Big Brother UK 2009

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Daily Star: 16 to enter, one called Jade

Paper prints five names from "line-up"



The Daily Star has printed details of what they claim will be the new lineup, and stated that 16 will enter on launch night this year.

Amongst their purported line-up is a girl from the north-east called Jade. Allegedly she has impressed producers throughout the audition process and is in the line-up. Of her selection a source said: “It’s very fitting that as we say goodbye to Jade Goody, we could say hello to a new Jade. Who knows? She could become just as famous.”

Others on the list include:

* Steph from Wales: “I’m flirty, love to party and in it to win it.”
* A blonde called Natalie from Manchester is friends with a former housemate.
* A cheeky Scouser named Michael
* A rough and tough south Londoner, Joe.

Last year, the paper correctly printed images of some of the housemates who ended up going in.

Having sailed through the “gruelling workshops, police and health checks and psychological tests”, 25 candidates remain for selection. The paper says 16 will enter the house on June 4, with 4 more to be thrown into the mix later. It’s not made clear if these extra four will be in hiding until then. The paper also adds they will be hiding in Europe; it was previously said the overseas hideout would be axed in favour of an onshore location due to the credit crunch.

The newspaper’s source added: “It’s obviously upsetting but the contestants know that the place in the house is not guaranteed until the eleventh hour. If producers decide someone would not be right or fit in with the rest of the contestants then the dream is over for them.”

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Davina: “I’m committed to BB”
Eviction host denies axe claims



Big Brother host Davina McCall has reaffirmed her commitment to the show and rubbished reports that she thinks it will be axed.

An article in The Sun earlier this month claimed that McCall, who has presented BB since it debuted in the UK in 2000, thought it ‘definitely’ only had ‘two years left’. However, she today denied those comments were hers.

Speaking to the Daily Star, she said: “I was misquoted. I said: ‘It’s contracted to Channel 4 until next year.’

“I really hope ratings do well this year so they will renew the contract and then we’ll be back.

“In my heart I am committed to Big Brother for the long term but the reality is they renew my contract every year.”

Davina also revealed how she reacted when she landed her job on the show nine years ago. She added: “When I heard I got the job I didn’t think: ‘Wow this is amazing.’ No-one knew what Big Brother was going to be like.

“I was just shocked I got it because I was up against Graham Norton and Zoe Ball and I remember thinking: ‘They’re more famous than me.’ ”

Big Brother 10 begins on Channel 4 next month.

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Oh brother, they're back: Jaci Stephen meets some of the weird and wacky Big Brother auditionees

Eleven o'clock on a cold February morning: already 700 people had been through the door, and the queue was still growing. I was in London's Docklands for the penultimate leg of the initial Big Brother 2009 auditions, which, this month, we will see whittled down to the final 12 chosen housemates who will spend their summer incarcerated in the Big Brother house.

Auditions in seven cities saw a record number of applicants, and there were also online applications posted on an official channel created on YouTube.

Tens of thousands of people sought the fame they believed the show would bring them, and much as we say, every year, that we, the viewing public, have no interest in the chosen few, we will doubtless all again be watching when they walk through the famous door on 4 June.


Queue, queue, queue: Hundreds of people lined up at seven cities across the UK for their shot at the limelight

The death of Jade Goody this year cast a macabre shadow over the show that made her famous. Placed third in Big Brother 3 in 2002, Jade lived and died by the sword of reality television.

But far from being a deterrent to this year's wannabes, her story appeared simply to reinforce the belief that reality TV can make you rich and famous – the price of that fame (in Jade's case, a grotesquely public death) being irrelevant.

In the London queue, a woman dressed as an angel was annoying people by bumping into them with her wings. A man dressed as a whoopee cushion was causing less trouble and appeared not to possess the confidence that his costume would imply.


Heavenly fame: Angels were a popular theme across the auditions

A man in nothing but a thong was chatting to a group who had reached the front of the queue and been placed together for role play, assessed by a TV researcher looking for… well, who really knew?

In this group, a young man in a sweater explained, 'I try to be nice to people… I'm a nice person.' Call me Psychic Jaci, but I don't think we'll be seeing him on our screens come the summer.

