Big Brother (British TV series)
Template:Big Brother UK sidebar Big Brother is a reality television series broadcast on Channel 4, and S4C in Wales, in which a number of contestants live in isolation from the outside world in a custom built house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. It is based on the Big Brother series produced by Brighter Pictures, a part of Endemol. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopia in which Big Brother is the all-seeing omnipotent leader of Oceania. The main shows are hosted by Davina McCall and narrated by Marcus Bentley.
Main series
Davina McCall is the host of Live Eviction shows and other special shows. She has been the main host for all seven series of the show.
Channel 4 has announced Big Brother will be renewed for an eighth series, which will air in May 2007. It has now been confirmed a ninth, tenth and eleventh series of Big Brother UK, which include the celebrity version, all its subsidiary shows and E4 streaming have been signed with Channel 4 for a reported £180 million.[1] Although the ITV director of television, Simon Shaps, is believed to have talked to Endemol about the contract, it is understood the network did not make a formal offer for Big Brother.[2]
Format
Each week, the housemates individually go to the diary room and nominate two other housemates for eviction. The two or more housemates with the most nominations are then revealed to the House and the public; and the public are invited to vote for who they wish to be evicted by sending a premium rate telephone call or text message. The housemate who received the greatest percentage of the public vote is evicted.
Often, particularly since 2003-2004, there have been twists to this standard format. Some of the most common types of twists are listed below:
- Double evictions can occur particularly near the end of series where the two housemates with the most public votes are evicted.
- If a housemate leaves voluntarily or is asked to leave for breaking the rules, they may be replaced and the replacement housemate is often exempt from nominations, which means that they can neither nominate nor be nominated.
- If a housemate breaks the rules, they may be either banned from nominating or another type of twist may be used to punish them. In severe cases a housemate may be ejected from the house.
- The evictions process in Teen Big Brother differed significantly from other series by the elimination of the public vote, so housemates were required to vote amongst themselves who should be evicted.
Series 7 housemate Sezer Yurtseven holds the record for highest eviction percentage. Sezer was evicted in week two of Big Brother 7 with 91.6% of the vote. Fellow housemates Lea and Richard survived the vote. On the other hand, the closest eviction vote so far was between Alison Hammond and Alex Sibley of Big Brother 3. At the beginning of the eviction show Davina announced that Alex had the highest number of votes, Alison was second, and that Sandy was third. Then at the eviction announcement it was announced that Alison has been evicted with 38.52%. Alex received 38.44% and Sandy received 23.04%. There were just 1,027 votes between Alison & Alex. Mark Owen won the second series on Celebrity Big Brother with 77%, this is the highest winning percentage in Big Brother UK history in both the celebrity and regular series. Nadia Almada's 71% win was the largest of the regular series, occurring in 2004.
House
For the first two series, the house was located in Bow, London near to the Three Mills Studios which housed Davina's interviews and the production crew. After planning permission expired after two main series (and the first Celebrity Big Brother), Newham Council ordered the complex to be returned to a natural habitat. Subsequent series have taken place at Elstree Studios, which offers more security than the Bow site (which had a public footpath running alongside the southern border). The actual house is in a separate building, and Big Brothers Little Brother/Big Mouth/Big Brain as well as the eviction interviews are all filmed in the nearby George Lucas stage, where Star Wars was once filmed. Even the Elstree site has problems, however: it is close to a residential area, attracting complaints about crowd noise on eviction nights. Permission has recently been granted to extend the lease of the house for series 7 and 8 (2006 and 2007 respectively).[3] On 20 July 2006 it was reported in a The Sun that Big Brother producers had failed to extend the lease of the house past 2007, mainly due to the noise on eviction nights. Celebrity Big Brother 6 and Big Brother 8 are said to be filmed at the new purpose built site currently being devloped in Hammersmith, London,[4] but this has not been confirmed. The new owners of the Elstree Studios, Pacifica Ventures, have stated they wish for the house to remain as part of the site.
The interior of the house is changed each year according to the theme of the series. For example, the Big Brother 5 house was claustrophobic, with harsh design features. Series 7 had an "Inside Out" theme, where certain items that one would expect inside of the house, such as the dining table, were located in the garden. Starting with series three, the entrance and exit to the house have featured the same design.
