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Big Brother 7 in 2006 was the seventh series of the United Kingdom reality television series Big Brother. It aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, from 18 May 2006 to 18 August 2006, a total of 93 days; fifteen days longer than the previous series. 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. This series proved to be popular, having a series average of 4.7 million viewers. In 2010, Big Brother 7 was voted the public's favourite series of Big Brother, as revealed during Big Brother's Big Awards Show.
Housemate Nikki Grahame returned in the later Ultimate Big Brother. She entered on the first night and finished as runner-up to Brian Dowling. Housemates Glyn, Grace and Pete also returned during tasks.
Contents |
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 series' final broadcast obtained a peak audience of 8.2 million viewers, five hundred thousand greater than the launch show.
Fourteen housemates entered the House on launch night, and eight other housemates entered the House later during the series, making a total of twenty-two housemates competing in Big Brother 7. Two of these eight housemates were replacement housemates Sam and Aisleyne, arriving on Day 12, 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, she declared on entry that she was a nymphomaniac and would probably have sex with someone during her stay. 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 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 gender identity choices; 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, with 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, the regulator 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]
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 housemate 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]
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.
In the first week a group of housemates, known as "The Big Brotherhood" were elected by group leaders Lisa and Shahbaz. These housemates received their suitcases and eviction immunity for the week.[16] Mikey replaced Shahbaz as leader, after Shahbaz voluntarily left on Day 7[17] Bonnie, Dawn and Glyn were not chosen to join "The Big Brotherhood" and so were placed up for eviction. Dawn was asked to leave on Day 8 after using a code to receive information from the outside world.[18] Bonnie and Glyn were put to the public vote and on Day 9 Bonnie was evicted with 78% of the vote.[19]
In week two the housemates had to answer various questions in order to win a luxury food budget, in the game show-style "Meal or No Meal", which had a similar name to Channel 4's show "Deal or No Deal". On Day 13 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.[20] On Day 14 George left voluntarily.[21] Richard, Lea and Sezer faced the public vote, and on Day 16 Sezer was evicted with 91.6% of the public vote.[22][23]
During week three, on Day 18, the housemates had a "Shouting" task to win a luxury reward for the person who could shout the loudest.[24] The weekly shopping task was Big Brother's Temp Agency, where housemates were given different jobs, such as lifeguard, chef, toilet attendant, and PA.[25] Sam and Nikki were put to the public vote and on Day 23 Sam was evicted with 53.7% of the public vote.[26][27] Following Sam's eviction, Susie, being the winner of a "Golden Ticket", was randomly selected to enter the House.[28]
During week four Big Brother imposed "The State of Susie". The House was adorned with images and statues of Susie, making Susie the leader of a "dictatorship" and the other housemates her followers.[29] The weekly task was failed four hours after it began. Thirty-three fails were recorded, thirty more than were allowed.[30] Susie, the only housemate allowed to nominate, chose Grace and Nikki for the public vote. On Day 30 Grace was evicted with 87.9% of the public vote.[31][32]
In week five the housemates had to perform a baton routine, dressed as majorettes. Glyn was appointed leader and led the housemates to pass the task. Though the housemates later lost the task after Glyn claimed he didn't think the housemates deserved the food.[33] Imogen, Mikey, Nikki and Lisa were put up for eviction. Lisa was evicted on Day 37 with 60.3% of the public vote.[34]
In week six the housemates had 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.[35][36] The 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,[37] and she succeeded. Aisleyne and Susie were put to the public vote, but not to evict. The vote was to decide who moved into a secret "House Next Door", Aisleyne was moved to the House Next Door on Day 45.[38] She was joined by five new housemates: Jayne, Jennie, Jonathan, Michael and Spiral.[39][40]
In week seven Aisleyne had to decide which housemates to evict from the "House Next Door", unaware she was sending them to the real House. On Days 47 and 49, Aisleyne sent Jayne, Michael and Jennie to the main House, believing that she was evicting them. On Day 50, Aisleyne was told to evict either Jonathan or Spiral. She evicted Jonathan.[41] Richard and Lea were put up for eviction. Lea was evicted on Day 51 with 53.8% of the public vote.
During week eight on Day 54, the housemates participated in the “Big Brother Tennis Championship,” where the housemates played a game of tennis against Big Brother. The housemates won seven games and were rewarded with a party. On Day 56, each housemate got one minute to perform as many burps as they could. If the house collectively performed 200 burps than they would receive a children's party. They performed 252 burps collectively and won the reward. Following Jayne relaying her impressions of the other housemates from before she had entered the House, all of the housemates except her were to face the public vote.[42] On Day 58 Nikki was evicted with 37.2% of the public vote.[43]
In week nine, on Day 61, the housemates were given a walking task. Each housemate was given a pedometer and was asked to walk around the house for two hours. It was revealed that Glyn walked the most steps and received a luxury meal of his choice, though this was given in the form of a smoothie which he was forced to taste. Housemates then had to complete an assault course.[44] The housemates passed the task and were rewarded with an eighties-theme party, along with a luxury shopping budget for the following week. Richard and Jayne were put up for eviction, Jayne was evicted on Day 65 with 67.1% of the public vote.
