Homegrown houseguests move into camera-rigged house for 'Big Brother Canada'

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Contestants of "Big Brother Canada" is shown in a handout photo. The houseguests have yet to move into the camera-rigged house of "Big Brother Canada" but executive producer John Brunton is already predicting a breakout star: 21-year-old funky fashion stylist Gary Levy (sixth from right).THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Shaw Media

TORONTO - The houseguests have yet to move into the camera-rigged house of "Big Brother Canada" but executive producer John Brunton is already predicting a breakout star: 21-year-old funky fashion stylist Gary Levy.

The outspoken reality show guru touted a diverse cast of off-the-wall Canucks seeking fame and a modest fortune on the inaugural season of the homegrown spinoff starting Wednesday, singling out the Toronto contender as one to watch.

"Gary is a superstar," Brunton gushed in a recent interview after 15 houseguests were announced.

"I'll make a prediction: I predict that Gary is going to have a gigantic career after he leaves the 'Big Brother' house, whenever that might be. That guy is 100 per cent original. He is delightful."

Levy describes himself as "funky, outgoing, fabulous" in an online biography for the "Big Brother Canada" website. He says his strategy is to "be really social and friendly" so that he can get information on his rivals, and possibly use that against them.

His competitors include 27-year-old dental hygienist Emerald (Topaz) Brady of Toronto, 26-year-old web content curator Peter Brown of Surrey, B.C. and 36-year-old Suzette Amaya of Vancouver, who also caught Brunton's eye.

The aboriginal cast member is a mother of three who bills herself as "outgoing, thoughtful and funny" and "an uber fan" of the franchise. Brunton simply describes her as "somebody who really blows my mind."

"She just ticks off so many boxes in the 'good person' department," Brunton says of Amaya.

"But she's not in any way sort of what some people might assume to be their view of who they think Suzette would be as a person who's grown up on a reservation and come off it. She just breaks all stereotypes."

Whether such nice-guy attributes will be a help or hindrance has yet to be seen.

The sensational franchise — based on the original Dutch series "Big Brother" — sends houseguests packing after weekly physical and intellectual competitions but it's the sometimes explosive personality clashes that often seal a contender's fate.

Canada's inaugural batch of houseguests have plenty of personality, but Shaw Media boss Barbara Williams says they weren't necessarily cast for their potential to cause drama.

"It was much more about the magnetism that someone just projects, who has just real presence in a room, real presence on a screen and then mixing up a whole range of those types of people who you just know ... will be able to hold their own in a house like that," says Williams, responsible for content on Slice.

The Canuck crew is notably young — 12 of the 15 houseguests are in their 20s.

The youngest is 20-year-old aspiring actress Danielle Alexander of Calgary, a former competitive gymnast who says she's confident she can handle the physical challenges. The oldest is 38-year-old Andrew Monaghan of Halifax, an insurance sales trainer who says he plans to hide his age.

Brunton says the group is nonetheless culturally, economically and regionally diverse. Some come from well-to-do families, others pulled themselves up from their bootstraps, some are country bumpkins while others are city slickers.

"You've got people that are still living with their moms and dads, maybe longer than they should, and you've got other people that are out in the world at a very young age trying to crack it and make it in a big competitive world."

Of course, the moment they enter the house contenders can pretend to be whoever they want — lying, back-stabbing and deal-making have become staple strategies in other incarnations. The grand prize is $100,000, a $25,000 gift card for The Brick and a Chevrolet Trax.

"Some people have said to us, 'I'm just going to go in there and I'm going to be myself.' And other people have said, 'The last thing I'm going to do is be myself. I'm going to be anything but myself.' And then there are other people that may discover who they really are when they're faced with the moral dilemmas," said Brunton, whose other reality show ventures include "Top Chef Canada," "Intervention Canada" and the upcoming "The Amazing Race Canada."

Each week, the houseguests vote to evict one of their own until two remain. The winner will be chosen by the last seven evicted players, known as the Big Brother jury.

Initially, there were 14 spots available but Brunton notes they invited one more player after being overwhelmed by candidates. Slice has said that roughly 10,000 people showed up at cross-country auditions last year.

By the time the game starts Wednesday, the contenders will have already been sequestered for about a week in the greater Toronto area. Once inside the house, they will be totally cut off from friends, family and the outside world for as long as 10 weeks.

And the pre-show wind-up is already getting to them, says Brunton.

"They are very, very antsy and ready to go."

Comparisons to the popular U.S. version of the show are inevitable.

Williams notes that every effort was made to ensure this incarnation stands up to its counterpart in the U.S., where on-screen betrayals have turned contenders into celebrities who walked away with a much richer purse of $500,000.

"Our real opportunity here is also to twist it up for (viewers) and fill it with surprise and make it uniquely Canadian while always delivering something that they know and love," she says.

Brunton adds that there will be classic challenges from the franchise, as well as challenges that are "very Canadian."

"There is going to be an enormous amount of Canadian flavour, just by the nature of the people that we put in that house," he adds.

"We've designed a house that has our own fingerprints all over it. But it's not stereotypical, it's not what people might think."

Viewers will also have the chance to affect what happens on the show online, he says. And footage from the house will be streamed 24-hours-a-day for free at bigbrothercanada.ca.

Williams says it's time Canada puts its mark on the global franchise, which aired 25 formats in 87 countries in 2011 and continues to expand into new territories.

"As a company we're really ready, as a production community we're really ready," says Williams, whose company also spearheaded Canuck takes on the "Real Housewives" franchise with "Real Housewives of Vancouver," the "Top Chef" smash with "Top Chef Canada" on Food Network Canada and has plans to adapt Food Network's popular "Chopped" as "Chopped Canada."

"And Canadians have demonstrated time and time again these last few years that they love the chance to get their own hands on their own show."

"Big Brother Canada" debuts Wednesday on Slice and Global and sends its first houseguest packing Thursday on Slice.

Hosted by Arisa Cox, the series will regularly air Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays on Slice.

"Big Brother Canada After Dark" also debuts Wednesday on Slice. It airs seven days a week from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. ET/ 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. PT.