Olympus Security is responsible for the whole of Elstree Studios, including the Big Brother house. Their security guards are commonly seen on the eviction shows.
Tasks
Housemates are regularly set tasks by Big Brother. These vary from a short job for one housemate (often conducted without the other housemates' knowledge) to tasks over several days involving the whole house. Shorter tasks are generally rewarded with "treats" such as cigarettes or alcohol. The longer ones usually determine the size of the weekly shopping budget. If housemates fail these tasks, they are provided with basic rations only. Tasks often involve an element of performance, dressing up, or artistic endeavour. In more recent series, some tasks have also rewarded or punished housemates with regard to nominations, such as the now infamous 'Pants of Power'.
Series 3 of Big Brother introduced the "Big Brother: Live Task" programme. Each Saturday at 9.00 p.m., the housemates would take part in a short task which could change the way they live in the house. For example, one task gave the housemates the chance to remove the bars (rich / poor side divide).
The live tasks were continued in Big Brother 4, where winners of the task were treated to special rewards in a hidden "reward room". In series 5 the results of the live tasks affected the size of the prize fund. £10,000 was taken off the prize; each task they failed however, this was discontinued in the third week of Big Brother 5 to make way for further highlights from the house.
Eye
Each series of Big Brother has used a custom eye. The now iconic "eye" logo is designed by Daniel Eatock of design agency Eatock Ltd. Since Big Brother 5, the eye has carried with it a meaning usually present throughout the series itself. For example, the series seven eye was named "Twisted," as the programme's theme that year was "twisted." Currently, both the eye and the House design reflects the twists or theme of the programme that year, including the subsequent celebrity series. In 2006, billboard advertisements and posters contained only the eye, as it is a very high-profile and prominent television logo throughout the UK, especially in the summer.
Aspect ratio
Series 1 to 6 of Big Brother (2000–2005), including the four correspoding 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, but was believed to be because of the size of some of the cameras. However, from Big Brother 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.
Live streaming
Channel 4 has made available live pictures and audio from the Big Brother house. However, the stream had a delay of 15 minutes so that audio and/or pictures can be edited out to comply with TV regulations. Channel 4 commonly mutes the voices of the housemates and replaces then with the sound of birds, this is used when housemates are using inappropriate language, mentioning brand names, etc.
The action from within the house has been streamed live over the Internet for a one-off fee subscription that lasts until the end of a series. Subscribers to NTL Broadband Plus can watch the live stream free over the Internet. Currently it costs £4.99 for a whole series, and it is only available in the UK and The Republic of Ireland.
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 viewers allows 24/7 access to the stream, even when E4 is carrying normal programming. In 2005 for Series 6 this service became available and free for 5.1 million viewers who have access to Freeview. During series 2 - 4 the interactive service via digital TV also carried up to 4 separate video streams; 2 containing live footage from the house, both focusing on different groups of people in different areas of the house whilst the others contained highlights from recent house action. Only a single feed appeared from Series 5 onward.
Freeview viewers were previously able to view live streaming by pressing the red button while watching E4 and 'LIVE' is displayed. This redirected the viewer to channel 305, which required More 4+1 to be discontinued to allow for the transmission. However, as of 17th of July this feature was removed in preparation for a free version of Film4 which began airing on the 23rd of July.
Subscribers to the NTL digital cable service, digital cable and Sky Digital viewers can watch the feed through the red button,[5] but Telewest no longer provide this facility. However, this service is unavailable to Sky's Irish customers as E4 broadcasts on a different frequency in Ireland due to commercial legislation, and the frequency isn't capable of interactive streaming.
Shows
Big Brother
Big Brother reports on events that occurred in the Big Brother House on the previous day, showing highlights of these events. The show is normally aired every day at 9:00pm on Channel 4 for an hour, but is subject to change. On Fridays, Big Brother is aired as a part of Big Brother Live Eviction. During the summer series, Tuesday is the day viewers find out who is up for eviction. Unlike Big Brother Live, it shows Diary Room conversations. Narrated by Marcus Bentley, the show is sometimes referred to as the 'Channel 4 Show', the 'catch-up show' or the 'main show'. On live finals, only a small amount of catch-up footage from the house is shown and during Celebrity Big Brother, the final day in the house is never broadcast. Big Brother UK has the most number of series of Big Brother throughout the world, a total of 14, and has been on air for 604 days.
