Big Brother 2000 (UK)

Big Brother (UK)

►  First series (2000)

Housemates Name Entered Exited       Craig Day 1 Day 64 Anna Day 1  Day 64    Darren Day 1  Day 64    Melanie Day 1  Day 57    Claire Day 37  Day 50    Tom Day 1  Day 43    Nichola Day 1  Day 36    Nick Day 1  Day 35    Caroline Day 1  Day 29    Andrew Day 1  Day 22    Sada Day 1  Day 15    Winner Runner Up Evicted Ejected

Big Brother 2000 was the first series of Big Brother in the UK, a reality show shown on Channel 4 in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by votes from the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. The series started on 14 July 2000 and ran for 9 weeks until 15 September 2000. The contestants, called "housemates", were removed from the house one a week from the second week onwards until three remained for the final week; the housemate with most votes would win £70,000. Forty thousand people applied to participate in the first series.^[1] The series was a financial and viewing success, with 400,000 votes cast in the first week, rising to 7.8 million in the final week. Its most notorious moment occurred when attempts to influence voting by Nick Bateman were uncovered by other housemates. Craig Phillips went on to win with Anna Nolan finishing in second place. The series averaged 4.5 million viewers, with a series high of 10 million viewers on the final night.^[2]

Nick returned with former Housemates of other series for Ultimate Big Brother, and entered on Day 1. Anna, Darren and Caroline returned briefly to compete in tasks, and Craig returned to compete in a task directly against the Ultimate Big Brother Housemates briefly convincing them that he was returning to the house. Nick finished in fifth place.

House

The Big Brother house was located in Bow, east London. The house for the first series was very basic. It had a living area and kitchen with a store room. The two bedrooms were divided into a "Boys'" and "Girls'", and there was a shower room and toilet, all areas had cameras and microphones in them. Communication with the producers, in the guise of "Big Brother" was in a room called the "Diary Room". The house had a large garden with a vegetable patch, and a chicken coop to provide the housemates with eggs.

Broadcast history

The contestants entered the house on Friday 14 July 2000, and the first episode was broadcast on Tuesday 18 July at 9pm. The contestants were recorded twenty-four hours a day^[3] with cameras fixed around the house, and had to wear portable microphones. Each night, with the exception of Saturday, Channel 4 broadcast a daily highlights show, and from the second week there was a live eviction show hosted by Davina McCall, where the evicted housemate was interviewed. Footage of the House was available live on the Channel 4 website, however the quality was poor.^[4] The ratings grew over the course of the program, reaching 10 million watching the final episode on 15 September 2000.^[5][6]

Weekly summary

In week 1, day 1 the housemates, Andrew, Anna, Caroline, Craig, Darren, Melanie, Nichola, Nicholas, Sada and Tom entered the House. Their first weekly task was for housemates to make a clay bowl and mug each using a potter's wheel. If more than three objects cracked when cooked, the housemates would fail. The housemates failed this task.

In week 2, the weekly task was to memorize facts about their fellow housemates. After four days, the housemates would be called to the diary room and asked 3 questions each. Housemates were only allowed to get 1 question wrong between them. On day 13, the housemates passed this task, as Craig was the only housemate to get a question wrong. Housemates nominated for the first time on day 11. Each housemate named two other housemates they wanted to evict, the two houesmates with the most amount of votes would be put to the public vote. Sada had six votes and Caroline had five votes, and so they were up for eviction. On day 15 Sada was evicted with 55% of the vote.

In week 3 the weekly task was for housemates to cycle the equivalent distance from Land's End to John O'Groats on an exercise bike, via all of the housemate's hometowns in 3 days. The housemates passed this task. Caroline had five votes and Andrew had four votes, so they were put up for eviction. Andrew was evicted on day 22 with 68% of the public vote.

In week 4 the weekly task was for housemates to learn the Semaphore signalling system. The group was split into pairs picked at random. At the end of the task, the housemates had to communicate and transcribe a message in Semaphore, in silence, with no mistakes. The housemates failed the task on day 27. Caroline and Tom had four votes each and were put up for eviction. On day 29 Caroline was evicted with 62% of the public vote.

