Big Brother television program
"Big Brother" is a popular reality television format, where, over 10 weeks or so, a number of contestants (typically 10 or 12) try to avoid periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house and hence win a cash prize. The show, a kind of 'real life soap', was invented by John de Mol of the Netherlands and developed by his production company, Endemol. It has been a prime-time hit in nineteen different countries, earning Endemol large sums. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopia in which Big Brother is the all-seeing leader.
Initially shown in the Netherlands in September 1999, and subsequently cloned across the world, the "housemates" are confined inside a specially designed house, and not permitted any contact with the outside world: no TV, radio, telephone, internet or other media are available to the housemates, not even writing materials. Private chats with a psychologist are a special exception. At weekly intervals, the public is invited to vote to evict one of the contestants. The last remaining is the winner.
The programme is based around four basic elements: the stripped-bare back to basics environment in which they live, the evictions system, the weekly tasks set by 'Big Brother', and the "diary room", in which the housemates individually convey their thoughts, feelings, frustrations and their eviction nominees.
The hostel in which they reside for the duration of the competition is very basic. Although essential amenities such as running water, furniture and a limited ration of food is provided, luxury items are forbidden. This adds an element of survival into the show, thus increasing the potential for tensions within the house.
To fill in time, the residents have various chores to maintain the house, and are set apparently random tasks by the producers of the show, who communicate with the housemates through one (unseen) individual issuing commands, termed "Big Brother". The tasks are designed to test their team-working abilities and community spirit. The housemates have a weekly allowance with which they can buy food and other essentials. To obtain a greater allowance, they may gamble some of their initial amount on the success of the completion of tasks. Of course, their allowance is lessened if they fail to complete the weekly task.
Each week, the housemates each privately nominate two people who they wish to see removed from the house more than the other residents. The three (two in the United Kingdom - unless there is a tie, when it can be three or more) with the most nominations are then named on the television show, and viewers can call a special premium rate telephone number or send a premium rate text message to vote for whom they want to evict. The substantial profits from the calls and text messages are split between the phone companies and the producers.
After the votes are tallied, the "evictee" leaves the house and is interviewed on-camera by the host of the show, usually in front of a live studio audience. The last remaining housemate is declared the winner and receives a substantial sum in prize money, the amount of which has varied widely around the world.
The series is notable for involving the Internet. Although the main show, typically broadcast daily with a weekly roundup, is by necessity heavily edited, viewers can also watch a continuous, 24-hour feed from multiple cameras on the web. These websites were highly successful, even after some national series started charging for access to the video stream. In some countries, the internet broadcasting was supplemented by updates via email, WAP and SMS. In the UK, the house is even shown live on satellite television (with a 10-15 minute delay to permit muting of unacceptable content). Indeed, John de Mol has said: "We aren't really a television producer at all anymore. We are a content provider for multiple platforms."[1]
In the UK there have been two 'Celebrity Big Brother' series, which have drawn huge viewing figures and raised money for charity.
Despite derision from many intellectuals and other critics, not least about the ironic aspects of George Orwell's dystopic vision of Nineteen Eighty-Four being consciously aped by producers for public entertainment - and people volunteering to abandon their usual level of privacy for minor celebrity status and the chance of a generous, but not massive prize, the show has been a commercial success around the world.
The format appears to be drawn from a Balloon debate except that the debaters in this context are campaigning on their own behalf and over a much longer time-span. Formats vary as to who can select or vote for the person to be eliminated.
While any pretences to be a cultural experiment are dubious, reports of the different results of the show around the world have been mildly interesting from a pop-anthropology standpoint; in Australia after a few weeks it became clear that most of the remaining housemates liked each other and had no particular desire to evict each other, whereas other versions have involved plotting in the vein of Survivor. Some European versions have been filled with sex-crazed housemates, whereas the Anglo-Saxon versions have been mostly sex-free, although the second British series was marked by the emerging romance of two of the contestants.
An interesting development in Big Brother is that German scientists have discovered that former contestants may be at risk from Post Container Stress Disorder, a condition sometimes suffered by those who leave the armed forces. Indeed, in the second Polish edition, one of housemates was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
The format has also spawned novels, in particular Ben Elton's book Dead Famous about the televised death of a housemate.
American Big Brother currently uses different rules than other countries' versions of the show. The US has seen four complete seasons; a fifth is ongoing. All have been shown by CBS.
For all five seasons the eviction-night host has been Julie Chen.
The first season, in summer of 2000 followed the same format as the international version. Though it attracted a sizeable viewership, it failed to reach the popularity that Survivor achieved in the United States, so many considered Big Brother a failure. The viewer voting technique backfired, it seems, as the most unusual and controversial contestants were evicted early in the game.
