How Does ‘Big Brother’ Work? Explained

Trust humans to take a concept from a dystopian novel, one centered on a totalitarian rule where privacy is non-existent, and turn it into a reality television show. That’s exactly what Big Brother is, with the idea of constant surveillance being lifted straight from George Orwell’s novel 1984.

So, let’s take a look at how this dystopian nightmare became reality TV entertainment. The first Big Brother show was the brainchild of Dutch media tycoon John de Mol Jr. and was broadcast in the Netherlands in 1999. The concept and name of the show were directly inspired by Orwell’s novel, where a totalitarian leader, known as “Big Brother,” seeks power for power’s sake and uses mass surveillance to control the population, quashing all independent thought or individualism. Nowadays, outside of the reality show, the phrase “Big Brother is watching” is used to refer to government surveillance and overreach.

John de Mol’s idea was to implement this concept on a more microscopic scale, placing contestants known as “HouseGuests” or “housemates” into a specially constructed house that monitors their every movement through live cameras and audio. The guests are completely cut off from the rest of the world, with no access to news from the outside. This led to a rather interesting incident during the pandemic, where the Germany’s Big Brother had started just in the early days of the pandemic and houseguests were not informed of the severity of the issue until later, living for some time in blissful ignorance as to the tragedy that was unfolding in the world around them.

The reality show follows the classic format, whereby each week a member of the house is voted out through an audience vote until only the winner is left standing. The winner usually receives a decent monetary reward, not to mention the fame that comes from having your face on a television screen for several weeks. The current cash prize for the American show is $750,000. After the first American season, which focused more on watching the housemates simply exist, failed to draw in audiences, CBS decided to make the show more competitive and set challenges for the members to participate in to win the chance for immunity from eviction or the power to nominate other contestants for eviction.

Now 26 seasons in, the show has to come up with twists for each season to keep audiences interested, such as having Celebrity Big Brother seasons. The current 26th season comes with such a twist, allowing the HouseGuests to vote if they would like to add a mystery 17th participant. On top of that, the season’s theme is the use of AI with the tagline of the season being “Expect the unexpected.”

The show has had its fair share of notoriety since its inception, as with any reality TV show, where reports of bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct have been rife as producers push for drama amongst contestants to ensure high ratings. There is also something to be said for the mental toll such a show can take on contestants who go from being average Joes on the street to having their entire daily life displayed for all to see and judge. For many, the chance at the prize money and potential D-list celebrity status is enough to endure whatever the competition throws their way.