In 2020, Big Brother returned to Australian screens with a new voice, new format and new house filled with a modern melting pot of housemates. The season reached a total video audience of 1.385 million and set 7plus records.
The show will return in 2021 on Monday, April 26th on Channel Seven. Ahead of the season premiere, Mediaweek spoke to Seven’s director of production Andrew Backwell about what’s in store for the show this year and how to build on the show’s success.
“The twists and turns in series two are sensational, it’s not just a replication of season one. You go on a journey and just as you think you are about to get it, there is a new twist or turn that leaves the housemate dumbstruck.
“We are calling it a house full of secrets because the twists and turns are just amazing, very very clever,” said Backwell.
Andrew Backwell
In the first week, 20 housemates will enter the Big Brother house where they’ll live together for more than 60 days, cut off from the outside world, with cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day.
Last year was the first time ever the show wasn’t done live, and Backwell said the show had to focus on explaining the benefits of this to its audience.
“We had to sell the idea to the audience that it’s not happening in real time but you still decide who the winner is. And with post-production you can tell a great story in it.
“Last year we achieved that. There was a perception that Big Brother in previous seasons had been a lot of young people sitting around the pool talking rubbish, but Endemol Shine, and the exec producer Amelia Fisk managed to take the format and give it some real storytelling.”
Backwell said that executive producer Amelia Fisk has taken Big Brother to another level this year after piloting the show’s successful return to market in 2020.
“What Amelia has done with season two is take what she did in season one and amplify it. We have got a better cast, a broader cast, the challenges are bigger, and the gameplay is more extreme.
“Our series two of Big Brother is one of the best reality TV shows in the country and that is because of Endemol Shine and Amelia Fisk who has done a sensational job.”
Casting a diverse Big Brother
Backwell described the process of selecting the contestants for Big Brother as a huge casting exercise.
“The casting team at Endemol Shine speak to a lot of people but what Amelia has done she has found people that want to play the game. Not just that look good in a bikini, sitting around the pool, and wanting to hook up with each other. This is not what this series is about. These are people who strategically want to play this game, and they go in with a plan on how they are going to play the game, and you see this strategy and it adds a whole new level to the show.”
How Covid-19 affected production
Backwell said that Big Brother was one of the great shows to film during a pandemic because once all the contestants test negative, they are isolated inside a house and interact with no one.
“No one outside enters that house and they don’t go out and come back in. One of the safest places in Australia is inside that house. You don’t see any Covid impact on Big Brother at all.”
Big Brother VIP
Seven has announced a special event series of Big Brother VIP which will air on Australian screens later this year.
It will follow the 2021 season of Big Brother and be hosted by Sonia Kruger and feature Australian celebrities, removed from the world they know and locked away in a new Big Brother house.
Backwell said that knowing there is two seasons of Big Brother in 2021 didn’t affect their approach to series two, but that they learn from every season.
“What I like about doing Big Brother VIP is that we are putting celebrities in there, and viewers will go in with a perception of a celebrity and follow them on a journey and this perception might change or stay the same based on how they play the game.”