Big Brother Australia 2004

Big Brother Australia 2004 was the fourth series of Big Brother Australia, and was aired on Network Ten, starting on Sunday 2 May 2004, with the housemates entering the day before; and ended on Monday 26 July 2004, lasting 87 days. The season was billed as "back to basics, but with one small secret". In a return to the basic format of Big Brother 2001 and Big Brother 2002 that had been eschewed in favour of twists and surprises in Big Brother 2003, all housemates were let into the house together and former surprise elements such as swimming pools and gym equipment were all exposed from the beginning.

Two Intruders entered the house later in the game, and Miriam, the transsexual star of the show There's Something About Miriam, entered as a houseguest near the end.^[1] The prize money was raised from $250,000 to $1,000,000, but this was kept hidden from housemates until later in the series. Evicted housemates also received larger prizes than any season before, with every evictee receiving a top of the range Mitsubishi Lancer VR-X. The two Intruders were some of the least liked in all the four series, with Violeta being chosen for eviction by every single housemate, and then Monica, who already had a boyfriend outside, immediately started falling for Ryan, and she and Bree developed an intense dislike towards each other. When Monica was finally up for eviction, she was evicted with a very large percentage of the votes.

The final contestants in 2004 were Bree Amer and Trevor Butler. Trevor won, and then proposed to his girlfriend on stage. Mid-Season, The housemates were able to see the "unofficial Premiere" of The Day After Tomorrow.

Opening sequence

The same as the 2003 opening sequence with some minor sound changes. The background colour is more gradient than last years. A scene of a green backyard appears between the diary room and kitchen scenes. The diary room chair is orange instead of red. Also the evicted housemate in the titles was changed to blue. Lastly the 84 days was changed to the series 86 days. The theme also was slightly remixed with the introduction a guitars component.

Housemates

Trevor

Trevor Butler, from Broken Hill, New South Wales, entered the House on Day 0. He was announced as the winner of Big Brother 2004 and A$1,000,000, and proposed to his girlfriend on stage shortly afterwards. Trevor is the only Big Brother Australia housemate to have won $1,000,000.

On 10 October 2007, Trevor made a celebrity appearance on the ABC Television series Summer Heights High.

Bree

Bree Amer, (born 17 August 1983) from the Gold Coast, Queensland, entered the House on Day 0. Bree was a co-hosts of Friday Night Live and the Friday Night Games with fellow former housemate Ryan Fitzgerald. Bree was also wrongly evicted during the show and re-entered the house.

Paul

Paul Dyer, from Jan Juc, Victoria, entered the house on Day 0. Paul had been involved in an intense argument with Merlin over the issue of becoming an Australian citizen. Paul was evicted on Day 85. Paul now co-hosts a breakfast show on Geelong 95.5 K-rock

Ryan

Ryan Fitzgerald (or "Fitzy"), (born 16 October 1976) a former professional Australian rules football player from Adelaide, South Australia, entered the House on Day 0, and was evicted on Day 83. After being a contestant in Big Brother 2004, Ryan has gone on to co-host Nova 91.9 Adelaide's breakfast show, Friday Night Games, Friday Night Live and Friday Night Download. He has also appeared on Channel 10's AFL program Before The Game.

Catherine

Catherine Tremolada is a single mother of two from Albion Park, New South Wales. She entered the House on Day 0, and was evicted on Day 78, the day before the Final Countdown.

Ashalea

Ashalea McWalters, (born 7 January 1985) from Perth, Western Australia was evicted on Day 71.Entered competition in 2006 on RSVP seen on the big night in with John Foreman. She was a sweet, naive girl.

Monica

Monica de Balso, from New South Wales, entered the House as an Intruder, and was evicted in a Double Eviction on Day 71.

Wesley

Wesley Dening, (born 14 July 1983) From Brisbane's Kangaroo Point was evicted on Day 68, he notably co-hosted children's television show, Totally Wild. He was School Captain at Nudgee College during his time there.

Violeta

Violeta Black was from Melbourne, entered the house as an Intruder, and was evicted on Day 59.

Kane

Kane Dignum, (born 26 October 1983) from Queensland was evicted on Day 57. He is now known as a DJ, Little Fritter.

Terri

Terri Mann, from Western Australia, entered the House on Day 0 with the original housemates, and was evicted on Day 50.

Merlin

Merlin Luck, from New South Wales, entered the House on Day 0 with the original housemates, and was evicted on Day 43. During his Eviction, he attracted controversy by taping over his mouth and revealing a makeshift banner which read "Free Th Refugees". The letter E had fallen off and it was intended to read "Free The Refugees" in reference to Australian Government policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers. He refused to speak throughout his eviction show,^[2][3][4] but later spoke of the incident during the following nomination show.^[5]

Elle

Bree Quartermaine, known in the House as Elle and from Western Australia, entered the House on Day 0 and was evicted on Day 36.

Krystal

Krystal Ince, from Queensland, entered the House on Day 0 with the original housemates, and was evicted on Day 29. Prior to Big Brother, Krystal worked as a exotic dancer known as Delta.

Igor

Igor Vurmeski, from Melbourne, Victoria, was evicted on Day 22.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite Vuitton was evicted on Day 15. She garnered publicity after the end of the series upon getting cosmetic surgery,^[6] which consisted of rhinoplasty, chin augmentation, and breast implants.

Nominations Table

The first Housemate in each box was Nominated for Two Points, and the second Housemate was Nominated for One Point.

Nomination Notes

Controversy and Accidents

• Housemate Merlin Luck staged a protest at his live eviction show. Upon entering the arena, he revealed a makeshift banner which read "Free Th Refugees". The letter E had fallen off and it was intended to read "Free The Refugees" in reference to Australian Government policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers. Merlin placed gaffer tape over his mouth and refused to speak during the live show. The following night, when he returned to appear as a guest on the Nomination show, he apologised to Killeen for putting her on the spot and making her job difficult by refusing to speak during the eviction show. On this show Merlin spoke about his actions in the highest rating show of the timeslot for that night.^[1]
• The producers were criticized for making a deal with housemate Ryan Fitzgerald who was permitted to wear a t-shirt that was branded with "MLS" (acronym for Massive Loser Squad). The t-shirts were being sold while the show was running and Ryan's friends admitted that a proportion of the profits was going towards votes to keep him in the house, thus giving him what was perceived to be an unfair advantage. However the producer pointed-out that many housemates had companies or local communities rally support for them, which was little different, and that there was nothing stopping any other housemate's supporters doing a similar thing to Ryan's friends.
• Housemate Bree Amer was incorrectly evicted instead of Wesley due to a vote counting error. The error was discovered after the Sunday night eviction show. Bree had already met up with friends and family. She was returned to the house the following night (Monday).^[7] Wesley was evicted in a special show on the following Thursday.

Reception

Australian TV ratings

MONDAY - FRIDAY DAILY SHOW

References