In week ten Big Brother devised the "Best Friends" task. Housemates were 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.[45][46] Throughout the week, housemates completed the "Prison" task where the "House Next Door" became a prison.[47][48][49][50] The housemates passed the task and were rewarded with letters from home, along with the luxury food budget.[51] The pairs of Imogen and Susie, Michael and Spiral and Pete and Richard were put up for eviction. Michael and Spiral were evicted together on Day 72 with the lowest share of the vote to stay in, 9.7%.
In week eleven, on Day 75, Big Brother went on holiday, leaving housemates with an automated service as a temporary replacement.[52] Housemates were told to make postcards for Big Brother and were rewarded with a sleepover and pyjama 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. Imogen, Jennie, Mikey and Susie faced the public vote. Mikey was evicted first on Day 79 with 48.5% of the four-way vote, Susie was evicted after him with 59.4% of the three-way vote.[53][54][55]
In week twelve Jennie won the "Big Brother Board Game" task, she was rewarded with a place in the final, and a bottle of champagne.[56] 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.[57] On Day 84, previously evicted housemates Nikki, Grace, Lea, and Mikey entered the "House Next Door" following a public vote between 10 previous housemates.[58] 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.[59] Richard and Imogen were put up for eviction, and Imogen was evicted on Day 86 with 62% of the public vote. After Imogen's exit Nikki was chosen by housemates to re-enter the House on Day 87.[60][61] Lea, Grace, and Mikey left the Big Brother compound on Day 86.
During the final week the 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 91, 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. On Day 93, Jennie finished in 6th, Nikki in 5th and Richard in 4th Place. Aisleyne left the house in third place. Glyn left the House as runner-up and Pete left as winner of Big Brother 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 | Final Week 13 |
Nominations received | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete | In Big Brotherhood |
Imogen, Sezer |
Lisa, Nikki |
Not eligible |
Imogen, Lisa |
Susie, Aisleyne |
Banned | No nominations |
Spiral, Michael |
Michael | Imogen, Aisleyne |
Imogen, Glyn |
Winner (Day 93) |
3 | ||
| Glyn | Not in Big Brotherhood |
Grace, Richard |
Sam, Nikki |
Not eligible |
Nikki | Richard, Aisleyne |
Pete, Lea |
No nominations |
Susie, Jayne |
Susie | Susie, Richard |
Richard, Pete |
Runner-Up (Day 93) |
6 | ||
| Aisleyne | Not in house |
Exempt | Nikki, Sam |
Not eligible |
Lisa, Mikey |
Lea, Nikki |
Jayne, Michael, Jennie, Spiral |
No nominations |
Jayne, Richard |
Spiral | Mikey, Glyn |
Richard, Glyn |
Third Place (Day 93) |
12 | ||
| Richard | In Big Brotherhood |
Imogen, Sezer |
Lisa, Grace |
Not eligible |
Imogen, Glyn |
Imogen, Aisleyne |
Imogen, Glyn |
No nominations |
Aisleyne, Spiral |
Michael | Mikey, Imogen |
Aisleyne, Imogen |
Fourth Place (Day 93) |
26 | ||
| Nikki | In Big Brotherhood |
Lea, Grace |
Richard, Sam |
Not eligible |
Lisa | Aisleyne, Susie |
Richard, Lea |
No nominations |
Evicted (Day 58) |
Next Door (Day 83-86) |
Fifth Place (Day 93) |
10 | ||||
| Jennie | Not in house |
Next Door |
No nominations |
Michael, Jayne |
Spiral | Susie, Imogen |
Aisleyne, Imogen |
Sixth Place (Day 93) |
5 | |||||||
| Imogen | In Big Brotherhood |
Banned | Banned | Not eligible |
Lea | Richard, Susie |
Richard, Lea |
No nominations |
Richard, Jayne |
Michael | Richard, Jennie |
Richard, Pete |
Evicted (Day 86) |
14 | ||
| Susie | Not in house |
Nikki, Grace |
Lisa, Mikey |
Nikki, Imogen |
Lea, Glyn |
No nominations |
Michael, Spiral |
Michael | Mikey, Jennie |
Evicted (Day 79) |
13 | |||||
| Mikey | In Big Brotherhood |
Richard, Lisa |
Sam, Aisleyne |
Not eligible |
Lea, Susie |
Richard, Susie |
Richard, Nikki |
No nominations |
Richard, Susie |
Susie | Susie, Jennie |
