Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where, over 15 weeks or so, a number of contestants (typically 12) try to avoid periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house and hence win a cash prize. The show, a kind of 'real life soap', was invented by the Dutchman John de Mol and developed by his production company, Endemol. It has been a prime-time hit in almost 70 different countries, earning Endemol large sums of money. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which Big Brother is the all-seeing leader of the dystopian Oceania.

The first series of Big Brother was aired in the Netherlands in September 1999, and the show was subsequently adapted to virtually every other part of the world. Though each country has made its own adaptations and changes to the format, the general concept has stayed the same: "housemates" are confined to a specially designed house where their every action is recorded by cameras and microphones at all times; and these housemates are not permitted any contact with the outside world. The housemates are allowed no television or radio, means of contacting the outside world, or other media; not even writing material. Private chats with a psychologist are a special exception, and are always allowed at any time, often by means of a telephone in the Diary Room. At regular intervals, normally once weekly, the public is invited to vote to have a housemate of their choice evicted from the House. In some cases, two housemates may be evicted simultaneously (a "double eviction"), or rarely, no housemates will be removed for that week. At the end of the game, the last remaining housemate is declared winner of that particular series, and receives prizes; often including a large amount of money, a car, a holiday, and in some editions, a house.

Besides the same living together, which is the principal axis and major attraction of the contest, this one turns concerning 4 basic props: the stripped-bare back to basics environment in which they live, the evictions system, the weekly tasks set by Big Brother, and the "diary room", in which the housemates individually convey their thoughts, feelings, frustrations and their eviction nominees.

In the first of most Big Brother seasons, the House that the housemates had to live in for the duration of the competition was very basic. Although essential amenities such as running water, furniture and a limited ration of food were provided, luxury items were often forbidden. This added an element of survival into the show, thus increasing the potential for tensions within the house. Now almost every country has a modern house for the contest, with a jacuzzi, a sauna, a VIP suite, a loft, and other luxuries.

The housemates are required to do any housework as they see fit, and are set tasks by the producers of the show, who communicate with the housemates via the omnipresent authority figure known only to them as Big Brother. The tasks set are designed to test their team-working abilities and community spirit, and in some countries the housemates' shopping budget or weekly allowance often depends on the outcome of any set tasks. The housemates have a weekly allowance with which they can buy food and other essentials.

At regular intervals, the housemates each privately nominate a number of fellow housemates that they wish to see evicted from the house. The housemates with the most nomination points are then named announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote for whom they wish to see evicted.

After the votes are tallied, the "evictee" leaves the house and is interviewed live by the host of the show, usually in front of a live studio audience.

The series is notable for involving the Internet. Although the show typically broadcasts daily updates in the evening, sometimes criticised for its heavy editing, viewers can also watch a continuous, 24-hour feed from multiple cameras on the web. These websites were highly successful, even after some national series started charging for access to the video stream. In some countries, the Internet broadcasting was supplemented by updates via email, WAP and SMS. The House is even shown live on satellite television (with a 10-15 minute delay to permit muting of unacceptable content in the UK).

Despite derision from many intellectuals and other critics, the show has been a commercial success around the world. Criticisms typically are based on the ironic aspects of George Orwell's dystopic vision of Nineteen Eighty-Four being consciously aped by producers for public entertainment. More generally, the voyeuristic nature of the show, where contestants volunteer to surrender their privacy in return for minor celebrity status and a comparatively small cash prize, has attracted much scorn.

While any pretences to be a cultural experiment are dubious, reports of the different results of the show around the world have been mildly interesting from a pop-anthropology standpoint. Some versions have been filled with sex-crazed housemates, whereas others decided to base the conflict within their programs around difficult or romantic personalities, as in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Philippines or Spain. With the passing of time, it has been demonstrated that the most successful versions were the ones that emulated a soap opera, whereas the versions where the principal attraction was sex have been eliminated, as in Hungary or Poland. The amount of sex shown on the televised versions around the world depends on local and national television censorship rules, with some countries editing out all sex and nudity, while others broadcast what is considered to be borderline pornography.

