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Big Brother (UK)
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Big Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. Internationally, it is broadcast in on The Polish station TVN. It is part of the Big Brother franchise first developed in the Netherlands.
premise of the gameshow is to bring a group of contestants, called Housemates, to live in isolation from the outside world in a house custom built with everyday objects, like fridges and a garden.
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Encyclopedia
Big Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. Internationally, it is broadcast in on The Polish station TVN. It is part of the Big Brother franchise first developed in the Netherlands.
Overview
The premise of the gameshow is to bring a group of contestants, called Housemates, to live in isolation from the outside world in a house custom built with everyday objects, like fridges and a garden. The house also includes cameras and microphones in most of the rooms to record all of the activity in the house. The only place where Housemates can be away from their Housemates is in the diary room, where they can confess their true feelings. The winner is the last contestant remaining in the house, and receives a large cash prize. Housemates are evicted weekly throughout the show by the viewing public. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopia in which Big Brother is the all-seeing, omnipotent leader of Oceania.
Although the ethics of the show, and of some of its contestants, have sometimes been questioned, its continued popularity has ensured its survival, and will now be continued until 2011.
The main shows (Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother) are hosted by Davina McCall and narrated by Marcus Bentley. The show premiered on Channel 4 on 14 July 2000. It is produced by Brighter Pictures, an Endemol company. With up to 10 million viewers tuning in for the show it became an instant success.
Main series
Presenters
Davina McCall hosts the Live Eviction shows, as well as the first episode of the series (called the Launch Night) and the Live Finale. The highlights show features the previous day's events condensed into a one hour show. This is narrated by Marcus Bentley, who also narrates for the Live Eviction and Live Finale shows.
Auditions
Big Brother open auditions have been held around the UK and Ireland since Big Brother 5. Before this, auditionees had to send audition tapes to the producers.
Current format
Launch Night
On the night of the Live Launch several members of the public, who have successfully passed through several audition processes, enter the House to become Housemates of the Big Brother House. Once inside the house the Housemates will live together and have no contact with the outside world. They will be recorded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on cameras that cover nearly every inch of the house, including a special room known as the Diary Room. They are also recorded by microphones located throughout the House, as well as being worn by the Housemates themselves. Nearly every movement and word spoken is seen and heard by the ever present Big Brother.
Big Brother
The Housemates can be addressed by Big Brother through a PA system located within the house, and when the Housemates are addressed by Big Brother, it always refers to itself in the third person. Big Brother has several voices and is sexless, although its voices can be either male or female, depending on which member of the production crew is taking on the role at that time. Big Brother is also emotionless and will address Housemates with objectivity, although it is sensitive and empathetic in difficult times for Housemates. At all times, Big Brother's decisions are final.
Suitcases
Housemates have their suitcases delivered to them the day after they arrive, which contain their own clothes and personal items. Housemates are forbidden from taking reading material, branded items (unless covered) and other contraband items into the House and will have their suitcases scrutinized by Big Brother before they are delivered. In the past they have been allowed one luxury item, including musical instruments and alcohol but these have also been banned. Once suitcases have been unpacked, they are then taken away again. However in some instances Big Brother will not deliver suitcases as punishment for breaking the Rules, or may also use them as a reward for completing Tasks set by Big Brother.
Life in the House
Over the duration of the series, the Housemates are given a series of Tasks by Big Brother which test them in many ways. They are also put to the test by their own ideals, prejudices and opinions against other people from different walks of life; something that has survived from the original "social experiment" of Big Brother 1. They live in the communal House and share cooking and cleaning chores among themselves, which usually provides plenty of tension. They must also live by the Fundamental Rules of Big Brother; if the rules are broken it can result in formal warnings, various punishments or even a Housemate's removal from the House.
The Diary Room
In the Diary Room, Housemates are allowed to privately tell big brother about their issues and worries about other Housemates, as well as ask Big Brother for items for the house. The Diary Room is also used by Big Brother when Big Brother needs to speak to individual Housemates alone for any reason. Some of the Housemates are comfortable enough in the Diary Room to discuss personal feelings, issues and even general personal business not relating to the house. The Diary Room is also the only room in the house not shown on Live Streaming, in order to protect the Housemates privacy. However some conversations in the Diary Room will appear in highlights shows, especially if they pertain to an event or situation within the house.
