JACK HOUGHTON, Gold Coast Bulletin
September 2, 2014 12:00am
STANDING in the shower provides a rare moment of solitude from my fellow housemates.
The feeling, however, is rudely interrupted by the slow, screeching movements of a camera, controlled from a room filled with keen observers.
Eventually, two bikini-clad women and a guy with gladiator-like abs come flying through the door, completely
unaware they have just shattered my field of personal space.
Gold Coast Bulletin reporter Jack Houghton checks out the Big Brother house
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Houghton in the hot tub
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Houghton contemplates what it’d be like
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Houghton makes himself at home
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Gold Coast Bulletin reporter Jack Houghton is glad he showered in his boardshorts
"Standing awkwardly in boardshorts, it was then I realised any claim I had to privacy was now void."
For the next 20-odd hours we were merely lab rats participating in one of the most daunting social experiments in existence.
Welcome to the Big Brother house, home for the controversial reality TV show watched by more than 2.1 million people in the country every year.
Houghton was one of 12 strangers invited on the Big Brother Gold Coast house for a test run
Producers invited 12 strangers to test the program for flaws and to have a closer look at potential contestants.
This year’s housemates eat, sleep and vote in pairs.
My fate was tied to a middle-aged woman named Susie who attempted to strike up a series of conversations about her children and, awkwardly, the decision she made not to marry her long-time partner.
Heavy-handed producers shoved us into the house two at a time until we were all sitting in a bizarre pink room filled with beds.
Houghton joins in the Big Brother bonding session with his 11 other ‘guinea pigs’
Within an hour, people began to shed their protective social layers and offered insights into their private lives.
One woman with bright red hair and an authoritative voice spoke triumphantly about the time she touched a ghost, while a man in his 30s gave a stirring speech about his ongoing battle with inner demons.
Houghton takes some time out
The more cutthroat “contestants” quickly formed alliances and within hours, the majority of housemates had decided to vote off a charismatic Russian named Vladimir.
The conflict was driven by the decision to fill this year’s house with heaps of small rooms and corners to give housemates more places to scheme.
Even though we were competing, we were forced to work together.
Big Brother issued us challenges, and if we failed, he promised to feed us only celery.
By the next morning, the experience had made us closer as a team and stronger as individuals.
While I never thought I could spend three months in the house, at least now I know I can shower in even the most Orwellian living conditions.