In week 5 the housemates had to set up and practise on an assault course. On the last day of the task, housemates had to complete the task in a set time of 8 minutes. The housemates completed the task in 5 minutes and 48 seconds, thus passing the task. On day 35 Nick was ejected from the house for trying to influence the votes of the other housemates.^[6] Nichola and Craig had four votes each and were up for eviction, despite Nick's departure on day 35 the eviction went out as planned on day 36 with Nichola being evicted with 72% of the public vote.

On the first day of week 6, day 37, Claire entered the House, as a replacement for Nick. The task for the week was for housemates to memorize the order that pictures of the housemates appear over the garden wall. There were over 100 pictures, and they had to be recalled in the exact order in the Diary Room. The housemates passed the task. Darren had three votes, Craig, Anna and Tom had two votes each, and Claire was exempt from nominating or being nominated. Tom was evicted on day 43 with 30% of the public vote.

During week 7 the housemates' weekly task was to make life-sized sculptures of themselves, but they failed. During nominations Darren's nominations were overheard, requiring the housemates to re-nominate. Craig and Claire had three votes each and were put up for eviction. On day 50 Claire was evicted after thirteen days in the House with 79% of the public vote, the highest percentage of the series.

In week 8 the housemates had two tasks. The first was the Big Brother Circus. Housemates had to learn and perform various circus skills including juggling, tightrope walking and unicycling. All housemates had to perform the three activities. The housemates failed this week's task on day 55. On day 55, housemates were required to make a 4 page newspaper about what they have imagined has been going on in the outside world while they've been in the house. The housemates passed the task on day 58, and won a takeaway meal. Darren received three votes, Melanie and Craig received two votes each and all three faced eviction. On day 57 Melanie was evicted with 69% of the public vote.

In week 9, on day 59, a three part task began. The winner would get a party on a theme of their choice. The task involved learning about the Highway Code, testing the housemates' physical prowess, and taking care of an artificial baby. Darren scored 76%, Craig 82%, and Anna won with 92%.

On day 64, Darren finished in third place with 13% of a three-way vote, Anna finished in second place with 49% of the final vote, and Craig won the £70,000 prize with 51% of the vote.

Housemates

Ten housemates entered the House together on the first day in the morning. Each week, except from the first, one of them was evicted by the public vote. Due to Nick's ejection from the House in week 5, Claire was introduced into the House to replace him. On the final night, the public voted for the housemate they wanted to win, and Craig Phillips became the winner.

Andrew

Andrew 'Andy' Davidson (born 23 July 1976) was a 23-year-old marketing product manager from Hemel Hempstead.^[7] He had a university education and gained a BA Degree in English and Media Studies at the University of Sussex. He was evicted on Day 22 with 68% of the vote. Andrew works in Youth Marketing and brand consultancy and was recently Vice-President at MTV London.^[8] He is the brother of Formula One racing driver and BBC Radio 5 commentator Anthony Davidson. When he was nominated by Darren for eviction, he gave his reason that his brother Anthony was go-karting the following week, and said he would rather like to see him race, instead of staying in the house the week he would be racing. 'Randy Andy' took part in the first BB kiss with fellow housemate Mel. He was voted off by the UK crowd in favour of Caroline.

Anna

Main article: Anna Nolan

Anna Nolan (born 16 October 1970) was an office manager from Dublin^[7] who came from a large family of five sisters and one brother. Before entering Big Brother, Anna worked as an office manager for a skateboarding company, but she has also worked as a banker, basketball coach, novice nun, domestic in a maternity hospital and a helper in a female prison. She came second in the final, and went on to be a TV presenter for the BBC and Raidió Teilifís Éireann. In 2001, she presented, with Davina McCall, a programme called Closure, for two series. From 2002 to 2004 she presented lifestyle programmes such as Ask Anna, and Anna in Wonderland, for BBC 3. In 2004, she moved on to present the flagship daily live programme The Afternoon Show for RTÉ One. She announced in August 2006 that she would not be renewing her contract with The Afternoon Show and moved on to front the religious documentary series Would You Believe. She combines her television work with writing a weekly column for the Evening Herald national newspaper. Anna Nolan is now a television producer, and produced the series Operation Transformation in 2011.

In 2010, Anna was a guest during the day 2 task "Who Is She?" on Ultimate Big Brother.