The thong man told the group that he had been a premature baby and had nearly died (quite how that explained the thong was anybody's guess). A strangely hairless man dressed in a leotard and lime green socks presumably thought he was being eccentric, but, among the increasingly bizarre mix, he was starting to look strangely ordinary.
Jade Goody baring all in the Brother house


Big Brother: Jade Goody, pictured here taking her clothes off on Big Brother, lived and died by the sword of reality television

Take Kit and Kat, for instance, apparently the only set of twins engaged in the porn – sorry, I mean 'adult' – film industry. On camera, they both 'do guys', but not each other ('That would be incest!' they scream – in unison).


The Kit and Kat twins try their luck with the judges

At 22, they have been in the business for three years and, so far, the worst they have had to do is lick custard off each other (eating and drinking clearly do not count as incest).

Their aim in life is to show that there is more to porn than people think. I suspect they might have been in with a very good chance of being picked and that Bird's Custard Powder will be rushing to buy up those ad breaks.

Executive producer Sharon Powers asks one question when deciding who to have on the show: would I want to watch this person for 12 weeks? To get a taste of who might be chosen, I was allowed to join Sharon and meet some of the contenders – the people who make it past the role play stage and on to the one-on-one interviews on camera.

First in was number 160, a media studies student. How, Sharon asked, would people describe him? He respects people, he said, and was always fair to them. 'What do you think?' Sharon asked me as the lad left the room when his three minutes were up. Noooooooooooooo! Very sweet, but Nooooooooooooo!

Next came number 136, a 'train hostess' – well, of sorts. A budding train steward who didn't actually want to go on trains. Maybe she preferred planes? I suggested. Er, no: she didn't really like travelling.



Batman and Robin, unmasked as Mark Howard, 25, and Reggie Mack, 23, join the queue for the Big Brother 10 auditions at ExCel, London

Her dream was to buy a million-pound house that she could live in with her pets. She liked clubbing and drinking, and her claim to fame was ending up in hospital after drinking a bottle of brandy when she was 12. Hey ho. Would I want to watch her for 12 weeks? Not even if I was on a drip in the bed next to her.

The reason most contestants gave for wishing to be a housemate was that they saw the show as a means of becoming rich and famous. It took just a little scratching beneath the surface to discover what most believed fame and money would actually bring them: a get-out from lives they believed to be directionless, loveless, hopeless in so many ways. Many were estranged from their families; many were from broken homes; many hated their jobs.

And yet, rather than change their lives in the fundamental ways the rest of us would consider normal – find a new job, move house, try to reconcile your differences with your family – they truly believed that spending three months incarcerated with a group of complete strangers, and having their every secret and flaw exposed to the public was the route to happiness.

But there were pockets of sanity in the human zoo – a delightful Italian with whom I would have been happy to share more than one Cornetto, and a lovely gay Canadian. Both were articulate, funny people I could easily watch for 12 weeks.

Put them in a bowl of custard with Kit and Kat and – sad though it may seem – I suspect Channel 4 has another hit show on its hands.

Big Brother starts on Channel 4 on 4 June.

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First BB10 eye flashes air
C4 begins ad campaign



The first three ‘eye flash’ breakbumper adverts for the tenth series of Big Brother have been broadcast today on Channel 4.

The adverts feature giant black blocks, in the shapes of the segments of the eye logo with Matrix-style circuit board patterns covering them, moving among pink and blue glowing ‘light’.

The first flash aired during at around 1.15pm during T4’s first episode in a double bill of Scrubs, while the second followed at around 1.45pm.

The third was then broadcast at around 4.15pm during Come Dine With Me.

You can see them here:

Eye flash 1

Eye flash 2

Eye flash 3

The ads are not immediately noticeable as eye flashes, making them slightly more mysterious than those of previous Big Brother advertisement campaigns.

The Big Brother 9 adverts featured flying shards of glass, whilst BB8’s were also made up of moving 3D blocks.

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New house aerial shot uncovered
No pool in BB10 garden?



There is no pool in this year’s Big Brother house, according to the Daily Star, who also printed a new aerial shot of the compound today.

They claimed today that sixteen housemates will enter the house on launch night to find a garden that is ‘much smaller’ than it was in previous years, minus a swimming pool, a feature that was commonplace in previous houses.

