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
No. of episodes	109 (+ 60 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

The fourth season of the Australian reality television series, Big Brother , also known as Big Brother 2004, 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 the first two seasons, which had been eschewed in favour of twists and surprises in the previous season, 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	86 [a]	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

Color key:

  Winner

  Runner-up

  Nominated

  Exempt

  No Nominations

  Intruder Vote

  Votes to Save

  Falsely evicted

  Evicted

	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
								Nominations	Intruder Eviction	To Save		Day 83	Day 85	Finale
Trevor	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Igor 1–Paul	2–Paul 1–Ashalea	2–Paul 1–Ashalea	2–Merlin 1–Paul	2–Terri 1–Ashalea	2–Wesley 1–Ashalea	2–Paul 1–Ashalea	Violeta	Ryan Wesely	2–Paul 1–Catherine	2–Paul 1–Bree	No nominations	Winner (Day 86)	10
Bree	2–Terri 1–Igor	2–Terri 1–Igor	2–Terri 1–Kane	2–Terri 1–Paul	2–Terri 1–Paul	2–Wesley 1–Ryan	2–Kane 1–Paul	2–Paul 1–Wesley	Violeta	Falsely evicted (Day 64)	2–Paul 1–Ryan	2–Paul 1–Ryan	No nominations	Runner-Up (Day 86)	24
Paul	2–Aphrodite 1–Igor	2–Elle 1–Merlin	2–Merlin 1–Krystal	2–Elle 1–Trevor	2–Merlin 1–Catherine	2–Ashalea 1–Catherine	2–Trevor 1–Bree	2–Trevor 1–Bree	Violeta	Ryan Wesely	2–Trevor 1–Ryan	2–Ryan 1–Trevor	No nominations	Evicted (Day 85)	37
Ryan	2–Igor 1–Aphrodite	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Krystal 1–Terri	2–Terri 1–Ashalea	2–Catherine 1–Terri	2–Bree 1–Terri	2–Ashalea 1–Bree	2–Ashalea 1–Paul	Violeta	Trevor Paul	2–Catherine 1–Bree	2–Bree 1–Paul	Evicted (Day 83)		17
Catherine	2–Ashalea 1–Igor	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Paul 1–Ashalea	2–Paul 1–Terri	2–Merlin 1–Trevor	2–Terri 1–Ryan	2–Kane 1–Ryan	2–Paul 1–Ashalea	Violeta	Trevor Ashalea	2–Ryan 1–Bree	Evicted (Day 78)			15
Ashalea	2–Igor 1–Paul	2–Elle 1–Merlin	2–Elle 1–Trevor	2–Elle 1–Kane	2–Merlin 1–Kane	2–Wesley 1–Kane	2–Wesley 1–Ryan	2–Ryan 1–Catherine	Violeta	Trevor Paul	Evicted (Day 71)				40
Monica	Not in House							2–Ashalea 1–Bree	Nominated	Catherine Ryan	Evicted (Day 71)				N/A
Wesley	2–Aphrodite 1–Krystal	2–Ashalea 1–Krystal	2–Ashalea 1–Bree	2–Elle 1–Ashalea	2–Bree 1–Catherine	2–Bree 1–Catherine	2–Ashalea 1–Catherine	2–Ryan 1–Catherine	Violeta	Paul Catherine	Evicted (Day 68)				9
Violeta	Not in House							2–Ashalea Bree	Nominated	Evicted (Day 59)					N/A
Kane	2–Elle 1–Catherine	2–Krystal 1–Elle	2–Krystal 1–Terri	2–Elle 1–Terri	2–Ashalea 1–Catherine	Ashalea Terri	2–Bree 1–Ashalea	Evicted (Day 57)							11
Terri	2–Igor 1–Catherine	2–Igor 1–Bree	2–Merlin 1–Krystal	2–Bree 1–Ryan	2–Bree 1–Ashalea	2–Ashalea 1–Kane	Evicted (Day 50)								37
Merlin	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Paul 1–Terri	2–Paul 1–Terri	2–Paul 1–Terri	Evicted (Day 43)									15
Elle	2–Igor 1–Kane	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Ashalea 1–Krystal	2–Ashalea Ryan	Evicted (Day 36)										19
Krystal	2–Igor 1–Aphrodite	2–Igor 1–Terri	2–Terri 1–Merlin	Evicted (Day 29)	13
Igor	2–Krystal 1–Ashalea	2–Elle 1–Kane	Evicted (Day 22)												32
Aphrodite	2–Terri 1–Paul	Evicted (Day 15)													6
Notes	none							[b] , [c]	[d]	[e]	none
Nominated	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	All Unimmune Housemates	Monica, Violeta	All Housemates	Catherine, Paul, Ryan	Bree, Paul, Ryan	All Housemates	All Housemates
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	Bree falsely evicted	Violeta 7 of 7 votes to evict	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%	Bree 18.4% ??? 17.4% ??? 15.4% ??? 14.2% ??? 7.4% ??? 3.9%	Monica 0 of 7 votes	??? 22% ??? 21% ??? 16% ??? 14% ??? 3%	??? 33% ??? 26%	??? 35% ??? 28%	Bree Trevor	Trevor Fewest votes to evict

Notes

1. Bree briefly left the house after being incorrectly evicted on Day 65. When the error was discovered, she was asked if she wanted to return, and she accepted. She was placed in lockdown after the Eviction Show and returned during Nominations on Day 66.
2. All Housemates were nominated by Big Brother after most Housemates failed to give reasonable nomination reasons. Had this not happened, only Ashalea, Ryan, and Paul would have been nominated. Intruders Violeta and Monica, had Immunity but were able to vote.
3. On Day 64, Bree was incorrectly announced as the Wekk 9 evictee. Bree later returned to the House on Day 65, and the correct evictee, Wesley, was evicted on Day 68.
4. On Day 59, the two Intruders faced a House Vote, in which the Original Housemates would vote to evict one Intruder. The Housemates evicted Violeta.
5. Week 10 was a Double Eviction with all Housemates nominated. During Nominations, Housemates were to vote for the Housemates they wanted to save from Eviction - these Nominations did not count. As Wesley had not yet been evicted from the house, he participated in the Nominations. As Bree had not yet re-entered, she did not vote in Nominations. Further, as a result of an audit in relation to Week 9's Eviction, voting for Week 10's Eviction only opened shortly after Wesley was evicted on Day 68.

Special episodes

A number of special episodes aired during the original run of the season. These included:

The Secret Revealed

'The Secret Revealed' was the show's launch night, in which the new housemates were introduced, and the Million Dollar Secret was revealed to the nation.

Housemate Secrets

'Housemate Secrets' was aired on the first Sunday of the season, in which the housemates were told to give out statements about themselves, two of which were lies, and one was the truth.

Meeting Miriam

A special episode introducing Miriam Rivera, the transgender star of the show There's Something About Miriam.

The Secret's Out

This episode saw housemates play a series of games to decide who would be the first amongst the housemates to learn of Big Brother's secret.

The Intruders

This episode introduced the season's Intruders.

Intruder Eviction

Aired on Day 59, this episode saw the housemates decide who they wanted to evict.

The Recount

Aired following the eviction of the wrong housemate, and Bree's subsequent return, a special eviction show aired to confirm the correct evictee.

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.