Big Brother 11 (UK)

Auditions

Open auditions for the series took place in Manchester on 15–16 January 2010, in Dublin on 19 January 2010, in Cardiff on 23 January 2010, in Glasgow on 30 January 2010 and in London on 6–7 February 2010.

Pre-series

On 10 May, the Celebrity Big Brother 7 website was replaced with a Big Brother 11 mini-site updated with 23 pictures of Big Brother 11's new trailer. The trailer was aired on Channel 4 during The Million Pound Drop Live on 24 May. The trailer featured 30 ex-housemates from the past 10 series of Big Brother attending a funeral of the Diary Room Chair, with show narrator Marcus Bentley as the priest.

On 14 May, it was announced on the Big Brother mini-site that Emma Willis would be joining the current presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother, George Lamb, as co-host for the series. On 17 May, break bumpers featuring the falling flowers began showing on Channel 4. To celebrate the final series of Big Brother, Davina McCall hosted a special programme, Big Brother's Big Awards Show, where the British public has bestowed accolades upon memorable housemates from the previous series. This special was aired on E4 on 22 May. A further programme, Big Brother Exposed: The Inside Story, was aired on 28 May on E4, brought viewers highlights of the past ten series. On 21 May, Channel 4 unveiled the floral-themed eye logo for this summer's series of Big Brother.

Eye logo

The logo, which was made up of hundreds of brightly coloured flowers, was a tribute to the eleven series since its debut in 2000.

Title Sequence

The titles had a carnival theme which included spinning cogs, a gramophone which was exploding with flower petals, a ventriloquist dummy and a spinning Big Brother clock which was striking 11. There was also cutaway messages during the titles, spelling out 'Welcome' 'To The' 'Mad House'.

Format

The theme for this series was carnival. Like always, housemates entered the House with no contact with the outside world. Each week, the housemates took part in a compulsory task that determined the amount of money they were allocated to spend on their shopping; if they passed, they received a luxury budget and they were allocated a basic budget if they failed. Housemates nominated two housemates for eviction every week. In a new nominations twist revealed on Day 6, the nominated housemates were allowed to escape nominations with a weekly Save and Replace challenge. The Save and Replace winner is exempt from nominations, however, they must replace themselves with another housemate of their choice for eviction. This nominations twist that was held every week is similar to the Power of Veto from the American version of Big Brother.

Eviction format

The eviction format saw a number of changes, at the beginning of an eviction show, a round-up of the weeks events - featuring newspaper headlines - would be shown to viewers. This series saw the return of McCall announcing the eviction from outside the house with the housemates hearing the live audience cheering, booing and chanting. Occasionally, If more than two housemates faced eviction, McCall would announce which nominee(s) will be safe, however, this was only done a handful of times (Week 1, 2 and 7), three housemates face eviction in Weeks 3, 5 and 8, and four in Week 9, where no announcement of who was safe was announced, in Week 10 eight housemates faced the public vote which would lead to the first ever quadruple eviction, out of the four times McCall spoke to the house she would announce one nominee who was safe and then announce the evictee who would have to leave immediately. The eviction announcements were made in no particular order (see Nominations Table), John James received the highest number of eviction votes, followed by Corin, Sam and Steve, however the order they left the house was Steve, Corin, Sam and John James.

Another change to the eviction format was the housemates 'best bits getting shown before the interview rather than at the end as in every other series - although the previous Celebrity series adopted this format. The panel format used in the eviction interviews the previous year did not return, instead McCall interviewed the evictee in a one-on-one format, however, for the first time ever, viewers could call in with questions to ask the evictee. Also, evictees were shown goodbye messages the housemates recorded for them in the event of their departure, similar to the format used in the American version of the show. The new eviction format continued for Ultimate Big Brother, the only difference that all interviews were performed outside of the studio.

Tree of Temptation

Located in the bathroom was a chest of drawers created from the Tree of Temptation that was present in the 2010 celebrity series. The Tree of Temptation gave housemates secret tasks to gain rewards for themselves or other housemates. The first task occurred on Day 1 when Mario was performing his "Impossible Task". This is the list of all tasks throughout the series:

Bob Righter

Bob Righter is a fortune teller machine that provided the housemates with (often cryptic) information on upcoming tasks and events. It is so named as it is an anagram of "Big Brother".