When Housemates request items such as cleaning materials or extra cigarettes (at the discretion of Big Brother), they are either delivered via the Diary Room, the Store Room or a Delivery Hatch sometimes located in the main House. Instructions and items for tasks are also delivered via the Diary Room.
In the past, notably in Big Brother 5's 'Fight Night' and Big Brother 9's 'Fight Night II' it was necessary for Big Brother to use the Diary Room as a means of removing aggressive Housemates from potentially violent situations.
The Shopping
Each week Big Brother sets the Housemates a task in order to determine the shopping budget for the following week. They must work together to win the tasks in order to win a luxury shopping budget of £5 per head per day. If they lose, they will only receive a basic shopping budget of £1 per head per day. If all food runs out in the House, Big Brother provides Emergency Rations of chickpeas and rice. Housemates are responsible for their own shopping and decide which items the budget is bought. Only a small percentage of the overall budget can be spent on alcohol, and Big Brother delivers the alcohol separately in increments as a reward for tasks or a treat after Evictions. Shopping is usually delivered on Thursday afternoon after the remainder of the previous week's food has been removed via the Store Room. Big Brother provides packed lunches for the interim period.
Nominations
Each week, usually on a Monday, the Housemates are individually called to the Diary Room by Big Brother in alphabetical order, where they must Nominate two fellow Housemates for Eviction privately.
They must provide full and frank reasons for Nominating their chosen Housemates and cannot Nominate themselves. Once all Housemates (or all Housemates eligible to Nominate) have Nominated, the two or more Housemates with the most Nominations are then put to the public vote, where the Housemate or Housemates with the most votes are Evicted in a live Friday night Eviction. The Nominations are not revealed to the Housemates by Big Brother until the day after the Nominations process, usually a Tuesday, when voting has already begun. On a Friday afternoon, Nominated Housemates have their suitcases delivered to them so they may pack in anticipation of the evening's Eviction.
Housemates are not allowed to discuss who they have Nominated or who they might Nominate with each other, and they are banned from discussing who might have Nominated the Housemates up for Eviction - unless given permission by Big Brother (as in Big Brother 9's Nominations Pod). If a Housemate has broken any of the Fundamental Rules regarding Nominations, Big Brother will impose a punishment on the Housemate.
Live Eviction and Davina
On Eviction Night, Big Brother plays crowd noise into the House so that Housemates are unable to hear chanting from the real crowd waiting for the Evictee, protecting the concept of 'no contact with the Outside World'. Nominated Housemates are told by Davina the results of the public vote via live link to the speakers in the House from a quiet studio nearby. Davina will address the House in the following scripted speech;
"Big Brother House, this is Davina. You are live on Channel 4, please do not swear. (Nominated Housemates' names), the lines are closed and the votes have been counted and verified, and I can now reveal that the nth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is... (Evicted Housemate's name)"
The evicted housemate usually have 15 minutes to say their goodbyes and get ready to leave, while the first Live Eviction show goes off air for an interval programme. The on-air break is half an hour long giving the second Eviction show a 15 minute delay when it returns to air. When the Live Eviction show returns, Davina will then tell the Evicted Housemate that they have 30 seconds to leave the House, again addressing the House from the quiet studio;
"Big Brother House, this is Davina. You are live on Channel 4, please do not swear. (Evicted Housemate's name) you are the nth person to be evicted from the Big Brother House. You have 30 seconds to say your goodbyes, I'm coming to get you!"
Once they leave the House they are greeted by the live crowd, which will boo or cheer according to the popularity of the Evicted Housemate. They will then be taken past a bank of photographers and then led away down the middle of the crowd to the nearby studio by Davina. There they are interviewed by Davina about their time in the House.
