Big Brother (Netherlands)
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| Big Brother NL |
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| Presenters |
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| Series 6 (2006) housemates |
| Winner: Jeroen Visser
Runner-up: Sabrina Turfboer Others: Rik Rovers, Tijn Rovers, Monique de Roo, Semih Turan, Marcia Schouten, Micheline de Reus, Marlies Otten, Egbert Schouten, Etiënne Meulhof, Janine Holder, Milica IJpelaar, Hilde IJpelaar, Marcel Meulhof |
| Series 5 (2005) housemates |
| Winner: Joost Hoebink
Runner-up: Roeland (Roel) Dietvorst Others: Lieske Stokkers, Ingrid Hofland, Nathalie Malherbe, Dido van Kuijk, Rob van Nood, Chantal Braspenning, Menno Liebregts, Joscelyn Savanna Slangenberg, Tanja Slangenberg, Linda Rijsdijk, Ralph van der Velt, Rikkert van Bergen |
| Series 4 (2002) housemates |
| Winner: Jeanette Godefroy
Runner-up: Margriet Post Others: Stefan, Laurens Jongema, Wouter Valkier, Judith Peereboom, Mustapha (Mushi), Daniëla, Marc Vissers, Ting Chan, Arthur van Gijzel, Ursula, Dennis van Solkema, Geesje, Martijn, Joyce, Bram Recourt, Sandra, Bo, Carmen, Martijn Krabbé (guest) |
| Series 3 (2001) housemates |
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Winner: Sandy Boots Runner-up: Daniëlle van der Kuij Others: Gert-Jan de Boer, Andries de Jong, Leo van Veenendaal, Diane Hendriks, Kelly Van Der Veer, Ed Veter, Pascal van Lingen, Coos van Haaften, Frank Kloppert, Pricella Ahlers, Tania de Maer, Audrey, Richard Oosterhuis, Nancy van Beek, Aldrico Amando Felida, Ellen |
| Series 2 (2000) housemates |
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Winner: Bianca Hagenbeek Runner-up: Robin Veen Others: Koos Wentink, Georgie de Gee, Dirk Boterbloem (guest), Hieke van der Heide, Desiree Stegeman, Ferdi Bonnet, Kim Röben, Annet Stokkentreeff, Ed Nypels, Leo Piller, Miranda Huisman, Rex van Iersel, Mohammed Ali Japur (a.k.a. Darius), Jolanda Kelderman |
| Big Brother VIPS (1999) housemates |
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Winner: - Runner-up: - Participants: Week 1: Theo van Gogh, Christine van der Horst , Antje Monteiro, Emile Ratelband, Monique Sluyter, Johan van der Velde, Ad Visser. Week 2: John Blankenstein, Ben Cramer, Kim Holland, Des’ree Manders, Harry Slinger, Manon Thomas. Week 3: Henk Bres, Maja van den Broecke, Menno Buch, Isabelle Kuylenberg, Nicky Nicole, Mike Starink. Week 4: Maya Eksteen, Anneke Grönloh, Theodor Holman, Maxine, Henk Schiffmacher, Ronnie Tober |
| Series 1 (1999) housemates |
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Winner: Bart Spring in ‘t Veld Runner-up: Ruud Benard Others: Willem Boomsma, Karin van Elswijk, Maurice de Back, Anouk Drost, Cyrille van Hoof, Bianca Plune, Mona Rooth-De Leeuw, Sabine Wendel, Tara van den Bergh, Martin Jonkman |
The Dutch Big Brother is the original version of the notorious 'mother of all TV reality shows'. It created the format in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. This Endemol production set the rules for many other highly successful Big Brother versions.
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[edit] Origins
[edit] John de Mol
The idea for Big Brother was born on Thursday, 4 September 1997 during a brainstorm session at the production house John de Mol Produkties, an independent part of Endemol. Participants were John de Mol himself, Patrick Scholtze, Bart Römer and his brother Paul Römer. [1] The original idea called for a luxurious house with only six contestants, closed up for a year. The one that would persevere for twelve months would win 1,000,000 guilders. Working title was De Gouden Kooi (The Golden Cage).
