Big Brother 1 (US)

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The first season of Big Brother, the American reality TV show, aired in the summer of 2000, with seventy episodes from July 5 to September 29 and followed the same format as the international version, in that the viewing public voted by 900 number for which contestant to be evicted from the house after each contestant put two people up. The top two vote getters, including anyone tied for second, were "marked for banishment." Unlike later seasons the show aired six times a week; a one hour live studio show, four half-hour daily recap episodes, and a one hour weekly recap episode.

The theme song for Season One was called "Live," and was performed by Jonathan Clarke. Bits and pieces of the song were played during the closing credits of each episode, but was never played in its entirety. The song is available on a hard-to-find soundtrack CD produced by the Dutch show's producers, along with the first-season theme songs of shows in Argentina, Spain, and Germany. An instrumental version of the theme, heavy on acoustic guitar and/or saxophones, were used for the opening credits and interstitials.

The first season of Big Brother was considered a disappointment in terms of ratings. Despite being heavily promoted, it failed to match the viewership of the international versions. It also failed to reach the level of wild popularity that Survivor: Borneo enjoyed the same summer. The home-viewer voting technique resulted in the most controversial contestants being evicted early in the game, leaving the least troublesome contestants in the house.

For example, William Collins was evicted first after he called out fellow houseguest Brittany Petros on her supposedly racist ways. Karen Fowler was voted out, ostensibly, when the audience sympathized with her when she went through a breakdown of sorts on the program, but did not like it when she admitted to wanting a divorce from her husband on live television.

One of the best-known houseguests was Jean Jordan, who played instigator in the house and was evicted for making waves with the other contestants. Notably, Jordan was the only Big Brother contestant to receive major media coverage upon leaving the house. Unlike the Survivor contestants, Jordan was the only houseguest to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman and later went on to mock Big Brother in the media, noting what a bad show it was, and saying that she should have held out for Survivor: The Australian Outback. In one of the series' most memorable moments, Jordan went so far as to ridicule the corny theme song on the final episode, telling host Julie Chen "... You know, I'm just living like I'm living today, I'm feeling the thrill of life, and I'm not afraid, Julie."

As the number of houseguests dwindled, the show started losing viewers, and producer Paul Romer hoped to spice up the proceedings on Day 64 by bribing one of the houseguests with $20,000 to leave and replace them with a new, more interesting houseguest. Romer bragged in the media that they'd have no problem getting a contestant to leave. On the Wednesday live show, viewers were introduced to Beth, an alternate from the casting process who described herself as being "opinionated" and "a bitch." Despite prodding from Julie Chen to take what began as $20,000, and was increased to $50,000, none of the houseguests would take the money and leave the game.

Ultimately, Eddie McGee survived to the end, and won the $500,000 grand prize, with Josh Souza coming in second.

One of the more interesting elements of the season was not introduced by CBS or the houseguests, but by people with no official connection to the show. Although the houseguests were cut off from the outside world, the courtyard of the house was completely uncovered. Viewers quickly realized this and began to hire airplanes pulling large banners containing messages meant to communicate with the houseguests. This continued on the second season but by the third season the houseguests were instructed to not read plane banners.

The first season of Big Brother has generally been ignored by CBS after it has aired. While all others seasons had a "Where are they now?" segments on the following season, this did not occur for the Season 1 contestants on Big Brother 2. The official website for Big Brother 1 has been removed, although this is because the site was maintained by AOL, not CBS.com, and was deleted prior to the premiere of Big Brother 2. Will Kirby, the eventual winner fo the following season, admitted on the live feeds during Big Brother 7: All-Stars that during Big Brother 2, the producers had told the houseguests not to mention Big Brother 1. Clips from Big Brother 1 were shown on Big Brother All-Stars: America's Vote, as George Boswell is the only potential candidate for this season. A never-used version of the present Big Brother logo, Big Brother 1, replaced the logo originally used for that season. Big Brother 1 wasn't mentioned by the contestants of subsequent seasons until season 7.

