The night of the Monday in the UK we said goodbye to the reality program Big Brother, which has been cancelled after the 19th episode of its run.
Cameron Cole was announced as the winner of the last season, after he beat his Housemate Akeem Griffiths.
The first episode aired in 2000, and it’s a long way from its initial description as”a “social experimental experiment”.
Although it’s been put to rest its influence on the television world continues to be felt.
In the 18th year since its debut Here’s the way Big Brother has transformed the world of television.
This gave us (the viewers) more power
Big Brother provided us with the opportunity to vote and We were those who chose who was staying and who left.
This was the program that extracted away the power away from the producers, and returned it to the viewers.
But wait you can find more. With the help of voting, we can determine what the housemates did while at home.
Also, we can decide who was having pleasure and who was suffering.
The concept of allowing viewers to decide the content they watch has been used in many shows including 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 biggest box office film. The Corrs were number one on the charts. Sara Cox was presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show and 1Xtra was not even born.
It seems that we are drawn to watching random people live together as there was a flurry of reality television shows.
Celebrity Big Brother kicked off one year later, with known (ish) household names.
“I’m An Celebrity… Find Me Out Of Here wasn’t much further behind in 2002, when we were able to see a glamour model actor, comedian, as well as other A/B/C celebrities living together in the wild.
The year 2005 was the time a group of famous people went to an island to search for love. The island was named Celebrity Love Island.
Between that time we also had such shows as Geordie Shore as well as Ex On The Beach.
There’s been a lot cross-over between the shows 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 was a catalyst for streaming and spin-off shows
The internet was probably around in the beginning of 2000, but it was a text-heavy site and YouTube definitely wasn’t something that was popular.
However, Big Brother made it possible to standardize something that was totally brand new: the 24 hour live feed.
watching the housemates chatter for an hour every evening was not sufficient for our needs. The advent of live streaming meant that we could switch on the TV and enjoy the housemates all day long, every single day.
In the end (when the internet speed grew) the live feed may be streamed online, exactly like any other show on TV.
While the majority of current reality TV shows don’t feature streaming live, the viewers are able to have fun with additional material in “bits off the side” kind of shows. Love Island after the Sun Anyone?
The development of more “celebrities”
It is possible to be famous because you are famous?
It is true and you can be thankful to Big Brother for this.
In the past, before Big Brother existed regular people were evidently watching TV.
However, Big Brother did something completely different and made them 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 reality TV stars of today who appear on a variety of 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 became the biggest TV show in the world.
The majority of us Brits are familiar with houses in Elstree in the form of Davina McCall, or Emma Willis telling the evicted housemate: “I’m coming to get to you!”
The structure of the show comes in fact originates from it’s home in the Netherlands as well. The Big Brother franchise is a world-wide phenomenon.
From Brazil to Albania (Big Brother Kosova VIP), contestants from more than 50 nations and regions have sat on an extra-large desk inside the room for diary entries.
in 2001 Big Brother 3 in the Netherlands introduced the “rich and poor” concept of dividing the house in a luxurious half and a less-luxury half.
Big Brother Africa was the first to ever boast two winning contestants, with each winning PS150,000 during series six.
There’s been plenty of contestant swaps across countries. One memorable one was British’s Jade Goody from Big Brother 3.
She participated in Celebrity Big Brother 5, in which she was notoriously implicated in the controversy over racism in the case of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.
Jade then went on to participate in a second Big Brother series – this time in India in 2008.
Jade’s role in the series ended tragically. Within two days of the show, Jade had a diagnosis of cervical cancer and was forced to return back home.