The House

The first aerial pictures of the House were released by the Daily Star magazine as early as mid-May. On 5 June, pictures of the interior of the House were released. Rooms revealed were the entrance, living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and the garden.

The final Big Brother House was the most luxurious and open. The House was mainly walled with floral designs on glass, similar to series 7. The entrance had a theme of heaven, but had been revamped to one staircase rather than the previous two staircases. The diary room was tucked on the right hand side. Upon entering the living room, there was one large red sofa with a red/black theme. In contrast to the kitchen and bathroom's modern effect, the bedroom consisted of a Salvador Dalí design in the beds. The garden kept up a carnival theme, including a carousel. A snug was also built for the housemates to lounge and chat, and in addition, a mini pool/hot tub. On Day 70, the house was evacuated to a temporary location due to severe flooding in the living area and bedroom. The housemates returned later, and were limited to the task room to live.

Housemates

On Day 1, eighty-one hopefuls arrived at the entrance of the House – seventy-nine of whom had been revealed before the series began. Only fourteen housemates were selected to enter out of all candidates. The first thirteen were selected by Big Brother, and the fourteenth housemate (Mario) was selected by a random draw. Three new housemates (Andrew, Keeley and Rachel), whose identities were revealed on the Channel 4 website on Day 30, arrived in the House by spaceship during the Day 31 eviction show. On Day 45, three more new housemates (JJ, Jo and Laura) were selected to enter the House by the current housemates from a choice of six. These six were among those not chosen to enter the House on Day 1. After Laura walked, Sam, who was one of the three not selected on Day 45, entered the House on Day 52 as part of the "Ignore the Obvious" task.

Summary

On launch night, eighty-one potential housemates stood near the crowd waiting to find out who would enter the House by being chosen by Big Brother, live. Big Brother selected thirteen housemates, whilst the final, fourteenth housemate was chosen by a random draw held by Davina. Mario won the random draw, however, Big Brother set him an "Impossible Task" upon entry. He was forced to work undercover as a mole, interfering with the House in a forced discretion for four days. If the majority of the housemates suspected him as a mole, Mario would receive an immediate eviction. He entered the House with a mole suit and a sign saying "I AM A MOLE" to draw housemates to fast suspicions. In the later hours, Mario got access to the Mole Hole, his living quarters located in a door at the garden.

Mario was required to complete a series of tasks for the Tree of Temptation. Mario successfully completed all four secret missions, however, in the evening, Big Brother confirmed that there was a mole in the House. All housemates including Mario then voted on the person they thought was the mole. Ben, Caoimhe, Dave, Govan, John James, Josie, Mario, Nathan, Shabby, and Steve voted for Sunshine. Corin and Ife voted for Mario. Rachael voted for Steve, and Sunshine voted for Ben. As the majority did not identify Mario as the mole, Mario was allowed to stay in the House as an official housemate.

For the first shopping task, set on Day 2, all of the housemates except Sunshine had a meal at a dining table suspended forty metres in the air. Sunshine had to depict five headlines from the previous night's newspapers on a giant note pad in the garden. For every correct answer the housemates at the dining table guessed, the housemates received £100 for next week's shopping budget. Housemates guessed two correctly and won £200 for shopping. Housemates earned the contents of their suitcases on Day 3 by putting on as much of their clothes as they could within four minutes. Any extra clothing was confiscated. Dave, Shabby and Sunshine were nominated for eviction on Day 6, but as Dave won the "Hickory Dickory Dock" task he saved himself and replaced himself with Rachael. The shopping task later in the week had housemates test out three new gameshow pilots to replace Big Brother on Channel 4. Housemates won £200 towards their shopping budget over the two days of the task. On Day 10, housemates won a special World Cup barbecue after seven housemates blew vuvuzelas non-stop for 90 minutes. Later that night, Rachael was evicted from the House.

In the second week, Ben, Dave, Govan and Shabby were originally nominated. Shabby saved herself in the task "Scooter Slide", where each nominated housemate had three attempts to ride a scooter through a course without knocking over any markers and replaced herself with Mario. On Day 15, housemates took part in a backwards day shopping task. After undoing a completed key jigsaw, they later had to work out how to put it back together within a time limit. Housemates passed the task but the money earned for the shopping was taken away due to persistent rule breaking and they were placed on basic rations until further notice. On Day 17, Govan was evicted from the House with 72% of the public vote.

