The House
* The house and garden are specially equipped to record what happens around the clock with 34 cameras.
* This year's Big Brother house has been given a completely new look by designer Markus Blee.
* There are seven chickens in total, comprising three different breeds: two Boveneras, two Exchequer Leghorns and three Little Red Hens.
 |
| The Big Brother house |
*One-way glass mirrors are situated on all the walls as are, for the first time ever, a number of full-length mirrors.
* This year's Big Brother Diary Room boasts a brand new chair that is yet to be revealed.
* The house (excluding the garden) covers approximately 307 square metres, smaller than previous years.
* Last year's heated swimming pool will remain in the garden. Hexagonal in shape, the pool measures 5 x 5 metres, 1.5 metres deep and is surrounded on all sides by wooden decking.
* The garden area covers approximately 180 square metres and includes a lawned area surrounded by a variety of trees and foliage.
* The house has a large garden with a substantial vegetable and herb patch containing courgettes, broad beans, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, spring onions and lettuce. Strawberries and rhubarb also grow in the garden
* The house is based in Elstree, Herts.
top
 |
| The Big Brother 4 lounge |
The Rules
There are 10 basic rules regarding life inside the Big Brother house.
* There is no contact with the outside world.
* Contestants are filmed 24 hours a day and must wear your personal microphones at all times.
* The Diary Room is the only place in the house where Big Brother will acknowledge contestants. Visits to the Diary Room are compulsory.
* Each week contestants will be required to go to the diary room and nominate two people; Contestants must give frank and honest reasons for your nominations.
* Contestants are not permitted to discuss nominations, or try to influence anyone else's nominations.
* The public will decide who is evicted.
* All tasks are compulsory.
* Contestants may not threaten, intimidate or act violently towards any other housemate.
* If contestants break the rules they may be asked to leave the house.
* Big Brother reserves the right to change the rules at any time.
top
 |
| The Big Brother 4 pool |
The Technology
* Five cameras will follow participants from behind one-way glass. Sound proofing runs within the house.
* Producers in the Big Brother control room operate an additional 15 cameras fitted to remote-controlled pan and tilt head cameras located in the house. A further 13 fixed cameras ensure that every area of the house and garden is under surveillance.
* Over 40 microphones provide comprehensive audio coverage.
* 50 monitors are housed within the Big Brother control room, watched over by a 24/7 production team of directors and vision mixers.
* 50 kilometres of cable have been used in the technical construction of the Big Brother house.
* Over the course of the series, around 2,000 radio mic batteries will be used in the house.
* 10,000 hours of tape will be recorded.
* 150 producers, directors, editors and webmasters work to bring Big Brother to terrestrial TV, digital TV and the web.
* A 60-person crew is needed to bring each nightly show to the TV screen.
top
The Contestants
 |
| The Big Brother 4 kitchen |
* There were over 100,000 requests for application forms.
* Over 10,000 applicants sent in videos and of those, 2,500 were auditioned.
* The Big Brother team then whittled down the applications to 90 candidates, all of whom underwent extensive group sessions and individual interviews with the Big Brother senior editorial team.
* From this group a short list of 50 have been selected. This year there will be 12 housemates and they will be selected from this group.
* All candidates are over 18 and all short-listed were subjected to a police screening.
* All participants will have been through at least four selection filters including multiple interviews with psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
* They can leave the project at any time.
* A subsistence payment is made to all participants as a contribution to help pay for out-of-pocket expenses (such as rent) while they are in the house. This is a flat fee and is not tied to an individual's loss of earnings, but is based on jury service payments and is around £30 per day.
* Participants will be allowed to take one suitcase and one small bag into the house.
* Items banned from the house include writing materials, mobile phones, radios, walkmans, CDs or CD players, computers, PDAs (Psion, Palm Pilot, etc), calendars, clocks and watches, drugs and narcotics, personal medication (except in consultation with Big Brother), weapons, any electronic equipment or items requiring batteries and clothes with prominent logos.
top
