Big Brother 2007 (UK)

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Big Brother 8 in 2007 was the eighth series of the United Kingdom reality television programme Big Brother,^[1] airing on Channel 4, with a number of closely associated programmes also airing on E4. The series began on 30 May 2007 when eleven female contestants entered the house and ended on 31 August 2007.^[2] A male housemate joined two days later,^[3] with a further two male contestants being added a week after that.^{[citation needed]} Another four men joined on 15 June.^[4] Five new housemates then entered the house on Day 59: three females, and two males. They went to a new house next door called "The Halfway House"^[5] and stayed in the Halfway House until Day 62.^{[citation needed]}

This was the first Big Brother series to air in the UK since the controversial 2007 Celebrity Big Brother, and a number of changes had been made to the show, including the omission of text message voting, and a reduction in the cost of calls to vote for evictions from 50p^{[citation needed]} to 25p. At least 10p from each vote was going to charity.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Auditions 2 Sponsorship 3 Logo 4 Broadcasts 5 Popularity of the series 6 Ratings 6.1 Week Averages 7 House 7.1 Garden 7.2 Vestibule 7.3 Diary Room 7.4 Hidden rooms 8 Housemates 9 Weekly summary 10 Criticism and controversy 11 Nominations table 11.1 Totals 12 References 13 External links

[edit] Auditions

The first round of auditions started on 6 January 2007^[6] at the SECC in Glasgow, where there was a queue of three hundred people.^[7] Auditions were also held in Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, London, Manchester, and Newcastle.^[8]

[edit] Sponsorship

On 8 March 2007, it was announced that The Carphone Warehouse would not return to sponsor Big Brother 2007 after cancelling its sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother 2007,^[9] and on 21 March, that Virgin Media would sponsor the show, for a reported £3 million.^[10] Virgin Media's idents for the show use footage from Big Brother programmes from all around the world, including Germany, Brazil, Philippines and the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Logo

The iconic Big Brother eye has been redesigned to what has been described as a "centrifugal inter-locking RGB rainbow test card"^[11] by its designer Daniel Eatock.^[12]

[edit] Broadcasts

On 4 April 2007, it was announced that Russell Brand had quit the spin off show Big Brother's Big Mouth.^[13] As a replacement there was to be a guest host each week on Big Brother's Big Mouth, starting with Chris Moyles who presented the first three editions from launch night.^[14]

Dermot O'Leary returned again to present Big Brother's Little Brother^[15] and Davina McCall has also returned to present the live eviction shows^{[citation needed]} as well as a spin-off show; Big Brother On The Couch which airs as an hour long show each Sunday^[16] and replaced Big Brother's Big Brain, which was axed.^[17]

Before the launch programme, Channel 4 presented a statement from Ofcom explaining the racism incidents from Celebrity Big Brother earlier in the year. The statement said:

"This is a summary of findings from Ofcom, the communications regulator, about the Channel 4 series "Celebrity Big Brother." In January 2007, Ofcom received over 44,500 complaints, mainly about potentially racist material. Ofcom has concluded that Channel 4 failed to handle appropriately the strong content it was transmitting. This resulted in breaches of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, which is designed to ensure that when broadcasters show potentially offensive material, they do so in a way which offers adequate protection to the viewer. Ofcom has found that Channel 4 breached the Code on three separate occasions. Its decision to repeat one of these incidents in its early morning show resulted in a further breach for failing to protect children. There was also a serious failure in Channel 4's compliance processes which meant that it was not aware of all the relevant activity in the House at a particularly critical time. This compounded its failure to ensure compliance with the Code. These are significant failings. Ofcom has therefore imposed a formal sanction on Channel Four, directing it to broadcast this statement. This ensures that the largest number of viewers will be made fully aware of the seriousness of Channel 4's failure to comply. For the full adjudication please visit www.ofcom.org.uk

This was followed immediately by a Channel 4 ident, and then the Big Brother titles. Channel 4 also broadcast the Ofcom statement on the morning of 31 May 2007 before the early morning repeat, and again immediately before the first eviction on Friday 15 June.^[18]

[edit] Popularity of the series

Channel 4 announced on 24 August that they were cancelling the next series of Celebrity Big Brother. The decision came after the race row that engulfed the fifth celebrity series, and after the eighth non-celebrity series failed to "make as big of a splash as usual", although it still held healthy viewing figures.^[19]

Channel 4's Julian Bellamy said he wanted to create "more anticipation" for the ninth series of Big Brother in 2008.^[20] Big Brother UK has been signed until Big Brother 11 (2010).