Big Brother Live Eviction
Big Brother Live Eviction is broadcast on Fridays at 8:30pm on Channel 4, and is presented by Davina McCall. It is during this show that a housemate is evicted from the Big Brother House, and is from that point on no longer a potential winner of the prize. This rule was reversed by producers in Series 7, as they put ex-housemates up for a vote to see who should be voted back inside the house. The four chosen by the public were Nikki, Grace, Mikey, and Lea. Proceeds for this vote went to charity.
The first fifty minutes of the show are highlights of the previous day, shown in the same format as Big Brother. In early series, Davina would provide narration for this part of the broadcast. At around 9:25pm, Davina will "talk to the house" and announce the latest evictee before the show breaks at 9:30pm. She would say to the house, "Big Brother House, this is Davina. You are live on Channel 4, please do not swear. [Names of people up for eviction], the lines are closed. The votes have been counted and verified, and I can now reveal that the [n]th person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is [long pause] [name of person evicted]. [Name of person], you have 30 minutes (seconds if something special is happening later) to say your goodbyes." In series 1-4, she used to say "You have 1 minute to say your goodbyes and gather your belongings" as well as the imfamous "Im Coming to get you" line. Housemates also had one minute in series 5, but they did not have to take their suitcase with them.
Thirty minutes later, the show returns at 10:00pm when the audience are shown how the housemates have reacted to the announcement. The housemate is then told to leave the House, and is interviewed by Davina, before the show ends at 10:30pm. At the end of the interview, the evictee is shown their "best bits", a compilation of their most memorable moments in the house, usually accompanied by music. During Celebrity Big Brother 2007, best bits were re-named "the story of your time in the house" after Jade Goody's eviction on the Celebrity series. Producers thought it would be inappropriate for Davina to call it "best bits" as her VT showed bullying toward fellow contestant Shilpa Shetty. Live Eviction is often extended if something special is happening that night, such as new housemates or a double eviction.
Big Brother's Little Brother
Big Brother's Little Brother is a magazine television programme that airs on Channel 4 and E4 during a series of Big Brother. Presented by Dermot O'Leary, the programme looks at Big Brother-related activities outside the House and features interviews with celebrities, journalists and friends and family of housemates, and sometimes recently evicted housemates.
The show was first aired on May 29 2001 as a part of Big Brother 2, and is shown every Sunday morning as part of Channel 4's T4 slot as well as on E4 during the week. During the first two weeks, the show was co-hosted by Natalie Casey. She was later dropped and that week's evicted housemate took over co-hosting. Big Brother's Little Brother developed into a twice-weekly show with Big Brother 3. For Big Brother 4 and Big Brother 5, it was shown every weeknight at 5 pm on E4 before being repeated for terrestrial viewers at 6 pm on Channel 4. The Sunday programme includes the first interview with the most recently evicted housemate.
Though introduced with Big Brother 2 as a separate show, Big Brother's Little Brother was present during Series 1 (2000) of the show in the form of a 2-minute spoof each Friday, featuring ten guinea pigs (each representing a housemate), and a small cardboard house. Two children, one boy and one girl, were featured as the scientists, wearing white coats and safety glasses. Various wisecracks and witty, spoofing moments were parodied, and at the end of each eviction show, the guinea pig would be seen being wheeled away on a tiny trailer.
Starting with Big Brother 4, an extra clause was added into contracts between contestants and producers Endemol which bound evictees to appearing on Big Brother's Little Brother the Sunday after their eviction (they are evicted on Fridays) and every night for the next week. Any other appearances on any Big Brother-related programmes are optional.
The 2002 series saw the start of 'reunion' programmes. For 2002, the live programme was a special episode of Big Brother's Little Brother in the afternoon of July 28; this was later shown as a repeat that night on Channel 4. 2003 saw a similar format. For 2004 and 2005, live barbecues were used as the basis for a reunion.
