Susannah evicted

TOORAK princess Susannah was last night wrenched from the lustful gaze of admirer Tom and sent packing from the Big Brother house.

AN aversion to getting her hands dirty heralded the downfall of Toorak princess Susannah last night, when the 30-year-old was wrenched from the lustful gaze of admirer Tom and sent packing from the Big Brother house.

Susannah was thrown into the eviction mix by fireman Andrew who accused the Victorian fraud analyst of being lazy and not doing her share of the housework.

The result went down to the wire, as Susannah narrowly edged out conservative Mormon Rebecca by 14 per cent.

Trouble on the tube, Brother 

WITH all the knocks and scrapes the Big Brother franchise has suffered since its debut seven years ago, it's hard to believe that the current season is the one that is getting under the skin of the executive producer Kris Noble.

"It does seem to be turning and it is getting a bit nasty, it's a bit like what is happening in the UK," Noble says from the Endemol Southern Star offices in Sydney.

"I'm surprised. I didn't think Australia would do that. But it seems to be at its worst this year."

This series is, by all accounts, the most controversial. But unlike past years, when a little controversy has kicked the ratings into overdrive, this season will go down as the least-watched in the show's seven-year history in Australia.

Ratings are down 5 per cent overall and 13 per cent in the coveted 16- to 39-year-old demographic compared with last year.

Last Sunday's eviction episode attracted 1.1 million in the mainland capitals, some 300,000 short of recent years.

With numbers sliding and the public's interest dissolving, is the writing on the wall for Australia's longest-running reality TV program?

"I don't think so, I think it will run for a few more years yet - I don't know how many," Noble says.

"Our numbers are down but that's to be expected. There has been a decline in all television ratings because there are more things to distract people.

"I mean, who would have thought seven years ago that so many people would be watching programs on their computers, via the internet?

"It's just harder to attract those free eyeballs to watch your show.

"But I always have found it surprising that our show receives such widespread criticism, when there are so many violent crime programs shown in prime time that include far more destructive content. I will never figure that out." And despite the never-ending battle to defend the program's credibility, Noble - the head of Channel 9 drama for 12 years and one of Christopher Skase's producers at Seven before that - describes this 2007 series as the "hardest ever".

He isn't talking about the housemates who have been labelled by critics as the most boring group of people ever brought together.

Nor is he talking about the well-documented series of PR disasters that have plagued the latest series since its launch 42 days ago.

It is the media's treatment of the show, he says, that has been disappointing.

Indeed, the media and public have savaged the program during this controversy-plagued season.
The two obvious standouts were the "stillborn" saga involving housemate Kate Gladman and the brouhaha surrounding the death of Raymond Cornell - father of housemate Emma Cornell.

The publicity backlash that followed the latter was stinging.

Endemol Southern Star's decision not to inform Emma of her father's death, at the request of her family, was greeted by the press at large as a crime that justified removing the program from screens forever.

"The media's reaction to that  ... was the worst I have seen yet," Noble says.

"There was so much misinformation surrounding it. It really was the toughest thing that I have been through with the show as far as the media goes.

"It was just nasty. Really nasty.

"But scandal sells, whether it's TV or newspapers. A good story doesn't sell as well as a bad one. If it's scandalous, of course it will sell."

Big Brother was accused of "playing God" but Emma's family, through a statement posted on the show's website, came out in the defence of the program and reiterated they made the specific request that Emma should not be told while in the house: It was her father's dying wish.

He and Emma had not had a significant relationship during his life, and he wanted his estranged daughter to enjoy the experience without the grief of his death.

It was a tough call for the network and the producers, who all knew Emma's father was sick when they chose her to be a part of the show.

"But a lot of people have gone into the house with sick relatives," Noble says.

"There is never a perfect situation. There's never a perfect housemate."

But Noble admits he was stunned to find out about the death through a newspaper article.

"We did not know he died. We found out after the funeral. The family did not want us or anyone to know but someone who was aware of the situation leaked it to a newspaper and the next thing, it was all over the place," he said.

"And the reason the family didn't tell us about it was because they didn't want it blowing up - exactly the way it has done.

"It has hurt the family. It's not good for Emma, and it's not good for us."

Despite following the family's instructions, the producers were divided on the issue and Noble admits there was a discussion about telling Emma, regardless.

"But how could we? It was a dying man's wish," he says.

"If we had have said 'Bugger it, we have to tell her' then there would have been those ready to slam us for playing God as well.

"I don't know if we have handled this right. We are hoping we have done the right thing."

One thing Noble will concede is that, given the opportunity, he would reverse the decision to give the housemates the "baby" task that unhinged housemate Kate Gladman in week two.

"I have gone over this in my head over and over again," Noble says.

It was, he admitted, one of the poorest decisions made by the producers of the show in seven years - to give housemates a computerised life-size baby doll that is programmed to cry and requires care, knowing that housemate Kate had suffered the trauma of stillbirth only two years before.

Kate's mother called the producers "sadistic". Noble took his licks.

"Knowing the way it affected her now, we should never have done it. Obviously," he says.

"No one wants to see someone in that situation. But we had talked to her about the baby and she said she was completely over it.

"But in hindsight we should have been a bit more sensitive. It was hard seeing her react like that because you grow attached to everyone and don't want to see any of them hurting.

"But we're learning all the time and despite what is said about the show we do care about these people.

"We care about the show. And I think we have a long way to go yet."

Big Brother screens on Channel 10 Monday to Friday at 7pm; Sunday and Monday at 7.30pm