Big Brother 7 (UK)

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Big Brother 7 is the 2006 edition of the Big Brother UK reality television series. It aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, from 18 May 2006 to 18 August 2006, and at 93 days it is the longest series to date.

The show format was unchanged from previous years. A number of contestants (known as "housemates") lived in a purpose-built house at Elstree Studios, and were isolated from the rest of the world. Each week, housemates nominated two of their peers for eviction, and the housemates who received the most nominations would face a public vote. Of these, one would eventually leave, having been "evicted" from the House. However, there were exceptions to this process as dictated by Big Brother, known as "twists". In the final week, there were six housemates remaining, and the public voted for who they wanted to win. Pete Bennett received the most votes, and won the prize money of £100,000.

Contents 1 Broadcasts 2 Housemates 3 Golden tickets 4 The House Next Door 5 Re-entry of evicted housemates 6 Weekly summary 7 Nominations, evictions and percentages 8 References and footnotes 9 External links

[edit] Broadcasts

Companion shows Big Brother's Big Mouth and Big Brother's Little Brother were broadcast alongside the main show, with the addition of new show Big Brother's Big Brain (a psychology show), hosted by Dermot O'Leary. Live action was available online through the official Channel 4 website; NTL BroadbandPlus; and by pressing the red button on E4 via Sky Digital (UK, not ROI subscribers) and cable. At the start of the series live action was also available by pressing the red button on E4 via Freeview, but the service was removed a few days prior to the launch of Film4 on Freeview.

The title sequence contained phrases such as "This is the title sequence for Big Brother", "Not for transmission", and a copyright year of 1903 (written MCMIII), the birth year of George Orwell. Other words flashed on screen included "You are being observed", and, in sequence the text "cam 01", "cam 09", "cam 08" and "cam 04" was shown at the top of the screen, making 1984, another reference to Nineteen Eighty-Four.^[1]

On the launch night, the programme obtained a peak audience of 7.7 million viewers, one million greater than the previous year's show but then dropped to an average of 4.7 million.^[2] The season's final broadcast obtained a peak audience of 8.2 million viewers, five hundred thousand greater than the launch show.

[edit] Housemates

Main article: List of Big Brother housemates (UK series 7)

Fourteen housemates entered the House at Launch, but eight other housemates entered the House during the series, creating a total of twenty-two housemates competing in Big Brother 7. This is the most housemates to ever compete in a series of Big Brother UK. Two of these eight housemates were replacement housemates Sam and Aisleyne, who were introduced^[3] to the housemates as part of the Meal or No Meal task after the departure of Shahbaz and Dawn. George decided to leave the House of his own will, a rule all housemates are allowed to take advantage of at any time, on Day 13 as he "did not want to be famous". On Day 23, Susie entered the House as Big Brother's lucky Golden Ticket winner. Five more housemates entered on Day 44 (Jonathan, Spiral, Jennie, Michael and Jayne) to the House Next Door, totalling 22 housemates.

This series saw the largest number of housemates to leave without being evicted, with three exiting the House. This beat series 3, where there were a total of fourteen housemates and two people walked; and series 5, in which there were a total of thirteen housemates and two were ejected. Housemate numbers also topped series 6, in which even after the "Secret Garden" twist, there were only a total of sixteen contestants. At one point there were more additional housemates than original housemates in this series: during Week 9, following Nikki's eviction there was a total of six additional housemates and five original housemates, having entered the House on launch night.