[edit] Ratings

The series average ended up around 3.9 million with a 18% share in officials.^[21] When ITV's Britain's Got Talent concluded, Big Brother returned to viewing figures of around 4 million per night.^[22]

The launch show was the fourth most watched launch show in Big Brother UK history^{[citation needed]} by attracting an average of 6.2 million viewers. The number of viewers rose to 8 million after The British Soap Awards on ITV1 and The Apprentice on BBC One ended.^[23]

The next night saw a traditional drop in ratings with the show shedding more than 2 million viewers while 4 million people watched the first highlights show of the series, which was 22% of the television audience between 10:00 and 11:05.^[24]

Despite the promising launch show ratings, the first Friday show did not fare well in the ratings with the first part attracting 3.3 million people (15%),^[25] although this show was up against Match of the Day Live which aired England's first match at the new Wembley stadium. However, at 10:30, the second part, which showed the entrance of the first male contestant, was watched by 4.3 million viewers (24.6%).^[26]

4.6 million viewers watched the highlights show on 7 June which contained Emily's ejection from the Big Brother House due to using a racial slur.^[27] This was the second-highest viewed show of the series after the live launch at the time.

The show's second full week was rated as one of the lowest watched weeks in Big Brother history with the week averaging 2.83m (12.7%). The ratings were reduced to 2.11m on Wednesday night and the Friday night eviction shows rated as the lowest eviction shows in Big Brother history, with 3.1m (13.7%) watching at 8:30, and 3.0m (13.3%) at 10:00.^[28]

When the Friday 6th July twist was revealed, ratings were picking up yet again - returning Big Brother to its usual high rated status. Charley's interview during her fake eviction was watched by 5.4m viewers, the highest since the launch.^[29] Her real eviction was seen by an average of 5.0 million viewers, the second highest since the launch.

[edit] Week Averages

The following is a summary of weekly ratings points:^[30]

0. (Launch Week Wed-Fri) 4.4m (25%)

1. 4.0m (22%)

2. 2.8m (13%)

3. 3.5m (17%)

4. 3.6m (19%)

5. 3.6m (18%)

6. 4.1m (19%)

7. 3.7m (17.5%)

8. 3.7m (18.3%)

9. 3.7m (18%)

10. 3.4m (17.3%)

11. 3.5m (16.7%)

12. 3.4m (16.1%)

13. 3.2m (14%)

Average Ratings- 3.09m Note: On week 12, Channel 4+1 was launched, and thus the reading for weeks 12 and 13 includes the viewings from both Channel 4 and Channel 4+1.^[31]

[edit] House

It was initially believed that this would be the last series to be aired from the house in Elstree Studios, with a new house set to be built in Hammersmith for 2008, although, Endemol decided to renew the lease at its current location for another two years.

The layout of the house remained much the same as the previous series, although the kitchen moved to the other side of the main living area.^[2] Many of the kitchen appliances were scattered around the house, with the oven and heat proof surface in the bedroom and the fridge in the garden. Where the oven is in the bedroom, is approximately where the kitchen area was located in Big Brother 7^[32]

The bedroom contained a single, double and triple bed as well as two four-person beds. Outside the bedroom window, in the main living area, is a lip shaped sofa that the presenters of the show refer to as "the lips". The house also contains a salon/bathroom, which houses two large hair dryers and two steam suits.^[2]

[edit] Garden

As well as the kitchen fridge, the garden contained a swimming pool, a seating area^{[citation needed]} and, due to the smoking ban that came into effect in all public places during the series, a smoking area which housemates had to use from 1 July. This was checked by health officials, and deemed acceptable.^[33] The grass from the previous series has been replaced with AstroTurf.^{[citation needed]} The garden was one of the smallest this year, in comparison to the garden in Big Brother 7.

On Day 25 it was revealed that a caravan was hidden behind a garden wall. The caravan came with two single beds and sleeping bags. Brian and Charley went "on holiday" to the caravan for one night.^[34] The caravan was again accessible from day 36, this time any of the housemates were allowed to use the room.^[35]

An extension to the pool was revealed on Day 67, along with a bar area. The area was hidden behind the "wet" sign in the garden.^[36]

"The Insider" on BBLB revealed that there was a fully-functioning washing machine hidden in the garden, throughout the show.^[37] Dermot O'Leary revealed this to the housemates during the BBLB reunion show.

