Big Brother is back with an event 21 years in the making, premiering 7.30pm Monday, 9 May on Channel 7 and 7plus.
A total of 21 new and returning housemates, ranging in age from 22-52, will enter the custom-built house throughout the season with the aim of surviving every eviction and living together for 62 days.
They’ll be cut off from the outside world with cameras and microphones recording their every move for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Returning housemates
Anthony Drew, 33 – 2013 housemate
Dave Graham, 42 – 2006 housemate
Estelle Landy, 33 – 2012 housemate
Layla Subritzky, 33 – 2012 runner-up
Reggie Bird, 42 – 2003 winner
Tim Dormer, 37 – 2013 winner
Trevor Butler, 48 – 2004 winner
Tully Smyth, 34 – 2013 housemate
New housemates
Aleisha, 24 – Entrepreneur
Gabbie, 22 – Retail Worker
Jaycee, 23 – Musician and Rapper
Joel, 26 – Fitness fanatic
Johnson, 25 – Big Brother superfan
Josh, 32 – Ex international model
Lara, 52 – Hairdresser
Lulu, 39 – Community worker
Melanie, 41 – Receptionist
Sam, 31 – Intimacy coach
Taras, 34 – Musician
The first night will see 11 new and exciting housemates enter the house, along with four housemates deemed Big Brother royalty.
After the dust settles on night one, more royalty will enter Big Brother’s house through a secret door.
Big Brother 2022 bedroom
The prize
Host Sonia Kruger will be there every step of the way to question strategies and pick apart motives. Ultimately three housemates will be left standing and, in a live Grand Final television event, Australia will vote to determine who deserves to win the $250,000 prize.
What’s new
•Head of House (HOH) vote
Each week the housemates will vote for one person to hold unprecedented power in the game. HOH will be safe from eviction all week. They will also have exclusive access to the HOH Suite with two friends of their choice. The housemates cannot be HOH two weeks running, but they can be HOH multiple times.
• Head of House power twist
The HOH will be granted a unique and strategic power during the week, to influence the game and the nominations.
• Second chance challenges
For the first time on Big Brother, the nominated housemates will have a chance to save themselves by competing in a physical challenge in the lead-up to the final eviction each week. These nail-biting challenges will require courage, strength and smarts to conquer, as the nominees battle it out with absolute desperation and determination.
• Themed weeks
Housemates will be confronted with a new set of challenges and surprises every week including Battle Week, Party Week, Hacked Week, and Temptation Week.
What’s back
• House nominations
Once a week the housemates will have the power to nominate who they want to be up for eviction.
• Secret missions
Housemates may be asked by Big Brother to sabotage tasks and take part in secret missions of his choosing, starting from day one.
• Nominations challenges
These large-scale challenges return with exciting new gameplay. All housemates will compete, and not only will the winner be safe from eviction, they’ll be the only one with the power to nominate three fellow housemates. The losers get nothing.
Fast facts
• The custom-built Big Brother house has new secret rooms: the mainframe, the sewer and two mystery rooms. There’s a new treehouse, a Zen chill-out space for the housemates to grab some downtime. A select few housemates will also get exclusive access to a brand-new upstairs luxury suite.
• There are 70 rigged cameras in the house, most with full remote capabilities, and infrared
to follow the housemates 24/7 where required.
• The Big Brother Challenge Team created over 60 new tasks and challenges including nominations challenges, second chance challenges, house tasks, shopping tasks and panic room tasks.
• Housemates are responsible for their own cooking, washing, cleaning and recycling.
• Rations across the season include 1,700 pieces of fruit, 200 litres of milk and 1,000kg of spinach. Housemates are also provided with over 50kg of flour and more than 700 eggs.
• Housemates can enter the house with one suitcase of their clothing, toiletries and personal belongings. Everything else is allocated to them by Big Brother.
• Housemates can bring in four personal photos.
• Three housemates celebrated their birthday within the Big Brother house with their newfound Big Brother family during this season.
Big Brother premieres Monday, 9 May on Channel 7 and 7plus