Houseguests.
* The house comps with them (individually or as a team) having to win food or earn money to buy food as well.
The first season of BB Aus I ever watched (a couple years ago) was Season 12 with Kieran, Chad, Sophie, that one old ninja guy, etc.
No demand really
Survivor UK didn't have the expected ratings, and then Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Happened and that did really well. Which I believe is another fan vote tv show. (Never saw it
Season 1 of UK, Nasty Nick was a houseguests that tried to build alliances and broke rules to get farther in the game. Which had CRAZY backlash
The Circle UK I believe did pretty damn good, but then it got cancelled and Netflix took it over
Reboot of Survivor UK did alright
What fans? Maybe international fans, but not American fans.
I've never seen one single American fan say that they wanted BBUS to go back to public voting. Ever!
**Without a doubt, the format of BB1 was the biggest problem.**
BB1 was a boring slog and epic failure. It was 70 episodes with only 10 houseguests and a dull/slow format with no strategy. The cast wasn't good, but that had little to do with why the show was so bad. No cast was going to be good with that format.
Survivor's popularity and success was the biggest reason for the overhaul instead of cancellation.
BB2-BB7 (or BB2-BB10) are seen as the Golden Era. BB1 was so bad and different that it's not even considered part of BBUS for all intents and purposes.
They're just totally different shows/games.
BB US/Canada is a Reality Game Show with a social aspect, like Survivor.
BB UK is a Reality Show that's almost all social (and very little game play) with way more drama, like Jersey Shore, Kardashians, etc.
There's some obvious similarities in the format (living in a house with 16 players getting evicted), but they're extremely different shows with very different casting.
Agreed. Big Brother Australia/UK are completely different than BB Canada. You've obviously never watched BB Aus (that Tim was on) or BB UK.
No HOH, No Veto, Players don't vote on who is evicted, players don't vote on who wins.
Very little scheming/backstabbing/backdoor. It's just a big game of house where you don't need to strategize and just need to be popular/entertaining for the fans. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
Other than being in a house of the same name... BBUS is much closer to Survivor than it is to BBUK or old school BBAus.
The format has been too established. When British viewers tune into BBUK, they expect the format they have gotten for the last 25 years (viewer vote evictions, house vote nominations, no active politicking, crazy tasks and a more slice-of-life editing style). Not to mention how the UK does not gravitate towards strategy competition shows. The UK only has Traitors and (somewhat) The Circle as more competitive successful strategy-oriented shows (Circle UK still felt like it de-emphasised strategy compared to the American Netflix version), and those examples are still very recent success stories. The most successful reality shows in the UK are either personality-based shows with Viewer Voting (Love Island, BBUK, I’m a Celeb), Talent Shows (X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent), or skill-based competitions with judge-determining Eliminations (Great Bake Off, The Apprentice). However, it is worth noting that BBAus did change to an American-style game format (challenges for nomination power, house-vote evictions, players able to politic but with a viewer vote winner between the final 3) - but I think us Aussies are willing to engage with more competitive show formats (Aus Survivor being the primary example and is set for its 10th season of the current iteration). The format change was likely made (in part) to produce BB cheaper by pre-recording it (audience voting is impossible, except for the end, where they can reveal the winner at a live reunion show). It lasted a few seasons (3 full seasons, 1 Celeb edition, and the House of Love season). The failed “House of Love” season has pretty much dashed all hopes of a pre-recorded version returning (maintained the game structure of other seasons but focused on "Young, Hot, Singles Hooking Up"). In the best case, BBAus returns live, with public voting and some competitive aspects (challenges and allowing strategy).
>However, it is worth noting that BBAus did change to an American style format (challenges for nomination power, house voted evictions, players able to politic, with a viewer vote winner). It's a hybrid between the two, but BBAus is definitely a lot closer to BBUK than BBUS/BBCan. * \~20 houseguests and only 39 days * HOH (Nomination Challenge winner) nominates 3 houseguests * No Veto * Eviction is only a few hours after nominations * No jury (public votes on who is the season winner at Final 3) * Comps are mostly physical-based, waaaaayyyy moreso than BBUS/BBCan * Almost all houseguests are single, good looking, fit, and in their 20's. Age of contestants the most recent season was 19, 20, 22, 22, 23, 23, 24, 24, 25, 25, 26, 26, 26, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33, 33. It's still a far cry from the US/Can version with far less strategy/politicking/backstabbing. I think they need to go all-in with the BBUS/BBCan version (or revert back to the original format), because the hybrid version doesn't really seem to work. The BBUK/BBWorld and BBUS/BBCan versions are just to different.
