Gretel Killeen brings sense of heritage to Seven’s rebooted Big Brother in 2020
Gretel Killeen has been signed to host Seven’s rebooted series of Big Brother next year, television insiders said last night.
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Gretel Killeen is favoured to be signed to host Seven’s rebooted Big Brother series in 2020.
Fresh from her surprise turn on Ten’s The Masked Singer, the one-time Midday show comedian entered into talks last month to make her prime-time comeback at the helm of the show she launched in Australia and hosted on Ten for seven years from 2001-07.
Her main rivals for the role are said to be another former Big Brother host, Sonia Kruger, who hosted the show for three seasons on Nine from 2012-14, and Big Brother alumnus Chrissie Swan with Seven and production partner Endemol Shine looking to bring a sense of Australian heritage to the new show.
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Not in contention is 2008 Big Brother host Kyle Sandilands whose latest Ten outing, Trial By Kyle, drew a lacklustre audience (363,000 — five capital cities) to the opening night of series two last week.
Sandilands has admitted previously he was not committed to Big Brother during his year on the show in 2008 and was prone to take sickies: “ … Life wasn’t great back then so I buried my face into a big pile of cocaine …”
Killeen last month told Sandilands on his KIISFM radio show she thought Big Brother
was a “brilliant” show although she had reservations about modern reality show contestants: “Reality TV can attract a different kind of person now who wants to be famous … but maybe that’s a matter of casting.”
It’s understood Seven has decided against a sordid “live” spin-off series — the kind that gave rise to the infamous turkey- slapping incident of 2006, an incident producers feel may have compromised the program’s family friendly appeal before spurring a prime minister, John Howard, to call for the show’s axing.
Seven CEO James Warburton yesterday denied Killeen’s signature was already on a contract.
TV insiders were surprised Killeen’s appointment was not announced at Seven’s Upfronts 2020 season launch in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Originally published as Gretel Killeen brings sense of heritage to Seven’s rebooted Big Brother in 2020