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….and now the Big Brother amphitheatre is being demolished

Another Big Brother memory is no more....

Another Big Brother memory is no more with Dreamworld demolishing its amphitheatre which was home to famed eviction shows.

The Dreamworld Amphitheatre was originally built in the mid-1980s and became home to Big Brother eviction shows on 10 from 2001 – 2008, then 2012- 2014 on Nine.

It was the scene of the infamous “Free the Refugees” eviction when housemate Merlin Luck hijacked the show to make a social statement around immigration. It made headlines around the country.

But it was also the stage for tears, prizes, proposals (Benjamin Norris), eviction errors (Bree Amer), zany costumes (audience members with Mike Goldman) and a mass bum dance for Sarah-Marie Fedele.

The City of Gold Coast Council approved the demolition of the amphitheatre and adjacent buildings last week.

In June a dilapidated Big Brother house were razed by fire, having been trashed previously by vandals.

15 Responses

  1. I don’t care if BB ever comes back or not. Have to agree with other comments re Gretel Killeen though, she is a very capable and charismatic host for live TV. I never knew of Gretel before BB, and really enjoy seeing her on various shows such as Sunrise, Project. I’d love to see her hosting something again.

  2. In my humble view Gretel was always the star of that show. No matter what happened around her, she could sail on and keep control of the situation. It’s only now I realise how good – and how entertaining – she was. The Housemates, well you could take them or leave them, most were talentless nobodies, and I guess still are bar a handful. The time for that show has passed. Very limited scope for making it different. Still ends up being a mob of bickering nobodies cooped up in a house.

    1. I agree. It’s the cast that makes the difference. I thought in addition to Gretel Killeen, Mike Goldman was also entertaining. I think in the present era, a revival would be successful, as long as it retained elements of what made it successful in the first place, such as the up late shows and 24 hour streaming. The Big Brother franchise is still doing well overseas.

    2. imho you can blame channel 9 for that, in trying to revive the show they well & truly killed it off on the 2013 season with its terrible selection of boring contestants, with the exception of the winner Tim Dormer. I still remember the promos making it seem like they were going to have a diverse range of contestants, nope, mostly white under 30’s.

    3. I agree. I think Gretel is great. An unconventional choice of host, yes, divisive, perhaps, but she had that maternal quality (ideal for controlling a rowdy pack of hormone-crazed young adults) and was always in control of the situation, even when things would get completely out of hand (which was surprisingly frequent!). It was always amusing when she would berate the producers over her earpiece. There was no show quite like it, and no host quite like Gretel. She really was the heart of the show and I respect her patience and resilience. I wish she would appear on TV more often.

      I completely understand why she walked away, but it would be amazing to have her back in the event of a revival.

      But regarding some of the outfits they’ve made her wear over the years… my God, what were they thinking?!

    1. Whilst I don’t / didn’t watch either show, at least AGT celebrates people with actual talent whilst BB featured a succession of bland attention seeking narcissists.

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