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Big Brother is an American version of the Big Brother reality television show based on the Dutch television series of the same name originally created in 1997 by John de Mol. The show is based on a group of strangers, known as HouseGuests, living together twenty-four hours a day in the "Big Brother" house, isolated from the outside world but under constant surveillance with no privacy for three months. In eleven seasons of the show, 130 different people have entered the Big Brother house so far.

The HouseGuests compete for the chance to win a $500,000 grand prize by avoiding weekly eviction, until the last HouseGuest remains at the end of the season that can claim the $500,000 grand prize. The American series is hosted by television personality Julie Chen. Produced by Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan, it currently airs in the United States on CBS and in Canada on Global respectively.

Live Internet feeds

Each year CBS has made live streaming Internet video feeds from the Big Brother house available. The Internet feeds were free during season one but became a subscription service beginning with season two. In order to preserve the drama for television broadcasts, CBS does not webcast certain moments that transpire in the house, including weekly competitions and the nomination/eviction process. Slanderous statements and singing of copyrighted music is also blocked for legal reasons.  Click here to see the video feeds

Season details

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Main series

In all seasons, eviction night has been hosted by veteran television personality and news anchor, Julie Chen, wife of CBS President Les Moonves and co-host of the network's The Early Show. Television critics gave Chen largely negative reviews during her first season (2000), citing wooden delivery, stilted interaction with the studio audience, weak interviews with evictees on the live programs, and her overuse of the phrase "But first..." This led fans to dub her "the Chenbot," a moniker of which Chen is aware and says she accepts.

The announcer played an active role in the first season introducing every scene, but with the major changes to the program after the initial season, the announcer was relegated to the opening and closing of each episode. There have been several different announcers throughout the years. Past announcers include Dave Walsh (season one and episode 2 of season two), Chuck Riley (season two), and Phil Proctor (seasons 3-6 ). The current announcer is Clayton Halsey and has been the announcer since season seven.

Format

The format for season one was radically different than in the following seasons. Season one was identical to international versions of Big Brother in which each HouseGuest would individually go to the Diary Room and nominate two fellow HouseGuests for banishment. (The term "eviction" was not used until season two.) The two or more HouseGuests with the most nominations are then revealed to the House and were "Marked for Banishment", at which point the public were invited to vote for who they wish to evict by calling a premium rate telephone number. The HouseGuest who received the greatest percentage of the public vote was evicted. When there were three HouseGuests left the public would vote for the winner.

Beginning with the second season the HouseGuests compete to become Head of Household or HoH. The Head of Household is responsible for nominating two HouseGuests for eviction. During the Live Eviction show, HouseGuests individually go into the Diary Room (this was taped in early seasons, but beginning with the All-Star season 7, each vote has been done live) and cast their vote to evict. Julie then reveals the results of the vote to the House, and tells the evicted houseguest has only a few moments to leave the house. In the event of a tie a HOH breaks it. When two HouseGuests were left, the evicted HouseGuests voted for the winner and in the event of a tie the public would have broken the tie.

During season three a new power was introduced called the Power of Veto (PoV). The Power of Veto winner can choose to veto one of the Head of Household's initial nominations. When this happens, the HOH chooses someone else to replace that nominee. The winner is also protected from becoming a replacement nominee for the week. Originally, the Power of Veto was silver and if a nominee won the Power of Veto the nominee could not save themselves. The "Golden" Power of Veto, introduced in the last veto competition in season three, could be won by a nominee and used to save themselves. The Golden Power of Veto is now the standard veto since season four.

The fourth season introduced the Big Brother Jury, sometimes referred to as the "Jury of Seven". The Jury is made up of the final seven evicted HouseGuests. As each member of the Jury is evicted from the House they are sequestered in a separate house. The jury members are not allowed to watch the show except for segments which include all of the HouseGuests, for example the nominations and Power of Veto ceremonies. The jury members are not shown any Diary Room interviews or any footage involving strategy or twists to the game. The Big Brother Jury votes to determine the winner of Big Brother each season.  Live show

Live shows have been broadcast on Thursday night in every season, except for the first season, fourth season, and ninth season. Later in the season, there will occasionally be live shows on other days when Big Brother is on (for example, during a double eviction week). During the first season, the live show would rotate between a daily recap, the houseguests' live nominations, and live banishments (known as "evictions" since the second season). The first season's live show also featured a studio audience. Occasional guest commentators included Dr. Drew Pinsky, who talked about relationships the houseguests have inside and outside the house, and America Online "Internet Advisor" Regina Lewis, who would talk about what the live feed viewers were saying and show poll results related to events in the house.

From the second season through the ninth season, Julie presented the live show in an empty studio overlooking the house. Highlights are shown during the live show, then a houseguest is evicted and briefly interviewed by Julie. The Head of Household (HoH) competition is held shortly thereafter. For the most part, quizzes determine the next Head of Household due to the show's running time. Endurance competitions do not finish during the live show and are broadcast on the live Internet feeds; the highlights and results of the completed HoH competition are broadcast on the next episode. Starting with the tenth season, the live shows once again had an audience.