The brainsession group came upon the idea after contemplating the 1991 Biosphere 2 experiment in the Arizona desert, in which eight men and women discovered just how hard it is to live together alone – in that case, inside an airtight glass and steel geodesic dome that sought to replicate the Earth's environment. To that concept of imprisonment and isolation, Big Brother added the alternating of deprivation with excess.
The format of Big Brother was also influenced by MTV's The Real World, which began in 1992 and originated the concept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. The Real World had also introduced the concept of after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by housemates. The Swedish TV show Expedition Robinson, which first aired in 1997 (and was later produced in a large number of other countries as Survivor), added to the "Real World" template the idea of competition, in which cast members/contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained.
The idea of the introduction of 24/7 streaming video was influenced by websites like Jennicam.org from Jennifer Ringley, a Washington resident who created it in 1997 to share her daily doings with Webwatchers around the world.
In development, the period of occupation of the house was brought back to 100 days. At the same time the idea of an existing house was abandonded in favor of a house made from prefab containers. This would facilitate the building permit and made it possible to install the socalled camera-cross, which allowed camaramen inside the house, without being seen by the inhabitants. Originally the thought was to produce a (heavily edited) weekly program. But after some experiments with the employees of the production house the allure of slow television was discovered, and the potential for a daily program was realized. The reallife soap had been born.
[edit] Orwell lawsuit
One of the biggest origins, George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which Big Brother is the all-seeing leader of a dystopian nation, has never been openly acknowledged by the producers. However, the heirs of Orwell settled an agreement with the tv-network CBS and Endemol after having undertaken legal proceedings against the use of the concept in the American version of Big Brother. The concerning amount of cash has never been revealed.
[edit] Voyeurdorm lawsuit
According to a lawsuit filed in 2000 in a New York federal district court, Big Brother was homegrown in the U.S.A.. The original idea for the show, said the suit, came out of meetings in summer 1999 between low-level CBS executives and Voyeurdorm.com, a Tampa, Florida, adult website that streamed live feeds of eight college-age women. These women lived together, eat, slept, studied and "sunbathed naked", all under the watchful eyes of more than 55 cameras.
[edit] Castaway lawsuit
Also in 2000, the independent production company Castaway, part-owned by musician Bob Geldof, sued Endemol for theft of format in a court in Amsterdam, saying the programme was a rip-off of its own Survivor-show (Expedition Robinson). A lawyer listed 12 points where Big Brother bore uncanny similarities to Survivor. An Endemol spokesman rejected the allegations, saying: "The genre may be the same, but the programmes are completely different and they evolved separately. There are 20 or 30 game shows on TV and many different talk shows, but there are the same genre, not the same programme."
[edit] Logo
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The logo for the Big Brother was especially designed to fit with the housestyle of Dutch television station Veronica. The little wave under both names harkens back to the time that Veronica used to be an illegal pirate station, broadcoasting from a ship from international waters off the coast of the Netherlands. The wave remained when Veronica left the Holland Media Groep and Big Brother was taken over by Yorin. It also showed up in the logos of Big Brother-versions all over the world. However, the most recent versions of Dutch Big Brother at Talpa have abandonded the original logo and are using the eye-logo that has been introduced with the second series of Big Brother UK.
[edit] Ethics and Debate
Upon the first announcement of the programme's format a vehement debate arose about the ethical acceptability of Big Brother. Point of discussion was also the question if a programmes like this could be considered decent and/or in good taste. It was unknown at the time if participants would be shown showering and/or on the toilet. Both were deemed unacceptable then, but time has told us that only the latter taboo still holds now. Experts argumented the question if participants should be protected against themselves, and if participation wouldn't cause psychological or emotional damage. Part in the discussion played the moral panic in Sweden, after the first contestant voted off Expedition Robinson had killed himself shortly afterwards, with his family reportedly blaming the rejection he felt as a result of being unpopular with the public.
