Big Brother (Euro Republics)

Big Brother Euro Republics (also known as Big Brother ER or BBER) is a Euro Republican-Dutch reality competition series for Three and began airing on January 2, 2001. It was one of the channel's first HD programmes.

The series premiered on 2 January 2001 on TV3, and immediately became a ratings hit. The series also featured a 24-hour live feed, in which fans could view inside the house at any time, alongside various slots branded as Big Brother Live screened on Ch 4, Spark & Premiere.

It was commissioned in 2000 after the British version became a hit in the country through broadcasts on Ch 4.

History
The idea for the show is said to come during a brainstorm session at the production house of John de Mol Produkties (an independent part of Endemol) on 4 September 1997. The first Big Brother broadcast was in the Netherlands in 1999 on the Veronica TV channel. It was picked up by Germany, Portugal, USA, UK, Euro Republics, El Kadsre, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy the following year and became a worldwide sensation. Since then it has been a prime-time hit in almost 70 countries. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1948 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The series was initally due to broadcast in October 2000 but for unknown reasons, the series was pushed to the start of the next year. The UK version had aired to fill the void on TV3 and FOX to great success.

How It Works
Big Brother is a game show in which a group of contestants, referred to as housemates, live in isolation from the outside world in a custom built "house", constantly under video surveillance. During their time in the house, the housemates are required to nominate two of their fellow contestants for potential eviction, and the two or more with the most votes would be nominated. This process is mandatory for all housemates, and failure to comply could result in expulsion from the house. The viewers can vote to evict one of the nominated housemates, and the housemate with the most votes is removed from the house.