Evicted (Day 79) |
Next Door (Day 83-86) |
Re-evicted (Day 86) |
5 | |
| Spiral | Not in house |
Next Door |
No nominations |
Jennie, Richard |
Richard | Evicted (Day 72) |
4 | |||||||||
| Michael | Not in house |
Next Door |
No nominations |
Jennie, Richard |
Richard | Evicted (Day 72) |
7 | |||||||||
| Jayne | Not in house |
Exempt | No nominations |
Aisleyne, Imogen |
Evicted (Day 65) |
4 | ||||||||||
| Lea | In Big Brotherhood |
Sezer, Lisa |
Nikki, Richard |
Not eligible |
Imogen | Aisleyne, Susie |
Susie, Richard |
Evicted (Day 51) |
Next Door (Day 83-86) |
Re-evicted (Day 86) |
10 | |||||
| Jonathan | Not in house |
Next Door |
Evicted (Day 49) |
0 | ||||||||||||
| Lisa | In Big Brotherhood |
Lea, Richard |
Banned | Exempt | Nikki | Evicted (Day 37) |
8 | |||||||||
| Grace | In Big Brotherhood |
Lea, Richard |
Aisleyne, Sam |
Not eligible |
Evicted (Day 30) |
Next Door (Day 83-86) |
Re-evicted (Day 86) |
4 | ||||||||
| Sam | Not in house |
Exempt | Lea, Richard |
Evicted (Day 23) |
5 | |||||||||||
| Sezer | In Big Brotherhood |
Banned | Evicted (Day 16) |
3 | ||||||||||||
| George | In Big Brotherhood |
Walked (Day 13) |
N/A | |||||||||||||
| Bonnie | Not in Big Brotherhood |
Evicted (Day 9) |
N/A | |||||||||||||
| Dawn | Not in Big Brotherhood |
Ejected (Day 8) |
N/A | |||||||||||||
| Shahbaz | In Big Brotherhood |
Walked (Day 6) |
N/A | |||||||||||||
| Nomination note |
[1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] | [6] | [7] | [8] | None | [9] | [10] | [11] | [12] | [13] | ||
| Against public vote |
Bonnie, Glyn |
Lea, Richard, Sezer |
Nikki, Sam |
Grace, Nikki |
Imogen, Lisa, Mikey, Nikki |
Aisleyne, Susie |
Lea, Richard |
Aisleyne, Glyn, Imogen, Jennie, Michael, Mikey, Nikki, Pete, Richard, Spiral, Susie |
Jayne, Richard |
Imogen & Susie, Michael & Spiral, Pete & Richard |
Imogen, Jennie, Mikey, Susie |
Sam, Grace, Lisa, Lea, Nikki, Jayne, Michael, Spiral, Mikey, Susie |
Imogen, Richard |
Aisleyne, Glyn, Jennie, Nikki, Pete, Richard |
||
| Walked | Shahbaz | George | none | |||||||||||||
| Ejected | Dawn | none | ||||||||||||||
| Evicted | Bonnie 78% 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 |
Nikki 37.2% to evict |
Jayne 67.1% to evict |
Michael & Spiral 9.7% to save |
Mikey 48.5% (out of 4) to evict |
Lea 7.3% to return |
Imogen 62% to evict |
Jennie 0.9% (out of 6) |
Richard 9.2% (out of 4) |
|
| Mikey 7.3% to return |
Nikki 6.5% (out of 5) |
|||||||||||||||
| Grace 8.4% to return |
Grace Lea Mikey (Not chosen by fellow Housemates to return) |
Aisleyne 22% (out of 3) |
Glyn 38.8% (out of 2) |
|||||||||||||
| Lea 53.8% to evict |
Susie 59.4% (out of 3) to evict |
|||||||||||||||
| Nikki 63% to return |
Pete 61.2% to win |
|||||||||||||||
Channel 4 official site voting history
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, whilst Grace got 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.[71] Nikki was chosen by the remaining housemates to return to the Big Brother House and become eligible to win the £100,000 prize money[72] and Grace, Mikey and Lea left the House Next Door. This decision to allow previous evictees to become eligible to win the show was criticised. Channel 4 received 500 complaints from viewers about this matter and Media watchdog Ofcom confirmed that it had received over 1,000 complaints, and referred viewers to ICSTIS.[73] Soon after the four ex-housemates entered the House Next Door, ICSTIS released a statement confirming that it was dealing with over 2,500 complaints[74] and launched an official investigation.[75] On October 5, 2006, they ruled that Channel 4 had breached its code and imposed £50,000 'administrative charges'.[76] On the day prior to the voting results being announced however, Channel 4 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,[77] raising over £250,000 for charity on the vote alone. The money was split among three charities: Shelter, The Teenage Cancer Trust and the winning housemate's chosen charity, which Pete chose as the Tourette's Association.[78]