P. van Lange, a social psychologist at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam pointed out the similarity to the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment (1971). [2] In that experiment the participants were placed in a jail, where half of them played guards and the other half the prisoners. In six days the experiment completely derailed. The people forming the upper hand in this totalitarian regime became aggressive, repressive and sadistic. They transformed into personalities outside their normal selves. "From the Stanford-experiment may be concluded that human behavior is largely summoned by the local circumstances", added his colleague J. van der Pligt, professor at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. [2] "People get carried away" said A. Bergsma of Psychologie Magazine. "isolation becomes reality. They lose themselves in the experiment. There are no checks and balances. If there is no correction, they will derail one after another." [2] All experts agreed that the big reward for the winner increased the chance of accidents. But some of them weren't entirely negative. A. Lange, professor clinical psychology at the Universiteit van Amsterdam indicated that the programme maybe would produce unexpected eyeopeners. Such eyeopeners weren't possible anymore in modern social-psychologcal research because the protection of the participants prevailed over the importance of research.[2] "The design of the programme is the wet dream of a psychological researcher. Nowhere in the world an ethical commission will be found that would agree to such a design", agreed psycho-fysiologist A. Gaillard of the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. [2]
From the moment that it became clear that Big Brother scored unprecedented high ratings, the debate shifted to the question what this fact implicated about the character of the Dutch people, and if the amount of sexual explicitism and terms of abuse suited the early time of broadcasting. What was formerly considered voyeurism now became a staple of mainstream entertainment. One explanation was that people who lived in the modern world had become more and more isolated and were searching for others to identify with. In this view, talking about Big Brother took the place of backbiting and scandal-speaking on the village green. Notable was the surrender of even the high class newspapers, who couldn't refrain from reporting on the hype that Big Brother had become. Overnight the programme had become fashionable.
Ofcourse, at the time it was unknown that such debates would be repeated over and over again in each country where Big Brother was to be broadcasted. In the course of time all debate in the Netherlands died down and and reality-tv became a standard part of television programming. In hindsight it nonetheless became clear that some housemates (like first season's Bart en Ruud) have suffered psychic problems akin to post-traumatic stress disorder. They weren't able to bear the wealth of their 15 minutes of fame.
[edit] Seasons
[edit] Season 1
The first ever season of Big Brother started on 16 September 1999 and would last until 30 December 1999 (106 days). It was broadcasted by the Dutch television channel Veronica, which formed part of the Holland Media Groep (HMG). The especially build house was located at a factory-site in Almere and Presenters were Rolf Wouters and famous Dutch model Daphne Deckers.
The program was an instant hit and experienced exceptional high ratings. Viewers and streamwatchers of internet forum FOK! alike were fascinated by the boredom and the group dynamics of the nine lab rats. The first months Brabant-born Ruud was considered to be the alpha male of the little community. This Burgundian became the darling of the public with his often repeated oneliners en his simple philosophies in the diary room. His lieutenant was the Frisian Willem, who took up the role of housecook. Hotly debated was the relation between the leading female, housewife Karin (who had recently been cured of cancer), and her much younger 'mate' Maurice. Also much talked about was a sex-scene between youngsters Bart and Sabine. The long awaited action under the blankets was captured by the nightview camera's in the bedroom.
The first ever evicted housemate was Martin, who also vied for Sabine's attentions and had accused Bart of being gay. He was voted out by a landslide. The first ever voluntary exit was for young Tara, who left after only nine days because of boredom. Much maligned was Amsterdam-born intruder Mona, who took her place. In the end Willem betrayed his friend Ruud in the nominations, and Bart became the first ever Big Brother-winner.
