Are We Turning Off Big Brother?

So who is watching Big Brother this year? Apart from snatches of the Housemates entering the house, and seeing notorious party boy Corey Worthington enter with his 'TV Mum' Terri, not me.

And I'm not alone, according to the ratings. The daily shows, screening at 7pm weekdays aren't breaking the 1 million viewer mark, and last week's eviction show just scraped over at 1.05 million. In fact, last Wednesday night's Big Brother special, when Carson Kressley entered the house for a Housemate makeover, rated 1.245 million. Everyone loves Carson, so that stunt worked well for Ten – it worked so well, they're repeating it again next week.

In an effort to raise the flagging ratings this year, it looks like Ten is relying on stunts, like Corey and Carson in the House, to boost ratings. Of course, after making a big song and dance about putting Corey Worthington into the house to pump it up, he's proven to be a big disappointment, and has since left the house in a fanfare of anticlimactic apathy. That stunt wasn't exactly a winner, but why is Big Brother struggling for ratings? Have Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O brought the Kiss of Death to the format? Are the Housemates – the token tiny belly dancer, Pauline Hansen supporter, squeaky-voiced geek, Asian and Indigenous Housemates aside – just another bunch of uninteresting and banal lab rats? Is Big Brother really Big Bogan this year? Or was that last year? Is the house a true representation of Australia, and is it still that fascinating? I think it's all of this, and more.

Maybe Australia is finally getting tired of watching Big Brother, and Ten is desperately trying to reinvent and re-energise the format – but maybe the format is just not that appealing any more.

Tim Hunter, Citysearch, May 2008