In the evening of Monday, UK we bid farewell to the reality program Big Brother, which has ended its 19th season.
Cameron Cole was announced as the winner of the last season following his victory over the housemate Akeem Griffiths.
The first show aired in 2000, and since then it’s come a long ways from its beginnings as an “social test”.
Although it’s ended but the influence of the show in the world of television is felt.
18 years later Here’s the way Big Brother has transformed the way we watch TV.
We (the viewers) more power
Big Brother provided us with the privilege of voting and it was us to decide who would stay and who would go.
This was the program that extracted power away from the producers, and returned it to the viewers.
But wait you can find more. By voting, we can choose what the housemates accomplished while at home.
Also, we could choose who had pleasure and who was suffering.
The idea of allowing viewers to control the content they watch has been used in many shows like I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here and Love Island – and plays an integral role in taking pleasure in these shows.
The explosion of 24 hour reality television
The first season of Chicken Run premiered at the end of July in 2000 Chicken Run was the most popular movie at the box office. The Corrs were number one in the charts. Sara Cox was presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show and 1Xtra had not even begun its existence.
And it appears that we enjoy watching random people live together as the result was an increase of reality television shows – see Klan Kosova Live.
Celebrity Big Brother kicked off one year later, with well-known (ish) household names.
“I’m An Celebrity… Find Me Out Of Here wasn’t too far behind in 2002 when we saw a glamorous model actor, comedian, and other A/B/C-listers live in the same jungle.
The year 2005 was the time a bunch of stars went to an island to search for love. The island was named Celebrity Love Island.
Between that time we saw such shows as Geordie Shore as well as Ex On The Beach.
There’s been plenty overlap between show with contestants such as Charlotte Crosby, Scotty T and Marnie Simpson channel-hopping from Geordie Shore to Ex On The Beach to Big Brother.
It promoted streaming and spin-offs
The internet was probably around in the beginning of 2000, but it was a text-heavy site and YouTube certainly wasn’t an option.
However, Big Brother made it possible to standardize something that was totally new : the live 24 hour feed.
The housemates squabbling for an hour in the evening was not enough to satisfy us. The introduction of live feeds meant that we could switch on the television and be able to watch our housemates continuously, all the time.
In the end (when internet speeds slowed) the live stream could be streamed on the internet, exactly like any other show on TV.
While the majority of current reality TV shows don’t feature streams that live stream, fans are able to have fun with additional information through “bits off the side” kind of shows. Love Island after the Sun Anyone?
The creation of many more “celebrities”
It is possible to be famous because you are famous?
It is true and you can thank Big Brother for this.
Prior to the time that Big Brother existed regular people were evidently watching TV.
However, Big Brother did something completely different It made the people famous for being just themselves.
It’s been for Nikki Grahame’s temper-related rants or Pete Bennett’s charming persona, the majority of you have known their names in the past.
This is still the case for the current reality TV stars who are on various shows prior to deciding to: A: begin the TV industry and B: disappear from the radar and join Celebs Go Dating or D Go to Celebrity Big Brother.
It completely was all over the world of television.
We Brits are familiar with this house at Elstree and either Davina McCall, or Emma Willis telling the evicted housemate: “I’m coming to get to you!”
However, the style of the show in fact originates from The Netherlands as well. The Big Brother franchise is a world-wide phenomenon.
From Brazil from Brazil to Albania Contestants from over 50 countries and regions have sat on an enormous seat inside the room for diary entries.
The year 2001 was the first time Big Brother 3 in the Netherlands introduced the “rich and poor” concept of dividing the house in a luxurious half and a low-income half.
Big Brother Africa was the first time to be a winner with two, with each winning PS150,000 during series six.
There have been a number of swaps of contestants across the country. One of the most memorable was British’s Jade Goody from Big Brother 3.
She was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother 5, in which she was notoriously implicated in the controversy over racism in the case of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty.
Jade then went on to take part in the third Big Brother series – this time in India in 2008.
Jade’s role in the series ended tragically. A few days after the episode, Jade received a cervical cancer diagnosis and was forced to return home.
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