Big Brother UK (franchise)

Big Brother UK
Country	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Television Network(s)	Channel 4 (2000-2010) E4 (2001-2010) BBC One (2001) Channel 5 (2011-2018) 5Star (2011-2018) ITV1 (2023-) ITV2 (2023-) ITVX (2023-)
Host	Davina McCall (2000-2010) Brian Dowling (2011-2013) Emma Willis (2014-2018) AJ Odudu (2023-) Will Best (2023-)
Series Run	Original Series: July 18, 2000 - September 10, 2010 First Revived Series: August 18, 2011 - November 5, 2018 Second Revived Series: October 8, 2023 -

Big Brother UK is the United Kingdom version of the popular international reality show Big Brother.

It was broadcast on Channel 4 for its first 11 seasons before moving to Channel 5 starting with Big Brother 12 (UK). The show was once again axed in 2018 before ITV bought the rights to the show in 2022, with Big Brother 20 (UK) being the first British series of Big Brother to air in almost 5 years of the show being axed by Channel 5.

The series has received much critical acclaim over its run, with several housemates becoming notable media figures following their time on the show. The popularity of the main series has resulted in four spin-off series (Teen Big Brother, Big Brother Panto, Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, and Ultimate Big Brother), as well as a celebrity edition of the show which has become a staple in its own right.

How it Works

The amount of days per season (Civilian).

The amount of days per season (Celebrity).

The amount of days per season (Spin-Offs).

Big Brother is a reality television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic evictions from the house.

Civilian Series

The UK version of the show largely follows the same format as the original Dutch version of Big Brother where each week the housemates will nominate two of their fellow housemates for eviction and the public will then vote to evict the two (or more) housemates who received the most nominations. Previously, Irish housemates have been allowed to apply for Big Brother, and have entered the Big Brother house, however the terms and conditions of ITV's reboot series application form stated only permanent residents of the United Kingdom were able to apply.

What differentiates Big Brother UK from other versions of the show is not only its massive popularity but also its heavy reliance on twists. It is not uncommon for multiple twists to change the standard layout of the game each season, with past twists including the house being divided into Rich and Poor sides, housemates becoming "Power Housemates" and gaining special powers for the week, and housemates being fake evicted and moved into a secret house next door to the main house. It is not uncommon for housemates to move into the house after the series has already begun, and some of the tension on the show can come from the clash between people who have already been living in the house for a while and new people moving into the house.

Celebrity Version

The celebrity edition of the show contains a number of differences from the regular version of the show, although the core idea remains the same. With some exceptions, all housemates are celebrities in the outside world, and as such are often paid more for their appearance on the show than regular housemates are. Further, the celebrity version of the show often lasts for a much shorter time than the regular version does. Housemates are often only in the house for a maximum of about a month, as opposed to the 2-3 months regular housemates spend in the house. As a result of this, evictions on Celebrity Big Brother are held every few days rather than once a week, and double evictions are much more common.

Originally, the winner would have the money they would have received from winning instead donated to a charity of their choice. This practice has since been discontinued, and the winner often receives no special prize at all outside of the money they were paid to appear on the show.

Celebrity Version

History

The first series of Celebrity Big Brother was intended to be a one-off special series for charity, and was held in association with Comic Relief. Only six housemates participated in the series, and they were only in the house for eight days. The series finale was aired on Red Nose Day 2001, and winner Jack Dee's winnings were donated to Comic Relief. The second series of the show continued the charity element of the original series, this time by having all proceeds gained from public voting split among four charities. This would be the last series to feature a charity component and all series since would be treated as a standard Big Brother series.

Celebrity Big Brother 4 became notable due to the fact that its winner, Chantelle Houghton, was not a celebrity at all but instead tasked by Big Brother to convince her fellow housemates that she was a celebrity.

