Big Brother’s alive and well
Protests by fans brought popular show back for sixth season
Big Brother is watching you, and apparently you’re watching Big Brother — obsessively so. The Canadian edition of the reality show is back for a sixth season after fans protested its cancellation last June.
Debuting on Wednesday on Global and airing subsequent Wednesdays, Thursdays and Mondays, Big Brother Canada will sequester 14 strangers in a camera-filled house as they use strategy and gameplay to win. (Fans will continue to vote online until Thursday for two last-minute gatecrashers to join the house.)
At stake is a grand prize of $100,000, a European vacation for two courtesy of Air Transat, and a $30,000 home makeover from The Brick.
Host Arisa Cox helps us preview the new season.
Q: What was your reaction when the show was cancelled?
A: The glass was half full because we had five seasons of incredible television. I remember after season 1 saying, “OK, this is crazy. But give me five years and I’ll be over the moon.” But the fans, they were like, “Not on our watch.”
Why are the fans so passionate?
There are people who like TV, there are people who are fans of particular shows, and then there’s the Big Brother fandom. The most loyal, dedicated, brilliant, hilarious people watch this show. Your favourite reality show that’s on once a week is just that — it’s on once a week for an hour and it’s great. But our show has three full shows a week, plus a 24-hour live feed, which means that people have a very different connection with the people on our show. They feel it more.
What can viewers expect this season?
This is the season that the fans demanded. We’re going back to what Big Brother is at its core, which is a social experiment — putting strangers together, and seeing how they interact and use their skills to get ahead in the game. And in that,
there’s always this struggle between good and evil. Do you back-stab your best friend in the game to get ahead?
What to you makes the Canadian version unique?
We’re the newer Big Brother on the block . ... So we’ve got something to
prove, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. We have such world-class talent in all aspects — in the production of the show, the people who are on the show, art direction and challenges. And then on top of that, because we were late to come into the Big Brother universe, we were able to pull some of the best
aspects from different Big Brothers around the world.
How would you fare on the show?
I like to say that I’d be either the first out or I’m making it to the final two. I have a really good head for the game, and I got an education pretty quick.