For Celebrity Big Brother 2006, broadcast in January 2006, Big Brother's Little Brother was moved to a morning slot of 8 a.m. on Channel 4 and renamed Big Brother's Little Breakfast. It was moved back to its previous timeslot on E4 for Big Brother 7.
Features
Over the years, Big Brother's Little Brother has had many features introduced from quizzes to secret cameras. The following is a list of some of the items the show has launched:
- Little Brother's Big News - This segment has featured on all series of the show. Dermot reports on three news items, which are often particularly obscure and shows three clips connected with the news. The news reported on, is after the previous night's show or a clip from main show that night.
- Call BBLB - At the beginning of the show, Dermot announces what the topic of the night's Call BBLB is. It can range from a number of topics such as, "Ask the latest evictee.." or "Who do you want to be evicted?" The show always ends with callers and e-mails and text messages run along the bottom of the screen.
- Ginger Watch (BB3) - During the third series, as part of Little Brother's Big News, Dermot reported on housemate Tim Culley's supposed ginger roots. It was a small parody of BBC series, Crimewatch. Similarly, in series six, BBLB followed housemate Makosi Musambasi, as her weave was falling into a state of disrepair. The show called the item, Weave Watch.
- Save Sheriff Stu (BB5) - In the fifth series, BBLB and Dermot campaigned for Stuart Wilson's cowboy hat to be returned to him after Big Brother removed it from the house. The campaign, which was born from a joke but turned 'serious', saw among other things viewers donating money to paste an advert on the billboard facing the Endemol studios so that BB executives would see it every day going to work. The hat was later destroyed; which was shown on the screen in the house for the housemates to watch, as punishment for not returning it when first requested by Big Brother.
- Gnome Cam (BB6) - During the sixth series, a hidden cam was added to the garden through the eyes of a Gnome's tractor.
- Try Your Lock (BB6) - This item featured on the Sunday edition, throughout the sixth series. It was a quiz where two callers would phone in and have to answer questions regarding the housemates. Every time they answered a question correctly, they would choose a key with a housemates' face on it, and if it opened the suitcase, they would win the contents of the case, which often contained items from the previous task and eviction tickets.
- Song For Big Brother (BB6) - Every week, on the Sunday edition, a different musician played their own composition of a Song for Big Brother. During the last week, viewers were asked to vote for their favourite, and on the Big Brother's Little Brother Series 6 Reunion show, winner of the item, Craig Lamb, sang his Song For Big Brother entitled "You Are Not Alone".
- Queen Cam (CBB4) - During the fourth series of Celebrity Big Brother, a camera was added to one of the photograph frames next to the front door. It was through the eye of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
- Bunny Cam (BB7) - During the seventh series, a camera was added to the eye of a bunny-shaped hedge. During its segment on the special Sunday edition of the show, Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes was played with the item. Dermot and the studio audience would often wear bunny ears and sway to the music. This was broken in the last week of this series by a housemate trying to see his friends on the other side.
- The Quiz Where You Win The Housemates Stuff (BB7) - This item featured on the Sunday edition, throughout the seventh series. It was a quiz where viewers would phone in and have to answer whether a chosen housemate would get the answer to a question correct or incorrect. If the caller guessed correctly they would win an item owned by the housemate who answered the question.
In 2006 Rock band "Psychedelic Gods Of Rock" were the First and only rock band to play from inside the Big Brother house. This was aired on the BBLB finale show. They were asked back by popular demand as they appeared on the show when Nikki was first evicted. [1] [2]
Big Brothers Little Brother is filmed in The George Lucas Stage at Elstree Studios, which is only a short walk from the BB house itself.
Big Brother's Big Mouth
Big Brother's Big Mouth, formerly named Big Brother's EFourum, was introduced with Big Brother 5, and was hosted by Russell Brand, until February 2007 when he announced his departure in heat magazine.[6] It is unknown whether the show will be scrapped or if a new host will come in to replace Brand. The show is aired on E4 with late-night repeats aired on Channel 4. For the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother, the show aired at 10 p.m., Sunday–Friday, immediately after the highlights show on Channel 4, with a mixture of fans of the show and celebrities all airing their opinions on the show. A small invited studio audience is also present, so that they can add their opinions to discussions, while viewers are able to contribute through phone, e-mail, text polls, or by leaving a message on the 24-hour 'Mouthpiece'.
