BIG Brother is, arguably, one of the most contentious television programs made. It divides opinion like few others. In its first iteration on Australian television, it proved to be a magnet for criticism.
It was branded ''toxic television'' amid a frenzy of negative headlines. The Australian Communications and Media Authority investigated it for breaching its MA15+ classification by showing housemates in various states of undress.
In 2006, it was at the centre of the ''turkey slap'' scandal, over which two housemates were removed.
At that point, criticism of the series reached even the hallowed halls of Australia's Parliament and then prime minister John Howard weighed in, suggesting the Ten Network, which aired it, ''do a bit of self-regulation and get this stupid program off the air''.
Cue a change of government, a shift in national values and, in 2012, we find ourselves with a new Big Brother.
This iteration will air on Channel Nine and, according to its host, Sonia Kruger, it will return to the ''basics'' of the first season, not the competitive, distracting, clutter of the seven seasons that followed.
''There will still be conflict and bromance and love triangles and all of that going on but this is a new house, a new host, new bits and pieces, a new Big Brother,'' she says. ''I think it will be fun.''
In terms of format, Nine's version will stick closely to the time-honoured template, with a live nomination show at 7pm on Mondays, daily shows at 7pm from Tuesdays to Fridays and a live eviction show on Sundays at 7pm.
There will also be a 6pm show on Sundays on GO! and Big Brother Confidential on Wednesdays at 9.30pm.
The show's most attractive element, Kruger says, is the simple idea of housing a group of strangers and watching their interactions.
''Purely from the social experiment point of view, I love the idea of putting people into the house,'' she says. ''It definitely lost its way a little bit here and the good thing is we will be able to take it back to basics, having a new home, a new network, and it will be significantly different in the feel. It will have a fun vibe to it.''
Kruger was recruited from Channel Seven to join Nine late last year. Her contract with Nine put her in the co-host seat for its Mornings program and also handed her its planned revival of Big Brother. Meeting the original Big Brother host, Gretel Killeen, on the Mornings set - Killeen is a regular guest - she immediately sought her advice.
''I did say to Gretel I might go back and look at some of the tape to study the eviction process and so on, and she said, 'Don't be ridiculous. Why would you want to do that?''' Kruger says.
Killeen's advice was to focus on the renewed format and to make the hosting gig her own. ''And I'm glad she did say that because I would rather just bring my own thing to it,'' Kruger says.
The original series screened on Ten between April 2001 and July 2008. (Killeen, in fact, hosted seven of its eight seasons; Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O hosted the final season.) It was cancelled because of ''audience erosion''.
Kruger believes the format has benefited from time on the shelf and an opportunity for production house Southern Star Endemol to find a new approach to casting.
''We have deliberately set out to find people who are interesting, intelligent and the sort of characters we really warm to,'' Kruger says. In particular, re-examination of the original series revealed audiences most related to ordinary, non-manipulative players such as Sara-Marie Fedele, Reggie Bird and Ryan Fitzgerald (''Fitzy''), rather than those who brought a gimmick to the game, such as Simon Deering (''Hotdogs'').
''Audiences like people who are themselves, who are warm and funny, not the people who have got an agenda,'' Kruger says. ''I guess everybody is going to have some sort of agenda - they want to go into that house for a reason - but this time the casting has been smarter in terms of the characters and, because there is no age barrier, an opportunity to look beyond the bronzed boys and the bikini girls.''
When the revival was first announced by Nine, Kruger concedes reaction was mixed.
''I saw a lot of feedback, both positive and negative, and I'm talking about social media there, so you get all kinds of feedback,'' she says.
There was a shift, however, when the promo campaign for the series launched.
It included a Big Brother ''dance'' and, in one very funny promo, the suggestion that even the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was caught up with Big Brother fever.
''At that point the feedback shifted really strongly towards being positive, which was great for me,'' Kruger says.
''They started to tweet things, that I would be a great host, that it would be a lot of fun and that made me feel a lot better about it.
''Having said that, I know that you can't please everybody all of the time when you're on the telly - it's impossible - so you've just got to do the best you can and hope people like it.''
Big Brother airs on Monday on Channel Nine at 7pm.
