BB FANS

VARIETY is the spice of life, but not of Big Brother. This year there are a mother, a daughter, a couple of students, a zoo keeper, a promotional model, a former model, a part-time model, and - just for a change - another model.

The program always vows there will be an interesting variety of housemates. Variety? No. Interesting? I guess that's subjective. One thing is for sure, there is an unequivocal pattern.

They all claim to be loud and crazy attention seekers. They are extroverts, all expecting they will be the instigator, the one who stirs conflict.

Big Brother says its aim is to put together a variety of personalities. However, there is no variety in this year's selections.

They are all young, pretty people - at least they think they are - most of whom say they are there purely for the experience. Clearly they say that just in case they are immediately voted out.

I've often read that the show tries to cast housemates who reflect the Australian public, which would be true if we were a nation of attention-seeking, highly confident models.

How do they choose the housemates? Is it what they think the Australian public can relate to, or are these people the only types who audition? Surely among the tens of thousands who audition, there would be more interesting people than those who make the cut - perhaps some with a bit of a brain, or who do something other than modelling.

I'm exaggerating. There are a few students this time, and we've seen some reasonably intelligent, even witty, participants in past series, but it amuses me that every year some housemates are models, former strippers and, inevitably, the token farm boy, who in this year's case is also a former model.

These housemates have a one-in-15 chance of coming out a millionaire, and for what? Apparently, for being entertaining, or funny, or in most cases just lying around the house for three months without stepping on people's toes.

Whatever the outcome, none ever really deserves the prize money, so I guess it's for being the lesser of two evils, or, in this case, the lesser of 15.

The show sets them up to see what happens; what conflicts arise, what friendships form, what relationships bloom. But in this series, Big Brother is appointing one person to cause a stir. Now they're forcing conflict on the housemates, not letting it happen naturally, which it inevitably does.

The easiest solution is to simply not watch it. I don't watch religiously, but it's the kind of thing I love to hate. To a degree, it follows the theme of Joseph Conrad's "fascination of the abomination", the mentality where one can't fight the urge to stop and look at the bloodshed of, say, a serious accident.

Big Brother isn't on the same scale, but it is disaster I'm sometimes tempted to stop and look at. I'm sure this year's series will be no exception.

A straight Big Brother housemate called Gaelan?
What's more confusing about this year's Big Brother? The fact that an openly gay housemate David is back 'in the closet', or a straight male housemate that goes by the name of Gaelan? Big Brother's Little Brother investigates the riddle...

By Little Brother - Big Brother Correspondent
Posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006

As one Big Brother housemate David conceals his homosexuality from fellow housemates, another housemate is defending his heterosexuality. Enter stage left, Gaelan, 26, of Melbourne.

When he met Gretel Killeen at the launch show last Saturday night, Gaelan marched out onto stage proudly - only to be asked, “You seem a bit gay, are you?” from the Big Brother host. “It was the way you walked out, I thought this guys a really attractive gay man!”, Gretel confessed. Gaelan nervously laughed and joked around by turning around and posing for his walk on stage a second time.

The carpenter has declared that he is not gay, also mentioning that the moment on stage with Gretel reminded him of old school yard chants. However, audiences still question his sexuality. Melbourne’s ‘Herald Sun: The Eye’ reports that Gaelan is always the life of the party and this will get him far in the Big Brother house.

But one must ask, is Big Brother playing mind games with the audience? There’s David, a hunky straight acting gay farm hand. But then there’s Gaelan, an extroverted, straight man with a bad tan and gay mannerisms. He also described his body as a greek god. Not forgetting the curious Michael, tonight saying to housemates, “Bring on the gay guys!”, when speaking of the shortage of single women in the city.

Well it’s been fun guessing who might be gay and who might be straight, with Big Brother’s welcome exploitation of mix-matched stereotypes.

It is rumoured that some of the male housemates told Big Brother during the audition process, they have experimented with the same sex. However, they did not consider themselves as bisexual. This fuels speculation that each housemate this year will reveal a secret about themselves.

Gaelan is a regular fixture of the Melbourne nightclub scene. His street nickname ‘Styx’ is known as he frequents clubs such as Q-Bar in South Yarra, Boutique and Revolver in Prahran. Believe it or not he is also a part-time stripper with the stage name of ‘Prince Of Temptation’. Mmmm… straight or gay we still question.

David has already mentioned his search for love on the show - has Big Brother supplied him with curious inmates?

Big Brother's Gay Twist
In 2006, Big Brother has promised a tougher year for the housemates. His twists have already revealed a secret mother and daughter relationship in the house, but it doesn’t end there. Gay Queensland farmer David will be revealing his hidden sexuality – not only to his housemates, but also to the entire Australian public.

By Little Brother - Big Brother Correspondent
Posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006

In a twist that is sure to break the hearts of a few female housemates (and a few female fans watching at home), Big Brother hunky inmate David will reveal his homosexuality on national television. The housemates have not yet been informed of David’s sexual preference, so it is assumed by everyone in the house that he is heterosexual.