Big Brother's Big Mouth is unscripted and highly interactive, allowing input from the live studio audience and celebrity guests as well as the television audience as the show progresses. For example, before the first advert break, viewers are given the chance to enter a competition in which they must think of a phrase to accompany a piece of art sent in by a viewer of the show. The prize for winning this feature is often silly and largely useless.
One of the main features of the show is 'the mouthpiece' in which answer phone messages with peoples views about Big Brother are played. Often messages are chosen because of the random and meaningless comments they contain; one recurring message is a man advertising his band's performances and has nothing to do with Big Brother'. During 'the mouthpiece' often a collection of objects is shown which Brand will use and at the end destroy; sometimes throwing them at the audience.
Brand is well known for his many catchphrases and anecdotes on the show. An example of this is an anecdote referring to "My ballbags..." (or "My Dicksacks", which Brand has used in the series of Big Mouth which ran alongside Celebrity Big Brother 2007) which ends with the catchphrase "The swine(s)!". He also has some often-used phrases such as "Citin' (exciting) isn't it", "Sex mad", "Nice/good to be..." and "Regardez". Brand's catchphrases frequently involve the use of Nadsat, such as "Viddy" (look) and "Droog" (friend). Every show ends with the phrase "Hare Krishna".
Characters in the show
That Whale : That Whale is an anthropomorphic whale who speaks with a Scouse accent. He shows little interest in Big Brother but seems adamant that he has a right to be on the show and still turns up regardless. Due to his obnoxious behaviour he was asked by Russell to no longer come on the show. His trademark saying is 'You Shithouse!' He only comes on the show now to find another male to make love with, since he came out as a homosexual. On the final show of the last series he was seen in the hot tub of the Big Brother house as Jon Connell' did an investigation inside the house.
The Whale is a favourite among fans. He has remarked on his liking for former ITV reality TV show The Club, attributing his enjoyment of it to the shows star, ex-Eastenders actor Dean Gaffney. The Whale has also shown interest in celebrity Vanessa Feltz, during one particular Big Mouth show asking her if she was "single still". The Whale was subsequently bundled to the floor by Russell's aid Dave. He has also, several times, attempted to engage in lewd acts with Brand.
Rosebud the Horse: Rosebud the Horse is a very polite and well-spoken character who allegedly lives with Russell in his home, in which he works as his slave and is often mistreated and forced to carry out perverted misdemeanours by members of the "Womanising Circuit" including Beppe di Marco, Dean Gaffney and David Walliams. He dresses in the style of a country gent, with tweed jacket, smart shirt and tie. He is often treated badly by Brand; in one episode he slapped him in the face.
Little Jon Connell: Little Jon Connell (born 1989 in Liverpool) normally appears in a scientist's lab coat to conduct a variety of experiments. His contraptions, which illustrate a number of Big Brother-related findings based on his scientific research, are regularly vilified and destroyed by Russell Brand. Jon Connell is known as a Big Brother expert, having appeared on the show since the age of 15, first as a panellist on 'EFourum' then later in a regular slot entitled 'The Connell Files'.
Little Paul Scholes: Little Paul Scholes was a small doll with ginger hair, a nasal voice and snub nose, in a reference to the football player Paul Scholes. The doll was usually in the programme for a few minutes after the break in occasional shows and has a short conversation (often centreing around his mistreatment) with Russell Brand, usually resulting in him being hit off the bench or sat on. He died in the final Big Brother's Big Mouth of Celebrity Big Brother 2007 following the live final. It is unknown whether he will return during Big Brother 8, Russell Brand referred to it as an 'end of an era' suggesting that he will not, and on the 4 February 2007, it was announced that Russell was leaving BBBM.