During the series the housemates were visited by artists George Baker, Marco Borsato and Anouk. After they had left the house, both Tara and Sabine obtained fotoshoots in the Dutch Playboy. The communely recorded song Big Brother and the tune Leef (Han van Eijk) reached number one in the pop charts.
[edit] Season 2
Big Brother 2000 was again broadcasted by Veronica, it lasted from 14 September till 30 December 2000 (108 days). Presenters were Beau van Erven Dorens en Esther Duller. This second series still had high ratings but was plagued by mediocre casting which resulted in a programme that rarely sparkled. Big Brother tried to push a romance between the youngsters Georgie and Kim but it never really took off. Both Jolanda and Leo left prematurely after they had discovered that they hadn't impressed the public. It seemed they only wanted to use Big Brother as a stepstone to fame and a job on television. Cry-baby Desirée also regularly threathened to leave, but never made that threat true. House-pet Cindy, a Nubian goat, was removed by Big Brother because the streamwatchers complained that she wasn't properly cared for.
There were good moments too, though. The irritations around would-be artist Mohammed Ali, Robin who couldn't hold his liquor, Annette who slept a night in the goatpen and the stolen kisses between housewife Hieke and surfboy Ferdi. Hilarious was the unexpected refusal of the idealistic Ed to leave during the live show. He thought he had been treated unfair, and only agreed to leave the next day, after being allowed to make a public statement.
The finals were a sad affair. Fifty year old 'Grandfather' Koos was bought off by the producers, after they had discovered he probably would win. Instead they pushed the bisexual Bianca to first place, because she better fitted the target audience of Veronica (young and wild). Afterwards Hieke was featured in the Dutch Playboy, and Bianca started an online magazine targeted at bisexual girls (Lets Be Open)[1]. The others disappeared in to oblivion.
[edit] Season 3
Known as The Battle, the third season Big Brother was broadcasted by the new station Yorin. It lasted from 6 September to 30 December 2001 (115 days). Presenter was Patty Brard, who used to be known in the seventies as a member of the girlgroup Luv'. Due to a better cast of characters, this Big Brother-series became the talk of the town again.
The format underwent some changes. Contrary to the former seasons the viewers were only able to vote for their favorite nominee, and not for the one they wanted to leave. This system was introduced to prevent that the most controversial housemates would be evicted first. Equally important for the producers was that the new system would generate more phonecalls, and thus more revenue.
The housemates were divided in two permanent groups. One group lived in a luxurious part of the house, the other group lived in poverty. On unexpected times a battle was announced, in which the two groups could fight for the right to live on the rich half. Each group had a captain with special duties and privileges (a Head of Household before that name was coined). At any moment each participant was free to challenge his leader in a captains-battle.
The series started out with only six housemates. The others were secluded in a villa in Spain and were only gradually introduced. Each new twosome started with a battle to determine which group they became part of. In Spain, where there were no cameras, a relation developed between Nancy and Richard. But when Nancy finally arrived in Almere, Richard was voted out at the same time. Another contestant never made it to the real house at all. Ellen was removed from the Spanish villa because she had made unallowed telephonic contact with the outside world. Rumor said she had gained possession of the telephone by having sex with a security guard.
The first week the occupants were only visible on streaming video. The producers thought that it would be prudent to start the the television broadcast in the second week, so they could save up interesting material for a jump start. They were wrong. During that first week 9/11 happened in the US. Because of the magnitude of the event the housemates were informed. Antillian Aldrico, who had many friends in New York, took the news bad and had to be removed after he started to behave confused. On the other hand, some housemates for a while had the feeling the event was not real. Even after they received newspapers and saw images, they thought they were the victim of a very cruel joke.
The outspoken characters of this season yielded much viewing-pleasure but also lots of complaints about the high content of swearing, boozing and sex. Young teacher Andries ended up in bed with the transsexual Kelly, snogged with Audrey and had a sexual relationship with Diane. Before that, a very drunken Diane had forced sex with Frank. Streamwatchers who were witness to the event filed a complaint. However, neither the Ministry of Justice nor Big Brother took action. Housemate Gert-Jan gathered a big fanbase after he had been much maligned by the the manipulative Coos and Pascal and had proposed to his girlfriend in the outside world.
