Big Brother 2008 (UK)
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Big Brother UK

◄ ►  Ninth series (2008)

Housemates Name Entered Exited       Rachel Day 1 Day 93 Michael Day 1  Day 93    Sara Day 30  Day 93    Rex Day 1  Day 93    Darnell Day 1  Day 93    Kathreya Day 1  Day 90    Mohamed Day 1  Day 90    Lisa Day 1  Day 86    Nicole Day 58  Day 79    Stuart Day 16  Day 72    Dale Day 1  Day 65    Luke Day 1  Day 58    Maysoon Day 30  Day 56    Rebecca Day 1  Day 51    Belinda Day 30  Day 44    Mario Day 1  Day 37    Jennifer Day 1  Day 30    Sylvia Day 1  Day 23    Dennis Day 1  Day 23    Alexandra Day 1  Day 14    Stephanie Day 1  Day 9    Winner Runner-up Evicted Walked Ejected

Big Brother 9 2008 was the ninth series of the British reality television series Big Brother that aired on Channel 4 and E4. The series was launched on 5 June 2008, and ran for 13 weeks until 5 September 2008. The winner of Big Brother 2008 was Rachel Rice who beat bookies' favourite¹²³ Michael Hughes in the final vote.

Broadcasts

The series was launched on 5 June 2008, and ran for 13 weeks until 5 September 2008.⁴ This series started later than normal. It was rumoured that this was so that it did not clash with Britain's Got Talent, which was being aired on ITV during May.⁵ Auditions were held from 21 November 2007 to 25 January 2008.Rachel Rice Was the winner with 51.3 percent of the public vote The main show for the program was a highlights show, shown at 10pm on Monday to Wednesday, then at 9pm on Thursday to Sunday, with each program lasting an hour. Each Friday a housemate was evicted, the announcement of the loser of the public vote was announced live by Davina McCall at the end of the first of two programs shown on the Friday. There was then a second program at 10.30pm when McCall interviews the evictee, this second program usually lasted until 11.00pm, unless there was a change in plans (such as new housemates going in or a double eviction) then the program was longer.⁶ For the first time since Big Brother 4 all of McCall's interactions with the house (except for the final night) took place in a studio to stop the crowd chants from influencing the housemates.

In the final week the Monday program was moved to 9pm, there were two programs broadcast on the Tuesday, both hosted by McCall, the first at 8pm and the second at 10pm, when two Housemates were evicted. On Wednesday and Thursday the highlights show was shown at 9pm. Then for the finale there were two programs starting at 8pm and 10.30pm with an hour and half hour break in between.

Live streaming on E4 of events in the house, known as Big Brother: Direct From The House, was reduced because of the decision to keep E4 Music during the series' run rather than taking a break until the series is over. For the first time in the show's history, there was no live web stream.⁷

The series was accompanied with the shows Big Brother's Big Mouth, Big Brother's Little Brother and Diary Room Uncut.⁸ Zezi Ifore and George Lamb replaced Dermot O'Leary as the hosts of Big Brother's Little Brother⁹ whilst Big Brother's Big Mouth was hosted by a different guest host each week, beginning with Jack Whitehall. Chris Moyles took over for the first full week inside the Big Brother House.¹⁰

The weekly podcast made by the housemates in BB8 was axed for BB9, with a 60 minute radio show Big Brother's Big Ears as its replacement. Like the podcast, it was available for download on the Channel 4 website and was hosted by Iain Lee and Gemma Cairney. It aired twice a week on a Tuesday and Friday (after the Live Eviction) at 11.30pm.

Logo

The official "eye" logo was revealed on 12 May 2008, on the official Big Brother website.¹¹ Each Big Brother show shared the same logo but with a different coloured shard to reflect the show; Big Brother's Big Mouth was green, Big Brother Live and Diary Room Uncut were red, Big Brother's Little Brother was orange and Big Brother's Big Ears was purple.¹¹

House

Host Davina McCall tours the 2008 house. On her left is the main door (leading to the exit and diary room), to her right is the sitting area and dining table and ahead of her is the bathroom. Behind the camera is the kitchen.

