Gogglebox Australia is getting a makeover, with a host of new families announced for the 2020 season of the hit TV show.
While there’ll be a new batch of TV obsessives on next season’s Gogglebox sofas, there’s been no word on whether any of the current fan favourites will be leaving.
Last December the show said goodbye to hilarious stars Wayne and Tom and Angie and Yvie.
Of course, Angie and Yvie quickly went on to star in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Angie has an upcoming stint on The Bachelorette.
And the show filled their empty sofas by adding Melbourne siblings Tim and Leanne in February.
But there are more changes afoot!
LISTEN: Gogglebox cast supportive of Angie’s move to The Bachelorette
Speaking to TV Tonight, Foxtel Executive Director of TV Brian Walsh confirmed viewers will see a new lineup next season, after a casting hunt through Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in March.
“We are continuing to audition for Gogglebox. We were in Queensland looking for new cast but didn’t quit find the right ingredients,” he told the publication.
“But we will expand the number of households next season.”
Former Gogglebox queen Yvie Jones recently spoke out about just how badly the stars of the hit show are compensated for their time, in a shocking interview.
Revealing all in her guest slot of Melbourne’s Fox FM, Yvie didn’t hold back when the subject of pay was raised, saying she wants the cast members to become unionised, to protect them from exploitation.
“Well, they don’t pay a talent fee,” Yvie revealed, when asked how much the stars are paid.
“You’re not employed. The house gets a location fee and that has to be whoever owns the house gets a fee. Our landlord would get the fee and she would have to forward it to us if she wanted to.
“It would be happening in all the rentals. This is how bad it was in the beginning, the first season, per day, per house we’d get $250 a day.”
While apparently the stars – or their landlords – are now much better compensated, Yvie seems to suggest the stars are still working under what might be described as less-than-desirable conditions.
“Now they get a location fee that is a lot more, but it’s still nothing,” she said.
“Everyone on Gogglebox is doing it for the love.
“They really do love what they do. There needs to be a union I think, in this kind of TV, observation documentaries, we’re not employed so we don’t have a union.
“No one is looking after these people. It’s the same on reality TV shows like MAFS, they get nothing.”