What even is the point of Big Brother in 2025?
Twenty-four years ago, voyeurism alone was a powerful draw for audiences. Now, the question is whether the revived Big Brother can truly succeed in 2025.
“Are you ready to come home?”
The familiar voice belonged to Mike Goldman, long recognized as the narrator of Big Brother Australia during both its Channel 10 debut and the later Channel 9 revival. With that one phrase, the new version of the show made its intentions clear: to return to its roots, evoking the early 2000s era when it was a major pop culture event.
- Introduced audiences to personalities like Chrissie Swan.
- Gave life to Sara-Marie’s famous bunny dance.
- Birthed iconic moments like the dancing doona and the notorious turkey slap.
For a time, Big Brother held a unique space in the cultural landscape — a nightly ritual of acceptable voyeurism that offered viewers a glimpse into human behavior stripped of self-awareness, played out for the nation to see. Yet, as the show challenges nostalgia, one question remains: can it ever truly return to what it once was?
The Australian version of Big Brother first aired in 2001, shortly after the format’s debut in the Netherlands. Its title and concept trace back to the ominous, all-seeing figurehead from George Orwell’s classic novel 1984.
Author’s Summary
Big Brother’s 2025 comeback seeks to evoke its early 2000s allure, but must contend with a media world far less innocent about spectacle and surveillance.