Caroline

Caroline (AKA 'Caggy') O'Shea (born 1 April 1963) was from Birmingham and of various jobs. Caroline was unemployed before entering Big Brother. her previous jobs have included mortgage consultant, telephonist, special constable for West Midlands Police, vocalist in a rave organisation, cleaner in a gay bar, makeovers, and sold sex toys. She was evicted on Day 29 with 62% of the vote. After Big Brother Caroline returned to her old job of selling sex toys in Birmingham, alongside occasional singing spots in clubs. However she also attempted to launch a pop career, recorded a single, but failed to gain a recording contract. Following this failure, in 2001, she suffered from depression. She was offered £5,000 for topless modelling for the Sunday Sport. As of 2008^[update] Caroline ran a makeover portrait studio in London^[8].

In 2010 Caroline was a guest during the day 2 task "Who Is She?" on Ultimate Big Brother.

Claire

Claire Strutton (born 14 February 1975) was a florist from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.^[7] She entered the House on Day 37 as a replacement for Nick Bateman, who was ejected for cheating. She was then evicted on Day 50 with 79% of the vote. Following the Big Brother show Claire landed a role as presenter of a new six-part ITV series about dancefloor and clubbing culture entitled "Dance 2000". In 2001 Claire announced she was expecting a baby with fellow Big Brother housemate Tom McDermott. The couple began dating in February 2001 and it wasn't long before Claire became pregnant. The couple were said to have no plans to marry, preferring to concentrate on the baby and their burgeoning careers. In 2003 Claire Strutton and Tom McDermott moved to Southern Spain with their toddler son Pierce, and ran a property website. Tom and Claire have since split up. Claire also made an appearance on The Salon, the reality hairdressing show on Channel 4^[8].

Craig

Main article: Craig Phillips

Craig Phillips (born 16 October 1971) is a former building company owner from Liverpool.^[7] The younger of 2 children, his family moved to Shropshire in the late 1980s. Craig's dad was killed in a car crash when he was 13 and since then he has looked after his mum, sister and three dogs (2 boxers, 1 bull mastiff) After leaving school at 15 he went to work in a butcher's shop and at 18, Craig secured a day release bricklayers apprenticeship whilst employed with Wrekin Council's construction department. Craig set up his own building company, and also hires out marquees for functions and special events. Previously he has worked his way up to managerial level in a butcher's shop in Liverpool^[8]. He has also worked as a stripper-gram. He won Big Brother with a narrow 51% of the vote. After winning Big Brother he donated the £70,000 prize to his Down's syndrome friend Joanne Harris to help pay for her heart and lung transplant. Joanne died in April 2008 after contracting an infection in hospital^[8]. In 2001 Craig presented Renovation Street with Linda Robson for ITV before being brought in as the DIY expert for the BBC on an exclusive contract. He also has a production company called Avent Productions set up in 2003 for Avent he has presented the programmes Conversion, a 10 part series for Discovery Realtime, and the sixth series of Hung, Drawn & Quartered, a 6 part series for British Forces Broadcasting Service. In 2007 Craig joined the team of 60 Minute Makeover for ITV1 for the fifth and sixth series trading his famous on screen white t-shirt look for a black t-shirt look^[8]. In 2009, Craig reappeared on Big Brother 10 as part of a task celebrating ten years of Big Brother. Craig challenged Halfwit on an obstacle course challenge, which Halfwit won.

Darren

Darren Ramsay (born 7 July 1977) lived in Catford, London. Darren has three brothers and one sister. He also has three children of his own by ex-girlfriend Tammy. His two daughters and one son are Shanice 5, Nuviea 4, and Zahnae who celebrated her birthday while he was in the house. Although they are no longer dating , Darren and Tammy continue to live together with their children. Ramsay came third in the final. After Big brother Darren fell into a year long depression, but then made an attempt to launch a career as a TV presenter and managed to present Good Food Live on UK Food. He then trained as a flight attendant which appeared on ITV1's Airline without completing, citing a lack of interest. Darren has also appeared as a contestant on the 'Reality TV Star' special episode of Anne Robinson's The Weakest Link^[8].

In 2010 Darren appeared briefly in the Ultimate Big Brother house on day 3 in a secret task involving Nick. Darren was tasked with finding pieces of paper with the potentional evictees names, which had been written by Nick as part of a secret task.