In unexpected twists that add to the appeal of the series, Big Brother will forgo the prescribed Eviction format and will Evict Housemates in other ways. In the past Big Brother has asked Housemates to Evict their least favourite Nominated Housemate, or has Evicted Nominated Housemates through the Diary Room without other Housemates realising that an Eviction was taking place. Such twists in the format are more common towards the end of a series. So far in each series (from 2000-2008),it has been a female that has been evicted first (not including Housemates that have walked or been ejected or in specials like Celebrity, Teen or Hijack) Big Brother 1 (Sada) Big Brother 2 (Penny) Big Brother 3 (Lynne) Big Brother 4 (Anoushka) Big Brother 5 (Vanessa) Big Brother 6 (Mary) Big Brother 7 (Bonnie) Big Brother 8 (Shabnam) and Big Brother 9 (Stephanie)
Live Final and the Winner
In the Live Final, only three to six Housemates remain in the house, after surviving numerous evictions. The public are then asked to vote for their favourite surviving Housemate to win the prize of £100,000 in the preceding week. Voting lines are suspended at intervals on the Live Final show to reveal the runners-up, who are then evicted and interviewed by Davina without the usual 15 minute delay, until the final two surviving Housemates, when the winner is announced. The first runner-up then leaves the House and is interviewed by Davina, followed by the winner who is usually treated to a cheering crowd and a firework display, before they are interviewed by Davina.
Schedule
Each highlight show features the events that happened in the previous day in the house. On the Live Eviction Shows, the housemates are evicted the same day as the results are shown, and the highlight show from the next day will often show their eviction again (without the interview.)
Each night's show is repeated the next morning on Channel 4, during their breakfast schedule. The morning show is a censored version of the previous days allowing for a younger audience base to be able to watch the show. The same show is repeated on E4 later in the day during the after-noon. Friday's LIVE episode is repeated Saturday mornings on Channel 4's Teen Strand T4 and then repeated Saturday evening on E4.
In the T4 and E4 repeats, Housemate entrances and exits are generally edited so that they go dark to light, and also they slow down some of the action. This however can cause severe ghosting in the T.V. picture. It's possible this is done to lower the risk of flashing cameras to people who sufferer from photosensitive epilepsy, even though Channel 4 does not broadcast with low brightness (altihough continuty warnings are usually announced).
The ninth and latest series was launched on 5 June 2008, and ran for 13 weeks until 5 September 2008.. It has also been confirmed that a 10th and 11th series of Big Brother UK will be aired, which include the celebrity version, all of its subsidiary shows and E4 streaming.
Live streaming
Channel 4 has made available live pictures and audio from the Big Brother house. However, approximately a 15 minute delay is in place so that audio and/or pictures can be censored to comply with TV regulations. This is also obvious when Housemates discuss the time in the Big Brother House and when they have done so the time is commonly 15-20 minutes behind than the time of viewing.
The action from within the House used to be streamed live over the Internet for a one-off fee subscription that lasted to the end of the series, and for free to broadband customers of sponsors Virgin Media. However since Big Brother 9, the live internet streaming was axed due to small uptake of subscriptions in past series.
Since the second series, Channel 4's sister station E4 has also carried live pictures and audio from the Big Brother House. An interactive service available to digital satellite and cable viewers allows 24/7 access to the stream, even when E4 is carrying normal programming. Live streaming was cut during Big Brother 5's "Fight Night" when a House argument broke out in which the main culprit was ejected from the house for being aggressive. The same also occurred during Big Brother 9's "Fight Night II" in which the actions of most Housemates were similar to that of "Fight Night". This was also a House argument which resulted in one Housemates being ejected for spitting in another Housemate's face.
However as live streaming on E4 was unpopular during Big Brother 9 for Celebrity Big Brother 2009 the lived feed has been axed via the red button and is now limited to various times shown on E4.
House
For the first two series, the House was located in Bow, London near to the . After planning permission expired in 2002, Newham Council ordered the complex to be returned to a natural habitat. The House has been located at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire since Big Brother 3 in 2002.
The House is currently built behind the studios and is overlooked by the studio offices. The House has substantial security in place including fencing, security patrols and dog units to protect the premise of "no contact from the outside world". However people can shout to the Housemates in the garden via a road located near the House, threatening that premise. Whenever such incidents occur, Big Brother will ban the Housemates from using the garden and ensure that they are locked in the House to prevent them from hearing what is being shouted. It has been reported that the Big Brother House has higher and better levels of security than Buckingham Palace, after the lobbyist group Fathers 4 Justice gained entry to Buckingham Palace in 2004, but a similar effort to raid the Big Brother House was foiled days later.