As you can see below in aerial shot that accompanied the story (click to enlarge), this year’s garden looks bigger than it did in the pictures Star magazine printed earlier this week.


Daily Star BB10 Compound Aerial Shot

The paper added that more changes will be made for this summer’s tenth series, with bosses hoping to ‘turn the show on its head’.

BB boss Phil Edgar-Jones said: “All I can say is Big Brother will be surprising. It’s not what you expect it to be.”

An ‘insider’ added: “Housemates must not take everything and everyone on face value.

“What appears to be one thing could be another.

“Just because they don’t see a pool, it doesn’t mean there isn’t one lurking somewhere to be unveiled later down the line.”

“There is also a rumour that one housemate will be hiding their true identity.”

Big Brother 10 begins early next month.

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Lucozade to sponsor BB10

Show's new sponsor finally announced



Lucozade Energy will be the new sponsor for the new series, replacing Virgin Media, who sponsored BB9.

The sponsorship idents created by M&C Saatchi using ‘little brother versus big brother’ scenarios, promoting the Lucozade Energy brand.

As usual, the idents will appear both on the Channel 4 show and on the E4 spin-off programmes.

Previous Big Brother sponsors have included O2 and the Carphone Warehouse. Lucozade will be first groceries sponsor of the franchise, as it enters its tenth summer run.

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Image: ‘Heat’ say house “radically different”

New information on the house!

Heat magazine has spoken of the BB10 house having a “radically different feel”, with just one bedroom and more private spaces.

In what Heat describes as a “major makeover”, the living room this year is relocated to a similar spot to BB6, meaning access from the main house is only through walking through the garden.

Last year’s ash-tray smoking area has been replaced with a super-modern red-gloss “bus shelter” area, which is lined with curving mesh-like metal.

Meanwhile, the show has returned to one-bedroom this year, unlike last year which had two.



There will be lots of private spaces designed to encourage housemates to bitch and team up. The house has a metallic, industrial feel. A zimmer frame appears to be present in the garden, though we suspect this is more of a wind-up.

The article adds: “The housemates will be younger and sexier than last year, with really interesting life stories. Bosses are hoping for a year like the Nikki/Pete year - they know the housemates have to be amazing.”

Heat have posted an image as well, which we will post when we can get hold of it!

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Live show on Day 2?
June 4th launch looking likely



Preliminary Channel 4 schedules suggest that a live show may take place on June 5th, one day after Big Brother 10’s rumoured launch date.

bbspy has today looked at updated, but unconfirmed, Channel 4 listings for the week beginning June 1st, which reveal some scheduling clues for the new series.

As it has been widely reported in the media, it looks like BB10 will begin on Thursday June 4th. There is an open slot on the date between 9.00pm and 10.35pm currently marked ‘TBA’, in which a 90-minute launch show could air.

In addition to this, there are two currently empty late-night slots (1.30am-2.30am and 2.30am-4.05am) on Friday 5th June that could contain overnight live streaming, and there is another 90-minute gap between 8.00am and 9.30am, which could accommodate a repeat of the launch show.

Interestingly, later on, there are another two slots free (9.00pm-10.00pm and 10.30pm-11.00pm), seperated by the first in a new run of 8 Out Of 10 Cats. This suggests at least one of two things:

* A live show might air on June 5th, only a day after the launch show
* Evictions will fill these timeslots, keeping their scheduling from last year

Does this mean that producers have something up their sleeves - an early eviction or twist perhaps?

However, all relevant BB slots on E4 are currently filled with repeats. The channel is expected to carry live streaming overnight, despite all other live feed — including the 24-hour red button stream — being axed.

More details about the launch week scheduling are expected later this week.

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Grace Dent to host pre-BB show
Journalist to look at BB's impact



Journalist Grace Dent is to host a pre-BB10 special in which she takes a look back at the impact Big Brother has had on the world.

Entitled Big Brother: A Decade In The Headlines, the documentary charts Big Brother’s history, from being a little-known series to becoming a worldwide brand and one of the the biggest reality television franchises.

It will also take a look at how BB has affected ‘celebrity, diversity and television’.