The final battles, in which the last contestants had to collect the prize money, were copied from Fear Factor (another Endemol production). The lesbian beauty Sandy won the last popularity vote. Inspired by Kelly, she later used the money to pay for breast implants for her girlfriend and herself. Kelly herself gained a photo shoot in the Playboy in which she could show off her newly gained feminity.
[edit] Season 4
Season 4 was broadcasted by Yorin as well. It lasted from 28 August till 23 December 2002 (117 days). Presenter was Martijn Krabbé (son of Jeroen Krabbé), aided by psychologist Dr. Steven Pont. This season the house was again divided in a rich area (the Bungalow) and a poor area (the Bunker). Unlike Season 3, allotment to either side depended on individual tasks, confrontations and dilemmas. As before, some of the housemates were kept in seclusion for a while, this time around in Portugal. All participants were relatively young, and selected upon their single status. As planned, this led to several relationships from which the one between Arthur and Ursula endured for the longest time. Stefan, working in the porn-business, didn't manage to choose between former Jehovah witness Daniela, Geesje and Margriet. This wasn't very much appreciated by the girls. Dutch Moroccan Mustapha put his stamp on the program by insisting to upheld the Ramadan. In spite of that, ‘Mushi’ was involved in various rude arguments with the emancipated Margriet and Fortuynist Arthur. Meanwhile Judith, Marc en Wouter provided a ethereal component with their interest for the paranormal and for neurolinguistic thinking. In the end the outsider Jeanette became the unlikely winner.
Excursions to The Weakest Link and for charity to Uganda upturned the principle of no contact with the outside world. Due to the poor casting, the unsympathetic characters (Jack Russell Terrier Quincy being the most liked), and the deviation from the original format, Big Brother 4 was universally considered a failure. The ratings were consequently very low, and while Big Brother remained a success all over the world, it was cancelled in the Netherlands.
[edit] Season 5
Big Brother returned three years later, after John de Mol introduced his own TV-station Talpa. Although he didn’t own the production rights anymore (he had left Endemol by then), he certainly hadn’t forgotten his crownjewel. Series 5 was shown with moderate success in the early evening from 24th August until 22nd December (121 days). The house had moved from Almere to Aalsmeer, and presenters were Bridget Maasland en Ruud de Wild. This year the main theme was secrecy: all housemates entered with a secret that they weren’t allowed to reveal for a certain period of time. Aside from the usual weekly tasks, de housemates also received secret missions which were mainly devised to spark distrust and conflicts. Some gained cash rewards in small nominations, which they had to hide for the others.
The series was dominated by the off and on relationship between posh icequeen Dido and rough living squatter Roel, who shared his bed with Lieske and Linda as well. The series also borrowed some successful elements from foreign series, like the unexpected introduction of Nathalie’s ex-boyfriend in the house. However, most attention was directed to Tanja, who was seven months pregnant when she entered the house. Officially, Tanja could be voted off before the baby would be born, but the producers made certain that she stayed. Tanja’s unhealthy smoking habits during her pregnancy were hotly debated in the media, as well as the role of the accidental father who didn’t want any responsibility but enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame nonetheless. On 18 October 2005 Tanja gave birth to her daughter Joscelyn Savanna in front of the cameras, another Big Brother first. Because limitations set by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate the baby thereafter wasn’t allowed to be shown on camera for extended periods of time. As a consequence, Tanja voluntary left with her daughter
During the last days of the series, the producers were accused of tempering with the results of the SMS-and telephone votes during eviction rounds. A campaign, spearheaded by third season housemate Gert-Jan de Boer called for attendance of a notary at least during the finals. After much resistance Endemol gave in. In the finals Roel was defeated by happy go lucky Joost.