William, who was later revealed to be working with the Nation of Islam, was evicted first after he called out fellow houseguest Brittany on her supposedly racist ways. Jordan was evicted as other houseguests found her career as a stripper to be tacky.
Also, certain contestants' friends and family used organized voting campaigns to influence the outcome. Houseguest George had written on a poster instructing viewers to vote off Brittany instead (his family and friends gathered at a bar and did just this, offering others free drinks if they voted against Brittany).
The revised rules of the US show have been used in the four most recent seasons. Under these rules, viewers do not vote for housemates to be evicted. Each week, the housemates compete for the title of Head of Household (HOH). The contestant who wins this competition is given additional privileges, and also chooses two other housemates to nominate for eviction. The remaining housemates then vote their choice of the two nominees, and the one with the most votes is evicted.
Early in the second season, a houseguest, Justin, placed a knife to the throat of fellow houseguest Krista. Both competitors were under the influence of alcohol, but Justin was quickly disqualified and evicted.
About two weeks before the end of the second season, the September 11 attacks pre-empted television for an entire week. In a move away from the rule of not letting the houseguests in on information from the outside world, the three remaining houseguests were told of the news. The "Big Brother" voice asked Monica to enter the diary room, and she was told that her cousin Tamitha was not found alive at the World Trade Center. The week after the attacks, the game continued as normal.
On finale night, the audience was updated that former houseguest Sheryl was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to undergo chemotherapy, as well as the news that Monica's cousin Tamitha died at the World Trade Center.
The complete season of Big Brother 3, in a DVD box set
In the third season, a new twist was added to the game, in that the houseguests (save for the Head of Household) could compete for a Power of Veto. At a weekly meeting, the winner could decide to veto a houseguest that the Head of Household had placed on the nomination block. This was used very rarely; its most notable use was when third-season houseguest Gerry Lancaster, after a long-winded, weepy speech, vetoed the nomination of the black, gay houseguest, Marcellas Reynolds, on the grounds that his houseguests were supposedly racist and anti-gay.
Another twist was called Expect the Unexpected, in which, for the first time, a houseguest would be allowed back in the house by a group vote. The first four evictees competed against one another in a series of questions asked by host Julie Chen; subsequently, the choices were narrowed down to two: Eric Ouellette and Amy Crews. The swing vote, unbeknownst to the audience before the live vote, was Lisa Donahue, who had developed a romantic alliance with Eric. Lisa voted for Amy and she was allowed back in the game. Some houseguests tried to kick Amy out immediately, in a plan called Operation Revolving Door. Amy won Head of Household the first day back, and the plan failed.
In the fourth season, the big twist for the year was The Ex-Factor. Seven houseguests were introduced, only to have five houseguests' exes compete against them in the game. This quickly became messy, as Scott, a houseguest who had his ex-girlfriend move into the house, had a violent outburst, and subsequently told the house that he had a sexually transmitted disease. He was disqualified and evicted from the game, and replaced with Michelle; at nineteen years of age, she was the American version's youngest houseguest. She was also the ex of fellow houseguest David.
The fifth season started July 6, 2004. Like last year's Ex-Factor, this season too had a twist theme. It was called Project Do Not Assume or Project DNA for short and had two aspects. In this season, two of the contestants were half-siblings who had not met before the show. By the second episode, the entire house discovered this, but that caused problems for half-brother Michael, who was convicted of having something up his sleeve by his own alliance. The second aspect was a pair of twins who would be playing as a single person throughout the game, and if they weren't evicted after five weeks in the house, they would be able to play in the house simultaneously. This gave the twins twice the chance of anyone else to win the money.
List of the contestants of the American version of Big Brother.
Discs from the third season of the show, in its entirety as well as edits, have been released on Region 1 DVD. Highlights from the fourth season have also been released.
The UK has seen four complete series; a fifth is ongoing. All have been shown by Channel 4. There have also been two Celebrity Big Brother series - week-long versions with minor celebrities as housemates, with a proportion of the profits from eviction votes going to charity.
For all five series the eviction-night host has been Davina McCall, and the daily updates have been narrated by Marcus Bentley. A second daily show, Big Brother's Little Brother (presented by Dermot O'Leary), has shown news, gossip and behind-the-scenes details.
The first series was an unexpected summer hit in 2000. The most memorable moment occurred when attempts to influence voting by Nick Bateman (whom the tabloids nicknamed Nasty Nick) were uncovered by other housemates, who confronted him in a house meeting. He denied the allegations until the evidence was presented to him - housemate names, secretly written on scraps of paper hidden in his suitcase. Nick was removed from the house later that day by the show's producers for rule-breaking.
