Big Brother Australia 2004

Big Brother Australia

◄ ►  Season 4 (2004)

Housemates Name Entered Exited       Trevor Butler Day 1 Day 86 Bree Amer Day 1 Day 65  Day 64 Day 86    Paul Dyer Day 1  Day 85    Ryan Fitzgerald Day 1  Day 83    Catherine Tremolada Day 1  Day 78    Ashalea McWalters Day 1  Day 71    Monica de Balso Day 55  Day 71    Wesley Dening Day 1  Day 68    Violeta Black Day 55  Day 59    Kane Dignum Day 1  Day 57    Terri Mann Day 1  Day 50    Merlin Luck Day 1  Day 43    Elle Quartermaine Day 1  Day 36    Krystal Ince Day 1  Day 29    Igor Vurmeski Day 1  Day 22    Aphrodite Vuitton Day 1  Day 15    Winner Runner-up Evicted Evicted after secret housemate vote

Big Brother Australia 2004 was the fourth series of Big Brother Australia, and was aired on Network Ten, starting on Sunday 2 May 2004, with the housemates entering the day before; and ended on Monday 26 July 2004, lasting 87 days. The season was billed as "back to basics, but with one small secret". In a return to the basic format of Big Brother 2001 and Big Brother 2002 that had been eschewed in favour of twists and surprises in Big Brother 2003, all housemates were let into the house together and former surprise elements such as swimming pools and gym equipment were all exposed from the beginning.

Two Intruders entered the house later in the game, and Miriam, the transsexual star of the show There's Something About Miriam, entered as a houseguest near the end.^[1] The prize money was raised from $250,000 to $1,000,000, but this was kept hidden from housemates until later in the series. Evicted housemates also received larger prizes than any season before, with every evictee receiving a top of the range Mitsubishi Lancer VR-X. The two Intruders were some of the least liked in all the four series, with Violeta being chosen for eviction by every single housemate, and then Monica, who already had a boyfriend outside, immediately started falling for Ryan, and she and Bree developed an intense dislike towards each other. When Monica was finally up for eviction, she was evicted with a very large percentage of the votes.

The final contestants in 2004 were Bree Amer and Trevor Butler. Trevor won, and then proposed to his girlfriend on stage. Mid-Season, The housemates were able to see the "unofficial Premiere" of The Day After Tomorrow.

Opening sequence

The same as the 2003 opening sequence with some minor sound changes. The background colour is more gradient than last years. A scene of a green backyard appears between the diary room and kitchen scenes. The diary room chair is orange instead of red. Also the evicted housemate in the titles was changed to blue. Lastly the 84 days was changed to the series 86 days. The theme also was slightly remixed with the introduction a guitars component.

Housemates

Trevor

Trevor Butler, from Broken Hill, New South Wales, entered the House on Day 0. He was announced as the winner of Big Brother 2004 and A$1,000,000, and proposed to his girlfriend on stage shortly afterwards. Trevor is the only Big Brother Australia housemate to have won $1,000,000.

On 10 October 2007, Trevor made a celebrity appearance on the ABC Television series Summer Heights High.

Bree

Bree Amer, (born 17 August 1983) from the Gold Coast, Queensland, entered the House on Day 0. Bree was a co-hosts of Friday Night Live and the Friday Night Games with fellow former housemate Ryan Fitzgerald. Bree was also wrongly evicted during the show and re-entered the house.

Paul

Paul Dyer, from Jan Juc, Victoria, entered the house on Day 0. Paul had been involved in an intense argument with Merlin over the issue of becoming an Australian citizen. Paul was evicted on Day 85. Paul now co-hosts a breakfast show on Geelong 95.5 K-rock

Ryan

Ryan Fitzgerald (or "Fitzy"), (born 16 October 1976) a former professional Australian rules football player from Adelaide, South Australia, entered the House on Day 0, and was evicted on Day 83. After being a contestant in Big Brother 2004, Ryan has gone on to co-host Nova 91.9 Adelaide's breakfast show, Friday Night Games, Friday Night Live and Friday Night Download. He has also appeared on Channel 10's AFL program Before The Game.

Catherine

Catherine Tremolada is a single mother of two from Albion Park, New South Wales. She entered the House on Day 0, and was evicted on Day 78, the day before the Final Countdown.

Ashalea

Ashalea McWalters, (born 7 January 1985) from Perth, Western Australia was evicted on Day 71.Entered competition in 2006 on RSVP seen on the big night in with John Foreman. She was a sweet, naive girl.

Monica

Monica de Balso, from New South Wales, entered the House as an Intruder, and was evicted in a Double Eviction on Day 71.

Wesley

Wesley Dening, (born 14 July 1983) From Brisbane's Kangaroo Point was evicted on Day 68, he notably co-hosted children's television show, Totally Wild. He was School Captain at Nudgee College during his time there.