The show was the subject of a large amount of controversy during its airtime, mainly during Celebrity Big Brother 5 (UK) and Celebrity Big Brother 22 (UK). In 2007, Shilpa Shetty was the victim of racist bullying from Danielle Lloyd, Jo O'Meara, and most notably Jade Goody. This caused the series to be scrapped the following year, and was replaced by the spin-off Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. During Celebrity Big Brother 22, Roxanne Pallett accused Ryan Thomas of assaulting her.

When the regular version of Big Brother UK moved from Channel 4 to Channel 5, Celebrity Big Brother moved along with it, and Celebrity Big Brother 8 became the first overall series of Big Brother to air on Channel 5. Although ITV revived the civilian series, the revival of the celebrity edition has yet to be announced.

List of Series

Series	Channel	Series Run	Days	Housemates	Winner	Runner-Up(s)	Prize
Big Brother 1	Channel 4	July 18, 2000 - September 15, 2000	64	11	Craig Phillips	Anna Nolan	£70,000
Celebrity Big Brother 1	Channel 4 BBC One	March 9, 2001 - March 16, 2001	8	6	Jack Dee	Claire Sweeney
Big Brother 2	Channel 4	May 25, 2001 - July 27, 2001	64	11	Brian Dowling	Helen Adams	£70,000
Big Brother 3		May 24, 2002 - July 26, 2002		14	Kate Lawler	Jonny Regan
Celebrity Big Brother 2		November 20, 2002 - November 29, 2002	10	6	Mark Owen	Les Dennis
Big Brother 4		May 23, 2003 - July 25, 2003	64	13	Cameron Stout	Ray Shah	£70,000
Teen Big Brother	Channel 4 E4	October 13, 2003 - October 18, 2003	10	8	Paul Brennan	Caroline Cloke	Trip
Big Brother 5	Channel 4	May 28, 2004 - August 6, 2004	71	13	Nádia Almada	Jason Cowan	£63,500
Big Brother Panto	Channel 4 E4	December 20, 2004 - January 5, 2005	11	10	No Winner or Prize
Celebrity Big Brother 3	Channel 4	January 6, 2005 - January 23, 2005	18	9	Bez Berry	Kenzie MacKenzie
Big Brother 6		May 27, 2005 - August 12, 2005	78	16	Anthony Hutton	Eugene Sully	£50,000
Celebrity Big Brother 4		January 5, 2006 - January 27, 2006	23	11	Chantelle Houghton	Michael Barrymore
Big Brother 7		May 18, 2006 - August 18, 2006	93	22	Pete Bennett	Glyn Wise	£100,000
Celebrity Big Brother 5		January 3, 2007 - January 29, 2007	26	14	Shilpa Shetty	Jermaine Jackson
Big Brother 8		May 30, 2007 - August 31, 2007	94	22	Brian Belo	Amanda & Sam Marchant	£100,000
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack	E4	January 3, 2008 - January 28, 2008	26	12	John Loughton	Emilia Arata	£50,000
Big Brother 9	Channel 4	June 5, 2008 - September 5, 2008	93	21	Rachel Rice	Michael Hughes	£100,000
Celebrity Big Brother 6		January 2, 2009 - January 23, 2009	22	11	Ulrika Jonsson	Terry Christian
Big Brother 10		June 4, 2009 - September 4, 2009	93	22	Sophie Reade	Siavash Sabbaghpour	£71,320
Celebrity Big Brother 7		January 3, 2010 - January 29, 2010	27	12	Alex Reid	Dane Bowers
