George Orwell: Invented 'Big Brother' in his last novel, 1984

Arguing that they are trading on the connection to the novel, he pointed out that one of the show's producers named their company Orwell Productions.

The fly-on-the-wall TV show, which has been a hit across Europe, involves real people confined in a house fitted with cameras in every room.

Under 24-hour surveillance, participants' activities are broadcast on television and the internet, with viewers voting to remove one resident each week.

The US version of the show, which has had to compete with another CBS reality show Survivor, has failed to capture a large audience.

Stirring it up

Now CBS are hoping to boost ratings by introducing a new participant to stir up some conflict among the six "tame" contestants remaining.

On Wednesday's show producers will offer one of the six remaining contestants a bribe to quit so the series can introduce a more interesting replacement.

Someone will be offered a briefcase containing $10,000 (�6,850) but on leaving the house will forgo the $500,000 (�342,000) prize for the final winner.

But they will only have two minutes to decide whether to take the money and run.