Big Brother was first a hit in Holland

Nine of the investigators will get "killed" by the murderer - or eliminated from the show - during its eight-week run on the Fox TV network.

Clues and briefings will be left on the show's website for viewers to help piece together the mystery.

The site's message board already has messages from people discussing which of the residents - listed on the Fox site - might be the murderer before the show has even started.

One message, from a family member of a real murder victim, says murder should not be turned into entertainment.

Reality TV has gone to more and more extreme lengths to hold the public's attention since the phenomenon first appeared several years ago.

Reality TV was spoofed in the film Series 7

The successes of Expedition Robinson in Sweden - on which Survivor is based - and Holland's Big Brother alerted broadcasters around the world to the ratings to be had from this new generation of game shows.

Among the other shows about to start on American television are Cannonball Run, in which teams race across the country and Love Cruise, where single contestants are whittled down to a couple.

Yet another, Combat Missions, sees current and former members of the military pitted against each other.

The reality TV genre even spawned its own spoof - the film Series 7: The Contenders, which pretended to be a show where contestants really did have to kill each other.

But not every show has proved a hit.

Germany's Big Diet - described as a Big Brother for obese people - was recently axed because of poor ratings.