[edit] Season 6
August 18th 2006 was the internet kick-off for the sixth season, presented by Bridget Maasland. The tv show started two days later. The finale happened on 27th November (102 days), which mad it the shortest Dutch Big Brother, ever. Viewing numbers were half of the previous season. The show also suffered from the competition with the similar show The Golden Cage, that was broadcasted by Talpa in the time-slot immediately after Big Brother.
Theme was Together Alone. Candidates were invited to enter as couples: 2 brothers, 2 sisters, a father/daughter, a father/son, a mother/daughter and a lovecouple took part as well as three singles. Communication with the housemates was done via intercom, wall-phone, red phone (obligatory answer), tv-screen and diary room. Every housemate had a safe deposit of € 30.000. When leaving half was left behind, while the other half had to be donated to another housemate's deposit. The winner left with the amount accumulated in his deposit. Two "jokers" (safeguard against exit but obliged to nominate some one else) were been sold by auction. Marlies en Tijn won them for € 25.300 and € 29.200.
The series was characterised by tasks often copied from elsewhere as well by the editorial habit to ridiculise the participants. The series started without daylight, fresh air or day/night rythm which resulted in group instabilities and contestants getting physical and psychical complaints. After two weeks the garden opened for 2 hours daily. Ever since the slogan hard and unpredictable had never been made true again.
Two contestants, Jeroen and Milica, arrived one day early and had to pretend to be a couple (mission failed). Milica's mother Hilde entered a day after the group as not to betray her daughter. The first time the red phone rang Egbert answered it and heard the message that the viewers would decide whether he would stay. One day later he was allowed to stay with 75% of the public vote. Jeroen, Hilde, Milica, Etienne and Marcel formed a subgroup soon. When Egbert dropped his key into a hole in the floor, he had to survive in an inflatable canoe in the swimming pool for two days to get it back. Big Brother nominated Semih and Marlies for a minor rule offense but this was annulled and Etienne and Marcel were nominated instead for talking about their nomination strategy. Marcel was the first one to get an exit and donated his half of the money to his son. Soon after, the irate husband of Monique rushed to the house when the relation she had with Tijn was portrayed suggestively. After letters written hence and forth Monique decided to stay. Afterwards, the sisters Monique and Sabrina gained a private bedroom since Tijn and Etienne wouldn't leave them alone at night. In the second round Hilde and Etienne were nominated, the latter because of his racist talk. Hilde, who suffered heavily from fibromyalgia was elected to leave. One week later her daughter Milica lost from Jeroen and gave him half of her money upon her exit. The red telephone rang again on september 25th and Semih heard that he would be nominated for four consecutive weeks. On september 26 scabies was discovered within the house and measures had to be taken. A cocktail party lead to a night with sexual acts amongst different contestants, including gay Rik and Etienne (who had earlier said he hated gays). Marlies used her joker to put Janine in her place and the latter had to leave. A week later Egbert, Jeroen and Semih were nominated. Host Bridget told that Egbert and Jeroen both had to leave because they had the same percentage of votes. But Jeroen didn't leave for real, as a secret mission Monique and Sabrina had to hide him for a couple of days in their private bedroom. They succeeded, all gaining immunity in the next nominations. The following housemates to leave were Etienne, Micheline and Marlies. Marlies had ended up being nominated by a new joker, that Sabrina had bought from Jeroen. After that Marcia and Semih were the next to leave. From the four finalists the first to go were Tijn eand Monique, the public fed up by their ecocentrical relationship. Thwe winner was the rather undexriptive soccerplayer Jeroen. It is not expected that Big Brother will survive on Dutch televsion after this disappointing season.
[edit] References
- ^ Karel Hille et al. Big Brother. Hét boek. BZZZTôh / De Telegraaf, 's-Gravenhage / Amsterdam. 2000
- ^ a b c d e Tom-Jan Meeus. Riskante afvalrace op televisie. NRC, 24 september 1999
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