On Day 18, housemates won a penalty shootout against the housemates in the German Big Brother House and won the opportunity to see the England v Germany game in the first knockout stage of the World Cup. To win a birthday party for Steve, housemates had to talk through puppets of themselves for a period of time on Day 19. Dave, Shabby and Sunshine were nominated on Day 20, but Dave saved himself by winning the task "Your Face on TV", where they had to slide the pieces of a jumbled up picture of their face so as to unjumble them. Dave replaced himself with Caoimhe. Housemates celebrated International Joke Day for their shopping task by taking on various joke stereotypes, including a dumb blonde and an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman. Ben also exited the House for 90 seconds on eviction night to do a stand-up routine for the eviction crowd. Housemates passed the task on Day 24, with Sunshine being evicted that night.

In the fourth week, on Day 26, housemates took part in a wheelchair basketball task, which ended up with Corin, Ife, John James, Nathan and Steve being rewarded with a party. Shabby walked from the House on Day 27, with Caoimhe and John James being nominated for eviction soon after. However, after winning the "Stay on TV" task, Caoimhe replaced herself with Nathan. For the weekly shopping task, Big BroBot took over the Big Brother House and housemates completed a series of Man v Machine tasks against Titan. Any housemate who lost a task was made into a robot and the housemates who were humans at the end of the task played against "Bigger Brother" in a game similar to Robot Wars (Bigger Brother competed in Robot Wars, notably finishing second in series 5). Housemates failed the task as they were defeated by Bigger Brother. On Day 31, Nathan was evicted with 89% of the public vote. After the eviction, Andrew, Keeley and Rachel entered the House by spaceship in the garden.

In Week 5, Caoimhe, Corin and Ife were nominated for eviction, but Caoimhe won the Save and Replace task – a paintball duel – and replaced herself with Mario. In the weekly shopping task, the male housemates were kidnapped by the Uber Cougar and had to live in the Uber Cougar's Lair. The female housemates became superheroes and completed tasks to released the men. The housemates passed the task as all of the males except Andrew and Dave were released over the time of the task. The mechanical parrot in the living room was part of a task on Day 38. The parrot repeated a quote by a housemate in the House and the housemate who said the quote had to put a coin in Bob Righter to receive an individual prize. Later that night, Ife became the fifth housemate to evicted from the House.

Housemates joined the Glee club of "BB High" in Week 6 and auditioned for roles in their own version of "Don't Stop Believin'". They filmed a music video with the help of Pineapple Dance Studios' Andrew Stone which had to get 100,000 views on the Channel 4 website. Andrew and Corin also had to go out of the House and sing "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" in front of the eviction crowd. Housemates passed both parts of the task and won a luxury shopping budget. Caoimhe and Rachel were nominated for eviction on Day 41, but Caoimhe walked on Day 42. At the Save and Replace task on Day 42 (between Corin, Keeley and Rachel), Keeley fractured her ankle and was forced to leave the House for treatment. Keeley chose not to return to the House and the eviction scheduled for Day 45 was cancelled. Housemates then had to choose 3 new housemates from 6 potential housemates – JJ, Jo, Joel, Laura, Megan and Sam. They chose JJ, Jo and Laura to enter the House.

Week 7's nominations saw Ben, Dave, John James and Steve face eviction but Steve saved himself in the "Battle of the Brides" task. Laura decided to leave the House on Day 50. In this week's shopping task, housemates took part in an "Ignore the Obvious" task, in which they had to ignore various distractions in the house such as a brass band, an estate agent showing potential buyers through the House, tourists walking around the House taking pictures, Marcus Bentley conducting his narrations from within the House, Davina McCall hosting part of the eviction show from in the House, a performance from Jedward and new housemate Sam entering the house. Housemates were allowed 88 fails over the three days of the task and passed the task with 86 fails. On Day 52, Ben became the 6th person to be evicted with 52 percent of the public vote.

