done some research
Big Brother" is a popular reality television format, where, over 10 weeks or so, a number of contestants (typically 10 or 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 John de Mol of the Netherlands and developed by his production company, Endemol
Endemol - based in the Netherlands and founded by John de Mol. Its biggest success has been the Big Brother "reality television" show, with versions in many countries after the initial Dutch version. Other Endemol programmes in the UK include Changing Rooms, Ready Steady Cook, Ground Force, International King of Sports, and Fear Factor.
It has been a prime-time hit in nineteen different countries, earning Endemol large sums. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Initially shown in the Netherlands in September 1999, and subsequently cloned across the world, the "housemates" are confined inside a specially designed house, and not permitted any contact with the outside world: no TV, radio, telephone, internet or other media are available to the housemates, not even writing materials. Private chats with a psychologist are a special exception. At weekly intervals, the public is invited to vote to evict one of the contestants. The last remaining is the winner.
American Big Brother currently uses different rules than other countries' versions of the show. In the US version, viewers do not vote for eviction; all voting is done by houseguests. The US has seen four complete seasons; a fifth is ongoing. All have been shown by CBS.
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