Big Brother fans call ‘rigged’ after Nine airs George eviction promo early
Nine’s Big Brother is facing accusations of rigging after the network accidentally aired a promo revealing the departure of contestant George several hours before voting was supposed to have ended.
The network claims that it had three different promos ready to allow for the eviction of each contestant who faced the public vote, and that George’s was broadcast early “in error”. The network claims that it was a coincidence that it happened to be the correct one that was broadcast.
The network made the eviction as part of its live show which aired in eastern states from 6.30pm on Sunday night.
But at 4.15pm, the Big Brother Facebook page posted a message urging viewers to continue to vote because the promotion was incorrect.
George’s eviction caused surprise among many of those commenting as several believed that housemate Estelle would be evicted.
According to presenter Sonia Kruger, George lost out by less than one per cent.
The viewer voting part of the show is a lucrative one for Nine, with hundreds of thouands of votes cast during each weekly eviction at a cost of 55c per phone or SMS vote. Viewers can also vote via Facebook by buying Facebook Credits.
Big Brother is produced for Nine by Southern Star. The terms and conditions of voting allow Nine to keep detail of the results confidential. The lengthy terms and conditions contain no information about whether the results are independently audited.
Contestants Estelle, Bradley and George faced eviction
Mumbrella has invited Nine to comment.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Preparing a promo for each potential evictee in advance is pretty standard practice for a show like this. I love a good conspiracy theory and some reality TV bashing but in this case I think Channel 9 are only guilty of poor quality control.
Now let’s discuss the real issue with #BBAU – stop putting the evictee’s face on the web episode thumbnail! It’s an unavoidable spoiler for your entire online audience!
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Well it was pretty rigged anyway given that they gave Bradley a ton of airtime with his “transformation” at the beginning of tonights episode…..With such a supposedly tight voting scale, that extra 15 minutes of attention could have pushed things over the line.
Not that I blame them. George was too normal for the Big Brother house. Nowhere to create drama.
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To those who don’t understand the voting. George is boring and contributes nothing to BB, whilst Estelle and Bradley contribute to the show. Even if you don’t like them, the fact is they are interesting!
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BB is not rigged! That’s all.
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Wouldn’t surprise me if it was rigged. Agreed on the “bradley” promos, Lola, They tried to get a little bit creative using the “beauty and the geek” transformation idea. Real original concept, but yeah it does sway the idiots that watch the show to like him more and vote for him that allotted time. So even if it’s not officially “rigged”, it still is in it’s own way.
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Alex Mavroidakis, the producer of BB was giving out percentages of the vote all week. He has access to the voting. Its obvious that it can be rigged if he knows who is being voted for.
I hope this doesnt get swept under the carpet. Its a serious issue and needs to be investigated. It could well be fraud.
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george who?? i so agree. . your on a tv show! you cant afford to sit back and go unnoticed and expect people to vote you to stay! Yes. . nice guy but his the only person in the house i knew nothing about! I say, don’t be yourself in the big brother house! To be honest, Your like a circus act! Your really there to entertain! Not sit around and be your self! But then again, maybe he didn’t get enough air time! I know Bradley get way to much air time! That’s for sure!!!!!
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I didnt like the way George spoke about layla. and women
in general.
The girl outside the house who i will marry will study this etc etc bossy bossy.PIG
Thought he was better then everyone. bye bye georgie.
others r entertaining to watch:)
sorry not rigged people.
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I didnt think George is so much as boring more his just a laid back kinda guy. I liked that he wasn’t a big fat show of like some of the others are.
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Why is this still on TV? Does anyone watch it? And if so, why? Anyone who can afford to take three months off work with no consequence isn’t a terribly inspiring person… And there’s so many of them! All idiots, all boring, all need to get lives.
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There is no such thing as ‘reality’ tv. It’s all pretty much scripted and planned ahead of time. The leaking of George’s eviction was no surprise.
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Standard practice however, the real “rigging” is in the broadcast – BB decides who stays and who goes by selectively broadcasting scenes that may incriminate or save a contestant…
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I’ve worked on hundreds of hours of reality elimination shows all over the world. Rigging the eliminations is the rule and not the exception.
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are you serious. Channel 9 know how to get people watching their channel.
The promo ‘in error’ is a marketing stunt. Make no mistake.
Well done Channel 9. You have found a way to get the viewership for this silly show back above the 1 million mark and to ensure the longevity of television shows that will make Kerry Packer turn in his grave.
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OH MY GOD….like, this site is an INDUSTRY review forum not a place to bleat about who should or shouldnt have been evicted.
While you are here, of course it is rigged, tv is about ratings not about equity. You don’t sell prime time advertising space by giving two hoots about the audience or ethics. I’m pretty sure I remember reading tag lines of this same kind of fiasco last time this show was on tv. Or was that farmer’s horse wants a wife, or so you think you can eat a slug and not vomit or…well…..
Shame on me, I can feel that I’ve lost 10 IQ points from just reading these posts.