Minor characters
Russell's ballbags: Russell's scrotum, that seems to live a sensational life separate from Russell. One of them is the "younger, shyer bag", and the other is the "older, more confident bag". They were characters throughout series 7 and were dropped for 2007's Celebrity Big Brother but were replaced by a some new "Dicksacks" which are at a war with the ballbags after the ballbags left Russell.
Little Russell: The result of a liaison between Russell and Soo. Little Russell is a small panda toy with wild hair and is allegedly a pervert and hermaphrodite.
Big Kenneth: A friend of That Whale. Big Kenneth has appeared on the show once with That Whale in an attempt to beat up Russell and has also been round to Russell's house in an incident that may have led to an assault upon Beppe.
Big Brother's Big Brain
Big Brother's Big Brain is a live discussion programme. It first aired on May 22 2006 during Big Brother 7. It aired on Channel 4 every Monday at 11:05 p.m. Presented by Dermot O'Leary, the show featured Big Brother's psychologists analysing the housemates' behaviour. This replaces the Sunday night pre-recorded psychology clips that were shown on the daily highlights show in previous series.
Among the prominent psychologists featured on the show was Dr. Harry Witchel, who moonlights as a physiologist at the University of Bristol. His CV became popular online due to the listing of minutiae such as £700 travel grants and 15 minute internal talks alongside real achievements.
Diary Room Uncut
Similar format to the main show, Diary Room Uncut shows events through the whole week, mostly through Diary Room conversations but also clips from the house related to the issues spoken in the diary room. It is narrated by Marcus Bentley.
The Winners' Week
A week after the Big Brother finale airs, a catchup show is aired to show what individual housemates have been up to over the week Big Brother has been off air. In previous series, the show has been called What The Housemates Did Next.
Nominations Uncut
Nominations Uncut was a show aired on the digital free-to-air network E4. The show consisted of unedited footage of housemates making their weekly nominations. The show was broadcast for series 4, 5, and 6. During the sixth series, Nominations Uncut was broadcast at 7:30pm on Tuesday nights; the show didn't feature during the seventh series onwards.
Special versions
Celebrity Big Brother
Originally done 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 features a number of minor celebrity contestants living in the Big Brother House, trying to avoid being evicted 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 on Channel 4 for almost all its episodes, but the final was broadcast live on BBC1 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, but now is a regular part of Channel 4's winter schedule.
- Celebrity Big Brother 2001
- Celebrity Big Brother 2002
- Celebrity Big Brother 2005
- Celebrity Big Brother 2006
- Celebrity Big Brother 2007
On 17 January 2007, Celebrity Big Brother caused a record number of complaints to Ofcom, with more than 50,000 people contacting the regulator[7] and 3,000 contacting Channel 4 over bullying and racist remarks against Indian actress Shilpa Shetty. It was reported on 18 January 2007 that Carphone Warehouse had temporarily withdrawn its estimated £3m sponsorship of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, in the wake of the controversy.[8] On the 8 March 2007, Carphone Warehouse permanently dropped its sponsorship of the show.[9] Speaking in the Commons, Prime Minister Tony Blair said he had not seen the show but opposed "racism in all its forms".[10][11]
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.
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 sexual intercourse on television.
Big Brother Panto
E4 and T4 broadcast the special Big Brother Panto series, bringing together selected members of the various Big Brother series to perform a pantomime of Cinderella during December 2004. The people who took part in the pantomime were:
- Nick Bateman (series 1)
- Tim Culley (series 3)
- Victor Ebuwa (series 5)
- Anouska Golebiewski (series 4)
- Jade Goody (series 3, celebrity series 5)
- Melanie Hill (series 1)
- Narinder Kaur (series 2)
- Kathryn "Kitten" Pinder (series 5)
- Marco Sabba (series 5)
- Spencer Smith (series 3)
Trivia
- Following the end of Celebrity Big Brother 2007, 154 housemates have inhabited the house (including the 8 participants in Teen Big Brother). 46 of those were celebrities, including Chantelle Houghton, the non-celebrity contestant in Celebrity Big Brother 2006 and Jade Goody, who appeared in series three & Celebrity Big Brother 2007.
