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.
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.
American Big Brother
American Big Brother currently uses different rules than other countries' versions of the show. 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 three 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.
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,
after a long-winded, weepy speech, vetoed the nomination of the black, gay houseguest, Marcellas, on the grounds that
his houseguests were supposedly racist and anti-gay.
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 6th, 2004. 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.
List of the contestants of the
American version of Big Brother.
Australian Big Brother
Australian Big Brother is currently in its fourth season. Evictee Merlin Luck refused the post-eviction
interview by taping his mouth closed with black tape and holding up a sign saying Free th[e] refugees. This statement is closely associated with the current state of Australia's detention centres and government policies on international refugees and will be subject to
further discussion, as was the case with the MS Tampa. Furthermore, a rift was
opened between Australian citizens and residents, many citizens arguing that residents should become and be forced to by social and governmental pressure
to become citizens. This is further discussed in Australian
residents.
UK Big Brother
The fifth series of Big Brother UK is currently under way. It has been controversial from the start with Big Brother claiming
this run would be "evil" in its format following complaints that last year's series was dull and boring. The house itself was
made smaller to be more claustrophobic, there was only one bedroom, which all housemates had to share, and the prize money of
£100,000 would be reduced by up to £10,000 per failed live task, and Big Brother promised tougher challenges as well as surprises
to test the minds of contestants.
Housemate 'Kitten' was evicted in the first week after failing to obey Big Brother rules. A fake eviction in the second week
saw two of the housemates, Emma and Michelle, being confined to a nearby 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. Officers from Hertfordshire police were also involved following
calls from members of the public to the emergency services, but they made a joint statement with Endemol, the producers of the
show, saying 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 has since been evicted
permanently. After a month in the house, Vanessa was the second housemate voted out by the public receiving approximately 86% of
the public vote. On day 31, Becki Seddiki, a 33 year old florist entered the house.
Since the fight, Endemol have toned down the "evil" aspect of the house and are just letting things play out. In many Internet
forums, the general opinion is that the situation was never evil in the first place. 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. The weekly live task has also been dropped from the schedules.
Big Brother around the world
- Big Brother Australia (Ten Network): http://www.bigbrother.com.au
- 2001 winner: Ben Williams
- 2002 winner: Peter Corbett
- 2003 winner: Regina Bird
- 2004 winner: series in progress
- Big Brother Brasil http://bbb.globo.com/
- Big Brother Greece (ANT1)
- 2001 winner:
- 2002 winner:
- Big Brother Nederland
- Big Brother UK (Channel 4): http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/
- 2000 winner: Craig Phillips
- 2001 winner: Brian Dowling
- 2002 winner: Kate Lawler
- 2003 winner: Cameron Stout
- 2004 winner: series in progress
- Big Brother Danmark
- Grande Fratello (Big Brother Italy)
- Big Brother USA (CBS): http://www.cbs.com/bigbrother/
- 2000 winner: Eddie McGee
- 2001 winner: Will Kirby
- 2002 winner: Lisa Donahue
- 2003 winner: Jun Song
- 2004 winner: series in progress
- Big Brother Sweden
- 2000 winner: Angelica Freij
- 2002 winner: Ulrica Andersson
- 2003 winner: Daniel Sörensen
- 2004 winner: Carolina Gynning
- Big Brother South Africa (M-Net):
(became Big Brother Africa after the 2002 season)
- 2001 winner: Ferdinand Rabie
- 2002 winner: Richard Cawood
- Big Brother Africa (made in South Africa): http://www.bigbrothersa.com/
- 2003 winner: Cherise Makubale of Zambia
- Big Brother Bahrain, Amwaj Island
- 2004: discontinued after 10 days because of religious protests.
Near copies of Big Brother
External links
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