Big Brother 11		June 9, 2010 - August 24, 2010	77	21	Josie Gibson	Dave Vaughan	£100,000
Ultimate Big Brother		August 24, 2010 - September 10, 2010	18	14	Brian Dowling	Nikki Grahame	Ultimate Housemate
Celebrity Big Brother 8	Channel 5	August 18, 2011 - September 8, 2011	22	10	Paddy Doherty	Kerry Katona
Big Brother 12		September 9, 2011 - November 11, 2011	64	15	Aaron Allard-Morgan	Jay McKray	£50,990
Celebrity Big Brother 9		January 5, 2012 - January 27, 2012	23	12	Denise Welch	Frankie Cocozza
Big Brother 13		June 5, 2012 - August 13, 2012	70	17	Luke Anderson	Adam Kelly	£50,000
Celebrity Big Brother 10		August 15, 2012 - September 7, 2012	24	13	Julian Clary	Coleen Nolan
Celebrity Big Brother 11		January 3, 2013 - January 25, 2013	23	11	Rylan Clark	Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt
Big Brother 14		June 13, 2013 - August 19, 2013	68	14	Sam Evans	Dexter Koh	£100,000
Celebrity Big Brother 12		August 22, 2013 - September 13, 2013	23	13	Charlotte Crosby	Abz Love Breen
Celebrity Big Brother 13		January 3, 2014 - January 29, 2014	27	12	Jim Davidson	Dappy Contostavlos
Big Brother 15		June 5, 2014 - August 15, 2014	72	19	Helen Wood	Ashleigh Coyle	£100,000
Celebrity Big Brother 14		August 18, 2014 - September 12, 2014	26	14	Gary Busey	Audley Harrison
Celebrity Big Brother 15		January 7, 2015 - February 6, 2015	31	15	Katie Price	Katie Hopkins
Big Brother 16		May 12, 2015 - July 16, 2015	66	18	Chloe Wilburn	Joel Williams	£116,100
Celebrity Big Brother 16		August 27, 2015 - September 24, 2015	29	14	James Hill	Austin Armacost
Celebrity Big Brother 17		January 5, 2016 - February 5, 2016	32	16	Scott Timlin	Stephanie Davis
Big Brother 17		June 7, 2016 - July 26, 2016	50	19	Jason Burrill	Hughie Maughan	£70,000
Celebrity Big Brother 18		July 28, 2016 - August 26, 2016	30	15	Stephen Bear	Ricky Norwood
Celebrity Big Brother 19		January 3, 2017 - February 3, 2017	32	18	Coleen Nolan	Jedward Grimes
Big Brother 18		June 5, 2017 - July 28, 2017	54	22	Isabelle Warburton	Raph Korine	£100,000
Celebrity Big Brother 20		August 1, 2017 - August 25, 2017	25	15	Sarah Harding	Amelia Lily	£50,000 for charity
Celebrity Big Brother 21		January 2, 2018 - February 2, 2018	32	16	Shane Jenek	Ann Widdecombe
Celebrity Big Brother 22		August 16, 2018 - September 10, 2018	26	13	Ryan Thomas	Kirstie Alley
Big Brother 19		September 14, 2018 - November 5, 2018	53	16	Cameron Cole	Akeem Griffiths	£100,000
Big Brother 20	ITV2	October 8, 2023 - November 17, 2023	42		Jordan Sangha	Olivia Young
Celebrity Big Brother 23	ITV1	March 4, 2024 - March 22, 2024	19	12	David Potts	Nikita Kuzmin
Big Brother 21	ITV2	October 6, 2024 - November 15, 2024	41	16	Ali Bromley	Marcello Dentamaro	£90,000
Celebrity Big Brother 24	ITV1	April 7, 2025 - April 25, 2025	19	13	Jack Shepherd	Danny Beard
Big Brother 22	ITV2	2025					£100,000