[edit] Vestibule

Between the entrance/exit stairs and the main house was a vestibule area.^[2] This was used for several tasks, rewards and punishments, such as Ziggy's dating task, Amanda and Sam's birthday party, the punishments on Day 43, and the "Sin Bin" which is the room Charley was made to stay in while the rest of the housemates had their sin party.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Diary Room

A corridor was added between the Diary Room door and the main house which changes colour from red to blue to green when the "eye" button to open the door is pressed. The diary room chair has been changed to a much larger see-through chair which contains white neon lights.^[2] The diary room resides in almost the same place as last year, but set back a bit, making the living area larger.

[edit] Hidden rooms

The House contained a number of hidden rooms that were accessed either through the diary room or through a store room off the living area. At various points in the show, all or part of these rooms were opened up for various tasks and twists.

• One of these rooms was slept in by Thaila Zucci, in her role as "Pauline", and it was Australia-themed and contained a kangaroo statue, a surfboard, plants and beanbags. The bedroom also contained the dossier from which "Pauline" could find out things about her housemates. Only "Pauline" was allowed in the room at that time.^[38]

• The rooms were later on used to house five 'halfway housemates' as part of a nominations twist. It included a dormitory, common room, wash room and kitchenette as well as a small garden.^{[citation needed]}

Periodically throughout the series, housemates conducted various tasks in some of these rooms.

• For the BBTV task, a newsroom was built, where two housemates transmitted news to the rest of the house, such as messages from home.^[39] The rooms were also used as a studio for a gameshow and later a talent show.
• It was used as a "The Happy Room" to cheer up Charley and Billi, who were instructed to wear "happy" t-shirts and baseball caps for the duration of their stay. The room was full of red beanbags, and featured cheery slogans on the walls. While in the room, Big Brother played the tune, If You're Happy and You Know It.^[40]
• During the seven deadly sins task, it was turned into "The Room of Nicky" and contained pictures, books and footage of Nicky and also a sofa with cushions spelling N-I-C-K-Y. Nicky was instructed to stay in the room and learn to appreciate herself until Big Brother allowed her to leave.^{[citation needed]}
• For Big Brother's birthday task, a Practice Room was built, where the entertainers had to practise.^[41] A party room was then provided with a ball pool and stage.^[42]

[edit] Housemates

Main article: List of Big Brother 2007 housemates (UK)

There were twenty-four housemates in total in this series of Big Brother in the UK, more than ever before. Each week, two or more housemates were nominated to be evicted by the general public until the winner was left. All of the housemates that entered on the first day were female, then on the third day; a male housemate - Ziggy - entered the house.^[43] On June 7, 2007 it was announced on Big Brother's Big Mouth that Day 10 would see the addition of two male housemates, in replacement of the cancelled eviction.^[44] These two housemates were Gerry and Seány. On June 15, four new male housemates entered the house. They were Billi, Jonathan, Liam, and Brian. Jonathan left on Day 35 due to a family death from day 34 that he wanted to attend to^[4][45] A new housemate called "Pauline" entered the house on 8 July, supposedly from Big Brother Australia, however, her true identity was actress Thaila Zucchi, and worked as a mole for Big Brother, before being removed on Day 42. Five new housemates, Amy, Jonty, Shanessa, David & Kara-Louise entered the house in a separate room called Halfway House on Day 59.^[46]

[edit] Weekly summary

Main article: Big Brother 2007 (UK) highlights

Each week in the Big Brother House is summarized in the table on the main page. A typical week begins with the nominations, shopping task, and ends with the eviction of a Housemate during the following Friday's episode. Evictions, tasks, and other noteworthy events for a particular week are noted. Some of the events listed may not be in order of sequence.