The interior design of the House changes each year to suit the theme of the series. For example, the Big Brother 5 House was claustrophobic, with harsh colour schemes to reflect the Evil Big Brother theme, while Big Brother 8 had an "Inside Out" theme with kitchen appliances, washing facilities and dining areas located in the wrong rooms or areas of the House.
The House is situated just metres from The George Lucas Stage where the studio of spin off show, Big Brother's Little Brother is located, as well as the Eviction Studio where evicted Housemates are interviewed.
It is uncertain if Big Brother UK will move to a new location after the current contract at Elstree Studios expires in 2010.
Live Tasks
Series 3 of Big Brother introduced the Saturday night "Big Brother: Live Task", which would determine on which side of the Rich/Poor divide individual Housemates would live for the forthcoming week. The Live Tasks were continued throughout Big Brother 4, with winners treated to a hidden "Reward Room" for the evening. Live Saturday evening Tasks were discontinued during Series 5. In the penultimate week of Series 9 there was a live task. Housemates had to nominate face to face using cue cards. The two Housemates nominated then went on to play a game where they could win £50,000.
Logo
The Big Brother logo is an eye. However since Big Brother 2, every UK series has featured a different ‘Eye’ design created by Daniel Eatock. The first series had a human Eye as the logo, and it was revealed during Melanie Hill's exit interview that it was her eye that was being used as the show's logo. The Eye is meant to signify that Big Brother is ‘always watching’ and it in its own right has become iconic. Most of the other Big Brother series around the world have adopted the Eye in their logo, with some countries adopting designs directly from the UK Big Brother. Since Big Brother 5 the title sequence created by Hello Charlie has left out the title "Big Brother" with the idea that the Eye was iconic enough to identify the show.
Theme tune
The theme tune was written and produced by Paul Oakenfold and Andy Gray. It was released as a single in September 2000 under the name "Element Four" and peaked at number four in the UK Singles Chart. It is also used for the Bulgarian series.
Aspect ratio
Series 1 to 6 of Big Brother (2000–2005), including the four corresponding series of Celebrity Big Brother, were some of the very few programmes on mainstream British terrestrial television that were broadcast in the old 4:3 aspect ratio as opposed to the more common 16:9 widescreen format. (Except the Big Brother Panto, which was in widescreen). The reason for this is unclear, perhaps because shots cannot be artificially staged to use a 16:9 format, the 16:9 format is more efficient as it can cover a wider range of shots, as opposed to the somewhat limited 4:3 full-screen format. However, from series 7 (2006) the aspect ratio has been switched in favour of the 16:9 format, with Big Brother, and all of its sister shows broadcasting in widescreen.
Media interest
Big Brother is highly publicised in the UK, more or less all leading tabloids newspapers and gossip magazines cover the series. The show has also made headlines on leading news channels such as BBC, ITV, Channel 4, CNN and Sky news. After leaving the House, Housemates usually have short lived fame. Endemol gives Housemates a choice of agents when leaving the House. Some have gone on to have their own reality TV shows, perfumes, DVD's, singles, columns and more. Some of them appear in magazines, newspapers, radio stations, and even television programmes. They often attend film premieres and other red carpet events. Though for most, their fame generally subsides shortly after the series finale. To date the most successful former Big Brother Housemates are Chantelle Houghton and Jade Goody. Other successful housemates include Brian Dowling who has landed a career in television presenting and voice over work, Kate Lawler who worked as a television presentor on high profile Channel 4 pogramme Rise and later a DJ, Chanelle Hayes who released her own single, launched her own fragrance, starred in another reality show and had 2008's 3rd best selling calendar, and Alison Hammond who works as a presenter on ITV's This Morning. Stuart Hosking and Dean O`loughlin from Series 2 also used Big brother fame to launch a new product called the Teabagbin.