Contents 1 Housemates 1.1 Brittany Petros 1.2 Cassandra Waldon 1.3 Curtis Kin 1.4 Eddie McGee 1.5 George Boswell 1.6 Jamie Kern 1.7 Jean Jordan 1.8 Josh Souza 1.9 Karen Fowler 1.10 William Collins 2 Redesign based on Season 1 results 3 Season 1 voting history 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Housemates

[edit] Brittany Petros

Main article: Brittany Petros

Brittany Petros was a Big Brother contestant from Robbinsdale, Minnesota, most known for her spunk and wildly varying hair color. During her time on the show, she was called out for being racist by fellow housemate William Collins. Brittany was marked for banishment in Week 8 against every houseguest except for Jamie. She was banished from the house 4th on Day 57. After her banishment, Brittany was allowed to talk to Josh in the Diary Room. She told him not to worry about how the show was being edited and that he should only trust Curtis and Eddie. Currently, Brittany is an actress and has done casting work for several reality shows.

[edit] Cassandra Waldon

Cassandra Waldon is a communications director at the United Nations from Havre de Grace, Maryland. She was marked for banishment in Week 10, and was the 5th banished from the house on Day 71. In 2001, Cassandra made trips to Africa to promote African Untity. ^[1]

[edit] Curtis Kin

Curtis Kin is a lawyer from New York City. Curtis was marked for banishment more times than any other houseguest, with 4 times against the public vote. Curtis survived each of the times he was marked for banishment and eventually became 2nd runner-up on finale night.

[edit] Eddie McGee

Main article: Eddie McGee

Eddie McGee was the winner of Big Brother 1 and $500,000. Eddie was from New York, New York and became an amputee when he lost his leg to cancer prior to going on the show. Recently, Eddie has appeared in music videos for the band Fozzy.

[edit] George Boswell

George Boswell was a roofer from Rockford, Illinois prior to appearing on Big Brother. George was marked for banishment in Week 8 and Week 11, and was 6th person banished from the house on Day 78. After his time on the show, George quit the roofing business and began doing promotion jobs for the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Interestingly enough, George has only done one roof since being on the show, and that was a favor for a friend. In 2006, George moved into the Big Brother: All Stars house as the only housemate from season 1 elegible to win. It was also the first time anyone from the first season has played under the current format. George was evicted in the eighth week of Big Brother 7: All Stars after being nominated by the current Head Of Household, Janelle Pierzina and resided in the jury house. George voted for Mike "Boogie" to win in the finale of Big Brother All-Stars.

[edit] Jamie Kern

Main article: Jamie Kern

Jamie Kern (born July 16, 1977) is a beauty queen from Seattle, Washington. Kern graduated from Washington State University, and became Miss Washington USA in late 1999. She was marked for banishment in week 12, and was banished on Day 85. After Big Brother, Jamie appeared in an episode of Baywatch and has since become a reporter for a local television station. Kern graduated with an MBA from Columbia Business School in 2004, worked as an anchor for KNDU until 2006 and then moved Portland, Oregon where she works for local Fox affiliate KPTV. She also hosted the Miss Washington USA 2006 pageant.

[edit] Jean Jordan

Jean Jordan is an exotic dancer, who was best known as being an instigator during her time in the house. Jordan made waves in the house by causing controversy over her occupation. Jordan was marked for banishment in Week 2 and Week 4, and was evicted on Day 29. She was one of the two most memorable housegusests for her being very lazy and rude to Brittany and Curtis.

[edit] Josh Souza

Josh Souza, was the runner-up of Big Brother 1. Josh was marked for banishment in Week 6, Week 8, and Week 12, but survived each time and made it to the final round, where he finished second to Eddie. After fellow housemate Brittany's banishment, Josh was allowed to talk to her in the Red Room.

