The moral conservatives who are getting hot under the collar about Big Brother
have fallen into an obvious trap set by the Ten Network, which has
cynically ‘”raunched up” this year’s show to get exactly this sort of
reaction and publicity.

And young viewers know this. One of my sons observed when this year’s Big Brother
started that they’d allowed more alcohol in the early programs. This
was a deliberate attempt to inject more spice into the program to boost
ratings, especially for the Uncut episodes shown after 9:30pm.
I’ve heard from production crews that there were already signs of the
new approach when discussions started with Ten producers and Southern
Star last November – and the auditions were designed to find more
outrageous and uninhibited people for the house.

The political
edge that developed last year was also something the producers tried to
weed out, despite some claims to the contrary. Raunchy is in: that’s
why there have been public displays of nudity, genitals and suggestions
of sex.