In addition, the show also features interviews with media personalities and journalists including Mark Frith, Paul Flynn, Carole Malone, Oona King, Peter Tatchell, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Ian Hyland.

It airs on E4 on Saturday May 30th at 10.50pm, followed at 11.50pm by a repeat of pre-BB8 special Big Brother: According To Russell Brand.

Channel 4 will repeat it on Sunday May 31st at 10.10pm, and on launch night at 11.40pm.

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Live Feed: The Details
Seven hours of late-night streaming



With the schedules now confirmed for the first couple of days of Big Brother 10, these are the facts about the live feed coverage on offer.

As we’ve posted previously, not only has the red button 24/7 feed has been axed, but the daytime streaming on E4 has been scrapped too. The online streaming was discontinued last year.

* On launch night live streaming on E4 begins at 11.35pm, after an hour-long edition of Big Mouth, continuing through to 6.20am.

* On Friday there is no further streaming until 11.05pm on E4, running overnight once again.

* C4 will also be offering 90-minutes of live streaming on both nights, from 2.30am.

And that is it.

In its place, along with daytime regulars Smallville, One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls, are reruns of Desperate Housewives, the first series of The Hills - and a rare chance to see classic episodes of Friends. E4 Music has been dropped.

Big Brother isn’t completely absent from the schedules though, the main editions will be repeated at 1pm on E4, while Big Brother’s Little Brother remains in the 6pm slot.

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BB10 launch date confirmed
4th June confirmed; Grace Dent documentary repeat



Channel 4 has confirmed that the tenth series of Big Brother will begin on Thursday June 4th, with a 90-minute launch show.

Airing between 9.00pm and 10.35pm, the show will feature Davina McCall introducing us to this year’s housemates for the first time. It is ten minutes shorter than last year’s launch. The official synopsis is as follows:

Davina McCall presents direct from the Big Brother studios as a new group of housemates enter the Big Brother house for the very first time. Viewers see the new housemates as they share their very first moments together and settle in for what could be the most unpredictable few weeks of their lives.

Launch night schedule
9.00pm, C4: Big Brother Launch Show
10.30pm, E4: Big Brother’s Big Mouth
11.35pm, E4: Big Brother Live
11.40pm, C4: Big Brother: A Decade In The Headlines*
1.30am, C4: Big Brother’s Big Mouth*
2.30am, C4: Big Brother Live
*Repeat

The first episode of spin-off show Big Brother’s Big Mouth, which is also hosted by Davina, follows on E4 at 10.30pm, with overnight live streaming beginning at 11.35pm.

Continuing the launch night festivities, a repeat of Grace Dent-hosted documentary Big Brother: A Decade In The Headlines airs on Channel 4 at 11.40pm.

Big Mouth is then repeated on C4 at 1.30am, before live streaming between 2.30am and 4.00am.

The next day (Friday 5th), Big Brother’s Little Brother returns at 6.00pm on E4 with an hour-long special.

Despite earlier indications that live shows might air at 9pm and 10.30pm, the first highlights show will be broadcast at 9pm, with the later slot filled by an episode of The Simpsons.

The new series of 8 Out Of 10 Cats begins at 10.00pm, suggesting that evictions will keep the 9.00pm-10.00pm and 10.30pm-11.00pm timeslots they occupied last year.

More scheduling details will be announced soon.

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Parkinson blasts BB, 'Apprentice'



Sir Michael Parkinson has described Big Brother as "the modern version of Bedlam".

The 74-year-old TV star also criticised Sir Alan Sugar's The Apprentice, complaining about the show's negative format.

"I object to the exploitation of the underclass in shows like Big Brother," he told The Observer. "It is the modern version of Bedlam, where you pay to see the poor benighted people making asses of themselves."

Speaking about The Apprentice, he added: "Why do people find [the show] appealing? When Sir Alan says 'You're fired', that is not a nice thing to happen.

"The basic premise is not worthwhile, or enthralling."

Last week, Parkinson called for "conversational chatshows" to be brought back to TV.

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Powers to produce Big Brother 10
BB9/CBB6 exec prod keeps role



It has been announced that Sharon Powers will continue to serve as executive producer on Big Brother this summer.