The programme attracted criticism on May 31 for putting a several vulnerable people in the Big Brother House. Pete suffered from Tourette syndrome,^[4][5][6][7] Shahbaz was revealed to be mentally and emotionally unstable and threatened to commit suicide on live television; Lea suffers from Body dysmorphic disorder; Sam has admitted to being shunned by family members because of homosexuality, and possible gender identity disorder; and Nikki has suffered from anorexia and been sectioned^[8][9] in the past due to the condition. A spokeswoman for mental health charity SANE claimed that producers are "playing fast and loose with people's lives." A spokesperson for Rethink commented "The programme should not profit from people having a breakdown." A spokesman defended the show saying that a psychologist is always available for housemates.^[10]

Further criticism arose when contestant Glyn Wise was reprimanded for communicating in his first language, Welsh, to housemate Imogen Thomas. Big Brother deemed this a form of 'code' and issued a warning to Glyn, who retorted "But Welsh is British". Following the incident, the Welsh Language Society complained to Channel 4, Ofcom and S4C. Clearly, it was no longer a problem after this as Glyn and Imogen continued to converse in Welsh. Such discussions were broadcast with English subtitles.^[11]

[edit] Golden tickets

During the first three weeks of the series, Channel 4 conducted a promotion in conjunction with Nestle to distribute 100 golden tickets randomly throughout Kit Kat chocolate bars, in a style reminiscent of the story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Members of the public finding these tickets were permitted to use them to give themselves a chance to become a Big Brother housemate and bypass the standard auditions process.

Golden ticket holders were invited to a television show where one of them, Susie Verrico, was chosen to enter the House by Aisleyne picking a ball out of a machine at random.

This contest caused some controversy, with the Advertising Standards Authority saying that the terms and conditions of the draw should have been made clearer in related advertisements, and that an independent adjudicator should have been present before and during the draw.^[12]

[edit] The House Next Door

The House Next Door was a group of rooms connected to the original house via the Diary Room. On June 30, five new housemates entered this house. The public, instead of voting for a housemate to be evicted, voted to transfer one of the current housemates to also live in the new house.^[13]

Aisleyne was voted to be moved into the House Next Door along with 5 new housemates; Jonathan, Spiral, Jennie, Michael and Jayne.^[14]Aisleyne was then required to evict another housemate, and chose Jonathan.^[15]

The House Next Door was also used later on in the series. In Week 10 it featured in the "Prison Task" and in Week 12 it housed four previous evictees who had been voted by the public to re-enter the House.

[edit] Re-entry of evicted housemates

On Day 83, four previous evictees entered the "House Next Door" following a public vote between ten previous Housemates. Nikki received 63% of the vote, with Grace getting 8.4%, and Lea and Mikey 7.3% each. Their presence was revealed to the other housemates and Imogen and Richard, who were up for eviction that week, joined them.^[16]

Nikki was chosen by the remaining housemates to return to the Big Brother house and become eligible to win the prize money^[17] and Grace, Mikey and Lea left the House Next Door.

This decision to allow one evicted housemate, who would be eligible to win the £100,000 prize money, to return to the House was also criticised. Media watchdog Ofcom confirmed that it had received over 1,000 complaints from viewers about this matter and Channel 4 had received 500. Ofcom quickly advised viewers that the matter should be taken up with ICSTIS.^[18] On the day after the four ex-housemates entered the House Next Door, ICSTIS released a statement confirming that it was dealing with over 2,500 complaints and that a "full, formal investigation" was possible.^[19] One day later, ICSTIS followed up its claims and confirmed that it would be launching an official investigation.^[20] On the day prior to the results being announced, Channel 4 had stated that it still considered the vote to be a success as they had already received 400,000 votes, making it the most successful of the series. 36p from each call and 26p from each text also went to charity.^[21] Channel 4 raised over £250,000 for charity on the vote alone and the money will be split between three charities: Shelter, The Teenage Cancer Trust and the winning housemate's chosen charity, which Pete chose as the Tourette's Association. ^[22]

On October 5, 2006 ICSTIS ruled that Channel 4 had breached its code but held off fining the company, instead it imposed "administrative charges" totalling £50,000.^[23]

[edit] Weekly summary

Main article: Weekly summary of Big Brother (UK series 7)

