The eighth series of BBUK is just a few weeks away there is one rumour that just won’t go away – Big Brother: The Battle.
We’ve gone over the arguments regarding Big Brother Australia borrowing ideas from around the world many many times before – and I’ve made my feelings clear that it’s not so much that they steal the ideas, but that they don’t do them justice that is the issue – along with the lack of their own original ideas in recent years too.
However, I’ve no problem with BBUK taking up the Battle idea – firstly because I am confident the producers will do it justice and incorporate their own original interpretations, and secondly because with BBUK it’s not all take, take, take.
HISTORY LESSON
For most countries, beginning with the Netherlands, “The Battle” was the first major twist to the Big Brother format. To put it simple, the idea is the house is divided into Rich and Poor, with a weekly challenge determining who lives where. How it is done varies from country to country – BBUK implemented the rich-poor divide in BB3 – but with it being the shows first major twist they took a rather cautious approach and never took the opportunity to develop it further.
Although the idea may divide the viewers as much as the housemates, the ratings don’t lie – BB3 is by far the highest rated BBUK series, with an average of nearly 6m viewers compared to around 4.5m for other series – surely the credit for that can’t be solely down to Jade and co.
WE’RE READY FOR BATTLE
Five years on and Big Brother UK has changed dramatically – and now “The Battle” is a format we could do justice. The evil chapter has now more than reached it’s conclusion and after a few years of shows based on a series of themed (or not so themed) twists, Big Brother 8 needs a new approach – and part of that is making changes that affect the series as a whole, rather than just a few days every few weeks.
This time around it’s likely the twist would play a much bigger role, with bigger challenges, bigger extremes and bigger consequences – with perhaps nominations and even the prize fund affected by the outcome of the weekly “Battle”.
Overhead shots of the house clearly show the garden divided into two – and the rumours suggest the extremes will be greater, with more luxuries for the rich housemates – and less necessities for the poor housemates.
However, there is just one thing making it unlikely Big Brother: The Battle will ever be more than just a rumour here in the UK – the fact it’s rumoured in the first place!
More BBUK news and rumours in the International Forum, with a full round up of the main rumours so far here.
Thanks to Channel 4, Stewart249, Inside Big Brother and BBSpy.