Week 8 was focussed on the arrival of Sam. He was not given his proper suitcase and instead had to wear flamboyant clothes provided by Big Brother. The housemates were given a playground endurance task, which Andrew won. For the weekly shopping task, housemates had to portray characters from Charles Dickens novels. As part of this, John James and Rachel had to sit in a dining room in chairs for 24 hours portraying Great Expectations character Miss Havisham. John James quit, claiming he didn't want to wear a dress and heels and spend the day with Rachel. Corin had to portray Scrooge and give out coins when the others begged, the others had to perform Consider Yourself from Oliver Twist and for the video to be viewed on the Big Brother website at least 100,000 times, which was reached. John James, Mario and Rachel were nominated for eviction, Mario won Save and Replace and choose Dave in his place. On Day 59, Rachel became the seventh housemate to be evicted, receiving 58.5% of the public vote.

In Week 9, Housemates nominated by pouring buckets of custard, mud, baked beans and tinned spaghetti or Big Brother's special sauce over the person they wished to nominate. They were not required to give any reason for nomination. Dave was punished for attempting to influence Andrew to nominate him by not being allowed to take part in the Save and Replace challenge. Mario won the save and replace task and replaced himself with Sam. For the weekly shopping task, housemates competed to become the ultimate pantomime housemate. JJ and John James won and competed in the annual pantomime horse race at Sandown Park Race Course. They won a £300 shopping budget for finishing third. On Day 66, Jo became the eighth person to be evicted with 39.2% of the public vote.

In Week 10, after Jo's eviction, housemates had to choose a fellow housemate to be given a ticket to the final. They chose Josie; all other housemates faced a quadruple eviction. For the week's shopping task, Bob Righter predicted 15 things about the housemates. The housemates did not know what the predictions were and the individual tasks that Bob Righter set had nothing to do with the task. On Day 71, ex-housemates Ben, Nathan and Rachael returned to the house as part of a task. On Day 73, Steve (9.8% of the public vote), Corin (20.6% of the public vote), Sam (14.6% of the public vote) and John James (34.2% of the public vote) left the house in a quadruple eviction.

In the final week, Andrew was given a task by the Tree of Temptation – he had to answer every question that he was asked with the word 'yes'. Adding to his humiliation, his fellow housemates Dave, JJ, Josie and Mario, were told in turn of Andrew's task so they could have fun manipulating him. As the housemates passed their task, they were awarded with a 'Perfect Day' the next day consisting of: Housemates being served breakfast in bed by ex-Celebrity Big Brother housemate Anthea Turner, Housemates being treated to a pampering session, Housemates being treated to having their hair done by professional stylist Lee Stafford and his assistant Jo, Housemates having a three-course meal cooked for them by Nancy Lam and housemates being treated to an exclusive performance by Simon Webbe, singing his new single 'Casanova'.

Andrew finished in fifth place to cheers and the song Teenage Dream by Katy Perry, followed by JJ who also received a warm reaction. Mario was evicted in third place with his prize 'butterfly jacket'. The final result was announced that Josie had won with over 77% of the public's vote, Dave being runner-up. After her interview, Josie re-entered the house for the final series: Ultimate Big Brother.

House flood

On the evening of Day 70 the house suffered from a freak rainstorm, resulting in the evacuation of the housemates to a nearby location in the Big Brother compound, due to severe flooding which caused leaks in the bedroom and living room from the roof. After several hours, the housemates returned to the house. For the remainder of Day 70 and the majority of Day 71, housemates only had access to the large task room (in the form of a makeshift bedroom), the garden, the garden toilet and small task room located off of this (formerly the mole hole, acting as a replacement small task room for the one located off the diary room) and the nest (in the form of a makeshift diary room). To prevent conversations in the nest ("diary room") with Big Brother from being overheard by other housemates, when a housemate wished to use the nest ("diary room"), the others had to move to the large task room ("bedroom").

At 8:33pm on Day 71, the housemates were allowed access to the whole house.

On Big Brother's Little Brother on Day 71, George Lamb interviewed the creative director of Big Brother, Phil Edgar-Jones. George asked what caused the leak, and Phil replied "Some of the housemates were throwing socks up onto the roof, the socks got stuck in the gutter and because of that the water couldn't drain, so it collected on the roof." Phil also highlighted the extent of the flooding by showing that approximately six inches of water had accumulated in the housemates' beds.

Notes

Ratings

These viewing figures are taken from BARB and include Channel 4 +1.

* Ratings for these episodes do not include Channel 4 +1.