With Big Brother’s tenth ninth birthday just around the corner, I’ve dug out the very first episode and cast my critical eye over it - and how things have changed.
Ten unsuspecting contestants moved into the Big Brother house on Friday 14th July 2000, but although they could be watched live online it wasn’t until the following Tuesday that Big Brother made it’s TV debut, with highlights from the first weekend.
In They Go
The titles role and then we get a few random snippets of the first weekend in the house as Marcus Bentley (before he was Geordie, before he spoke slowly) introduces the concept:
“For the last four days 10 people have been living together in a specially built house, completely cut off from the outside world. No TV, no radio, no newspapers, only each other for company - but all the time, cameras are recording there every move.”
We then cut to a VT of the housemates being driven from their homes to the Big Brother house along with footage of from behind the scenes, with Marcus explaining “Big Brother is always watching”. Without fanfare, Marcus introduces the housemates one by one as they cross the bridge and make their way into the house, adding:
“Although the Big Brother team controls their environment, how they live in the house is entirely up to them. No one can predict their reactions or their behaviour.”
The door closes and we then move to the action inside. We get a brief glimpse of them meeting each other, but then skip to something far more important - the chickens! A few jokes about fertilising eggs from Craig and then we cut to his VT - a short introduction filmed at his home. The other housemates’ VTs are dotted throughout the show.
Day 1 - actually, you can read the time yourself!
We jump to 4.13pm in the afternoon - but Marcus doesn’t feel the need to tell us this, or name check any individuals. The narration throughout is much more informal, and before you have time to say “All of the housemates are in the house”, we’ve jumped to 8.32pm and then to Nicholas - or as he became known, Nasty Nick - and his VT. He tells us he’s a broker at Lloyds, so I guess we can somehow blame him for the recession now, and tells us he’s a vice-president at Fulham FC - something I suspect was a lie in hindsight.
The housemates keep themselves entertained by playing a game in which they reveal three secrets, one of which is a lie. Here we learn Nick went to school with Prince Edward, Andrew did a live sex show in the Phillipines and Anna was a nun - but quit when she started fancying her fellow sisters. We then cut to 11.37pm, and are told “After a late meal the girls decide to turn in. At the end of day 1, the men are on their own,” and with an explanation about the night vision cameras, that’s Day 1 finished.
Day 2
A quick gratuitous shower shot to explain housemates get an hour of water a day and we then move on to 11.30am, as Big Brother makes contact with the housemates for the first time - with a beep. That signals the storeroom is unlocked, and there they find the details of the first task - making clay pots. The housemates opt to gamble 20% of their £1.50 per person per day budget on the task.
Next it’s 5.29pm and Mel is already flirting with Andrew, and then after another housemate VT we learn Nicholas is a “trained healer” - yeah, right. Caroline falls for it as Nicholas hovers his hands over her head before moving onto the breasts. Mel and Andrew look on rather suspiciously.
This is Big Brother
6.16pm and we here the voice of Big Brother for the first time, calling Thomas to the diary room. Marcus explains it is the only place in the house anyone can communicate with Big Brother in private, and as Tom admits he’s struggling to push himself forward in the group, Mel has moved on to flirting with Nicholas.
“Late evening, conversation turns to sexual preferences. Anna, the ex-nun, reveals hers.“ Or to translate: “Day 2. 11.29pm. All of the housemates are in the house. The housemates have been discussing their sexual preferences for the last 17 minutes and 24 seconds.” A frank discussion about lesbianism follows, discussion which would probably lead to certain idiots complaining to OFCOM nowadays, before the housemates head off to bed.
Tofu or not Tofu
Day 3, 10.57am and the housemates are doing their shopping, with Marcus interjecting through the scene to explain how they “pool their allowance to buy food and luxuries to supplement their basic rations”.
Now, as much as C4 may have tried to sell it as a valuable psychological experiment, let’s face it - it was the prospect of nudity which attracted a lot of the early attention, and on Day 3 at 12.29am, naked clay body painting delivered what the press had been waiting for - and as Caroline plays her saxophone in the garden, half the housemates get naked and plastered in clay in the lounge. Now, that wouldn’t happen nowadays!
Playing the Game
Day 3, 5.00pm and Marcus casually informs us a rock concert is going on nearby as Nicholas grills Darren on what he brings to the house and whether he thinks he can win. An interesting discussion initiated by Mel follows about whether her and Darren are the “token” black housemates.
The discussion moves on to how Darren can afford to have children, with Darren saying it’s a question people ask him a lot, and then Nicholas joking they think he’s a “drug dealer”, something still on Darren’s mind later. Back then it was passed off as a joke - if it happened today it’s another comment which I’m sure OFCOM would be called upon to investigate.
Nicholas and Mel then begin to discuss the housemates, with talk eventually turning to who they think will be nominated first (and it’s Mel asking Nick) and evicted by the public, with Nick suggesting “Sadie” and Tom, and that Darren, “Sadie” and Tom would be voted out if all housemates face the vote, before Mel suggests the public are “idiots”, quickly realising that might not be a wise thing to say.
Big Brother says no
It’s 11.23pm, and already a classic Big Brother mistake has been made. Nowadays it is something which the housemates would usually get around, but back then, Big Brother put his foot down.
“There’s a bit of a crisis. They’ve run out of toilet paper and have asked Big Brother for more. They’re about to find out they should have thought more carefully when they compiled their shopping list.“
In other words, Big Brother says no - and the housemates quickly agree to use their hands instead.
And on that note, the first ever episode of Big Brother comes to an end and the credits role - interestingly enough, the narrator isn’t deemed worthy of a mention in the credits.
Innocent Nostalgia
Nowadays the appeal of it is very much for it’s nostalgic value, but with three days covered in a one-hour show, the pacing of the show was much quicker than now, meaning nothing in the show felt like a filler scene.
The most notable difference as I’ve mentioned throughout is the narration. Not just less Geordie, but far more informal too - and it felt all the better for it. The viewers are treated as if they can think for themselves.
Above all though it was all much more innocent back then - not just the housemates being oblivious to what being on the show would mean for them, but also it was a time where every comment made didn’t lead to an influx of complaints to OFCOM - and hence back then, the housemates truly could be themselves.
But Geroge trying to be funny is a nightmare, with the 25 hour news (that is SO immature) and he just heavily relies on an autocue and his piece, whereas Davina on BBBM doesn’t, she just does what she feels. Although, the content on BBLB is a bit farfetched, with the online stuff and Grace Dent - why do BBLB care so much about celebrities opinions on the show anyway? It’s like, if people see that celebrities like the show, they are likely to copy, and BB knows this and is using it to an advantage? Oh well…still, It’s an extra hour/half an hour filled with BB related issues, so I still watch it 