Big Brother has also led to a variety of books being written about it including books about the show like 'Big Brother: The Inside Story' By Narinda Kaur (ISBN: 978-0753512944) and 'Big Brother: The Official Unseen Story' By Jean Ritchie (ISBN: 978-0752219127). To books about the psychology of the show like 'The Psychology of Big Brother' By Dan Jones (ISBN: 978-1409228257) and 'Visible Thought: The New Psychology of Body Language' By Geoffrey Beattie (ISBN: 978-0415308106)
Sponsorships
- BT Cellnet changed its name to O2, the sponsor is therefore the same as the previous series.
- The Carphone Warehouse is the parent company of TalkTalk, the previous sponsor. They also had a deal of £2.5m-a-year to sponsor the Big Brother franchise.
- Due to the race row the sponsorship was cut off half way through the series.
- The cost of this sponsorship was £2.5 Million.
- Although the change of the name of the sponsor, it is still the same company and the same sponsor adverts were used.
- The cost of this sponsorship was £800,000
Shows
Spin-offs
Celebrity Big Brother
Originally created as a one-off tie-in series by Channel 4 in association with the BBC's Comic Relief charity telethon, Celebrity Big Brother is now a full spin-off of Big Brother UK, shown on Channel 4, S4C, E4, E4+1 and Internet live streaming and downloading, backed up with email and SMS text news reports to subscribers. The series typically airs in January.
The series features a number of celebrity contestants living in the Big Brother House, trying to avoid eviction by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize to be donated to the winner's nominated charity at the end of the run. The show uses the same house and presenters as the non-celebrity version of the most recent series, but the time length is shorter than a normal Big Brother UK series. The celebrities are normally paid for their appearances, on the basis that they don't voluntarily leave.
The first Celebrity Big Brother was aired nightly on Channel 4 with the finale broadcast live on BBC One on Comic Relief night in 2001. Subsequent Celebrity Big Brothers have not involved the BBC or Comic Relief in any way, and the charities involved are given far less publicity than in the first series.
The series took a break for Teen Big Brother, which was shown in 2003 and given a revised repeat in 2004, between 2005 and 2007 it was a regular part of Channel 4's winter schedule until in 2008 it was withdrawn due to the previous series' race row and replaced by Celebrity Hijack. Celebrity Big Brother returned in 2009.
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack was a spin off series that aired on E4 in January 2008. It was hosted by Dermot O'Leary, which was his final Big Brother series, and narrated by Marcus Bentley. Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack launched on 3 January both on Channel 4 and E4. After the launch, all Big Brother programmes are only aired on E4. The series was a twist on the Celebrity Big Brother format. Instead of the celebrities playing the role of Housemates, the celebrities become Big Brother itself. The Housemates of the show are 18 to 21 year olds.
Teen Big Brother
Teen Big Brother was a special version of Big Brother, where eight 18 year olds lived in the Big Brother House for ten days. The series was aired in October 2003 on Channel 4 and E4 where it was presented by BBLB host Dermot O'Leary and narrated by Marcus Bentley.
Unlike all other Big Brother series, Teen Big Brother was pre-recorded and shown some months after the contestants had left the House. During the series' broadcast, it was involved in a scandal over two of the Housemates having sex on television.
Big Brother Panto
E4 and T4 broadcast the special Big Brother Panto series, bringing together ten members of the various Big Brother series to perform a pantomime of Cinderella. It was presented by Jeff Brazier and June Sarpong and narrated by Marcus Bentley. It was aired from 20 December 2004 to 5 January 2005.
Spoofs, parodies and cultural references
In the UK, Big Brother has been satirised and spoofed by many comedians including Alan Carr, Justin Lee Collins and Ricky Gervais. Big Brother has also been lampooned on programmes such as Friday Night Project, the Doctor Who episode Bad Wolf and Extras.
In July 2008 Revels started a "Big Brother"-style eviction campaign where one flavour from the bag would be replaced by a special limited edition flavour, yet to be announced. Consumers were asked to nominate on www.revelseviction.com. Voting closed on 9 September 2008. The flavour attracting the most votes was coffee, which received nearly half the votes cast. Raisin received around 25%, with the remaining votes spread fairly evenly among the other flavours. The coffee flavour was replaced with strawberry.