[edit] Criticism and controversy

Nine days into the new series, Channel 4 was criticised for deciding to air the word "nigger" on their daily highlights show.^[47] After the criticism they received for not handling the Celebrity Big Brother racism allegations properly back in January, they were quick to intervene after Emily used the word in conversation with Charley. On the other hand, Charley and Nicky subsequently used the same contentious word several times, in reference to Emily's use. No action was seen to be taken against them.^[48] After Emily's disqualification from the competition was announced, 922 viewers complained to Ofcom, the British television regulator, believing that it was unfair.^[49] Another 270 people expressed dissatisfaction with Channel 4's decision to air the word "nigger" uncensored.^[49]

Furthermore, on Day 40, Channel 4 confirmed that Charley had been called to the Diary Room and reprimanded after using the word "nigger" twice on one night. This was not broadcast on the nightly highlights programme or the live feed, further enflaming rumours about favouritism towards Charley. A Big Brother spokesperson claimed "Charley used the N-word as a black woman to refer to another black person. We judged her use of the term different from Emily's. But Big Brother called her to the Diary Room to remind her that this word could cause offence."^[50][51]

Charley was given a third and final warning by Big Brother on Day 55 when she implied that housemate Gerry was a paedophile. Over 300 people complained to Ofcom when Charley said that Gerry liked to "sleep with 15-year-olds".^[52][53]

[edit] Nominations table

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Final Week 13
Brian	Not in house		Seány, Carole	Billi, Gerry	Gerry, Carole	Tracey, Carole	Gerry, Tracey	Gerry, Charley	No nominations	Jonty, Kara-Louise	No nominations	Jonty, Kara-Louise	Winner (Day 94)
Amanda	Not eligible	Carole, Nicky	Carole, Tracey	Tracey, Charley	Carole, Tracey	Carole, Nicky	Carole, Tracey	Carole, Tracey	No nominations	Jonty, Kara-Louise	Body Guru Gerry	Jonty, Kara-Louise	Runner-up (Day 94)
Sam	Not eligible	Shabnam, Carole	Carole, Liam	Billi, Carole	Carole, Tracey	Carole, Charley	Carole, Tracey	Carole, Tracey	No nominations
Liam	Not in house		Jonathan, Charley	Tracey, Billi	Tracey, Charley	Nicky, Charley	Charley, Nicky	Charley, Tracey	No nominations	Kara-Louise, Jonty	No nominations	Kara-Louise, Jonty	3rd place (Day 94)
Ziggy	Shabnam, Emily	Not eligible	Charley, Nicky	Billi, Charley	Laura, Charley	Nicky, Charley	Nicky	Tracey, Charley	No nominations	Amy, Gerry	Mind Guru Gerry	Kara-Louise, Tracey	4th place (Day 94)
Carole	Not eligible	Not eligible	Laura, Nicky	Laura, Nicky	Laura, Chanelle	Nicky, Tracey	Nicky, Chanelle	Charley, Ziggy	No nominations	Amy, Kara-Louise	No nominations	Tracey, Ziggy	5th place (Day 94)
Jonty	Not in house								No nominations	Gerry, Kara-Louise	No nominations	Brian, Liam	6th place (Day 94)
Kara-Louise	Not in house								Halfway Housemate	Jonty, Amy	No nominations	Tracey, Liam	Evicted (Day 87)
Tracey	Not eligible	Not eligible	Seány, Jonathan	Carole, Billi	Ziggy, Chanelle	Ziggy, Gerry	Gerry, Ziggy	Gerry, Ziggy	Halfway Housemate	Amy, Gerry	Soul Guru Gerry	Kara-Louise, Jonty	Evicted (Day 87)
Gerry	Not in house	Shabnam, Tracey	Charley, Liam	Nicky, Tracey	Laura, Nicky	Charley, Nicky	Nicky, Charley	Charley, Tracey	No nominations	Amy, Jonty	No nominations	Evicted (Day 80)
Amy	Not in house								No nominations	Kara-Louise, Gerry	Evicted (Day 73)
David	Not in house								Halfway Housemate	Evicted (Day 66)
Shanessa	Not in house								Halfway Housemate	Evicted (Day 66)
Chanelle	Not eligible	Not eligible	Charley, Seány	Charley, Billi	Charley, Laura	Charley, Nicky	Charley	Charley, Tracey	Walked (Day 62)
Charley	Not eligible	Not eligible	Nicky, Seány	Billi, Chanelle	Chanelle, Brian	Chanelle, Gerry	Gerry, Ziggy	Chanelle, Gerry	Evicted (Day 59)
Nicky	Not eligible	Not eligible	Jonathan, Seány	Billi, Carole	Gerry, Ziggy	Gerry, Ziggy	Ziggy, Gerry	Evicted (Day 52)
Laura	Not eligible	Not eligible	Carole, Jonathan	Carole, Ziggy	Ziggy, Chanelle	Evicted (Day 38)
Jonathan	Not in house		Nicky, Tracey	Tracey, Nicky	Laura, Chanelle	Walked (Day 35)
Billi	Not in house		Carole, Jonathan	Nicky, Charley	Evicted (Day 31)
Seány	Not in house	Tracey, Shabnam	Brian, Tracey	Evicted (Day 24)
Shabnam	Not eligible	Not eligible	Evicted (Day 17)
Lesley	Not eligible	Walked (Day 11)
Emily	Not eligible	Ejected (Day 9)
Notes	See note 1	See note 2	None	See note 3	None	See note 4	See note 5	None	See note 6	See note 7	See note 8	See note 9	See note 10
Against public vote	Emily, Shabnam	Carole, Shabnam, Tracey	Carole, Jonathan, Seány	Billi, Carole, Tracey	Chanelle, Laura	Charley, Nicky	Gerry, Nicky	Charley, Tracey	David, Kara-Louise, Shanessa, Tracey	Amanda & Sam, Amy, Jonty, Kara-Louise	Brian, Carole, Gerry, Jonty, Kara-Louise, Liam	Jonty, Kara-Louise, Tracey	Amanda & Sam, Brian, Carole, Jonty, Liam, Ziggy
Walked	none	Lesley	none	none	Jonathan	none	none	none	Chanelle	none	none	none	none
Ejected	Emily	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none
Evicted (% of public votes)	Eviction cancelled	Shabnam 81.4% to evict	Seány 44.5% to evict	Billi 55.1% to evict	Laura 68.1% to evict	Charley 75.8% to fake evict	Nicky 76% to evict	Charley 85.6% to evict	Shanessa 38% to evict	Amy 58% to evict	Gerry 24% 3 of 3 votes to evict	Tracey 38.4% to evict	Jonty 3.0% (out of 6)	Liam 19.1% (out of 3)
													Carole 4.9% (out of 6)
														Amanda & Sam 49.7% (out of 2)
									David 37% to evict			Kara-Louise 30.8% to evict	Ziggy 15.3% (out of 4)
													Brian 50.3% to win