David, 26, lived in Melbourne for a couple of years, before departing the big city party lifestyle for his outback farm in Queensland's Dalby. David entered the Big Brother house last Saturday night, revealing to Gretel Killeen at the Launch Show, that he is looking for a life long partner. He started as one of the crowd favourites and has already emerged as Australia’s hot tip to take out the series. Betting agency Centrebet has already declared David as a ‘winner waiting to happen’ as he sits on $3.25, next housemate is Dino at $6. Stacked up with his other housemates, David is certainly the grounded and most lovable character of this years group of contestants.

Not only will David eventually reveal his secret to fellow housemates, but he will also be ‘coming out’ to the voting Australian public. Revealing his sexuality to the nation may well be a difficult one for him to deal with in the house at this stage. Not only will he be ‘coming out’, but he also faces the challenge of adapting to life under the eye of Big Brother and not knowing how the public is reacting to anything.

A Network TEN spokesman said that the female housemates were finding David to be ‘quite a catch’. Since entering the house, fellow housemate Camilla has been very flirty with David, revealing to Krystal and Clair that she finds him very attractive and genuine. However, David has not reciprocated any of her undeniable advances.

One must ask, as David’s popularity continues to grow so quickly – how will Australia as a greater community react to this young non-stereotypical gay man? What seems to be a hard working and masculine farmer from the west, couldn’t possibly be gay, could he? You bet your life he is. In his quest for happiness, David’s profile on Big Brother will create a strong role model for our Generation-X. Not to mention, it will encourage many issues to be brought to the table and talked about in today’s society.

Last night, David and Karen spoke about their previous relationships in the bedroom. When she left the room, David took a peep at a photo that he brought into the house. It was angled down away from the mirrors, but showed of two men on horses. Speculation outside of the house has built around David’s former partner, who was believed to have lived on the farm with him before their relationship ended. His partner could not handle living on the farm and adopting a new lifestyle, instead leaving David with the thought that he might have made the wrong decision. It was heart wrenching hearing David speak of his previous partner and subsequent loneliness, something I’m sure the public can identify with, can learn from and talk about it with others.

For the gay community, it is a timely reminder of old feelings come and gone, then perhaps coming back to challenge us again. For me personally, watching this episode of Big Brother hit a nerve. For years I have watched this social experiment and finally now I am confronted by something that haunts me. Nobody wants to be lonely.

As Australians are already falling in love with this country farmer, David is sure to have an interesting time in the Big Brother house in contrast to his normal day-to-day life. He has mentioned that finding a partner in the house was 50% of the reason for him choosing to be on Big Brother. David is seeking to be needed and to be loved. This is a self-discovery that the whole nation will be exposed to. When will he tell his housemates? How will it make him feel? And, will he meet someone special to join him on his farm after Big Brother?

In an audience vote, Michael has been chosen to be Big Brother's Insider. The aspiring political strategist seems like the perfect candidate to be BB's secret agent, but is he up for the job?

BB made his offer tonight on very clear terms. BB wants an Insider in the house. Their job will be to live among the housemates but to work against them. The Insider may have to double-cross and sabotage the HMs and must never reveal their identity.

If Michael refused to accept the offer he would be evicted from the house immediately, with no time allocated to farewell his HMs. The political strategist in Michael shone through as he accepted the offer with great enthusiasm.

"Yes Big Brother. Absolutely, I'd love the opportunity. It be will be interesting, 100% yes. Perfect. I will do it with enthusiasm," he raved before being cut down by BB.

"Big Brother wants an answer, not a speech."

"Yes Big Brother I accept the mission, the task," he said while grinning with a sense of pride. "I'm sorry. Yes."

Michael's task is such. He has one week to discover which HMs share a relationship. He will get only one guess. If he is wrong he will be up for nomination. If he is correct he will escape nomination for one week.

Michael will also be requested to perform a number of tasks aimed at making the HMs lives uncomfortable. His first mission was to pour a full bottle of water in the middle of a HM's mattress. He had two minutes to complete the task. He left the diary room and went straight for Gaelen's bed as it was in the corner. However he was unable to finish the task because he was interrupted by another HM - quickly ducking in the bathroom when he heard someone coming. He managed to avoid being caught by the HM but he has failed his very first mission.

Soon enough HMs are going to start asking as many questions as Michael has been asking on them. Before Michael went into the BB house, he told us: "I intend to question my housemates' moral, social and sexual values." He may not have done that yet, but he's done a few things to make us question his. So, can we trust Michael? What really is his strategy?

Michael seems like a bit of a mixed bag; cocky and confident, but kind of sweet and sensitive on the flipside. Since entering the house he's nestled in as 'one of the girls', muscled in as 'one of the boys' and planted one hell-of-a seed of confusion about his sexual preference.

On his first night, Michael made a bee-line for the girls, doing his best to flaunt his feminine side and establish himself as an honorary female. But since then, he's shared some pretty in-depth boy-talk with the blokes, making it clear that he's a man's man too.

All this may sound just a little bit strange, but stranger still is the fact that Michael has made a habit of "coming out" to his HMs over the last few days, only to then deny his revelation and claim that he's straight after all.

So, is Michael up to the job of Insider? Before he entered the house he told Gretel he was going in with a strategy. Was that strategy to confuse everyone around him, or is Michael just plain weird?

Either way, it looks like Michael and the HMs have got an interesting few weeks ahead of them.

BBBA brings you exclusive images from the launch. Housemate photos and photos of the inside of the house!