Dead Set
In October 2008, E4 aired Dead Set, a five-part horror series written by Charlie Brooker, and set during a fictional series of Big Brother. It features a zombie outbreak decimating the population of Britain, forcing the housemates and some of the production staff to seek shelter in the Big Brother House, which has seemingly become one of the only safe places left in Britain. The show features a selection of previous Big Brother housemates and host Davina McCall playing themselves. A few of the cast, including McCall, also played cameos as zombies.
Criticisms and controversy
Since the first series, Big Brother has been the subject of controversy among the British public. They have been investigated by numerous organisations, including Ofcom and the police.
During Big Brother 1 "Nasty" Nick Bateman was removed from the House for using pen and paper that he snuck in to manipulate Nominations.
During Big Brother 4 there was a bomb scare. At 7:58 on Day 43, Big Brother asked all Housemates to go to the boy’s bedroom until further notice because of a security alert inside the studios. The staff had left 20 minutes earlier, except for senior members of the production team who watched the Housemates from behind the mirrors. The Big Brother gallery was unmanned after police advised staff to leave the house. At 8:43, Police advised that the house be evacuated. Since the gallery was unmanned, Big Brother had no method of communicating with the house, so staff had to enter. Senior members of the production team lead the Housemates out via the camera runs, and they were taken to a secure area on the perimeter of the studio complex with 2 chaperones and 4 security guards. At 12:49am, the Housemates were allowed to return after police gave the all clear. The eviction took place the following day.
In Big Brother 5, on what is commonly referred to as 'Fight Night', volatile ex-Housemates Emma Greenwood and Michelle Bass returned to the Big Brother house after a fake eviction. Some of the other Housemates were extremely displeased, and after a series of arguments, Greenwood along with Jason Cowan, Marco Sabba, eventual winner Nadia Almada, Vanessa Nimmo and Victor Ebuwa became involved in an aggressive brawl. Viewers of Live Streaming called the police to inform them of the violent activity and, for the first time in the show's history, on-set security guards were called into the House to break up the arguments, following other housemates attempts to diffuse the arguments failed. The only housemates who did not get involved in the arguments were Bass, Stuart Wilson, Dan Bryan who all attempted to diffuse them, Shell Jubin who was crying in the bathroom, and Ahmed Aghil who had already gone to bed.
Big Brother 6, was heavily criticised for the amount of nudity shown on the show; after a midnight "romp" in the pool Housemate Makosi Musambasi claimed to have conceived Anthony Hutton's child and asked for a pregnancy test. In addition, Housemate Kinga Karolczak masturbated with a wine bottle in the garden.
In Celebrity Big Brother 4, Housemate Pete Burns claimed that his coat was made from gorilla skin; after viewers called in to Ofcom, police removed the coat for testing. Ownership of products made from gorilla is illegal in the UK without a licence. Tests found the coat was in fact made of Colobus monkeys, another endangered species. As a result the case was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service who determined that the pelts used to make the coat were imported before 1975 (the year it became illegal to import Colobus fur) and as such did not press charges. This greatly upset animal rights campaigners, including fellow Housemate and then PETR spokeswoman Jodie Marsh.
Big Brother 7 had several incidents:
- The show came under criticism when critics claimed that Big Brother had deliberately put unstable people into the House. Housemate Shahbaz Chauhdry referred to himself as a "Paki poof" in his audition video, upsetting the British Asian community. He also threatened to commit suicide as well as stealing all the food out of the kitchen. He decided to walk on Day 6 and admitted that he was mentally unstable.
- The programme also attracted criticism for putting several vulnerable people in the Big Brother House. Pete suffered from Tourette syndrome, Lea suffers from Body dysmorphic disorder; Sam has admitted to being shunned by family members because of homosexuality, and possible gender identity disorder; and Nikki has suffered from anorexia and been sectioned in the past due to the condition. A spokeswoman for mental health charity SANE claimed that producers are "playing fast and loose with people's lives." A spokesperson for Rethink commented "The programme should not profit from people having a breakdown." A spokesman defended the show saying that a psychologist is always available for housemates.
