‘Viewing habits have become more sophisticated’: Sonia Kruger defends drastic changes to Big Brother format after fan backlash to shock twist
Seven launches its revamped Big Brother series on Monday, June 8.
And host Sonia Kruger is already defending the drastic changes the network has made to the much-loved format.
Speaking to Who magazine on Thursday, she said the show needed a ‘contemporary treatment’ from what fans remembered it being 20 years ago.
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‘Viewing habits have become more sophisticated’: Sonia Kruger (pictured) has defended the drastic changes made to the Big Brother format on Seven after its shock twist saw fan backlash
Big Brother Australia launched on Channel 10 in 2001. It ran for eight years, before relaunching on Channel Nine in 2012 after a brief hiatus. It ran its last season in 2014.
‘Twenty years ago we would watch a housemate make a sandwich in the kitchen, and we thought that was amazing. But times have changed and our viewing habits have become noire sophisticated,’ she explained.
Sonia added: ‘We[the public] want an outcome every episode, we want a really strong hook for the next night, and this series has got all of that in spades.’
Sonia was referring to the recently-announced shock twist that every single episode of the season will feature both an eviction and a challenge.
‘Times have changed’: Sonia said while fans were once entertained by housemates doing menial tasks, the public want shocks, twists and hooks these days on reality TV. Pictured: Big Brother 2020 housemates
When the network revealed the changes on Tuesday, fans were shocked and dubious of how that would work and remain entertaining to watch.
After the promo was shared to the Big Brother Twitter page, one fan responded: ‘Eviction every episode are you serious? This won’t end well with the ratings.’
‘Does that mean the show will only last 20 days with 20 housemates?’ questioned a second Big Brother fan on Twitter.
‘Dumb. Short as series,’ vented a third.
However, some people were happy the show wouldn’t be ‘a 100 day thing’ and welcomed the change, suspecting filming was cut short due to COVID-19.
New rules: Every episode of Big Brother 2020 will feature both an eviction and a challenge. Pictured: Housemates doing a challenge
Winner TBC: Filming wrapped with two finalists remaining in April. The finale will be the only live episode with a public vote, held once all of the pre-recorded episodes have aired
The upcoming season of Big Brother was pre-recorded in a custom-built house in Manly, Sydney earlier this year. There will be no public votes or public evictions.
Sonia added that this made the housemates’ alliances and friendships more important than ever on the ‘reimagined, contemporary Big Brother’.
Filming wrapped with two finalists remaining in April. The finale will be the only live episode with a public vote, held once all of the pre-recorded episodes have aired.
Only a handful of housemates have been officially announced so far, including a former AFL star, mummy blogger, international model and 80s icon.
Big Brother premieres on Seven from 7.30pm on Monday, June 8
Coming soon! Big Brother premieres on Seven from 7.30pm on Monday, June 8