Big Brother’s disastrous ratings this season continued on Monday with Channel Seven’s ‘sexy’ reboot delivering just 134,000 in the major metro centres.
And now one of show’s former winners has weighed in on where the franchise has gone so terribly wrong this year.
Trevor ‘Big Trev’ Butler, who won $1million on Big Brother in 2004, says producers have alienated the show’s fan base by focusing on ‘hot singles looking for love’ instead of packing the house with ordinary people.
‘I think it was a mistake making it the House of Love this year,’ Butler told New Idea.
‘They have got all of these pretty people in there, a whole lot of glamorous influencers and they seem to be going for that Survivor, MAFS vibe with all of that artificial drama and excitement. That’s why it’s doing so badly.’
Big Brother legend Trevor Butler weighs in on the one-time fan favourite as it sinks to a new low in the ratings Pictured: Trevor Butler and Bree who appeared on Big Brother 2004
Trevor ‘Big Trev’ Butler, who won $1million on Big Brother in 2004, says producers have alienated the show’s fan base by focusing on ‘hot singles looking for love’ this season – instead of packing the house with ordinary people Pictured: The latest season of Big Brother
Butler says in the latest issue of New Idea that the House of Love focus on Big Brother is costing the show its audience, who would prefer to see ‘ordinary people’
He added that Australians like the ‘social aspect’ of the Big Brother format, which used to be about watching ‘ordinary people’ trying to get along – or not.
Butler, 50, a broadcaster now heard on the Gold Coast’s Hot Tomato, made headlines 19 years ago after winning being the only contestant to win $1million on the show.
Meanwhile, Seven has bumped the once reliable ratings winner from 7.30pm to the 8.30pm time slot from Monday to Wednesday.
The show was trounced on Monday night by MasterChef spin-off Dessert Masters, a rare in for Channel 10.
Hosted by Melissa Leong and Amaury Guichon, the show managed to pull in 449,000 viewers in the metro areas.
ElChannel 10 scored a rare win with their MasterChef spin-off Dessert Masters on Monday. Hosted by Melissa Leong and Amaury Guichon (pictured) the show managed to pull in 449,000 viewers in the metro areas
A scene from Dessert Masters
Over on Seven, Home and Away is ending its 2023 season in strong form, landing 429,000 viewers in the major centres and 364,000 in the 8pm slot.
Meanwhile, the finale of Channel Nine’s My Mum Your Dad ended its season with 335,000 viewers in the metro centres.
Channel Seven finished the night in the number one spot overall with an audience share of 28 per cent, while arch rival Nine was a close second on 26.5 per cent.
The ABC had the third highest audience share with 19.5 per cent, while Channel 10 was close behind with 18.6 per cent of the available audience.