- Further criticism arose when contestant Glyn Wise was reprimanded for communicating in his first language, Welsh, to housemate Imogen Thomas, who spoke Welsh fluently as a second language. Big Brother deemed this a form of 'code' and issued a warning to Glyn, who retorted "But Welsh is British". Following the incident, the Welsh Language Society complained to Channel 4, Ofcom and S4C. Clearly, it was no longer a problem after this as Glyn and Imogen continued to converse in Welsh. Such discussions were broadcast with English subtitles.
- Seven days into the show, Housemate Dawn Blake received a message in the house from her family, via Big Brother, saying "your sister is ill". This turned out to be a code message that Dawn had organised with her family before entering the Big Brother House that the family promised they would send to her in the House if any newspapers, magazines or other media had made disparaging comments or judgements about Dawn in the Outside World, so that Dawn could then leave. Dawn let her Housemates know about this to some extent when she was heard whispering to them "I have a code". The producers of the show eventually caught on and although Dawn said she was leaving anyway, when she was called to the Diary Room the following day Big Brother told her that she had broken a Fundamental Rule by being in contact with the Outside World, and that she was being ejected from the House. When the Housemates were made aware of Dawn's rule-breaking and ejection from the House, they surmised that any person who goes into the Big Brother House is going to have both good and bad comments made about them by the media and public, and that Dawn was naïve to enter the House in the first place if this was not her expectation.
- After the night of the "Golden Housemate" selection, nine out of the 34 golden ticket winners complained to the producers of the show saying that the selection of the winner was a fix so that Susie Vericco was ensured a place in the house after it was revealed on the night that she had already auditioned for the last three series of the show and was a stand in for series 5. The claim was that the balls, which were in the machine to choose the golden housemate, all had only number 14 written on them to ensure that Vericco was to win the competition and become a housemate. The producers denied these claims and even showed close up images of the machine to show that there were more than just number 14 on the balls. There was extra specualtion about this because when housemate Aisleyne chose number 14, fellow housemate Pete was heard saying "I told you! I told you!" and also that fellow housemate Nikki was constantly heard yelling "Number 14!". However, Nikki soon revealed that she had met and sat next to Susie in the auditions for that series.
- When the public were able to vote a previously Evicted member back into the House, thousands of complaints were made claiming that Channel 4 had misled the public when Housemates had originally been voted out of the House. ICSTIS ruled Channel 4 had breached its code and imposed £50,000 'administrative charges'.
In Celebrity Big Brother 5, a worldwide debate was created by Housemates Jade Goody (who was an exHousemate of Big Brother 3), singer Jo O'Meara and model Danielle Lloyd. The row was sparked when alleged racist comments were made about Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, who was also a Housemate in the show. A record number of 45,000 complaints were recorded for the unfair behaviour, bullying and racism in the Big Brother House, with protests across India. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer (Now Prime Minister) Gordon Brown, visiting India at the time, found himself answering questions on Big Brother throughout his trip, and a wider debate on racism in the UK was raised by the media. The 3 Housemates involved were not removed from the House, and faced Eviction in the normal way, although during Jade's Eviction, no crowd was present. For all 3, the normally lighthearted Eviction Interview was serious in tone, and began by showing clips of international news bulletins and newspaper front pages. Shilpa emerged as the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 5. Following the incident, Channel 4 was heavily criticised by Ofcom for not acting quickly enough, and was forced to apologise on air three times. See also Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy.
In Big Brother 8, the next regular series after the race row back in January, Housemate Emily Parr was removed from the house hours after using the racial slur "nigger" towards black Housemate Charley Uchea, although Parr made it clear she was unhappy with Big Brother's decision to remove her explaining she meant no harm towards her fellow housemate and said the word openly amongst her friends outside the house, the incident occured when fellow housemate Charley Uchea claimed she had 'a belly' to which Parr replied 'No you haven't, you nigger'. This swift action was seen as a sign from the producers that they had learned from the criticism following the Shilpa Shetty incident. Housemate Ziggy Lichman also used the slur "nigger", however this was cut from the highlights show, and unlike the incident early on in the series, no further action was taken by Big Brother. This then lead to even further complaints, with fans accusing the show of favouring Lichman over Emily Parr, who had been thrown out for similar actions. It is thought Parr complained to the show about the seemingly different treatment of Lichman.
