Sonia Kruger admits to Big Brother doubts ahead of hosting
Channel 7 host Sonia Kruger has lifted the lid on her initial reaction to her Big Brother hosting gig, and it seems she thought the network was making the wrong call.
The former Channel Nine presenter jumped ship back in January, joining the rival network with plans to host the Olympics and Australia’s Got Talent among other shows, this week admitting she was totally blindsided by the offer to host the returning reality show.
Sonia said that when she heard the show was returning, she thought the hosting gig should be undertaken by a new face, which was not what the network had in mind.
“I knew that Seven were looking at bringing the show back and I actually thought if they change the format they should bring somebody new in to host it,” the screen veteran told TV Tonight this week.
She says when she got the call she was ‘sceptical’, not least about the show’s new, pre-recorded format.
“I was sceptical along with everybody else about the fact that it wasn’t going to be live and it was going to be pre-recorded,” she admitted. “How would the purists accept that?”
Big Brother was brought back this year, hitting screens in early June, after it was axed from rival network Channel 10 six years ago in 2014.
Back in October 2019, it was announced that Big Brother would be moving from its previous home at Network 10 to Channel 7, using the new, pre-recorded format.
The returning series was dogged by complications from the start, given the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic during filming.
The show began shooting in February, just weeks before the virus reached Aussie shores leading to a lockdown across the nation.
In mid-March, a single contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus temporarily suspended the game during shooting, and the house was placed in full lockdown, a revelation made when the show aired in early July.
It came after the cast was informed of the global pandemic days earlier when shooting was just getting underway, though the initial revelation was kept off-camera.
The series grand final is due to air tonight after a rocking season of ratings, and recently announced the show would be renewed for 2021.
Big Brother airs 7:30 pm Wednesday on Seven.
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