Violeta

Violeta Black was from Melbourne, entered the house as an Intruder, and was evicted on Day 59.

Kane

Kane Dignum, (born 26 October 1983) from Queensland was evicted on Day 57. He is now known as a DJ, Little Fritter.

Terri

Terri Mann, from Western Australia, entered the House on Day 0 with the original housemates, and was evicted on Day 50.

Merlin

Merlin Luck, from New South Wales, entered the House on Day 0 with the original housemates, and was evicted on Day 43. During his Eviction, he attracted controversy by taping over his mouth and revealing a makeshift banner which read "Free Th Refugees". The letter E had fallen off and it was intended to read "Free The Refugees" in reference to Australian Government policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers. He refused to speak throughout his eviction show,^[2][3][4] but later spoke of the incident during the following nomination show.^[5]

Elle

Bree Quartermaine, known in the House as Elle and from Western Australia, entered the House on Day 0 and was evicted on Day 36.

Krystal

Krystal Ince, from Queensland, entered the House on Day 0 with the original housemates, and was evicted on Day 29. Prior to Big Brother, Krystal worked as a exotic dancer known as Delta.

Igor

Igor Vurmeski, from Melbourne, Victoria, was evicted on Day 22.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite Vuitton was evicted on Day 15. She garnered publicity after the end of the series upon getting cosmetic surgery,^[6] which consisted of rhinoplasty, chin augmentation, and breast implants.

Nominations Table

The first Housemate in each box was Nominated for Two Points, and the second Housemate was Nominated for One Point.

	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9		Week 10	Week 11	Week 12
								Intruder	Noms			Day 83	Day 85	Day 86
Trevor	Igor, Terri	Igor, Paul	Paul, Ashalea	Paul, Ashalea	Merlin, Paul	Terri, Ashalea	Wesley, Ashalea	Violeta	No Nominations	No Nominations	Paul, Catherine	Paul, Bree	No Nominations	Winner
Bree	Terri, Igor	Terri, Igor	Terri, Kane	Terri, Paul	Terri, Paul	Wesley, Ryan	Kane, Paul	Violeta	No Nominations	No Nominations	Paul, Ryan	Paul, Ryan	No Nominations	Runner-Up
Paul	Aphrodite, Igor	Elle, Merlin	Merlin, Krystal	Elle, Trevor	Merlin, Catherine	Ashalea, Catherine	Trevor, Bree	Violeta	No Nominations	No Nominations	Trevor, Ryan	Ryan, Trevor	No Nominations	Evicted (Day 85)
Ryan	Igor, Aphrodite	Igor, Terri	Krystal, Terri	Terri, Ashalea	Catherine, Terri	Bree, Terri	Ashalea, Bree	Violeta	No Nominations	No Nominations	Catherine, Bree	Bree, Paul	Evicted (Day 83)
Catherine	Ashlea, Igor	Igor, Terri	Paul, Ashalea	Paul, Terri	Merlin, Trevor	Terri, Ryan	Kane, Ryan	Violeta	No Nominations	No Nominations	Ryan, Bree	Evicted (Day 78)
Ashalea	Igor, Paul	Elle, Merlin	Elle, Trevor	Elle, Kane	Merlin, Kane	Wesley, Kane	Wesley, Ryan	Violeta	No Nominations	No Nominations	Evicted (Day 71)
Mónica	Not In House							Nominated	Exempt	No Nominations	Evicted (Day 71)
Wesley	Aphrodite, Krystal	Ashalea, Krystal	Ashalea, Bree	Elle, Ashalea	Bree, Catherine	Bree, Catherine	Ashalea, Catherine	Violeta	No Nominations	Evicted (Day 68)
Violeta	Not In House							Nominated	Evicted (Day 60)
Kane	Elle, Catherine	Krystal, Elle	Krystal, Terri	Elle, Terri	Ashalea, Catherine	Ashalea, Terri	Bree, Ashalea	Evicted (Day 57)
Terri	Igor, Ashalea	Igor, Ashalea	Merlin, Krystal	Bree, Ryan	Bree, Ashalea	Ashalea, Kane	Evicted (Day 50)
Merlin	Igor, Terri	Igor, Terri	Paul, Terri	Paul, Terri	Paul, Terri	Evicted (Day 43)
Elle	Igor, Kane	Igor, Terri	Ashalea, Krystal	Ashalea, Ryan	Evicted (Day 36)
Krystal	Igor, Aphrodite	Igor, Terri	Terri, Merlin	Evicted (Day 29)
Igor	Krystal, Ashalea	Elle, Kane	Evicted (Day 22)
Aphrodite	Terri, Paul	Evicted (Day 15)
Notes	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	[1]	[2]	[3]	-		-	-
Nominated For Eviction	Aphrodite, Igor, Terri	Elle, Igor, Terri	Ashalea, Krystal, Paul, Terri	Elle, Paul, Terri	Bree, Catherine, Merlin, Paul, Terri	Ashalea, Bree, Terri, Welsey	Ashalea, Bree, Kane, Wesley	Mónica, Violeta	Ashalea, Bree, Catherine, Paul, Ryan, Trevor, Wesley	Ashalea, Bree, Catherine, Paul, Mónica, Ryan, Trevor	Catherine, Paul, Ryan	Bree, Paul, Ryan	Bree, Paul, Trevor	Bree, Trevor
Evicted	Aphrodite 45% to evict	Igor 47% to evict	Krystal 41% to evict	Elle 36% to evict	Merlin 46% to evict	Terri 41% to evict	Kane 36% to evict	Violeta 7 of 7 Votes	Wesley 20% to evict	Mónica 43% to evict	Catherine 41% to evict	Ryan 37% toevict	Paul Third Place	Bree Second Place
										Ashalea 13% to evict				Trevor Winner

