''House From Hell'' was an Australian

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series that screened on

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

in 1998. ''House from Hell'' originated as a radio competition, which was part of the

Triple M Sydney Triple M Sydney (callsign 2MMM) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Triple M Sydney is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M network and broadcasts on the 104.9 MHz frequency. History The Early Days Triple M commenced ...

breakfast show hosted by

Andrew Denton Andrew Christopher Denton (born 4 May 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie–nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program '' Enough Rope'' ...

and

Amanda Keller Amanda Rose Keller (born 25 February 1962) is an Australian television and radio presenter, comedian, writer, actress, journalist and media personality, best known as the hostess of the popular Australian lifestyle program ''The Living Room''. ...

. It debuted on television on 8 October 1998. The contestants were placed in a house together for three months and involved in various stunts and ordeals. It was a precursor to Big Brother, and Denton has conceded in radio interviews that he regrets being involved in the program, due to the unacceptable level of human exploitation. The successful contestants were personally chosen by Denton from 1,000 applicants and lived in a four-bedroom house in Naremburn on Sydney's lower North Shore. Denton recalled, "Everyone I know has been through some share accommodation and knows how horrible it can be to be in some horrible place with people you don't like, and there's that great saying that hell is other people." The six contestants were: 40-year-old, married father-of-three Colin Beggs, who described himself as a "

yobbo Yob is slang in the United Kingdom for a loutish, uncultured person. In Australian slang, the word yobbo is more frequently used, with a similar although slightly less negative meaning. Etymology The word itself is a product of back slang, a proce ...

", 26 year-old Kellie Henneberry who worked in advertising and sought to educate the public about her homosexuality, 31 year-old Sandra Emberton, who had had a career as an exotic dancer, Joselyn Barber, who at 21 was studying Arts at Sydney University, surfer Andrew Janiszewski, 22, and Lee Hunter, 28, who worked in painting and decorating. For the first two weeks, the contestants were confined to the house. Their challenges included wearing boxing gloves for a weekend, spending another two full days tied to each other, and having meals that consisted solely of

baked beans Baked beans is a Dish (food), dish traditionally containing white Phaseolus vulgaris, common beans that are parboiling, parboiled and then baking, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. Canned baked beans are not baked, but ar ...

, prunes and ice cream. One weekend all their household furniture was switched with child-sized replacements while they were made to wear sumo wrestler suits. The prize money was $5,000. The house was fitted with a Webcam using

RealVideo RealVideo, also spelled as Real Video, is a suite of proprietary format, proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks — the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and was at version 15. RealV ...

that streamed 24/7 to Network 10's website throughout the duration of the show, allowing viewers to watch the contestants in real time.

References

{{reflist 1990s Australian reality television series Television shows set in New South Wales 1998 Australian television series debuts 1998 Australian television series endings