During Big Brother 9 there were several incidents:
- On Day 14, Alexandra "Alex" De Gale was removed from the House. This was after over 433 complaints were received by Ofcom over her apparent intimidating behaviour, which involved "bullying" fellow housemate Rachel Rice over oven chips during Week 1 and then, on Day 13 (the night before her ejection), threatening the Housemates' friends and family, by claiming that she would get her 'gangsta friends' to carry out instructions when she was Evicted while the rest of them were still in the House.
- Late at night on Day 22, Rex Newmark smudged some pizza on a painting by Jennifer Clark, leaving Jennifer very upset. Upon hearing what Rex had done and seeing how upset Jennifer was later in the evening, fellow housemates Dale Howard and Stuart Pilkington demanded that Rex apologise to Jennifer, which he had already done. A major argument ensued when housemate Mohamed "Mo" Mohamed, having heard Stuart declare that Rex had done it out of spite, stated "It's just a painting," prompting Rebecca "Bex" Shiner and Dale Howard to aggressively confront Mohamed about getting involved in the argument. Fellow housemate Dennis McHugh angrily got up, shouted "F*ck off!" twice, before spitting in Mohamed's face (though he later claimed he had not actually spat, but merely done the motion). Following this, Darnell Swallow went into the Luxury bedroom to confront the other housemates for apparently supporting Dennis when he spat in Mohamed's face, causing tensions to rise. Big Brother intervened to separate the Housemates, and the conflicting sets of Housemates were locked in separate bedrooms throughout the night - Rex, Mohammed, Darnell and Shaun "Mario" Astbury in "B-Block" whilst all the other housemates were in the "luxury bedroom". The next day, Day 23, having allowed housemates to sleep in, Dennis was ejected from the house for breaching the Rules regarding unacceptable behaviour. That night's Eviction went ahead as normal and Sylvia Barrie was Evicted against Mohamed with 90.2% of the public vote. This was the first time the Live Stream was cut because of a major argument since Big Brother 5's "Fight Night."
- In week 12, housemates Darnell and Rex both received warnings of unacceptable behaviour from Big Brother after they appeared to be bullying fellow housemate Sara Folino. This was after more than 1500 people complained to Ofcom about their alleged sexist and intimidating behaviour.
Series Details
Big Brother
| Series | Launch date | Finalé date | Days | Housemates |
|---|
| 1 | 14 July 2000 | 15 September 2000 | 64 | 11 | | 2 | 25 May 2001 | 27 July 2001 | 64 | 11 | | 3 | 24 May 2002 | 26 July 2002 | 64 | 14 | | 4 | 23 May 2003 | 25 July 2003 | 64 | 14 | | 5 | 28 May 2004 | 6 August 2004 | 71 | 13 | | 6 | 27 May 2005 | 12 August 2005 | 78 | 16 | | 7 | 18 May 2006 | 18 August 2006 | 93 | 22 | | 8 | 30 May 2007 | 31 August 2007 | 94 | 23 | | 9 | 5 June 2008 | 5 September 2008 | 93 | 21 | | 10 | | | | |
Celebrity Big Brother (including Specials)
| Series | Launch date | Finalé date | Days | Housemates |
|---|
| 1 | 9 March 2001 | 16 March 2001 | 8 | 6 | | 2 | 20 November 2002 | 29 November 2002 | 10 | 6 | | Teen | October 2003 | October 2003 | 10 | 8 | | Panto | 20 December 2004 | 5 January 2005 | 11 | 10 | | 3 | 6 January 2005 | 23 January 2005 | 18 | 9 | | 4 | 5 January 2006 | 27 January 2006 | 23 | 11 | | 5 | 3 January 2007 | 28 January 2007 | 26 | 14 | | Celebrity Hijack | 3 January 2008 | 28 January 2008 | 26 | 12 | | 6 | 2 January 2009 | 23 January 2009 | 22 | 11 | |
Awards and nominations
Footnotes
See also
External links
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