Ratings

Big Brother UK Average Viewers Per Season
Season	Launch Date	Final Date	Avg Viewers (in millions)	Episodes	Network(s)
Big Brother 1	July 18, 2000	September 15 , 2000	4.5	52	Channel 4
Celebrity Big Brother 1	March 9, 2001	March 16, 2001	5.2	8	BBC One	Channel 4
Big Brother 2	May 25, 2001	July 27, 2001	4.5	55	Channel 4
Celebrity Big Brother 2	November 20, 2002	November 29, 2002	4.4	12
Big Brother 3	May 24, 2002	July 26, 2002	5.8	72
Big Brother 4	May 23, 2003	July 25, 2003	4.6	73
Teen Big Brother	October 13, 2003	October 17, 2003	2.6	5
Big Brother 5	May 28, 2004	August 6, 2004	5.1	82
Big Brother Panto	December 20, 2004	January 5, 2005	N/A	12	Channel 4	E4
Celebrity Big Brother 3	January 6, 2005	January 23, 2005	4.3	18	Channel 4
Big Brother 6	May 27, 2005	August 12, 2005	4.6	90
Celebrity Big Brother 4	January 5, 2006	January 27, 2006	4.9	28
Big Brother 7	May 18, 2006	August 18, 2006	4.7	107
Celebrity Big Brother 5	January 3, 2007	January 28, 2007	4.6	30
Big Brother 8	May 30, 2007	August 31, 2007	3.9	96
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack	January 3, 2008	January 23, 2008	0.7	28
Big Brother 9	June 5, 2008	September 5, 2008	3.6	108
Celebrity Big Brother 6	January 2, 2009	January 29, 2009	3.1	28
Big Brother 10	June 4, 2009	September 4, 2009	2.5	108
Celebrity Big Brother 7	January 3, 2010	January 29, 2010	3.7	32
Big Brother 11	June 9, 2010	August 24, 2010	3.0	86
Ultimate Big Brother	August 24, 2010	September 10, 2010	3.1	22
Celebrity Big Brother 8	August 18, 2011	September 8, 2011	2.6	23	Channel 5
Big Brother 12	September 9, 2011	November 11, 2011	1.6	71
Celebrity Big Brother 9	January 5, 2012	January 27, 2012	2.6	25
Big Brother 13	June 5, 2012	August 13, 2012	1.6	73
Celebrity Big Brother 10	August 15, 2012	September 7, 2012	2.2	26
Celebrity Big Brother 11	January 3, 2013	January 25, 2013	2.8	23
Big Brother 14	June 13, 2013	August 13, 2013	1.9	69
Celebrity Big Brother 12	August 22, 2013	September 13, 2013	2.3	26
Celebrity Big Brother 13	January 3, 2014	January 29, 2014	3.1	27
Big Brother 15	June 5, 2014	August 15, 2014	1.6	72
Celebrity Big Brother 14	August 18, 2014	September 12, 2014	2.1	26
Celebrity Big Brother 15	January 7, 2015	February 6, 2015	3.1	32
Big Brother 16	May 12, 2015	July 16, 2015	1.4	66
Celebrity Big Brother 16	August 27, 2015	September 24, 2015	1.9	29
Celebrity Big Brother 17	January 5, 2016	February 5, 2016	2.8	36
Big Brother 17	June 7, 2016	July 26, 2016	1.6	50
Celebrity Big Brother 18	July 28, 2016	August 26, 2016	2.1	33
Celebrity Big Brother 19	January 3, 2017	February 3, 2017	2.4	36
Big Brother 18	June 5, 2017	July 28, 2017	1.2	54
Celebrity Big Brother 20	August 1, 2017	August 25, 2017	1.8	25
Celebrity Big Brother 21	January 2, 2018	February 2, 2018	1.9	37
Celebrity Big Brother 22	August 16, 2018	September 10, 2018	2.0	28
Big Brother 19	September 14, 2018	November 5, 2018	1.0	45
Big Brother 20	October 8, 2023	November 17, 2023	1.7	36	ITV2
Celebrity Big Brother 23	March 4, 2024	March 22, 2024	2.4	17	ITV1
Big Brother 21	October 6, 2024	November 15, 2024	1.1	36	ITV2
Celebrity Big Brother 24	April 7, 2025	April 25, 2025	2.4	17	ITV1
Big Brother 22					ITV2

Key:

Increase in Viewership

Decrease in Viewership