The (in)famous Big Brother

Some people just cannot live without their yearly dose of the reality show. They only subscribe to DStv the three months of the year when the show is on. The naysayers get irritated anytime the show or the antics of the housemates are mentioned.

Whatever the case, the phenomenon that Big Brother shows have become began as a brainstorming session at Dutch production house, John de Mol Produkties on September 4, 1997. Many brainstorming and plotting sessions later, the very first season of the show was broadcast in the Netherlands on the Veronica TV channel. That was 1999. It did not take long for the show to catch on and the following year, it became a worldwide sensation, popular in as many as 70 countries.