As with all Big Brother series since Big Brother 2002, the House was located in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, just north of London, and was completely rebuilt with a new look for the 2008 series. The first images of the House were released in late May and showed the kitchen, living area, bathroom, one of the two bedrooms, and parts of the garden.¹² The initial set of pictures revealed a lavish, Romanesque bathroom and a red kitchen fitted with triangular furniture and wall slats facing inwards, The bedroom shown (which the housemates nicknamed "B-Block") contains only eight beds surrounded by lockers and the garden was enlarged with vibrant colours and an ashtray in which housemates may smoke.¹² The dining table had only eight seats when first shown to the public; it was later shown during the launch that there was a second adjoining table.

On 4 June 2008, only one day before the launch of the series, Channel 4 released images of the luxury bedroom and for the first time before the launch show in the programme's history, the Diary Room. The luxury bedroom was accessed via the garden and contains eight double beds with an oval wardrobe built into the back. The Diary Room was in between the two sets of stairs by which housemates entered and exited the House (they join together at the top). This meant that the housemates had to exit the House through the main doorway to enter the Diary Room;¹² however, the Diary Room button that the housemates used to notify Big Brother of their intent to go to the Diary Room was located next to the main door inside the House. Outside the bathroom were tokens, which housemates bought from the shopping list and gave to Big Brother if they wanted to use hot water or get rewards. The tokens were not returned afterwards. When the house was split into Heaven and Hell, the garden had to be modified, with a new outside bathroom in "hell" and the seating area in heaven was located as the smoking area.

Other areas in the House included, for the first time, a jail for housemates who break the rules.¹³ Located in a wall of the garden, the jail had a door which locked automatically when housemates entered and was exposed to the elements but did have bars so that housemates could not escape. On launch night, Davina McCall revealed that there is also a solitary confinement space in the House; it is accessed via the Diary Room. It was used as a "task room" for various tasks.

Early in the morning of Day 32 (6 July 2008), the Big Brother house was evacuated because of a bomb scare. All housemates were removed for their own safety while Hertfordshire Police carried out a thorough search of the premises at around 1:15am. The scare was eventually declared a hoax and the housemates returned and the show resumed. The live feed was cut during the evacuation and search and didn't resume until 4:00am. ¹⁴

The House has been used after the series for the shooting of graphics for the home page of the upcoming Big Brother horror spin off Dead Set.

House split

On Day 37, after Mario's eviction, McCall announced that over the weekend housemates will elect a Head of House¹⁵, who would be in control of the whole house. It was also revealed that the house would be split in two, with one side being 'heaven' and the other 'hell'¹⁶. Heaven had all the best seats, the entire swimming pool, sole access to the luxury bedroom and bathroom. Heavenly housemates had the right to smoke wherever they wish, as well as sole right to the prison. Hell, on the other hand, had few seats, no swimming pool, sole access to the kitchen, meaning they had to cooked for the "Heavenly" housemates as well, "B-Block" (the bad bedroom) and outdoor cold showers. Hellish housemates must also earn their right to nominate^171819202122.

On Day 65, after Dale's eviction, McCall announced that the divide between Heaven and Hell would be removed. Despite this, a new Head of House was appointed the next day²³ and the housemates re-allocated between Heaven and Hell. The next day, the fence came down²⁴.

Head of House

The Head of House is responsible for doing the shopping list and deciding who does what in the shopping task. The Head of House is immune from being nominated for the week they hold the title, but they can still nominate others. The Head of House does not participate in any of the weekly shopping tasks, but supervises instead²⁵. Once a housemate has been Head of House they could not stand a second time²⁶, but could compete to stay in heaven²⁷²⁸. After the divide was removed, only eligible housemates competed to become Head of House, except for Week 12 when all housemates were eligible²⁹³⁰²⁹. On Day 88 all previous Heads of House joined Mohamed in becoming Head of House for one day, putting an end to the role of Head of House.

