Calling all reality TV fiends and superfans, Celebrity Big Brother is back – and hopefully here to stay! After a dramatic breakdown of the nation’s favourite reality TV series back in 2018, many (including myself) waited patiently for an epic revival, and the wait is finally over.
Big Brother started as a social experiment back in 2000, its premise to observe human interaction in new environments. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20-odd years or so, Big Brother, at its core, is a bunch of strangers (in the case of this article, celebrity strangers) thrown into a camera-rigged house together. They’re under 24/7 surveillance and given tasks to complete in the hopes of earning a budget for their weekly food shop, as well as bonus perks like parties or treats. Their only contact with the outside world is the crowd booing or cheering on eviction nights as voted by the public.
The show might sound like a nightmare – but, minus the constant surveillance, how different is it to your first year of living in university accommodation? Random strangers in a new environment, check. Doing tasks (let’s call them lectures and seminars) in exchange for a club and partying night out, check. Struggling with a measly shopping budget for your weekly food shop, check. Swap in the crowd booing for the random screams you hear outside your flat at 4 am, and you’re basically a Big Brother contestant.
The announcement of Big Brother’s return back in 2022 left shockwaves across the nation, with #BBUK trending within minutes on Twitter. The revival civilian season which aired in autumn 2023 surpassed many expectations and brought in thousands of new fans. Arguably, Celebrity Big Brother’s return has come at a crucial time. It’s undeniable that the UK’s reality TV scene has been bleak these last 5 years. Gone are the days of unscripted reality TV; we’re forced to choose between wooden Love Island producer-influenced scripts or over-exhausted formats such as I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. But the reality TV gods have finally delivered… and CBBUK is back on our screens!
Celebrity Big Brother is currently airing on ITV1 each night, and so far features an interesting cast, with reality TV legends such as Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh now in the house. Everything indicates it’ll be an interesting series worth tuning in for. The standards are high for the star-studded cast, as many of you may remember the iconic season with Gemma Collins and her famous one-liners (“I’m claustrophobic Darren!”) which sparked dozens of memes.
However, Big Brother has always prided itself on acknowledging and representing the UK’s diverse population and walks of life. In the recent civilian Big Brother, the series featured a transgender woman and a disabled man – something Love Island’s producers could only dream of considering. Someone on Twitter referred to the civilian cast of Big Brother as looking “like your average bus in London, I love it!” Seeing a representative slice of society on our TV’s every night is what makes the show so authentic and relatable.
Is this what Love Island is missing? In chasing aesthetic perfection, has the villa-dwelling show killed itself off? It’s clear everyone is sick of the façades; Love Island All Stars (2024) was the show’s lowest-watched season since Love Island’s humble beginnings began back in 2015. Essentially the same premise of Celebrity Big Brother, where former contestants return to find love a second time, it was surprising to see the viewing figures so low. It will be interesting to see how Celebrity Big Brother compares. After all, you can’t spell reality TV without real – and it’s obvious the people of Britain want it back on our screens.