Nomination Notes

^1 The two Intruders faced the Housemate Vote, in which the Housemates would decide which one of them should go home. The Housemates unanimously chose to Evict Violeta.
^2 All Housemates were Nominated by Big Brother after failing to give reasonable Nomination reasons. Mónica, as a new Housemate, was exempt from this process.
^3 For the second week running all Housemates were automatically Nominated by Big Brother - this was due to the fact that at the last Eviction there was a voting error and Bree had been incorrectly Evicted. Bree later returned to the House, and the correct Evictee, Wesley, was Evicted on Day 68, four days too late. This left no time for Nominations, so all Housemates were put up for the Public Vote.

Controversy and Accidents

• Housemate Merlin Luck staged a protest at his live eviction show. Upon entering the arena, he revealed a makeshift banner which read "Free Th Refugees". The letter E had fallen off and it was intended to read "Free The Refugees" in reference to Australian Government policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers. Merlin placed gaffer tape over his mouth and refused to speak during the live show. The following night, when he returned to appear as a guest on the Nomination show, he apologised to Killeen for putting her on the spot and making her job difficult by refusing to speak during the eviction show. On this show Merlin spoke about his actions in the highest rating show of the timeslot for that night.^[1]
• The producers were criticized for making a deal with housemate Ryan Fitzgerald who was permitted to wear a t-shirt that was branded with "MLS" (acronym for Massive Loser Squad). The t-shirts were being sold while the show was running and Ryan's friends admitted that a proportion of the profits was going towards votes to keep him in the house, thus giving him what was perceived to be an unfair advantage. However the producer pointed-out that many housemates had companies or local communities rally support for them, which was little different, and that there was nothing stopping any other housemate's supporters doing a similar thing to Ryan's friends.
• Housemate Bree Amer was incorrectly evicted instead of Wesley due to a vote counting error. The error was discovered after the Sunday night eviction show. Bree had already met up with friends and family. She was returned to the house the following night (Monday).^[7] Wesley was evicted in a special show on the following Thursday.

Reception

Australian TV ratings

MONDAY - FRIDAY DAILY SHOW

WEEK	Sydney	Melbourne	Brisbane	Adelaide	Perth	TOTAL	WEEKLY RANK
01	356,000	343,000	256,000	137,000	152,000	1,243,000	46
02	299,000	281,000	222,000	115,000	145,000	1,062,000	58
03	312,000	268,000	199,000	110,000	148,000	1,037,000	70
04	,000	,000	,000	,000	,000	,000
05	311,000	296,000	208,000	121,000	146,000	1,082,000	65
06	325,000	278,000	195,000	116,000	148,000	1,063,000	66
07	341,000	294,000	221,000	132,000	131,000	1,119,000	49
08	289,000	272,000	233,000	126,000	133,000	1,052,000	65
09	302,000	287,000	242,000	135,000	133,000	1,100,000	57
10	309,000	322,000	234,000	141,000	132,000	1,138,000	45
11	328,000	302,000	231,000	143,000	121,000	1,124,000	53
12	357,000	307,000	249,000	154,000	124,000	1,191,000	46

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Buttner, Claire (14 June 2004). Merlin's silent protest. The Sydney Morning Herald
2. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200406/s1130992.htm
3. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/14/1087065042010.html
4. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/people/Transcripts/s1179304.htm
5. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/14/1087065072743.html
6. ^ http://www.shapeclinic.com.au/pdfs/aphrodit.pdf
7. ^ "Bree to re-enter Big Brother", theage.com.au, Published 5 July 2004, URL accessed 18 July 2007.