Pinoy Big Brother‘s newest season is quite the comeback that it’s almost inescapable. So long as you’re online, even if you’re not tuning in, chances are you’ll get an idea of what’s going on because everyone’s been talking about this new batch of housemates.

And to the kids’ credit, they deserve the attention. They have great rapport and there are very interesting personalities inside, with Esnyr, Klarisse, and River being some of the early standouts.

Still, watching this batch who are mostly of the same age group, I can’t help but miss the early days of the show, when a mix of differing personalities, ages, and backgrounds were more a priority in choosing the housemates, not which artists need a career boost; when the weekly tasks and the big game were front and center in the show’s storytelling, not which could be a loveteam upon their return to the outside world.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the most notable housemates of PBB’s early years. (Big Winners not included!)

8. Franzen (Pinoy Big Brother Season 1)

He behaved like he was in a Dolphy movie. He habitually picked his nose. He’d give a scaredy Sam Milby a lapdance. He’d sometimes strip with Jason Gainza and they even devised a way to stealthily masturbate inside the house. He was a charismatic man, and for that the popular vote always saved him every time he got nominated.

The shadiest part of Franzen’s story arc was when the show suggested that he possibly wasn’t who he said he was, partly because he knew what the term psywar (psychological warfare) meant. Like… can’t a poor person know what that meant?!

When Endemol stepped in to decide he should be forcibly evicted because of all the rules he broke, 2nd Big Placer Cass volunteered to exit the house in his stead, but Big Brother decided to get the people to vote between the two of them. Before the voting was over, however, Franzen violated another house rule so the voting was stopped and he got evicted.

7. BB Gandanghari (Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 1)

Before transitioning, BB Gandanghari was an action star and heartthrob who disappeared from the public eye following the fallout of her marriage. PBB was her big comeback. She wanted to reintroduce herself to the Filipino people, she said. And that she did. In the middle of drinking wine, a moth landed on her knee, and she took it as a sign from her late father to speak her truth right then and there.

To this day, this heartfelt and funny coming out to Big Winner Keanna Reeves remains to be one of the most powerful moments in Philippine TV history, and a landmark in queer representation in the media.

6. Mikee (Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition 1)

I WAS TEAM MIKEE LEE FOR KIM CHIU. Second Lead Syndrome was just starting to become a thing with the proliferation of Asian dramas in Philippine TV and he was the Hua Ze Lei and the Endless Love’s Won Bin to Kim’s San Chai and Jenny.

But ooh, the amount of dead air between him and Kim in the garden? Tough watch. My boy might not have game at the time but his intentions were pure, though.

I hope you’re happy and loved wherever you are, Mikee Lee!

5. Wendy (Pinoy Big Brother Season 2)

Two things. One, Wendy Valdez is my aunt. Two, yeah, I get why so many of you were so mad at her. She’s not on this list because she was a beacon of compassion, level-headedness, or restraint. She’s here because that’s what reality TV is supposed to be about! Drama! Conflict! Fierce women reciting quotable quotes off the cuff! When she awarded Bea and Gee-Ann Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in a Pretending Role?

When she got booed by the entire Araneta Coliseum when she finished third on The Big Night and she just smiled widely with those cute dimples and offered a peace sign? Iconic. And if you watched this season at all, I know for sure you have never listened to When She Cries without thinking of her and Bruce Quebral.

4. Ethel Booba (Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 2)

Where do we even begin? Ethel Booba was already a reality TV icon before PBB because of her run as the co-host of Extra Challenge, so it wasn’t really a surprise that her antics inside the house would be insane. Remember when she got the men of the house bathe her?

Remember the time she asked Big Brother for a pregnancy test kit because her period was delayed? Or maybe that time she threatened to leave Big Brother’s house while playing with a razor? It wasn’t until two weeks later that she got to voluntarily exit the house with Orange and Lemons frontman Mcoy Fundales… only to ask Big Brother to take her back in after another two weeks later.

3. Rona Libby (Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus)

No shade to Ejay Falcon, but the Big Winner title should’ve been between Robi Domingo and Ilongga Rona Libby, who left the house a few weeks too early. Imagine if Kumander Nene was evicted for his convictions. That’s pretty much what happened to Rona. Big Brother welcomed a new “housemate”, a girl named Shy, and Rona’s willingness to befriend her made the other girls feel like she was taking her side because they felt like she was brought in to mess up the group’s dynamics.

The girls eventually received some tough love from Big Brother, especially Priscilla, whose experience with discrimination, as Big Brother had put it, should’ve made her more wary about discriminating against anyone herself.

2. Paco  (Pinoy Big Brother: Unlimited)

To be memorable in what’s probably the most convoluted season of PBB is a feat, especially when the season has a total of 37 housemates. But Paco has probably one of the most unique storylines in the show’s history. Paco was voted out some time in the middle of the show, but he was made to stay as a secret house player (read: an instigator) who has a and ended up making it to The Big Night.

To be honest though, by the end, there was no way he was gonna win the show. Because the reason he was able to officially go back from being a houseplayer to a housemate was the same reason Slater Young won. He was so effective in his task as an instigator that he triggered Slater’s ultimate crowning moment: “Name people!”

1. Tricia (Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Clash 2010)

The crowd might’ve asked for it during Wendy’s season, but it was Tricia that ultimately broke the camel’s back. For the first time in PBB’s history, Vote to Evict became a thing when Tricia, who was nominated every week, kept being saved by popular votes. Outside the house, her run spawned several fan pages and hate pages on Facebook. Inside the house, she received a total of 73 nomination points all season. An icon!

Remember when she gave away the 10k she won in the house because somebody else needed it more while it was just shopping money for her? Remember when she celebrated her birthday inside the house and only James Reid and a couple others attended?

It sure was tough for her, especially considering she was diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder while she was on the show. And fine, annoying people is a risk you take when you enter the house. But it’s been 14 years since then and the conversation surrounding mental health has gotten way better, right? So I hope we acknowledge we were probably being a little too mean to a literal child back then, too.

Anyone we missed? Who are your favorites?