Week 1	Tasks	A group of housemates, known as "The Big Brotherhood" were elected by group leaders Lisa and Shabhaz. These housemates received their suitcases and eviction immunity for the week.[24] Mikey replaced Shahbaz as leader, after he left. All the housemates (with the exception of Bonnie, Dawn and Glyn) became members of "The Big Brotherhood".
	Punishments	Dawn was asked to leave after using a secret code to receive information from the outside world.[25]
	Exits	Shahbaz left voluntarily on Day 6,[26] Dawn was ejected on Day 8, Bonnie was evicted on Day 9.[27]
Week 2	Tasks	The housemates had to answer various questions in order to win a luxury food budget, in game show style "Meal or No Meal". On Day 12 Pete was asked questions answered wrongly in previous rounds. Getting three out of four right, Pete won the House two new housemates, Sam and Aisleyne.[28]
	Punishments	Sezer and Imogen were banned from nominating due to discussing tactics.
	Exits	George left voluntarily on Day 13,[29] Sezer was evicted on Day 16.[30]
Week 3	Tasks	On Day 17, the housemates had a Shouting Task to win luxury reward for the person who could shout the loudest.[31] The weekly shopping task was Big Brother's Temp Agency, where housemates were given different jobs, such as lifeguard, chef, toilet attendant, and PA.[32]
	Exits	Sam was evicted on Day 23.[33]
	Twists	Susie, being the winner of a Golden Ticket, was randomly selected to enter the House on Day 23.[34]
Week 4	Tasks	"The State of Susie" involved the House being adorned with images and statues of Susie, making Susie the leader of a dictatorship and the other housemates her followers.[35] They failed the task four hours after it began and, overall, thirty-three fails were recorded, thirty more than were allowed.[36]
	Twists	Only Susie was allowed to nominate.
	Exits	Grace was evicted on Day 30.[37]
Week 5	Tasks	To perform a baton routine, dressed as Majorettes. Glyn was appointed leader and led the housemates to pass the task.
	Punishments	For discussing nominations, Imogen, Lea, Lisa and Nikki were punished by having to nominate one of the other rule breakers, in front of the other housemates.
	Exits	Lisa was evicted on Day 37.
Week 6	Tasks	To rub another housemate with soap until all of the soap was gone. Imogen, Glyn and Susie won, and had the prize of the use of a luxury spa. Housemates also had to stop milk from emptying out of a tank. Imogen was secretly told the real task, to empty more than half of the milk, without the other housemates' knowledge, and she succeeded.
	Twists	On Day 44, Aisleyne moved to the House Next Door, instead of being evicted. She was joined by five new housemates: Jayne, Jennie, Jonathan, Michael and Spiral.
	Exits	Aisleyne moved to the House Next Door on Day 44.
Week 7	Tasks	The "Silent dance-a-thon" involved housemates dancing blindfolded to music played from personal MP3 Players for as long as possible.[38] Glyn won the task and received a miniature trophy.[39]
	Twists	On Days 46 and 48, Aisleyne sent Jayne, Michael and Jennie to the main House, believing that she was evicting them. On Day 49, Aisleyne was told to evict either Jonathan or Spiral. She evicted Jonathan.[40]
	Exits	Jonathan left the Big Brother compound on Day 49. Lea was evicted on Day 51.
Week 8	Punishments	Jayne relayed her impressions of the other housemates before she had entered the House, so all of the housemates except her were to face the public vote.[41] Jayne continued to break the rules, and the House was punished by being provided only with basic rations of food.[42]
	Exits	Nikki was evicted on Day 58.
Week 9	Tasks	Housemates sat an examination based on the House rules. The group failed so Big Brother banned use of the swimming pool.[43] Housemates then had to devise and carry out a fitness training programme.[44] The housemates passed the task and regained access to the swimming pool.[45] Housemates then had to complete an assault course.[46] The housemates passed the task and were rewarded with an eighties-theme party, along with a luxury shopping budget for the following week.
	Exits	Jayne was evicted on Day 65.
Week 10	Tasks	The "Best Friends" task involved housemates paired up for the week. Each pair chose a single fellow housemate for eviction and Big Brother later announced that the nominated housemates, along with their "Best Friends", would be up for eviction. The pair with the lowest share of the public vote would be evicted.[47] Throughout the week, housemates completed the "Prison" task where "The House Next Door" had become a prison.[48][49][50][51] The housemates passed the task and were rewarded with letters from home, along with the luxury food budget.[52]
	Other events	To celebrate Richard's 34th birthday, Pete, as Richard's best friend, had to choose a theme for a party. Pete chose Madonna.
	Exits	Michael and Spiral were evicted together on Day 72.
Week 11	Tasks	Housemates had to work out the success rates of psychological tests they had taken before entering the House. They passed, and were awarded with alcohol and music. On Day 74, Big Brother went on holiday, leaving housemates with an automated service as a temporary replacement. Housemates were told to make postcards for Big Brother and were rewarded with a sleepover and PJ party. Housemates also had to learn five different things, similar to a university course. The group passed, and were given a luxury shopping budget for Week 12. The graduation was celebrated with a party.
	Exits	Mikey and Susie were evicted separately on Day 79.[53]
Week 12	Tasks	The 'Big Brother Board Game' task was won by Jennie who received a board game, a place in the final, and a bottle of champagne. Housemates were also given the task "Big Brother FM" where they had to pretend to be DJs. They were awarded a luxury shopping budget, after the show proved popular with the public.
	Punishments	Glyn was punished for attempting to get into the House Next Door, by being left out of the choosing of a housemate to return.
	Twists	On Day 83, previously evicted housemates Nikki, Grace, Lea, and Mikey entered the "House Next Door" following a public vote between 10 previous housemates. On hearing the news that four ex-housemates were living Next Door, Glyn attempted to get into the House Next Door by climbing on the roof and therefore breaking the rules.
	Exits	Nikki was chosen by housemates to re-enter the House on Day 86.[54] Imogen was evicted on Day 86. Lea, Grace, and Mikey left the Big Brother compound on Day 86.
Week 13	Tasks	Housemates had to compete in a slow bicycle race. Pete won the race and was rewarded with a disco for one in the Diary Room with free alcohol. Housemates were given a task in which they had to form a dance troupe. They passed the task and were rewarded with two bottles of wine. Housemates were given a task called "Before They Were Housemates". On Day 90, housemates were given another mini task by Big Brother in which they had to write a "future autobiography". Housemates were set the task of becoming "political campaigners". Each housemate was required to convince the audience that another housemate should win Big Brother.
	Exits	On Day 93, Jennie, Nikki, Richard, and Aisleyne all left the House separately as evictees. Glyn left the House as runner-up and Pete left as winner of Big Brother 7.

