Big Brother is watching – but will Australian audiences?
Bruce is 25 and dreams of being married with kids by 30. He is "a firm believer in having a 'trad wife' who stays home with the kids." Bruce wears a Jesus-piece, looks like an '80s cricketer, and is almost certain to be a future triple-divorcee
Big Brother returned last night, and close to 1.5 million Aussies tuned in at some point during the 103-minute broadcast to see if things at Dreamworld are really as they left them back in the 2000s, when the show was pegged as a social experiment rather than just another reality show.
Things certainly seem similar. Last night’s premiere kicked the season off swimmingly. New host Mel Tracina already seems quite comfortable in the role, if not a little thrown by the hordes of people clambering outside the Big Brother house, screaming like Usher fans at the end of every proclamation she made, no matter how inconsequential.
These fans have clearly drunk from Big Brother’s Kool-Aid supply — they chanted the names of unknown housemates revealed mere moments earlier, giving each new entrant a welcome worthy of a Chalamet. Oh, and it was absolutely pissing down with rain the entire time, which failed to dampen spirits and resulted in a fun moment where a housemate (named Coco) almost slipped in her high-heeled thongs. The vibe at Dreamworld was electric, which bodes well for this season gaining a following — despite the aforementioned high-heel thongs.
You also get the feeling Tracina isn’t going to yell at any of the housemates like a school matron if they happen to stage a badly spelled refugee protest, so that’s already one up on original host Gretel Killeen.
The infamous Big Brother protest
Ratings-wise, it pulled 1.48 million viewers in total, with an average of 774,000. In its timeslot, it was beaten by both My Kitchen Rules on Seven, which drew 1.99 million viewers, and an average of just over 1 million, and The Golden Bachelor on Nine, which pulled 1.9 million (average 708,000).
However, unlike those shows, Big Brother will bombard your TV guide six days a week. There will be live evictions and live nominations, and it’s this live aspect of the show — and the unscripted chaos it promises — that offers the best chance for providing compelling viewing and big audiences. And, of course, for those juicy headlines from tabloids who scour social media for ‘news’.
Fans of the original series know that the real fun came with the freewheeling Big Brother Up Late show, and this time around 10 have rebooted the 24/7 live stream. No doubt there will be a team of nervous censors working around the clock to ensure that (for example) Bruce, the 25-year-old tradie with “strong opinions on relationships and gender roles” doesn’t go full 1950s dad on us, or that self-proclaimed conspiracy nut Colin — who casually told Tracina that the pyramids aren’t man-made — doesn’t float any dicey theories that could end up in defamation court.
The 12 housemates we’ve met so far all have that unmistakable whiff of self-promotion that surrounds most reality TV hopefuls. They all profess to real, authentic beings and they have their acts down pat: the type that can summarise their supposed attributes in a neat soundbite because this is an important skill when trying to be famous. They have expended mental energy crafting and practicing a persona. They list negative personality traits as virtues, and refuse to apologise for being 100% themselves, because this is a vital part of the construct.
They will be the perfect people to watch in the Big Brother house. The mask slips very quickly when locked in a house and filmed 24 hours a day.
Mel Tracina outside the Big Brother house at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast
The first episode was mainly a get-to-know-the-housemates for 103 minutes (minus ads), with the main drama involving Big Brother holding everyone’s luggage for ransom. It is expected that things will ramp up somewhat, as the days become weeks, and wacky dances are self-consciously invented to pass the time/make good Tiktok fodder.
But why Big Brother, and why now? Ten originally canned the show in 2008, Nine had a go from 2012 to 2015, and then Seven tried in 2019 for four seasons, which they seemingly forgot to promote. What makes 2025 any different?
Sarah Thornton is the network’s head of unscripted, overseeing reality TV shows for Network 10 and Paramount+. She seemed like the perfect person to ask this question.
“I think this is a unique moment in time,” Thorton tells Mumbrella. “I think bringing it back to 10 gives us the opportunity to lean into some of the original elements that viewers loved. The DNA of the OG, if you like, just to use lots of letters.
“I think what is exciting as program makers is we are now in a world that’s so heavily saturated with social media that we can look at how we deliver the show in new and unique ways and also how we involve viewers in new and unique ways — beyond voting to save their favorite housemate. I think there’s a lot more that we can do in terms of interaction, thanks to the modern world, while still remaining really true to our roots. And I think bringing the show back to 10, bringing it back to Dreamworld, gives us such a nice opportunity to try to recapture that original magic.”
It’s a good reason. Ten’s 2026 upfront doubled as a (re)launch party for Big Brother, and was held at the new Dreamworld digs (the original Big Brother house was subject to an arson attack in 2015, after sitting dormant for half a decade).
The network has clearly poured resources into the show: building a new set, sending the promotional machine into overdrive (drink whenever you see a BB billboard would be an effective but dangerous drinking game), and tackling some mind-boggling logistics in order to present a live, 24-hour stream without the lawyers letters flooding in.
Thornton admits it’s this live element that gives her nightmares.
“Look, I think the biggest risk really with the live stream is defamation,” she says.
“So, you know, we’ve got a great legal team. We’ve got moderators. There’s a lot of checks and balances in place. And, we’re doing training. We’ve got a lot of clarity on what we can and can’t, what we will and won’t, tolerate being on the feed.
“But I’m not going to lie, if there’s something that keeps me up at night, it’s probably that.”
And then there is the technical aspect.
“It’s going out alongside a live show schedule, daylight saving schedule, all sorts of other things that make it quite logistically complicated – as well as moderation.”
Mel Tracina is host of a revamped, nostalgic Big Brother
Network 10 is also putting a lot of trust in the hands of Tracina, who previously appeared on the network as a regular contributor to news comedy show The Cheap Seats. Thornton admits to having been a “fangirl” of Tracina’s for some time, joking she “slightly, moderately stalked her, wanting her to be on some of my other shows.”
Tracina tells Mumbrella that taking the Big Brother role was a no brainer.
“As someone who grew up watching the show, I’ve got so much connection to it,” she says. “So when the opportunity came to be hosting, I was so pumped and excited for it and just jumped at the opportunity.”
Her role on The Cheap Seats as a cultural correspondent, poking light fun at reality TV shows on rival networks, stands her in good stead to strike the right tonal balance.
“I love reality,” she says. “And so the idea that I could be part of a reality show was really exciting — but not just any, this one just felt right, because it’s about everyday Australians, and because it’s the original social experiment and the original reality television that I grew up watching. It just felt nostalgic, and the right fit.”
She shoots down any suggestion that her barbs at reality TV nonsense will be out of place on the show, or that she’ll have to pull back.
“I think when I watch reality TV, even on my role as The Cheap Seats, even if I’m poking at it, it’s because I enjoy it and I love it. So it will be the same with Big Brother. I’ll be loving the housemates and I’ll be loving their journey. And I might have a bit of a tongue-in-cheek, muck around with the housemates — but that’s because that’s what the audience would be thinking and how they would be reacting as well.”
Tracina is also a fan of the live stream aspect, which harkens back to the early days of the show.
“I think it’s all about authenticity and seeing the housemates as they truly are — and that idea of voyeurism. You can choose to opt in anytime you like, which I really love.
“Of course, the stream will be moderated, so there’ll always be someone watching it to make sure that nothing untoward airs.”
So, like Big Brother Up Late was back in the day, but with far more oversight.
“I think probably less of an interest in nudity, too,” she says with an audible smile. “I think Australian audiences have moved past that.”
Big Brother airs six nights a week on Ten, plus 24/7 on 10 streaming. You’re missing it right now.
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