Big Brother and the rest of us

The Big Brother reality show was conceived in 1997 during a production meeting of one of Endomol’s subsidiary. Endemol is a Netherlands based television production company. The first broadcast of the show was in the Netherlands in 1999. Ten years down the lane, the show is a global hit with six regional editions (Africa, former […]

The Big Brother reality show was conceived in 1997 during a production meeting of one of Endomol’s subsidiary. Endemol is a Netherlands based television production company. The first broadcast of the show was in the Netherlands in 1999. Ten years down the lane, the show is a global hit with six regional editions (Africa, former Yugoslavia countries, Pacific, Arab states, UK and Ireland and Scandinavia) featuring participants from 39 countries all around the globe. The phenomenal growth of the reality show has generated billions in advert revenues for the producers and enthralled millions of viewers all over the world. But along the line, it has stirred up some controversies.

The name of the show was derived from English writer George Orwell’s novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four, in which an authoritarian government called ‘Big Brother’ monitors all its citizens on cameras for twenty-four hours non-stop.

The Africa edition started in 2003, featuring participants from twelve countries on the continent. It immediately generated a huge following. Housemates were isolated in a house in South Africa for 106 days while several hidden camera’s monitored their activities, broadcast on live TV. Despite the huge following, the show went on a four-year hiatus only to come back in 2007 as Big Brother Africa 2, (probably one of the most controversial editions) and later in 2008 as BBA3. This year’s edition is called Big Brother Revolution and has made several changes from previous editions by removing some of the shows controversial aspects and increasing the number of housemates to twenty-five, double the number in previous episodes as well as having forty hidden cameras and a hundred microphones spying on the housemates.

A major hit

The show became an instant hit mostly among youths on the continent. This may not be unconnected to the fact that most of the housemates are young adults between twenty and thirty years.

“I enjoy the show a lot,” Margaret Olubanjo, an undergraduate in Abuja told Sunday Trust, “because it is real and most of the housemates are young people and you know, I can relate with them.”

The fact that the show is not scripted also appeals to others who find it unpredictable.  The housemates all come from different countries, different backgrounds and with different cultures and outlook on life.  How these housemates interact has proven too much of an appeal to many viewers in fifty countries on the continent and not just young adults alone. Mrs. Abu Mohammed, a civil servant in Lagos, is a fan. “I watch it and I like it. It keeps me busy most of the time,” she said.

Viewers have had an almost addictive yearning for the show, abandoning other responsibilities to watch it. But for others, there is hardly anything interesting in it. Daniel Abeje, a self employed barber in Abuja is one of them. “What is interesting in watching people doing what people normally do? I would rather do my own thing than spend the time watching others,” he said.

Losing faith

Regardless of the growing popularity of the show, there is a growing legion of disenchanted viewers who claim they have been turned off by the content of the show because it is contrary to their personal values.

Abuja based student, Edes Omoifo, disapproves of the programme’s content and thinks the programme should be scrapped. “Because of what is being done on the show, I cannot continue watching such a programme because it is not teaching me good,” she said.

She is not alone in having concerns about the moral content of the programme. There has been an outcry that the conducts of some of the housemates are teaching negative morals. Some of these attitudes are the use of foul language, consumption of alcohol and for some, the fact that unmarried couples are allowed to sleep on the same bed. That these things are being aired on TV, gives Jonathan Agu, a businessman in Lagos serious concerns. He believes that it will condition the mind of young ones not only to admire such conduct but to embrace and practice them.

In previous editions, the major concerns have been that of nudity on the show and disregard for traditional African values. One of the most popular attractions on the programme was the ‘Shower hour” where the housemates strip naked and shower while on live TV. Many viewers stayed up late to enjoy this segment. There was a porn blog that generated its content from images collected from this segment of the show. It was only closed down recently.

Though a major attraction, ‘Shower hour’ became infamous as it also attracted severe attacks from moralists who feel it is inappropriate. The National House of Assembly and the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) had to intervene and call for sanity. The pressure was immense and