[edit] Nominations, evictions and percentages

Main article: Big Brother nominations table (UK series 7)

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13
Against Public Vote	Bonnie Glyn	Lea Richard Sezer	Nikki Sam	Grace Nikki	Imogen Lisa Mikey Nikki	Aisleyne Susie	Lea Richard	All but Jayne	Jayne Richard	Imogen & Susie; Michael & Spiral; Pete & Richard	Imogen Jennie Mikey Susie	Imogen Richard	Aisleyne Glyn Jennie Nikki Pete Richard
Evicted and Vote Percentage	Bonnie 78.0% to evict	Sezer 91.6% to evict	Sam 53.7% to evict	Grace 87.9% to evict	Lisa 60.3% to evict	Aisleyne 67.3% to move	Jonathan Aisleyne's choice to evict Lea 53.8% to evict	Nikki 37.2% to evict	Jayne 67.1% to evict	Michael & Spiral 9.7% to save	Mikey 48.5% (out of 4) to evict Susie 59.4% (out of 3) to evict	Imogen 62.0% to evict Grace Lea Mikey (Not chosen by fellow Housemates to return)	Jennie 0.9% (out of 6)	Aisleyne 22.0% (out of 3)
													Nikki 6.5% (out of 5)
														Glyn 38.8% (out of 2)
													Richard 9.2% (out of 4)
													Pete 61.2% to win

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] External links

• Big Brother - Series 7 at channel4.com

Big Brother UK
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