The housemate who confronted Nick, Craig Phillips, went on to win the ã70,000 prize as last-remaining housemate. He donated the money to a friend who needed a heart and lung transplant.
Since Big Brother Craig has appeared on the UKTV Style makeover show Our House and the BBC One daytime show Big Strong Boys as a resident handyman. Two other housemates, Claire Strutton (who replaced Nick) and Tom McDermott, later had a child together but the relationship ended.
The second series had a much larger budget for the house and its contents, but the same ã70,000 prize fund. One housemate, Josh Rafter, was voted into the house by the public after a few weeks. This series saw housemates Paul Clarke and Helen Adams become close over the weeks; newspapers speculated on how their relationship would progress, especially since Helen was already in a relationship on entering the house.
Helen eventually finished second to Brian Dowling. Helen and Paul remained together after the show and announced plans to marry. Brian went on to become the first openly gay man to present a children's television show in the UK when he joined SMTV Live.
The third series saw two early walkouts, by housemates Sunita Sharma and Sandy Cumming; Sandy surprised his fellow housemates as well as the production team by scaling a wall and escaping over a roof. Also this year the house was split into two for a time: those on one side had more luxuries and better food than those on the other. A weekly task, shown live on Saturday nights, determined which housemates lived on which side of the Heaven and Hell divide.
Housemate Jade Goody became notorious for believing that East Anglia was "abroad", amongst other Jadeisms.
The eventual winner of the ã70,000 prize was Kate Lawler, who went on to co-present Channel 4's breakfast TV show, . Two other housemates, Sophie Pritchard and Lee Davey, later got married.
The fourth series saw several surprises. One housemate, Cameron Stout, accepted a challenge from Big Brother and discovered it meant spending a week in the Big Brother Africa house (one of the African housemates, Gaetano, spent some time in the UK house in return). There was a surprise double eviction, a surprise new housemate, and a surprise return by evicted housemate Jon Tickle for the last two weeks (he was not eligible to win). The biggest surprise was unplanned: a bomb scare led to the evacuation of the housemates for several hours.
The ã70,000 prize was eventually won by Cameron. Several housemates later had presenting or acting jobs.
Despite the surprises of this series, many felt the format had become stale and that the housemates themselves were too bland.
The fifth series is ongoing. Trailed as "Big Brother turns evil", it has been controversial from the start. The house is smaller and more claustrophobic; there is one bedroom; and the prize money of ã100,000 can be reduced if housemates fail their tasks. Big Brother promised tougher challenges as well as surprises to test the minds of housemates.
The housemates are all strong, opinionated characters. Kitten Pinder was evicted in the first week for constant rule-breaking. A fake eviction in the second week saw two of the housemates, Emma and Michelle, confined to the nearby "Big Brother Bedsit" where they could see and hear what was happening in the house without the others knowing. After their return to the house, scenes of aggression and near-violence erupted resulting in on-site security staff having to enter the house. Some viewers of the live feed also called the police; after a short investigation, a joint statement by Hertfordshire police and producers Endemol said that they were satisfied with steps being taken to ensure housemates' safety and well-being. Police are also reportedly questioning each contestant as they leave the house. Emma was moved back to the bedsit and later evicted permanently. A psychologist on the show resigned, claiming that his warnings that Endemol's deliberate selection of housemates likely to cause conflict would lead to the fight went unheeded.
Since the fight there have been many arguments, and several housemates have received formal warnings by Big Brother, but nothing on the scale of what producers refer to as "Day 20".
A surprise new housemate, Becki Seddiki, was evicted at the first opportunity. The weekly live task was dropped; housemates still compete but only highlights are shown. The week after, Ahmed Aghil was evicted. The following week the flamboyant, aggressive Victor Ebuwa was evicted.
In aid of Comic Relief six celebrities entered the Big Brother series 1 house for eight days in March 2001. As Comic Relief is shown by the BBC, this was a rare collaboration between two TV channels. The contestants were:
The second celebrity series lasted ten days, from November 20-30, 2002. Proceeds from viewer voting went to four different charities: Centrepoint, National Missing Persons Helpline, Rethink severe mental illness and Samaritans. The six contestants were:
Format
American Big Brother
Season 1 (2000)
Season 2 (2001)
Season 3 (2002)
Season 4 (2003)
Season 5 (2004)
American Big Brother on DVD
Australian Big Brother
Australian Big Brother is currently in its fourth season.UK Big Brother
Series 1 (2000)
Series 2 (2001)
Series 3 (2002)
Series 4 (2003)
Series 5 (2004)
Celebrity series 1 (March 2001)
Celebrity series 2 (November 2002)
Memorable moments include comedian Les Dennis moping around the house.Big Brother around the world
Near copies of Big Brother
External links