Big Brother 10 will be Powers’ fifth series as executive producer of the reality show, having previously worked in the post for BB6 and BB9 as well as the fourth and sixth Celebrity editions.

In addition, she was also a creative director for Big Brother 7.

Sharon is the first executive producer to hold the role for two consecutive years.

BB10 begins on June 4th at 9.00pm.

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Videos: New eye flashes air!

Fourth eye flash airs in 'No Deal ad break



The first extended eye flashes have premiered on Channel 4, which weigh in at around 4-seconds long, featuring better glimpses of the eye and remixed music.

The video was broadcast in an advert break during Deal or No Deal, but the flashes were reported as early as 1.00pm in the day.

The extended flash features a highly-remixed, metallic take on the Big Brother theme, almost giving it a psychedelic edge.

Here are the videos (Credit to bbspy for the first video.)

Eye Flash 3

Eye Flash 4

Big Brother 10 launches on 4th June at 9pm.

More eyeflashes are expected soon.

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Pre-series special advert airs
Ad features Jade doc



An advert for the pre-Big Brother 10 specials on E4, specifically Jade: As Seen On TV, has aired tonight.

The promo, in typical E4 style complete with voiceover from the distinctive Peter Dickson, also plugs Davina-hosted Big Brother’s Big Quiz and Grace Dent’s documentary Big Brother: A Decade In The Headlines.

You can see it here:

Advert 1

Earlier, the first extended promos for Big Brother 10 premiered on Channel 4.

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BB1 winner Craig wants ‘All Stars’ series

He thinks the public would switch back on



Craig Phillips, who won the first series of Big Brother, thinks that there should be an ‘All Stars’ series of the reality show.

Speaking to the Metro, the original Big Brother winner said: “Speaking to some of the other housemates, I think they would do it - I would do it but only for a week or two, not for a long time.”

Craig believes that the Channel 4 reality show has been losing its magic touch over the last few years, saying: “I personally think it’s been exhausted, they’re trying all these different angles and I don’t really know what direction they can go in.”

He added: “If the tenth show is a good one, and they finalise on the eleventh one with all the winners, I think that would be a good time to call it a day.”

Last summer’s series of Big Brother was the least watched ever at the time with 3.6m viewers, although CBB6 did even worse earlier this year with just 3.3m. Craig thinks that having all the previous winners in the same series could bring viewers back to the show.

He said: “I think it would be a good show, I certainly think the public would switch on to it.

“The winners have generally been the public’s favourite so I think it would get the viewing figures back up again, and I think that would be a nice note to end it on.”

BB10 starts on Thursday 4th June at 9pm.

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More ex-housemates talk ‘All Stars’

Further talk of an 'All Stars' series



Following Craig Phillips’ suggestion of a possible ‘All Stars’ series, more former housemates have spoken about the idea.

Earlier this week, BB1 winner Craig Phillips told The Metro that he would consider taking part in an ‘All Stars” series next year believing it would “get the viewing figures back up”.

Today, various ex-contestants have revealed their thoughts about the possibility.

BB1’s Nick Bateman told Catch247 that he would consider appearing in such a series, revealing: “If there was an ‘All Stars’, and there is talk of some, I would only do it for a considerable amount of cash”.

Former Big Brother 2007 contestants Liam McGough and Billi Bhatti also admitted that they would want to appear in the series.

“If BB asked me to go back in the house I would be in there like a shot… it’s the biggest programme on television,” said Liam.

Billi told the website: “I would do it again, for sure.”

However, not everyone was positive about the idea. Big Brother 2006 couple Mikey Dalton and Grace Adam Short revealed that they would not want to participate in the possible series.

Mikey said: “I don’t think either of us would re-enter the house if they done an ‘All Stars’ BB house. We have both moved on now and we have our fond memories of the house and that’s what we’d like to keep them as … memories!”

The tenth series of Big Brother launches on June 4th at 9pm.

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First full advert airs



The first full advert for Big Brother 10 debuted on Channel 4 this evening, just before Bear Grylls: Born Survivor.

The 20-second long advert is made up of the typical moving 3D black blocks and coloured glows that have featured in the previous adverts, as well as a voiceover from Big Brother narrator Marcus Bentley.