[1][2]

Note 1: Ziggy was told by Big Brother that he would be the only housemate allowed to nominate for the first eviction vote on Day 7.^[3] The eviction was later cancelled due to Emily being removed before the eviction could take place.^[54]

Note 2: New housemates Seány and Gerry were two of four housemates allowed to nominate, and together they had to choose the other two housemates nominating with them. They chose Sam and Amanda to nominate.

Note 3: Nicky and Charley were among those receiving the most nominations, but Billi and Charley's nominations were discounted so Nicky and Charley did not face the public vote.^[55]

Note 4: The evicted housemate, Charley, was interviewed by Davina, with the interview shown on the plasma screen in the house, and then put back in the house.^[56]

Note 5: Nominations took place on a Sunday (Day 47) instead of a Monday (Day 48). Chanelle and Ziggy were asked to nominate one housemate each, instead of the usual two housemates, as punishment for discussing nominations previously.^[57]

Note 6: After continuous swapping of housemates between the Main House and the Halfway House, the housemates remaining in the Halfway House faced the public vote on from Day 65. However, the second twist to this was whoever faced the votes had an even bigger chance of being evicted, as there was a double eviction.^[58]

Note 7: Amanda and Sam chose to become one housemate on Day 69. However, as a result they both faced the public vote.^[59]

Note 8: For week 11's shopping task those who won mini-tasks gained "guru status" and were immune from eviction. All other housemates automatically faced the public vote^[60] but the Gurus had to decide from the two housemates with the highest number of votes (this was Carole with 49% and Gerry with 24%) who to evict.^[61]

Note 9: In Week 12 there was a double eviction.^[62]

Note 10: There were no nominations in the final week as the public were voting for the housemate they wanted to win.

[edit] Totals

Amanda	Amy	Billi	Brian	Carole	Chanelle	Charley	David	Emily	Gerry	Jonathan	Jonty
0	5	8	3	20	8	23	0	1	17	5	8
Kara-Louise	Laura	Lesley	Liam	Nicky	Thaila/Pauline	Sam	Seány	Shabnam	Shanessa	Tracey	Ziggy
12	7	0	4	16	0	0	5	4	0	25	12

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Big Brother at Channel4.com

Coordinates: 51°39′23″N 0°16′02″W / 51.65639, -0.26722

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