• In week 6, on Day 38, housemates elected their Head of House. Dale, Luke and Darnell stood for election. Darnell won and was crowned first Head of House.¹⁵
• In week 7, on Day 45, three housemates were chosen to compete for Head of House in a competition. They had to hang from a tyre for as long as possible, with the one staying for the longest time winning the title. Dale won and was crowned second head of House.³¹
• In week 8, on Day 52, Big Brother called all housemates individually to the diary room, and gave each eight chili peppers to eat. Each chili pepper was assigned a certain number of points. The housemate that scored the most points by eating the peppers would win the title of Head of House. Stuart won and was crowned the third Head of House.²⁷²⁸
• In week 9, on Day 59, Big Brother called all housemates individually to the diary room, to take part in the challenge of saying the alphabet backwards. The eligible housemate that did it in the fastest time would become Head of House, Rachel was second fastest after Darnell and became the fourth Head of House.³²
• In week 10, on Day 66, housemates from Hell and housemates from Heaven had to make cakes resembling famous London landmarks, with Hell recreating the Millennium dome and Heaven recreating Saint Paul's Cathedral. Head of House Rachel had to choose which cake was best and picked Hell's. As a result housemates from Hell had to decide which one of them would become the next head of house, they chose Michael to become the fifth Head of House.²³
• In week 11, on Day 73, housemates eligible to become Head of House (Kathreya, Lisa, Mohamed, Nicole, Rex and Sara) had to paint themselves with the paint and sponges provided to look like statues. They had to stay still as a statue until one of them was left and they would become the new Head of House. Rex won and became the sixth Head of House.³³
• In week 12, on Day 82, housemates voted for who they wanted to be the next HoH, instead of nominating for eviction. Mohamed received 4 votes and as HoH was immune from eviction that week. Unlike previous weeks all housemates were eligible for HoH.
• On Day 88 the role of Head of House finished.

(*) Stuart was stripped of his Head of House title after discussing nominations. He was not replaced as Head until Rachel took over.
(**) Darnell, Kathreya and Mohamed all ate a banana from the gorilla task, therefore their punishment was living in Hell the upcoming week.

Key:

     - Won the title of Head of House

     - Eligible to become Head of House

     - Not in the house at the time

     - Was not eligible to become Head of House, having previously been Head of House.

Housemates

Main article: List of Big Brother 2008 housemates (UK)

There has been a total of 21 housemates that have entered the house this year. On Day 1, the original sixteen housemates entered the Big Brother House.³⁴³⁵ Alexandra was ejected on Day 14³⁶. Stuart, entered the House on Day 16³⁷ as a replacement for Alexandra. For the first time since Big Brother 5, a second housemate, Dennis, was ejected on Day 23³⁸. Sara, Maysoon and Belinda entered the house on Day 30³⁹, to replace Dennis. Maysoon walked on Day 56⁴⁰⁴¹ and was replaced two days later by Nicole, Rex's girlfriend, who entered on Day 58⁴²⁴³.

Weekly summary

Main article: Big Brother 2008 (UK) weekly summary

Each week in the Big Brother House is summarized in the table on the main page. A typical week begins with the nominations, shopping task, and ends with the eviction of a Housemate during the following Friday's episode. Evictions, tasks, and other noteworthy events for a particular week are noted. Some of the events listed may not be in order of sequence.

Controversy

Within the first week of the series, media watchdog Ofcom and Channel 4 had collectively received over 433⁴⁴ complaints about alleged bullying from housemate Alexandra, after an argument broke out between her and the other housemates regarding oven chips.⁴⁵ Channel 4 defended its housemate selection, claiming that the production team were closely watching the housemates as they normally do to ensure the safety of the housemates.⁴⁶ The broadcaster also noted that Alexandra had been warned that her behaviour could be deemed threatening.⁴⁶ On Day 14 she was ejected from the house after apparently threatening to have housemates who nominated her for eviction dealt with by her "gangster friends".⁴⁴⁴⁷

Early in the morning on Day 23, a major argument began when Rex smudged a piece of pizza on Jennifer's winning drawing of Stuart from the life drawing task earlier in the week.⁴⁸ Although she accepted Rex's apology Jennifer became increasingly agitated and upset, attracting a number of housemates to the luxury bedroom. Upon hearing about the incident, fellow housemates Dale and Stuart were visibly enraged and demanded Rex apologise, which he had already done.⁴⁸ Shortly after apologising, Stuart's opinion that it was done out of "spite" led to Mohamed's comment of "it's just a painting". This caused Rebecca to confront Mohamed about his involvement in the argument, and eventually Dennis to say "fuck off" several times before appearing to spit in his face. Dennis claimed however that no spit had actually left his mouth and hit Mohamed.⁴⁹ The live feed of the House was then cut at this point, but most of the argument, its build-up and repercussions were included in the highlights the following night.⁴⁸⁴⁹ On Day 23, Dennis was ejected from the house due to his actions, which were deemed as unacceptable behaviour by Big Brother.

