Showing the kind of foresight John Howard must rue BB host Gretel Killeen has quit while she’s ahead and left Big Brother before the ratings slide really begins.
What a blow for the show. It could well be the knock out punch.
And while many might delight in her departure from a program that most love to hate the truth is she is what made it more than simply a celebration of the banal the crass and the buxom.
Because like it or not the show reaches millions of Australians, especially teenagers, every year.
It airs for a whooping 300 hours each season, feeds the most popular website in the country and provides endless fodder for breakfast radio, trash mags and newspaper gossip sections. Its cultural impact is enormous.
And while much of its subject matter it’s true is pure titillation, there are times when it becomes an important forum for debates around serious issues.
These have ranged from sexual assault, to ‘free(ing) th refugees’, from racism to bullying, from homosexuality to citizenship.
In fact my own motivation for appearing on the show was to use it as a soapbox to discuss the achievements of unions and the counter-productivity of the war in Iraq.
The host must have the authority, wisdom and wit to handle such controversies. Not to mention when the wrong person get’s evicted ala Bree Amer in 2004, or when you have to pad for half in hour in front of two million viewers because votes are being recounted, as happened during this year’s finale.
And there are times when housemates are highly vulnerable, discussing on national TV their history of child abuse or a recent still born birth or the death of a family member.
And finally as a matter of routine her job is to be the first person housemates speak to after the most psychologically bruising experience they are ever likely to experience.
It was in these situations that Gretel Killeen excelled.
But will a professional urger like Kyle Sandilands be able to muster such gravitas?
Perhaps. Maybe this is why the morning shock jock has been noticeably softening his image on this year’s Australian Idol, liberally praising contestants. Or maybe he’s just been neutered by Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson.
Will Jackie O be able to play the de facto mother to the girls and the reluctant object of affection for the boys?
Will either one be able to handle a live audience, an unruly housemate, and the odd technical hitch or two all with an executive producer, Big Brother himself no less, barking instructions into their ear?
It’s quite a balancing act to make the most important show on Network Ten cheesy and fun for kids, sexy for adolescents and an interesting social experiment for adults.
Whether they’re up to the task or not Gretel’s quick wit, charm, intelligence and infectious laugh will be sorely missed. At the very least by me. Pity I can’t say the same about John Howard.
28 October 2007
My Nomination is still Gretel
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