Big Brother (Australian TV series) season 4

Big Brother
Season 4
Presented by	Gretel Killeen
No. of days	86
No. of housemates	16
Winner	Trevor Butler
Runner-up	Bree Amer
Companion shows	Big Brother Nominations Big Brother: Uncut Big Brother: UpLate
Release
Original network	Network Ten
Original release	2 May (2004-05-02) – 26 July 2004 (2004-07-26)
Season chronology
← Previous Season 3 Next → Season 5

Big Brother 2004, also known as Big Brother 4, was the fourth season of the Australian reality television series Big Brother , and was aired on Network Ten, starting on Sunday 2 May 2004, ^[1] with the housemates entering the day before, and ended on Monday 26 July 2004, lasting 86 days. The season was billed as "back to basics, but with one small secret". In a return to the basic format of Big Brother 1 and Big Brother 2 that had been eschewed in favour of twists and surprises in Big Brother 3 , 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.

The only main twist of the series was the prize money - which was raised from $250,000 to $1,000,000, but this was kept hidden from housemates until later in the season. Evicted housemates also received larger prizes than any season before, with every evictee receiving a top of the range Mitsubishi Lancer VR-X.

Two Intruders entered the house later in the game, and Miriam Rivera, the transgender star of the show There's Something About Miriam , entered as a houseguest near the end. ^[2] The two Intruders were some of the least liked in all the four seasons, 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 rivalry towards each other. When Monica was finally up for eviction, she was evicted with a large percentage of the votes. Mid-season, the housemates were able to see the unofficial premiere of The Day After Tomorrow .

The final contestants in 2004 were Bree Amer and Trevor Butler. Trevor won, and then proposed to his girlfriend on stage. The winner announced of the finale was watched by 2.864 million Australian viewers. ^[3]

Opening sequence

The opening sequence was similar to the 2003 opening sequence with some minor sound changes. The background colour is more gradient than the previous season. A scene of a green backyard appears between the diary room and kitchen scenes. The diary room chair is orange instead of red, and 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 of a guitar component.

Housemates

Name	Age	Day entered	Day exited	Result
Trevor Butler	30	0	86	Winner
Bree Amer	21	0 65	64 86	Runner-up
Paul Dyer	31	0	85	Evicted
Ryan Fitzgerald	27	0	83	Evicted
Catherine Tremolada	33	0	78	Evicted
Ashalea McWalters	19	0	71	Evicted
Monica de Balso	32	55	71	Evicted
Wesley Dening	20	0	68	Evicted
Violeta Black	20	55	59	Evicted
Kane Dignum	20	0	57	Evicted
Terri Mann	31	0	50	Evicted
Merlin Luck	23	0	43	Evicted
Elle Quartermaine	22	0	36	Evicted
Krystal Ince	20	0	29	Evicted
Igor Vurmeski	27	0	22	Evicted
Aphrodite Vuitton	25	0	15	Evicted

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			Nominations points received
								Intruders	Nominations			Day 83	Day 85	Finale
Trevor	Igor Terri	Igor Paul	Paul Ashalea	Paul Ashalea	Merlin Paul	Terri Ashalea	Wesley Ashalea	Violeta	Paul Ashalea	No nominations	Paul Catherine	Paul Bree	No nominations	Winner (Day 86)	10
Bree	Terri Igor	Terri Igor	Terri Kane	Terri Paul	Terri Paul	Wesley Ryan	Kane Paul	Violeta	Paul Wesley	No nominations	Paul Ryan	Paul Ryan	No nominations	Runner-Up (Day 86)	24
Paul	Aphrodite Igor	Elle Merlin	Merlin Krystal	Elle Trevor	Merlin Catherine	Ashalea Catherine	Trevor Bree	Violeta	Trevor Bree	No nominations	Trevor Ryan	Ryan Trevor	No nominations	Evicted (Day 85)	37
Ryan	Igor Aphrodite	Igor Terri	Krystal Terri	Terri Ashalea	Catherine Terri	Bree Terri	Ashalea Bree	Violeta	Ashalea Paul	No nominations	Catherine Bree	Bree Paul	Evicted (Day 83)		17
Catherine	Ashalea Igor	Igor Terri	Paul Ashalea	Paul Terri	Merlin Trevor	Terri Ryan	Kane Ryan	Violeta	Paul Ashalea	No nominations	Ryan Bree	Evicted (Day 78)			15
Ashalea	Igor Paul	Elle Merlin	Elle Trevor	Elle Kane	Merlin Kane	Wesley Kane	Wesley Ryan	Violeta	Ryan Catherine	No nominations	Evicted (Day 71)				40
Monica	Not in House							Nominated	Ashalea Bree	No nominations	Evicted (Day 71)				N/A
Wesley	Aphrodite Krystal	Ashalea Krystal	Ashalea Bree	Elle Ashalea	Bree Catherine	Bree Catherine	Ashalea Catherine	Violeta	Ryan Catherine	Evicted (Day 68)					9
Violeta	Not in House							Nominated	Ashalea Bree	Evicted (Day 59)					N/A
Kane	Elle Catherine	Krystal Elle	Krystal Terri	Elle Terri	Ashalea Catherine	Ashalea Terri	Bree Ashalea	Evicted (Day 57)							11
Terri	Igor Catherine	Igor Bree	Merlin Krystal	Bree Ryan	Bree Ashalea	Ashalea Kane	Evicted (Day 50)								37
Merlin	Igor Terri	Igor Terri	Paul Terri	Paul Terri	Paul Terri	Evicted (Day 43)									15
Elle	Igor Kane	Igor Terri	Ashalea Krystal	Ashalea Ryan	Evicted (Day 36)										19
Krystal	Igor Aphrodite	Igor Terri	Terri Merlin	Evicted (Day 29)											13
Igor	Krystal Ashalea	Elle Kane	Evicted (Day 22)												32
Aphrodite	Terri Paul	Evicted (Day 15)													6
Nomination note	none								,		none
Against public vote	Aphrodite, Igor, Terri	Elle, Igor, Terri	Ashalea, Krystal, Paul, Terri	Elle, Paul, Terri	Bree, Catherine, Merlin, Paul, Terri	Ashalea, Bree, Terri, Wesley	Ashalea, Bree, Kane, Wesley	Monica, Violeta	Ashalea, Bree, Catherine, Paul, Ryan, Trevor, Wesley	All Housemates	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 to evict	Bree falsely evicted	Monica 43% (out of 7) to evict	Catherine 41% to evict	Ryan 37% to evict	Paul Most votes to evict	Bree Most votes to evict
									Wesley 23.3% to evict	Ashalea 24% (out of 6) to evict
Saved	Igor 35% Terri 20%	Terri 35% Elle 18%	Paul 32% Terri 21% Ashalea 6%	Terri 34% Paul 30%	??? 19% ??? 18% ??? 13% ??? 4%	??? 24% ??? 21% ??? 14%	??? 28% ??? 19% ??? 17%	Monica 0 of 7 votes	Bree 18.4% ??? 17.4% ??? 15.4% ??? 14.2% ??? 7.4% ??? 3.9%	??? 22% ??? 21% ??? 16% ??? 14% ??? 3%	??? 33% ??? 26%	??? 35% ??? 28%	Bree Trevor	Trevor Fewest votes to evict

