This is an instalment of a regular commentary on Big Brother from Dr Toni Johnson-Woods, Lecturer in Contemporary Studies, The University of Queensland.
Once upon a time (1999 to be exact), in Holland, 15 million people watched the final night of a new television show; a show in which 9 contestants were filmed by a host of cameras for 100 days. The Dutch company, Endemol, knew they had a winner; they franchised the idea and sold it to over 15 countries. At the moment there are six Big Brother programmes being broadcast: in Argentina, UK, Australia, France, Spain and Poland. Because of the wonders of the Internet, die-hard fans can watch other Big Brother houses.
The second UK Big Brother (if you don't count the celebrity one) started 14 days ago and so far is proving to be not terribly entertaining. There are fewer contestants on BB UK-only 10-but intruders are welcomed. The first series has the dubious honour of having the grottiest house. But the UK BB is low key from the start. The contestants don't arrive to a fanfare but walk in one at a time. No red carpet treatment, they just hang around until the others arrive. This is the shortest show and runs for only 64 days. Two of the contestants Clair and Tom are having a baby.
The Polish BB is a big hit. Ten percent of the population are regular viewers. The show airs four times a day for 30-45 minutes and there is an adults only version. It started in early March and runs for 100 days. Apparently one of their tasks was to simulate a trip to the moon! The affair between Karolina and Grzegorz stirred up viewers and, when Grzegorz was voted out, Karolina quit the show and followed him.
The French Loft Story version produced the most volatile reaction. 80 protestors tried to liberate hostages but were dispersed with tear gas. However, producers have listened to their protests and changed the rules. Rather than vote people out, contestants nominate who they would like to stay. And they have daily time outs. But the French BB has an unusual twist. Theirs is a show aimed at meeting the ideal partner. Of the 11 contestants, aged between 18 and 35, men are voted for one week and women the next. So a couple remains to win the final prize money and a house.
Unfortunately, my Spanish is non-existent but looking at the Argentinian BB web site I can see that there are 12 contestants. The most popular is a male Marcelo who has cornered 63% of the votes. At the moment, four remain-three are males. Currently, there seems to be a love triangle between a female and two of the males. It also appears that two of the contestants became engaged while in the house but is this love or a winning thing? Is there a robot in the house too? Speaking of Spanish, the BB in Spain has about three weeks to go. Five of the six contestants are up for eviction at the moment.
The second US Big Brother starts in a few weeks (July 5). Last year's US BB was a flop, but there were some interesting moments. At one stage contestants were thinking about all walking out. If you want to vote a US contestant out, it will cost you 99 cents-in a country were local calls are free. Some changes have been implemented in response to the appalling ratings last year. An hourly show will be aired three nights a week. The viewers can't vote. This time it's contestants only. And they have more to choose from-12 instead of 10. Already the US BB web site is active.
Of course, BB shows aren't without their controversies. In Portugal, two contestants were thrown out of the house when they had sex on camera. In Italy, the show was awarded a cultural prize outraging critics. But perhaps the biggest surprise was the walkout in the Danish BB. On April, 7 contestants walked out three weeks before it was due to finish! Three returned the next day. The others threatened to tell all, but a court gagged them.
It looks like Big Brother is here to stay, and is spreading. It has been in Turkey, Switzerland and the third German series starts soon; Canada and South Africa are due to start soon (or so rumour has it). Where to from here? Easy. Pay TV Big Brother. Yes, 24/7. And so Endemol lived happily ever after.
Dr Toni Johnson-Woods
The complete set of commentaries is available at https://www.uq.edu.au/news/bigbrother
