Skip to main content

25 Years of Big Brother

Wasn't there a short period a few years back where there wasn't a show on the air because COVID? Or am I thinking of "there was no one living inside a Big Brother house" stretch of time?
 
I think people discussed whether Covid will lead to a time where no one was living inside a Big Brother house because some versions ended early or were pushed back.

But there were quite a few European versions that continued despite Covid, so there was no need for Australia to keep the show on air. It was only the German one that made international headlines because they first refused to inform housemates, then were forced to inform them and made a live broadcast out of it, which went viral. But when that special aired, the versions in Israel, Italy and Sweden were also on air in Europe. Plus Brazil, Canada and the Indian ones. The Canadian and Indian versions were cancelled in March/April.

Brazil and Israel ended as scheduled in early April. Italy ended somewhat as scheduled in early April (they wanted to extend the season but reverted that decision). Both the German and Swedish version finished on the same day mid-May as scheduled. By the time these seasons finished, the Portuguese housemates have already moved into the actual Big Brother house (after living in separate apartments for two weeks and were able to Skype or Zoom with each other during that period - and that was also broadcast). And for a couple of weeks, I think they were the only ones on air. Nigeria joined them in July.

Portugal finished in early August and it was Nigeria that carried the torch for a few days before the German celebrity series and the American All-Stars season launched. The German celebrity series could have been cancelled though without breaking the streak. Nigeria ran from July to September and by then, we had a couple of seasons back on air.

so tl;dr: It was initially Germany and Sweden that kept the streak going in April and May, then it was Portugal that has done the heavy lifting till July and then Nigeria kept the streak going for a couple of days. But overall, I think Portugal deserves the most credit... and they were only able to keep the streak going because the launch was pushed back by a month. If it wasn't pushed back, there might have been two weeks in July or so with nobody living in the Big Brother house. But thanks to Australia, there would have still been Big Brother on the air continuously despite nobody living in a Big Brother house.
 
Last edited:
And how is it that, for almost this entire length of time, the same person has been hosting the American iteration of Big Brother? She must love it!
 
Gayspie said:
And how is it that, for almost this entire length of time, the same person has been hosting the American iteration of Big Brother? She must love it!
Click to expand...
Julie’s history with the show has been covered ad nauseam. Absolutely no need to rehash simply for the sake of it.
 
You ask the question Gayspie I would like to know also! Kingston thinking he owns the forum again. We will talk about what we want about Big Brother as and when. That’s the point of this damn site!
 
Some scrolling on reddit had me made aware that today BBUK turns 25! Its funny since I was born in 2000 so every time Big Brother celebrates an anniversy or reaches a milestone, I share the same one for English speaking BB.

I remember being in school and thinking how crazy it was that Big Brother had lasted 15 years already, I often wondered how long the show would last for. I've been thinking about it latley and it will be interesting to see how long BB can sustain itself. WIth BBAU and BBUK being revived in recent years along with BBUS on the seeming increase it makes me think that the show is certainly going to reach its 30th anniversary, but then its crazy to think it could go even further beyond.

I wonder just how long this show will actually remain relevant during my life. Exciting this to come I hope.
 
25 years since the first broadcast today, though the anniversary of them moving was on Monday. Baffling to think now it wasn't until two weeks into the series Davina turned up.

Found myself watching that first eviction last night, along with the 5 minute update episodes shown in the first week which were just narrated by the C4 continuity announcer of the day and basically a promo for the live feed. Still learned more about the HMs in them than a 90 minute episode nowadays.

Worldwide I think it is still the case that there has been a BB going on somewhere every single day dating back to around 2004.
 
Afflllate said:
The first 2 Seasons there wasn't a Launch show they were just filmed walking into the house through the side door in BB1 and iirc one by one in BB2. BB3 was the first at Elstree and also the First with a Launch show.
Click to expand...
Oh good grief, how underwhelming that must have been.
 
Nope - it worked quite well. They just got on with it and spread the housemate profiles throughout the first week.

They did a "live" launch show for Celebrity Big Brother but the housemates had already moved in earlier in the day and it was used for nominations. That series had no live evictions though until the final.
 
Well by BB3 the show had become too big not to launch it live. The problem with the live launch, especially once they began having a highlights show the very next night, is that generally the first highlights show was just half an hour recapping the HMs arriving which was much more tiresome to watch one by one than them all entering in one group or small groups initially.

Worth remembering BBAU has, unless I'm mistaken, never had a live launch show. Not sure if the first BBUSA was genuinely live but it was presented as such and basically was an hour of waiting for the housemates to arrive.
 
Brekkie said:
Worth remembering BBAU has, unless I'm mistaken, never had a live launch show.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it did initially. Wikipedia says of S1: "The series held a live launch on 23 April 2001" but despite that not bearing a citation it was a Monday so yeah I'm pretty sure it was live. I'm sure someone here will have more, better, or alternative facts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top