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For all you idiots who is saying its rigged! It’s not! They all have an eviction ad for when they get evicted you silly idiots! Why don’t you think why his wearing this shirt? They took it before they went in! The show isn’t rigged! There is fb votes then phone votes they put them 2 together to get final. What happened yesterday with the wrong broadcast was a simple fault. What happened if it would of been Estelle yet she never got evicted? Would you still say it’s rigged. No.
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Aren’t these shows rigged from the beginning, when they make their cast selections? Most reality TV isn’t really that “real” anyway.
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Why don’t all those tragically demented lunatics going berserk and killing people over the risible Innocence of Muslims direct their ire at this horrendous show, on the grounds that anyone who watches it is likely to suffer brain damage and end up like them? As for the possibility the show is rigged, so what, who cares? It’s an issue about as compelling as wondering who’s going to get eliminated next, or why dog shit goes white after a few days.
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Another technical error? How many times is Nine going to use this excuse. they have leaked out winners many times now and it is so obvious it is a grab at ratings. Jayce- I couldnt agree more. Why are people watching this show anyway?I dont watch TV on sunday night as basically there is nothing to watch.
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Not saying it’s rigged, but…
years ago our milkman left “voting slips” so we could vote on which day he could have off – he preferred Thursday.
After we all voted, guess what? “Thursday” won!
Who collected the votes? He did.
Who counted the votes? He did.
Who announced the result? He did.
It was my first lesson that ” who controls the counting controls the result.”
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Care factor = zero. People actually watch this crap?
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Since when was the Big Brother vote a boat?
Speaking of boats, has anyone proven the existence of Noah’s Ark? I do believe Noah was known as ‘Brother’ Noah and he was a ‘big’ fellow, as was his boat. Is the term ‘Big Brother’ connected to big brother Noah?
Admittedly, I am a little skeptical of how he managed to get 2 of EVERY living creature on earth on that one big boat?
What about the birds? Was there a caged avery and were the sparrow’s kept away form the sparrow hawks? Why did he save cane toads and why on earth did he save wasps?
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Thre bringing in a dumb dog now how is that going to improve ratings for this very false & silly show from going under
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I thought they said Ava was clever, more like a 29 year old who try’s to act like a 16-17 year old always silly. Nothing much to add
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But Lucio, you cared enough to read the story and leave a comment.
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Why would someone use there own hard owned money to vote to keep someone in this house anyway?; sure I watch it occasionly but I deffo wouldn’t pay 55c to text to save someone
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ho hum.
People use their supposed watching Vs not-watching particular shows as a kind of “badge” or “club membership”, hoping their vocal aversion to a show like BB will present them in a better light taste-wise. Make US think more highly of them.
“Oh I don’t watch THAT… I’m highly evolved and self-actualised”.
TV is a MASS medium – it fails if it doesn’t appeal broadly.
Nobody runs to the library to rip out all the childrens’ books (“Oh how juvenile some of this stuff is!”) and nobody runs to the kosher butcher shop to decry the chickens.
This stuff is like a smorgasborg; eat what you like and leave the rest alone.
As PROFESSIONALS, I believe we must forego (eschew?) the easy slagoff because we recognise that ANY show or production requires a degree of work and diligence.
I remember a time when anyone working in Advertising was written-off as as a drunken or crass hack and copywriters were thought of as failed, lazy would-be novelists.
That’s why they’re called cheap shots, because they’re cheap.
When I worked for a commercially successful production company, there was any number of people telling us how EASY it was to make commercially successful (remember to say it with a sneer) shows. Much harder, they’d say, to make critically acclaimed stuff.
Oh yeah?
Can you move your Corolla, I need to get my GT3 out.
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IM SHOCKED, George should come back in, that was unfair………… I would have expected him to stay in right till the end of the show,,,,,,,, with Layla. I cant watch this anymore…….. favourite gone……. not good enough big brother! BB must pull some strings and bring him back! what a shame…….. his time was cut too short…… after he tried to save someone else with his power eviction points….
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Looks like people who pay to vote must be wasting their money as we all know there was nothing wrong with George so I think it must be rigged………..I have never voted
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Its a stupid show anyways.
I rather watch a pig rolling on mud.
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To all the self-righteous experts “who wouldn’t watch THAT show”
(a) how can you comment if you don’t watch it?
(b) Check out your remote control some day. It has two important buttons on it – power and channel change
(c) Who gives a toss about your expert opinions. Get back to your long lunches, pony tails and telling the world what’s wrong with everything
and finally
(d) all those people who say “It’s not rigged”. Umm, right. It’s a commercial show on a commercial network whose sole job in life is to convince idiots to part with lots more 55c to vote.
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I love Ava’s voice.
Big brother rocks
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I am so sad Bradley left the show! I am happy that Estella is still there she is so gorgus and I love her adatude!
I LOVE BIG BROTHER
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I take back what I said about the lovely doggy cause she is the highlight of the show beside show dog Micheal
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Ava’s ok but full of self importance. In the eviction show she wasn’t really listening to the host instead she’s waving to people in the audience. As if she’s already acting like a star god that makes me sick
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Emily..3 Oct 12 @ 5:24pm… “I am so sad Bradley left the show!”….Do you know something that the rest of Australia doesn’t???
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Check. I love BB
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