You can see the new promo here:

Promo 1

BB10 launches on Thursday June 4th at 9.00pm on Channel 4.

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Martin Shaw slams Big Brother

The actor is not a fan of the show



Inspector George Gently actor Martin Shaw has slammed Big Brother, comparing the show to “hell”.

In an interview with ITN, the actor revealed that he is not a big fan of the show by saying: “I’m more of a film guy. Not a fan of reality television at all.”

When asked whether he would consider taking part in the celebrity edition of the show, Shaw admitted: “There’s not a chance of me going in there.”

He added that the experience would be like “hell… absolute hell”.

Shaw then went on to say that television used to be better before Big Brother came along.

He complained: “I think it probably was [better]. We really need to focus on excellence, imagination and innovation.

“We’ve had rather a lot of reality television and I think it’s time for a change. It’s time for some risk-taking. People who will take the risks and win, will be the people who succeed.”

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Phone companies “turn down” BB10

All previous series backed by phone companies

A newspaper has reported that several phone companies turned down the chance to sponsor Big Brother 10.

The Daily Star said today that BT Cellnet, O2, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media (all previous sponsors of BB) turned down the opportunity to back this year’s series due to low figures.

A source told the paper: “In the days of Jade Goody they got 2million people voting on Friday nights. Now they struggle to get a quarter of that, so the phone companies don’t think it’s worth it.”

This marks the first time in 9 years that Big Brother has not been sponsored by a phone company. Instead, Big Brother 10 will be backed by drink company Lucozade.

As with any Daily Star news report, take this with a pinch of salt!

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Davina pledges her commitment to BB
'I love this show. I want it to carry on for ever.'



Davina has confirmed her loyalty to Big Brother in an insightful interview with The Times.

When asked whether she would remain with the show after its tenth series, she was only too eager to answer. “Yes, I’m staying with the show. I never said I wanted to leave. I don’t want to leave. If the show is recommissioned, and I expect it will be after the contract expires next year, I still want to present it. That show has been my constant for the last ten years.”

With a refreshingly upbeat outlook, she expressed her genuine passion for Big Brother amid a bombardment of criticism. “It’s a great basic format: lock up a group of strangers for the summer, isolate them, watch them interact, set them tasks, evict them. Why should it end, as long as it attracts audiences and makes money for Channel 4?”

Davina also revealed the thoughts of casual observers, who often ask her whether she is the devoted fan she leads viewers to believe she is. “At dinner parties, people come up to me and say: ‘You don’t really like it, do you?’ and I say ‘Yes I do, actually’. And naturally, they, and most of its critics, haven’t watched it.”

When questioned over her feelings surrounding the controversial win of Rachel Rice, she diplomatically defended her: “Rachel wasn’t boring. Nor was Cameron…they didn’t contribute as much as others. But they were nice. And the public votes for nice people.”

She reinforced her belief that the Celebrity Big Brother race row was blown out of proportion, by claiming the incident wasn’t racist. Offering her opinion on various aspects of Big Brother, which have frequently divided opinion, she told the paper that she didn’t like the idea of ex-housemates returning and vehemently defended the producers against accusations of exploitation.

“They have applied to come on a television programme. The producers choose engaging personalities but I know they don’t choose vulnerable people or people just to cause conflict. All of them get ‘the talk of doom’ at the beginning: ‘You’re not going to be famous very long, if you think you will be, think again. Treat it as an amazing experience’. And it’s not responsible for dumbing down. It’s an intelligent programme. It tackles issues like sexism and racism. You watch people evolve, relationships, personalities grow. It’s an optimistic show, not a degrading one.”

When asked if she’d ever consider moving on, she responded enthusiastically. “How clear can I make this? I love this show. I mean that. I don’t want it to end. I want it carry on for ever. For years. And I want to present it until I am very old. If I have my way they’ll have me on that stage on my deathbed.”

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Video: 10 Days countdown ad airs
Marcus Bentley narrates the new ads



The advert reminding us it’s ten days until BB10 has aired, in the same style as the other ads. Read on for the video!

Narrated by Marcus Bentley, the ad features the typical eye flash style, before bits of the eye morph into a 10.

Here’s a video:

Advert 1