Big Brother watches us because we watch people Big Brother. The show started in the Netherlands in 1999 and quickly became a worldwide phenomenon.

An American version followed the following year, still using the same simple formula (and a bit Orwellian…) of locking up competitors to watch them 24 hours a day. The franchise then spread to around sixty countries and for more than 500 seasons regions from total. The accounts accumulated over more than two decades of success add up to billions of people glued to their screens and billions of handsome dollars in profits.

Part of the explanation for this phenomenal worldwide success is the malleability of the formula, which can adapt to cultural idiosyncrasies that are visible even in the sets. In the United States, contestants have their basketball hoop. In Brazil you need a shared bathroom.

Produced in Quebec for the past two years, the “Celebrity” version is transformed into a chateau-de-banlieue-neo-traditional-imitation-Renaissance-style residence. Pure swanky 450 what. In Dubai, the room layout clearly separates men and women and also offers them a space for prayer. Allah is watching us too…

the to water adapts to the local conditions. When Big Brother Released in South Africa in 2001, the production went head-to-head against a multi-ethnic band that would have been unthinkable a decade earlier. After racist remarks by competitors in previous years Big Brother beach houseby CBS, concocted the last year to water most diverse in the history of production, including Non-Whites (POC) and four members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Some corners of the world openly resisted the invasion. In China and Japan, the formation of fleeting romantic relationships from the lure of profit is too shattering of morale. In Russia, the habit of arbitrariness and intrigues in everyday life favored the development of a different production, DOM-2, where the rules for the participants, who are also not included, are subject to change without notice. Launched in 2004, the production ended in 2021 after 16 years of continuous airing, or almost 6,000 episodes in total, a world record.

“Studying reality TV in the world risks reducing cultures to a set of stereotypes that lock each country in a radical difference,” warns Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini, however an article on the variations of the genre, written for The media show of the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) of France. ” In case of Big Brother, it is interesting to emphasize that from a common matrix accepted by many countries, we get to cases where it is the reality shows themselves that have radically transgressed the codes of the show and this transgression with the assertion of their justify cultural differences. »

characters and people

M^me Nadaud-Albertini knows all about it. In 2011 she received her doctorate in sociology from the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales on the subject “Content and digital reception of reality TV programs in France”. Scholarly work began years earlier when the genre was born in France. She admits she had trouble finding a principal at this prestigious school. “It was a subject that was very taboo,” she said in an interview with Must.

“For me, reality TV is a story based on a character, which is based on a person,” she summarizes. In classic fiction, after writing the screenplay, you look for actors for the film adaptation and possibly other actors for adaptations. […] In a reality show, you set the rules, the sets, the places of life. you make a to water. Only here the value of the character, all of its narrative potential, depends solely on the people. »

This reality of reality TV makes it an open-ended work, giving producers and contestants a lot of leeway. The malleable format, which can be declined as desired, has enabled France, like many other countries, to create its own concepts and exportable successes.

Here we have double cast to be in competition Big BrotherWhere from the island of lovethen The leaders! substitute master chef. There, national favor goes to shows like Koh Lanta (30 seasons) to emulate the adventure production at the survivoror The battle of the couples, The people of Marseilles and Reality TV Angels. The latter plays with duplication, bringing together stars from different productions, such as big brother celebrities brings second-tier celebrities together.

A global juggernaut

So let’s get back to that. Big Brother was released worldwide by the Dutch company Endemol, which was founded in 1994 by producer John de Mol, quasi-inventor of the genre and made him a billionaire. Endemol is now owned by the French group Banijay, whose active catalog has around 60,000 production hours.

Vice President Jane Rimer, who now heads Banijay Rigths’ Canadian office, is negotiating the purchase and sale of rights to productions in both official languages. It was she who signed the agreement for a Quebec version of survivorcoming to a screen near you this winter.

She explains this urbi et orbi success by the universal appeal of entertainment organized around the gathering of individuals who build relationships by competing with each other. “Reality TV is about what we all have inside us as human beings,” she says. We are fundamentally competitive. We like to form communities. In general, we don’t like living in isolation. »

She gives the example lego master, which pits two build teams against each other with mini blocks. The show already has 18 versions worldwide. Another broadcast (Bust) is organized around the creation of “Baloune” sculptures…

Eat from the next…

The exploding trends of the last few years go in all directions (food, celebrities, datingfashion, body transformation…) and constantly pushing the limits. RuPaul’s Drag Race (since 2009), an empire in the realm of signs of the time, has been described as “the closest thing gay culture has to competitive sport”. participants off Sexy beasts (2021) masquerade and dress up as mythical animals for flirting. In the falsely puritanical show high voltage seduction (2020) Kracher participants must observe strict chastity. alter egothe first reality showartificial intelligencefeatures a tele-hook with a singing avatar character.

Without judging any of the productions, M^me Rimer speaks of similarities between current productions. She points to a growing concern “for the mental well-being of the contestants,” a hot topic here after last season’s mishapdouble castWhich led to… withdrawal of three candidates accused of molesting another.

“We really recognize how important it is to protect our talent in today’s world,” she says, citing again diversity and inclusion as ongoing concerns and the decline in multi-platform productions. “We also know that our programming needs to be mindful of what is culturally and socio-economically important in different broadcast areas. »

The Canadian “Territory” is no exception. Banijay just bought for distribution Wild Cooks (wooden headsby Quebec company Toast Studio) that sends twelve chefs into the great Canadian wilderness where they must survive and create a gourmet meal from the harvested elements.

There is more amazing. Travel with a goat offers just that: a four-day trip from Gourmet from point A to point B accompanied by a goat. The dramatic tension revolves around the ultimate destination, a slaughterhouse where the carnivore must decide whether or not to consume his new meat companion. The production should excite Reflections and discussions about the treatment of animals. It can also serve as a metaphor for reality TV itself…

To see in the video