The two former winners are just the first of several returning housemates set to become ‘royalty’ in the 21st anniversary season.
Seven’s new season of Big Brother is on the horizon, and this year both new and former housemates will play his game.
After a heavy circulation of rumours, the first two names announced for the 2022 season are former winners and longtime favourites, Reggie Sorensen and Tim Dormer, who are dubbed as ‘royalty’ in the new season.
Reggie won the show in 2003, back when it aired on 10, walking away with $250,000 after defeating Chrissie Swan in the public winner vote.
Tim returns after being crowned champion in 2013 of Nine’s edition of Big Brother, as well as playing as a wildcard in Big Brother Canada’s fourth season where he was on the brink of victory again, but fell short when evicted in 3rd place.
Seven’s adaptation of Big Brother implemented a major format change in 2020, mirroring what is used in both the Canadian and US versions of the show.
Competing in one challenge each round, the winner is able to nominate up to three housemates for eviction, with the house voting to evict one nominee. This is of course different to the original format, which aired live in Australia, and allowed all housemates to nominate each other with the viewing public voting to evict a nominee each week.
Across all of the 10, Nine and Seven editions, the public still voted for the ultimate season winner.
But despite Seven’s initial format changes, Tim Dormer has revealed house nominations will return for the 21st anniversary season, forgoing the ‘challenge winner nominates’ formula.
In response to a fan on Twitter who suggested Tim would have a leg up on his competition by competing in the similar game that is Big Brother Canada, Tim confirmed this new season was a merge of both the Canadian and Australian formats.
He said:
“I’ll always be a fan of the original [Australian] format but I kind of fell in love with the new challenge based [Canadian] game, this new season is a great merge of both formats with house noms brought back.
“Good mix of game, drama and fun.”
The question now is, how will the return of house nominations impact the game?
Whether a challenge will still take place between the housemates each episode, and if so, what the winner will receive if it isn’t the ability to nominate, is still unknown.
About returning to Big Brother Australia, Tim said:
“Let’s start some mischief.”
Reggie added:
“This may be a new game but I’m still the same old Reggie.
“It’s just little old me from Tazzie.
“Big Brother’s in my blood. I just can’t believe I’m here.”
Reggie was originally in talks to appear on Seven’s short-lived Big Brother VIP series, but was cut, with producers telling her they had “better talent”.
Speaking exclusively with TV Blackbox, she said:
“Everything happens for a reason. I’m not doing it this year, I was overlooked. They contacted me, didn’t want me.
“Seeing what people went in, they’ve picked and chosen to go on the show… if they do an all-stars my time will shine.”
It appears that all-stars time is well and truly here.
Seven have previously confirmed this season of Big Brother will see 12 new housemates play amongst some of the most memorable housemates of seasons past. When the news was announced, TV Blackbox took a stab at choosing who might be coming back.
Are you excited to see Tim and Reggie return?