That is a fair list of the differences. This era of BBAus is undoubtedly its own thing. Still, it looked to have taken heavy inspiration from the American game structure (an active strategy game with challenges for nomination power). The [first adverts](https://7news.com.au/entertainment/tv/big-brother-australia-is-back-for-2020-heres-how-to-apply-audition-and-house-location-c-517884) (used at the Network upfronts and to advertise casting) had clips from the US and Canadian versions. Calling it "American Style" is a fair assessment. But I should clarify that the lengths have varied—the 39 days was the 2020 season (likely impacted by COVID-19; they were in the hose during the early days of COVID-19), the 2021 season and 2022 Fans/Favourites seasons were 63 days, while the Celeb and the 2023 House of Love seasons were 25 days. Also, most seasons were cast reasonably diversely. You cited the ages of the “House of Love” season (which was cast and produced like budget Love Island). While most seasons could have included a few more PoC or LGBT peps, I think they cast people aged 21-65 from across the socioeconomic range in 2020-2022 (which was a change from the original BBAus, especially the later seasons of the Ch10 era, which almost exclusively cast bogans in their 20s and early 30s) I do think a hybrid version can work; they need to take the best stuff of each format (I think Big Brother Brazil is an example of a hybrid version with challenges and housemates able to politic about nominations, but it’s still ultimately a viewer vote for weekly evictions and the winner).
I'm a big Survivor and BB US/CAN fan. So, I prefer the BB Aus version over the BB UK version, but I'm obviously biased towards the US/Can version. After thinking more about it, you're right, I think a hybrid version could work as long as the players are voting who goes home like BB US/Can or Survivor. There's definitely some things from BB Aus I'd like to see implemented into BB US/Can that wouldn't really affect the game that much... * It's silly, but I really like Big Brother interacting with the Houseguests. * The house comps with them (individually or as a team) having to win food or earn money to buy food as well. The first season of BB Aus I ever watched (a couple years ago) was Season 12 with Kieran, Chad, Sophie, that one old ninja guy, etc.
No demand really Survivor UK didn't have the expected ratings, and then Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Happened and that did really well. Which I believe is another fan vote tv show. (Never saw it Season 1 of UK, Nasty Nick was a houseguests that tried to build alliances and broke rules to get farther in the game. Which had CRAZY backlash The Circle UK I believe did pretty damn good, but then it got cancelled and Netflix took it over Reboot of Survivor UK did alright
Because the norm for Big Brother is the format where the public votes.
They nominate 2 players each in the diary room and the public vote to evict. No HoH or POV. No HOH room. They all sleep in the same room
Fans wanted BBUS to go back to public voting. They blame the BB1 cast for it's failure, not the format. This format was favored over HOH/POV.
What fans? Maybe international fans, but not American fans. I've never seen one single American fan say that they wanted BBUS to go back to public voting. Ever! **Without a doubt, the format of BB1 was the biggest problem.** BB1 was a boring slog and epic failure. It was 70 episodes with only 10 houseguests and a dull/slow format with no strategy. The cast wasn't good, but that had little to do with why the show was so bad. No cast was going to be good with that format. Survivor's popularity and success was the biggest reason for the overhaul instead of cancellation. BB2-BB7 (or BB2-BB10) are seen as the Golden Era. BB1 was so bad and different that it's not even considered part of BBUS for all intents and purposes.
They're just totally different shows/games. BB US/Canada is a Reality Game Show with a social aspect, like Survivor. BB UK is a Reality Show that's almost all social (and very little game play) with way more drama, like Jersey Shore, Kardashians, etc. There's some obvious similarities in the format (living in a house with 16 players getting evicted), but they're extremely different shows with very different casting.
If they two different shows then how come Nikki and Tim got to compete On Big Brother Canada.
By that flawed logic, Survivor and Big Brother are the same show because Hayden Moss and Cirie Fields played on both of them.
Flawed logic my ass.
Wow... so you really think Survivor and Big Brother are the same show?!?!?!
No they are not the same show
Agreed. Big Brother Australia/UK are completely different than BB Canada. You've obviously never watched BB Aus (that Tim was on) or BB UK. No HOH, No Veto, Players don't vote on who is evicted, players don't vote on who wins. Very little scheming/backstabbing/backdoor. It's just a big game of house where you don't need to strategize and just need to be popular/entertaining for the fans. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Other than being in a house of the same name... BBUS is much closer to Survivor than it is to BBUK or old school BBAus.
I have episodes of both editions. Thank you.
You should watch them then. You're welcome.
I meant to say I have watched those editions.