- In the 2005 series of the television series Doctor Who, episode 12, Bad Wolf, partially concerns efforts by the Doctor to escape from a distant future version of Big Brother broadcast on Channel 44,000. The contestants are reminded "please do not swear" by Davinadroid and at eviction are disintegrated rather than walking out to a cheering crowd. The Big Brother Eye logo was specially redesigned for the episode.
- A 2-D artistic installation between the carriageways in the bus portion of Gateshead Interchange is reminiscent of the Big Brother eye.
- The theme used for the entire series was written by Paul Oakenfold and Andy Gray. It was released under the name Big Brother UK TV Theme by Element Four in the UK on August 28 2000, and reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart. The track was also released in Australia on May 15 2001 under the name Tast-E, by Paul Oakenfold and Andy Gray.
- Brian Dowling, winner of Series 2, was the first openly gay person to win Big Brother. Series 1 housemate Anna Nolan was the first homosexual contestant.
- Nadia Almada, winner of Series 5, was the first transsexual to win Big Brother.
- Jade Goody has appeared on the most series on 'Big Brother'. She has appeared on a total of three series, Big Brother 2002, Big Brother Panto & Celebrity Big Brother 2007. Jade has spent a total of 89 days on Big Brother: 64 days on Big Brother 3, 11 days on Big Brother Panto, and 14 days on Celebrity Big Brother 5.
- Including Teen Big Brother, Jennie Corner is the youngest ever Big Brother UK housemate at the age of 18.
- Celebrity Big Brother 3 housemate, Jackie Stallone is the oldest ever Big Brother housemate. Jackie was 81 years old when she entered the house.
- Richard from Big Brother 7 currently holds the record for the most times nominated, in his case six times. The record was previously held by Paul from Big Brother 2
- The most amount of housemates to face eviction at the same time is 12, when back in series 6 Vanessa broke Big Brother rules by discussing nominations. As a result Big brother made that weeks nominations void and instead all 12 housemates faced eviction. This resulted in Lesley being evicted.
Show sponsors
- Big Brother 1 — Southern Comfort
- Celebrity Big Brother 2001 — Comic Relief & Dubble (Percentage from votes given as donation)
- Big Brother 2 — BT Cellnet
- Big Brother 3 — O2
- Celebrity Big Brother 2002 — O2
- Big Brother 4 — O2
- Big Brother 5 — TalkTalk from The Carphone Warehouse
- Celebrity Big Brother 2005 — TalkTalk from The Carphone Warehouse
- Big Brother 6 — TalkTalk from The Carphone Warehouse
- Celebrity Big Brother 2006 — The Carphone Warehouse
- Big Brother 7 — The Carphone Warehouse
- Celebrity Big Brother 2007 — The Carphone Warehouse
- (Until 18 January 2007) - The Carphone Warehouse withdrew their sponsorship (thought to be worth £3m) after the bullying of Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Jo O'Meara and Danielle Lloyd, and the record number of public complaints alleging racism of Shilpa Shetty by Jo O'Meara and Danielle Lloyd. The decision was made permanent on 8 March 2007.[12]
- Big Brother 8 — Virgin Media[13]
Footnotes
- ^ C4 holds the fort Digital Spy Published on December 01 2006, URL last accessed on December.
- ^ More with Channel 4 Digital Spy Published on November 30 2006, URL last accessed on November.
- ^ Big Brother 7 Frequently Asked Questions Big Brother Online UK URL last accessed on August.
- ^ Big Bro's moving house The Sun URL last accessed on 2006-07-23.
- ^ Telewest no longer provide this facility for their customers. Good news for Freeview customers Big Blagger Published on May, URL last accessed on August.
- ^ "Russell Brand quits 'Big Mouth'?", Digital Spy. URL last accessed 2007-02-04.
- ^ "Jade: I'm so f***ing scared". Daily Star. 20 January 2007. Retrieved 20 January.
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(help) - ^ "Sponsor evicts C4's Big Brother". BBC News. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
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(help) - ^ "Blair and India step into CBB row". Mirror. 17 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ "Channel 4 denies Brother 'racism'". BBC News. 17 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ "Sponsor evicts C4's Big Brother". BBC News. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ Virgin Media sponsors Big Brother BBC News