Some peculiarities

* In France and Canada, the format has been developed using couples. Twelve single people stay in the same house until only the winning couple are left.
* Big Brother USA currently uses a different set of rules from the other countries' versions of the show, as it has starting with its second season (the first season followed the traditional format) In the US version, viewers do not vote for eviction; all voting is done by houseguests. Public voting is limited to periodic "America's Choice" votes, with the public deciding who gets typically minor prizes such as phone call from home, or a walk-on appearance in a television show. In season 6, however, the public was allowed to vote one of the evicted contestants back into the house. Also, the nominations are done by one houseguest, the HOH (Head of Household). The US Big Brother also introduced the Power of Veto, with a houseguest having power to save a housemate from the nominations. It's been adapted in Brazil and since then some countries modified their nominations rules.
* The third Dutch edition introduced the notion of "The Battle", in which the house is separated into a luxurious half and a poor half, with two teams of housemates constantly fighting for time in the luxurious half. Separated houses have also been used in Spain, Australia, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Slovakia, Greece, UK, Scandinavia, Sweden, Norway and Germany. Australia, Italy and Mexico added punishment zones to their houses.
* The fifth UK edition introduced the "Evil" touch, where the Big Brother voice became almost a villain. He was establishing punishments and was proposing hard tasks and secret tricks. This was also seen in Australia, Spain, Scandinavia, Bulgaria, Belgium and Mexico.
* The fifth German edition, running for a full year, separated the contestants into three teams (rich, regular, survivor) and equivalent living areas. The sixth season was running in a small artificial town denominated "Das Dorf" and was the first version which has no time limit.
* The fourth Greek season introduced a new element: the mother. In Big Mother nine houseguests take part in the game with their mothers, with whom they must coexist during the contest. The "mamas" were not able to win the prize but they would stay with their children until their eviction. However, this proved to be a failure with the show's audience and the show switched back to the traditional Big Brother format in mid-season.
* There are four special pan-regional versions of Big Brother. All these follow the normal Big Brother rules with the exception that contestants come from different countries in the region where it airs:

- Africa: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- Middle East: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Tunisia.
- Pacific: Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
- Scandinavia: Sweden and Norway.
* Also in different countries, there is a spin-off called Big Brother VIP (Mexico, Hungary, Argentina -planned-, Bulgaria -called VIP Brother-, Spain, Brazil -planned-, Denmark and Portugal) / Celebrity Big Brother (UK, South Africa, Netherlands, Philippines, Belgium, India -planned- and Australia). In 2006 a new variant appeared in the Netherlands: Hotel Big Brother. Seven B-celebrity hoteliers and a Big Boss run a hotel, collecting money for charity without nominations, evictions or winner.
* Other special versions:
- Teen Big Brother (United Kingdom, Philippines). Teenage houseguests competing in a BB house for a few days.
- Big Brother, All Star (Belgium, United States). Housemates from the different Big Brother seasons living together.
-Big Brother, Reality All Star (Denmark, Sweden). Contestants from different reality shows living together at the BB house.
- Big Brother, Tilbake I Huset (Norway). Meaning Big Brother, Back In The House. The BB1 Norway housemates living together again. They also welcome 4 new housemates who are competiting for a spot in the next regular season.

Big Brother around the world

Near copies of Big Brother

There are a number of different formats around the globe that use rules similar to Big Brother:

The Farm, created by the Swedish producer house Strix. This is the fourth biggest 'people-living-together' reality show on Earth, only exceeded by Star Academy / Operación Triunfo (France/Spain, 2001, Endemol) broadcast in 52 countries; Survivor (Sweden, 1997, Strix), shown in 65 countries and Big Brother (The Netherlands, 1999, Endemol) emitted or planned to be emitted in 73.

• Countries: Algeria, Bahrein, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Lybia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, UK and Yemen.

The Bar, another format from Strix.

• Countries: Argentina, Cambodia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland

Protagonistas..., a format from the Spanish producer house GloboMedia, developed by its subsidiary in America, Promofilm. It's a mixture among Big Brother and Star Academy and has had a huge success in different latin countries, as Chile, Brazil (formerly known as Casa dos Artistas), Venezuela, Colombia or Mexico. It also had its own version in Spain and in USA, for the Latin market, airing on Telemundo.

There are also some local formats that in one or other way are pretty similar with Endemol's Big Brother:

• Albania, Kafazi i Arte; Syri Magjik; To Sam Ja
• Austria, Taxi Orange
• Bolivia, Uno Busca
• Bosnia, 60 Sati; To Sam Ja
• Chile, La Casa
• Croatia, To Sam Ja
• Czech Republic VyVolení
• France, Les Colocataires; Nice People
• Germany, Der Container Exklusiv
• Hungary, Való Világ
• Indonesia, Penghuni Terakhir
• Ireland, Cabin Fever
• Israel, Project Y; The Yacht
• Korea, Twenty Eyes
• Latvia, Fabrika; Barbarossa
• Netherlands, De Bus; 7 Plagen ; De Gouden Kooi
• Norway, Singel 24-7
• Peru, La Casa De Gisela; Gran Hermano De Chollywood
• Puerto Rico, 360 Estudio
• FYR Macedonia, Tom Sam Ja
• Russia, 12 Negrityat; Dom; Golod; Za Steklom
• Serbia and Montenegro, To Sam Ja
• Slovakia, VyVolení ; To Sam Ja
• Spain, El Bus; Hotel Glam; La Casa De Tu Vida
• Turkey, Biri Bizi Gözetliyor
• UK, Back To Reality
• USA, Unan1mous
• Ukraine, Dom