During week 12, Darnell and Rex both received warnings of unacceptable behaviour from Big Brother after they appeared to be bullying Sara. This was after more than 1500 people complained to Ofcom about their alleged sexist behaviour. ⁵⁰

During the final week, Wendy Richards appeared on Big Brothers Little Brother and made racist comments about Kathreya, she said "what is it they say about these inscrutable Chinese, and she is Thai, or is it Oriental, well it's all the same to me". This caused mild outrage on Internet forums, but no action was taken by Ofcom or Channel 4, Richards did also not apologise but she done nothing wrong.

Nominations table

⁵¹

Note 1: There were no nominations the first week. Instead, the result of the secret mission given to Mario, Lisa, Stephanie and Luke determined whether they or the remaining 12 housemates would face the public vote. As they failed the task, they all faced eviction.

Note 2: Because of the ejection of Alexandra, the second eviction was cancelled, and instead new housemate, Stuart, entered. During the time the lines were available to vote, Alexandra had received 87% of the public vote.

Note 3: Stuart was exempt from the nomination process in Week 3 as he was a new housemate meaning he couldn't nominate or be nominated by fellow housemates.

Note 4: On Day 25, Luke discussed nominations. Therefore, the next day, Big Brother punished him by sending him to jail, meaning he could not nominate. However, Rebecca used a "Get Out of Jail Free" card - one of Big Brother's Ever Changing Special Prizes bought in the weekly shopping Budget, to get out of jail. He was then allowed to nominate.

Note 5: Belinda, Maysoon and Sara were exempt from the nomination process in Week 5. As new housemates they could not nominate or be nominated.

Note 6: As Darnell was Head of House he was immune from nomination/eviction for Week 6. Hell Housemates had to peel potatoes in order to nominate.

Note 7: As Dale was Head of House he could nominate but could not be nominated. Hell Housemates had to chop onions in order to nominate.

Note 8: Dale and Luke were voted for eviction by their fellow housemates. However, seven other housemates discussed nominations in secret code, so as a punishment they faced the public vote also. They were Darnell, Kathreya, Maysoon, Mohamed, Rachel, Rex and Stuart. At the time of nominations Stuart was Head of House and exempt from being nominated. After the phone lines were opened Maysoon decided to walk from the House, her line was then closed.

Note 9: As a new housemate, Nicole was exempt from the nomination process and could not nominate or be nominated by fellow housemates. As Head of House, Rachel could nominate but could not be nominated. Housemates from Hell Kathreya and Michael failed to eat a container of Brussels Sprouts and were unable to nominate. Lastly, Darnell was banned from nominating for crossing the divide to hell.

Note 10: As Head of House, Michael could nominate but not be nominated.

Note 11: As Head of House, Rex could nominate, but not be nominated.

Note 12: There were no nominations on Monday in Week 12, instead, housemates nominated who they want to become new Head of House. Mohamed was voted as new Head of House and guaranteed a place in the final week. Housemates nominated who they wanted to be up for eviction, in front of all the other housemates using whiteboards and pens.

Note 13: There are no nominations in Week 13 as the public are voting for who they want to win. On Day 90, a vote count was taken and the two housemates with the lowest amount of votes, Mohamed and Kathreya, were evicted, leaving five housemates on the final night.

Nominations totals

⁵¹

References

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 51°39′23″N 0°16′02″W / 51.65639, -0.26722

Additional Information

It was during Belinda Harris-Reid's eviction that the filming of Dead Set's "eviction" was filmed. For this, Actress Kathleen McDermott who played Pippa was put outside the 2008 House Front door and acted as if she had just left the main house, this led to small continuity error as the Big Brother series nine logo was visible instead of the redesigned version.