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. Had this not happened, Ashalea, Ryan, and Paul would have faced the public vote. Monica, as a new Housemate, was immune from eviction.
• ^3   On Day 65, Bree was incorrectly announced as the week's evictee. Bree later returned to the House, and the correct evictee, Wesley, was evicted on Day 68.
• ^4 Due to the previous week's eviction error, this resulted in a lack of time to nominates. As such, all Housemates were automatically nominated for eviction by Big Brother. For fun, Big Brother asked each housemate whom they wanted to save from eviction.

Special shows

The Secret Revealed

Gretal Killeen hosts the launch show of Big Brother Australia where a brand new house says hello to 14 brand new housemates but what they don't know is big brother's big secret, what is it?

Housemate Secrets

Gretal Killeen hosts a special where the housemates play a game of 2 lies and a truth, what is the truth? and will the housemates guess the secrets? Plus, daily show action including the morning after the night before of Igor and Aphrodite's argument.

Meeting Miriam

Meeting Miriam was a Special Live Show shown on Day 41, where Miriam Rivera entered the Big Brother House to help the Housemates with their Salsa Dancing Task.

The Secret's Out

Gretel Killeen hosts a live special where the housemates play a series of games with the winner being the first to learn Big Brother's secret and then will be able to tell a friend but must keep it a secret or face a massive price. Who will be first to learn the secret?

The Intruders

Gretel Killeen hosts the much anticipated live show where the introduction of the 2 intruders has arrived, how will the house react to their new playmates? Plus, house psychologist Carmel Hill puts in what the house is really going through.

Intruder Eviction

Gretel Killeen hosts a live show where the 2 intruders are facing the boot and whose journey will end - the housemates will decide but who will go: Monica or Violeta?

The Recount

The Recount was a Special Live Eviction Show which it aired on Day 68.

The Countdown Begins

Gretel Killeen hosts the final nominations show joined by evictee Catherine where the final 4 will nominate for a surprise eviction but who will face the chop next? Plus, Gretel talks to the final 4 one on one.

Surprise Eviction

Gretel Killeen hosts a surprise eviction where the final 4 is about to become the final 3 but who will not make it to the final days: Paul. Bree or Ryan?

The Final Sunday Eviction

Gretel Killeen hosts the final eviction show before the final but which of the final 3 will not make it to the final day and miss out on the million: Paul, Bree or Trevor? Plus, Ryan returns on stage and has a big reunion.

Controversy and incidents

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. ^[2]

The producers were criticised 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. Ryan has instead insisted on his radio program that his friends were not using the money to buy votes and instead spending it on alcohol. ^[4]

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). ^[5] 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	100,000	124,000	2,191,000'	46

References

1. Dale, David (17 May 2004). "Reality TV feels the pain". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
2. Buttner, Claire (14 June 2004). "Merlin's silent protest". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
3. "TOP 20 PROGRAMS SHOWN ON TELEVISION, 1998–2009". Screen Australia . Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
4. Bucklow, Andrew (18 July 2018). "Nova's Fitzy reveals why the Big Brother executive producer threatened his mum". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
5. "Bree to re-enter Big Brother". The Age . Fairfax Media. Australian Associated Press (AAP). 5 July 2004. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.