[edit] Karen Fowler

Karen Fowler was a contestant on Big Brother 1. She was most remembered for asking to divorce her husband on national television. Karen was marked for banishment in Week 6, and was evicted on Day 43. Brittany revealed that Karen had moved to Los Angeles and settled there with her family.

[edit] William Collins

William Collins is a politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who stood unsuccessfully for Philadelphia City Council^[2]. William got in several arguments into the house with Brittany by accusing her of being racist and arguing over how much of the food budget should be spent on alcoholic beverages. After being marked for banishment in week 1, William threw the week-long shopping task by incorrectly guessing that Mean Joe Greene and Kathy Griffin were deceased. William was the 1st person banished in the history of Big Brother USA.

[edit] Redesign based on Season 1 results

Having spent millions to secure the American TV rights and construct a house for the show, CBS engineered a major overhaul for the second season. Paul Romer was removed from the production, and the role of Endemol was greatly scaled back. Producers Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner were brought in and completely reworked the program, most notably eliminating viewer voting for eviction and reducing the number of recap shows from 5 to 2 per week. This allowed the producers to better develop stories for the recap shows. Casting for the show was also changed, with stronger personalities and younger, attractive people making up the majority of the houseguests.

[edit] Season 1 voting history

	Week 2	Week 3	Week 6	Week 8	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Finals
Eddie	Jordan, William	Curtis, Jordan	Curtis, Jamie	Curtis, Jamie	Cassandra, Curtis	George, Jamie	Curtis, Jamie	Winner
Josh	Brittany, Curtis	Curtis, George	Curtis, Karen	Cassandra, Curtis	Cassandra, Curtis	Curtis, George	Curtis, Jamie	Runner-Up
Curtis	Karen, William	Eddie, Karen	Eddie, Josh	Eddie, Josh	Eddie, George	Eddie, George	Eddie, Josh	3rd Place
Jamie	Jordan, William	Curtis, Eddie	Josh, Karen	Eddie, George	Cassandra, Eddie	Eddie, George	Eddie, Josh	Banished (Day 85)
George	Jordan, William	Curtis, Jordan	Cassandra, Josh	Brittany, Josh	Curtis, Josh	Curtis, Jamie	Banished (Day 78)
Cassandra	Brittany, Eddie	Eddie, Jordan	Brittany, Karen	Brittany, George	Eddie, Jamie	Banished (Day 71)
Brittany	Jordan, William	Curtis, Jordan	Cassandra, Josh	Cassandra, George	Banished (Day 57)
Karen	Jordan, William	Curtis, Jordan	Cassandra, Josh	Banished (Day 43)
Jordan	Eddie, Karen	Eddie, Karen	Banished (Day 29)
William	Brittany, Eddie	Banished (Day 16)
Against public vote	Jordan, William	Curtis, Jordan	Cassandra, Josh, Karen	Brittany, Cassandra, Curtis, Eddie, George, Josh	Cassandra, Curtis, Eddie	Curtis, Eddie, George, Jamie	Curtis, Eddie, Jamie, Josh	Curtis, Eddie, Josh
Banished	William	Jordan	Karen	Brittany	Cassandra	George	Jamie	Curtis Josh

[edit] References

1. ^ Reality TV Grad is Helping the World
2. ^ "Big Brother 1 alum Will Mega loses bid for Philadelphia City Council", Wade Paulsen, AP, November 5, 2003

[edit] External links

• "Brother raises manipulation to a fine art" By Lynn Elber, CANOE JAM! Television. July 24, 2000.
• Recalling "Big Brother" Season 1

Big Brother US
Seasons: 1 (2000) | 2 (2001) | 3 (2002) | 4 (2003) | 5 (2004) | 6 (2005) | 7 (2006) | 8 (2007)
Winners: Eddie McGee | Will Kirby | Lisa Donahue | Jun Song | Drew Daniel | Maggie Ausburn | Mike Malin | TBA