#bbau2025

At 11:20am AEST (House time) today, the Housemates were gathered in the living room to read their letters from home. And – in what we assume was a direct copy of Matty’s BBUK 2023 eviction – Edward became the seventh Housemate to be sent packing.

In other news, Sunday’s eviction is now confirmed to be a double.

The finale will be happening on Monday, 8th December. That’s Day 30 in the House.

Rumours had swirled that the series might be extended for an extra week or two, if it performed well. Which it has – BBAU is Channel 10’s biggest reality show since 2023, their biggest ever streaming show, and it’s averaging 920,000 nightly viewers. It also delivered the network’s biggest week of the year so far. Not bad for November.

After this Sunday’s double eviction, there’ll be 10 Housemates left, and only two weeks left of the show. We know from Big Brother UK that such a quick turnaround can be done. We also know that it usually comes with... shenanigans. Don’t be surprised if the producers resort to snap votes and backdoor evictions, is what I’m saying.

And don’t be surprised if there are six Housemates in the final.

One of the most popular Big Brother Australia Housemates is about to be sent packing, after a last-minute change that smacks of producer meddling.

Allana, Jane, and Mia are all currently nominated, and it felt like we were going to get a pretty good eviction result, with all indications pointing to Jane as the likely loser. But on Wednesday night (AEDT), promos for a “shock double eviction” started airing on Channel 10.

One issue is that this immediately becomes a lose-lose eviction for many fans: at time of writing, Allana leads our Pop Poll with 27.94% of the vote, and Mia is in second place with 20.59% – a higher vote share than when she was crowned last week’s most popular Housemate. Jane is currently on 1.47%.

This happened frustratingly often in this year’s BBUK. A twist on Day 4 left Zelah and Gani – the series’ first and seventh-most popular Housemates – on the block for the first eviction. Another twist – and a poorly-timed double eviction like this one – led to Zelah being evicted on Day 34.

Even putting aside the issue of popularity, this should’ve been announced during Monday’s Live Nominations. We all knew double evictions were coming, with thirteen Housemates in a four-to-six week run, but viewers still deserve to know exactly what they’re voting for. It feels like free, web-based eviction voting is being used to excuse producer interventions that would’ve been more controversial with phone and SMS voting – like Day 1 evictee Emily being brought back in this year’s BBUK. (Expect to see Mitch again, too.)

Announcing it mid-week like this has a nasty reek of “we’ve decided to evict the person in second place too, just because we can”. And it flies in the face of the unscripted, unfiltered, “OG” BBAU experience we were all promised.

Other things are annoying me, too, like the Daily Show’s conspicuous failure to include any of Colin’s angry outbursts, and the fact Housemates are actively discouraged from doing anything interesting on weekends.

But this is the first thing that’s really irked me, in what has honestly been a refreshing and enjoyable series.

Update 20/11: There may be more to Sunday’s “shock twist” than we first thought.

Here’s the floorplan that was revealed in tonight’s episode.

The first thing our new Housemates will see this Saturday – once they step through the shiny, ITV-style corridor – is an enormous, open-plan living area with a comfy-looking sitting room.

Maybe it’s these grainy, low-resolution images (they’re taken from portrait-orientation Instagram videos, which isn’t ideal). Maybe it’s the saturated, neon-heavy colour scheme. Maybe it’s the mottled carpets. Whatever the reason, this House is giving me “liminal space” vibes – I feel like that living room could be tucked away in the corner of a decaying arcade somewhere.

That vibe continues in the dining area, which I think has 14 chairs – enough for 12 Housemates and two Intruders or late-entrants, perhaps?

There are two cosy nooks in the main living space. This one, with its pink and teal colour scheme, looks like it could be the lobby of a trendy, 1990s hotel.

And this red nook, with its wood panelling and in-wall goldfish tank (the show’s official TikTok describes it as a “fish cam”), is my favourite part of the new House by far.

The kitchen is a little more modern, but I don't really have anything to say about it besides that. Moving on!

Let’s get the bathroom out of the way next because, for some reason, Big Brother decided to go all moody with the lighting. And it makes for some pretty terrible pictures.

I quite like the bathroom – I like how everything’s softly glowing (we may have left the Channel 7 era behind, but Big Brother’s love of LED lighting strips is as strong as ever), and I like that there’s a sauna. This House feels lower-budget than previous BBAU Houses, so it helps add a touch of luxury.

The bedroom is our next stop, and it seems to be the only part of the House that actually has ceilings. Enjoy them while you can. Unlike the bathroom, the LED lights in the bedroom look really cheap – perhaps it’s because of how flat and untextured everything is.

And our final stop – for now – is the Diary Room, whose seat looks like a pouting, sulky mouth.

But… wait! What’s that, reflected in the fish tank?! It kinda looks like…

Oh. Oh, no. Noooooo.

It’s the living room again, but it’s been picked up and dropped in the middle of an IKEA warehouse.

This is so, so disappointing. It’s not actually a new thing: the House for the final two Channel 7 series, at Sydney’s Olympic Park, was built in a glorified circus tent and also lacked ceilings. But it’s a shame this new House hasn’t been built to a higher standard.

Admittedly, this year’s BBAU is going to run for less than six weeks, so Channel 10 might see this as a pilot House for a pilot series – it’ll be interesting to see if they build something more permanent if the show gets a longer run next year.

Big Brother Australia returns this Sunday, 9th November, at 7:00pm AEDT (8:00am GMT / 12:00am PST / 3:00am EST) on Channel 10.

New photos of the BBAU House build, from the show's official Instagram.

Big Brother Australia is returning to its original home, Channel 10, in late 2025! 🥳

The new run will be hosted by Mel Tracina, and will feature live evictions, live nominations, and a live 24/7 internet feed!

I am...so fucking excited.