‘Big Brother Australia’ Recap: New Heads of House, Couples and Strategic Alliances [VIDEOS]

“Big Brother Australia” has launched a week ago, and a lot has happened since then. There are new couples formed, rivals and alliances forged and new Heads of House named.

Money is the source of contention in the house.

At Day 1, Heads of House Priya and Katie were given a choice of taking as much as $10,000 from the prize money and letting the house survive on just meal replacement shakes, or just walk away from that much cash. Priya was dead set from the start, but Katie was hesitant. In the end, they chose to take the money.

Fortunately, the housemates’ reaction to their decision was favourable. There were temptations along the way, though. Big Brother has opened a diner at sporadic times. The prices of the food were exorbitant, and could bankrupt Priya and Katie if they have given in to their housemates’ requests every now and then.

The housemates initially didn’t know that the prize money is now only $230,000 because of the $10,000 the Heads of House took each. After they were duly informed of that fact, some of them have gone against Priya and Katie, especially after they weren’t bought the highly desired baby back ribs dinner.

Paralympic swimmer Sam was one of the most vocal about his objections to the girls’ apparent greed, prompting him to butt heads with Katie. They had resolved their differences, though, when Travis pleaded the girls to share a little more than what they planned with the housemates. They had shelled out $2400 each to share the budget of $300 per housemate.

Incompatible Heads of House, Love Pairs, Girl Friends and an Impressed Magic Show Audience

Priya and Katie also started to feel their incompatibleness. Katie told BB and the others who would listen that Priya had been selfishly hanging onto her money. She was right, though, that the Indian beauty persuaded her into taking the cash. But as Priya said, that was just natural and part of the game.

For potential love teams, 24-year-old Travis seemed smitten with Aisha, 22, but remained coy with his feelings. Katie perhaps saw his hesitation as her chance to enter the now-love triangle.

Skye, 20, has set her sights on 25-year-old Jake after being impressed with his rap. Aisha was also besotted, but Skye immediately playfully warned her off. Skye and Aisha hit it off as girl friends as well. Even from Aisha’s first day, she opened up about Skye’s warm welcome, saying that the Gold Coast barista was one of the few who really took time to get to know her.

Ryan has been critical of Lawson from the start. The 26-year-old graphic designer told Big Brother that he isn’t a fan of magicians, comparing Lawson to a clown. He firmly added that he wouldn’t hold back if Lawson’s magic turned out to be cheap. However, while Lawson was performing card tricks at Day 3, it appeared that Ryan was impressed with him now.

Midwinter Night’s Dream Party

By Day 6, Priya and Katie’s roles as Heads of House have been terminated. The next pair to be promoted to that role, as voted on by viewers, were Dion and Jason, who were both banished in the fish bowl by Priya and Katie on the first day.

To celebrate the promotion of the new pair, Big Brother threw a party in their honour, but not before giving outgoing Heads of House Katie and Priya their last Power Play task. They were offered immunity from nomination this week. All they had to do was bargain with BB using what’s left of their money. Katie wanted the immunity so badly that she convinced Priya to part with $1500 more from her cash.

Dion and Jason’s first Power Play was to discuss with another pair who among the others they are going to nominate for eviction for the week. They chose to take Travis and Ryan in the Power Room. The two pairs then have decided to go with Cat and Sam, Gemma and Jake, and David and Sandra as their potential eviction nominees.

While the boys were preparing for the party in the green room, they didn’t realise that their conversation could be heard in the parlour, where the girls were prepping up.

David, who first told Lisa that he liked her midriff and arms, was less diplomatic when he was alone with the boys, telling them that Lisa’s breasts were a bit on the low side. Travis agreed, calling her breasts “saggy.”

Lisa, 29, was understandably upset. She cried to Katie about being the “boob girl.” When David heard about Lisa, he claimed he didn’t know what he said to make her upset, so he waited for her to go to him and tell him.

Lisa’s partner Skye was panicking for a different reason: she spilt red wine on the white dress she borrowed from Lisa. It’s a good thing Jason knew how to get the stain out, though, using just only table salt.

As with every party BB has thrown, this first one was as wild as it can get. It started out fun and weird, like identifying a housemate’s body parts while blindfolded, but when it came to passing a fruit using the necks, the housemates noted how Katie was such a spoilsport when she refused to pass the fruit to the bearded David.

The spa has always been the source of quick pashes between willing couples, and the party night wasn’t any different.

Skye got her wish to make out with Jake, while Travis got to “eat face” with his crush Aisha. Ryan got to kiss a clearly reluctant Katie. Skye and Aisha also shared a smooch.

The Sanctuary

As Heads of House, Jason and Dion were given the privilege of spending the night at the secret sanctuary after the party.