Confirmed: Big Brother will return in 2020

Five years on from Big Brother’s final season on Channel 9, it has been confirmed the beloved reality show is returning in 2020.

In an age where zany new reality TV formats are popping up week by week, it’s been announced an old favourite will return to Australian screens in 2020.

After months of speculation, Big Brother will return after being dropped from Channel 9 in 2014.

A senior television industry source has confirmed the show’s revival to news.com.au, adding that recruiting for the crew was under way.

The program originally launched in Australia on Ten in 2001, running for eight seasons and dominating ratings as it went.

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During its first Aussie run, the show wasn’t without controversy — with the infamous 2006 “turkey-slap” incident leading to two sexual assault accusations and then Prime Minister John Howard calling for the show to be cancelled immediately.

It has not been announced which network has picked up the rights at this stage, although sources have suggested to blog TV Blackbox that Seven is the most likely home.

Big Brother will definitely be returning to Aussie screens in 2020. Picture: Channel 10.

Amid the rumours, former host Gretel Killeen weighed in on how she felt about a potential reboot while speaking on KIIS FM this week.

Killeen, who hosted Big Brother from 2001 to 2007, said casting in today’s influencer-rich reality contestant pool would be vital.

“I think the essence of Big Brother is brilliant because when we first started that show it was about just watching humans interact without interference, just seeing what humans do,” Killeen told radio hosts Kyle and Jackie O.

“It wasn’t ‘Who’s going to win?’ It was ‘Let’s just see what relationships form and how people pass their time and converse’.

“I think watching ourselves is something we could actually learn from now. I think this is a time of analysis and introspection and redefining our values, so I think it would be a hoot.”

Killeen’s only concern about a Big Brother reboot would be what kind of people the show would attract as potential housemates.

“Reality TV can attract a different kind of person now who wants to be famous, so perhaps that level of purity, maybe the time has passed,” she said. “But maybe that’s a matter of casting.”

Former Big Brother host Gretel Killeen seemed sceptical about a Big Brother reboot. Picture: Supplied.

After Killeen’s hosting stint, Kyle and Jackie O took the reins for one season — the last season for the program on the Ten Network.

Four years later, Big Brother was given a new lease of life by Channel 9 with Sonia Kruger as host. It lasted three seasons before once again getting the chop.

Big Brother lasted three seasons on 9 before it left screens altogether in 2014. Picture: Supplied.