Melanie

Melanie 'Mel' Hill (born 18 January 1974) was from North London. She is very close to and lives with her mother in North London. Her father left when she was young. She achieved further education and gained a Psychology and cognitive science degree from Sussex University. Before entering the Big Brother house Melanie worked as a salesperson in the Computer industry. Previously Melanie has worked in the civil service and also as a buyer for a jewellery firm. She was seen to cultivate relationships with two different contestants, and was evicted on Day 57 with 69% of the vote. After leaving Big Brother Melanie has hosted two series of TV channel E4's reality game show Chained and as a newspaper and magazine journalist, writes lifestyle and travel features for magazines. She also dated Alex Sibley from Big Brother 2002 (UK) for a time, and was in training to become a barrister^[8]. After enrolling in the CPE she has given up on law and is currently redundant and travelling around Thailand. The Big Brother eye motiff was based on Mel's eye.

Nick

Main article: Nick Bateman

Nicholas 'Nasty Nick' Bateman (born 5 November 1967 in London, England) grew up in Kent with his four sisters. He was educated at a boarding school in Kent for five years and then at the private Gordonstoun School near Elgin in Scotland at the same time as the Earl of Wessex. Bateman worked in the City of London for nine years as a broker for the Willis Group from 1991. During his time in the house he had attempted to influence voting, although this was uncovered by other housemates on Day 35, who confronted him in a house meeting. He denied the allegations until the evidence was presented to him – housemate names, secretly written on scraps of paper hidden in his suitcase. Nick was removed from the house later that day by the show's producers for rule-breaking. After being kicked out of the house Nick signed an exclusive deal with The Sun to tell his story and donated a portion of the fee to charity. The Sun began serialising his story on the Monday after his eviction. For a time after his departure from the show, Nick enjoyed considerable media exposure and attended many show-business parties and premieres. He went on to present the short-lived television show Trust Me, wrote a book entitled Nasty Nick: How to be a Right Bastard, and appeared on the reality television series Back to Reality and in the Big Brother pantomime. He also featured as the narrator in a stage production of The Rocky Horror Show and has appeared in panto. He briefly dated Big Brother 4 housemate Justine Sellman in 2003 and he was mentioned at the finale of the fourth series. Nick later did a directing course at the BBC and is keen to make wildlife films. Nick is now the Editor At Large for The Good Holiday magazine, travel writer for the Reading Post, manages his extensive property portfolio and is married to magazine editor and fashion stylist Lynnette Peck He also has a successful newspaper online blog and on the 24th August 2010, he re-entered the house to take part in "Ultimate Big Brother", in which he finished in fifth place.^[8]. He since has opened an online vintage clothing boutique with his wife Lynnette.Nick now presents his own radio magazine show on 107.8 Academy FM in East Kent on a Sunday.

Nichola

Nichola Dawn Holt (born 12 August 1971) was an art teacher from Bolton, Lancashire who lived with her parents. She has one sister. Holt left home at the age of 17 and is into both Buddhism and Spiritualism. She works as self-employed textile artist and art teacher but has previously worked as a tax officer, a life model, bar waitress, care worker, 3-D artist and a costume designer. She was evicted on Day 36 with 72% of the vote. After leaving Big Brother she tried to cash in by making attempt at being a pop star by releasing a single called "The Game" but it flopped, reaching number 72 in the UK Singles Chart. Holt tried to make it in fashion and textiles but currently works in the adult film industry^[8].

Sada

Alyson Sada Wilkington (born 10 May 1972) was from Edinburgh and Wakefield. She now lives in South West London. Wilkington has a BA degree in Art and Archaeology and an MA in Oriental and African Art. Sada has previously worked as a waitress, apprentice gardener, an actress, model, art researcher, but is now working as a writer. Her current project is a book called "Babe's Bible" to be published by Quadrille. She was evicted on Day 15 with 55% of the vote, and was nominated 6 times. After Big Brother Sada trained as a yoga instructor and spent some time living in Argentina. She now keeps an extremely low profile, and is believed to be waitressing in a bistro somewhere in London^[8].

Tom

Thomas 'Tom' McDermott (born 29 May 1969) was a farmer and computer engineer from Omagh, County Tyrone with his parents on their farm. He was educated at a religious school, St Patrick's secondary, and Omagh College of Further Education where he gained a qualification in brick laying and joinery. He was evicted on Day 43 with 30% of the vote. He has had a child with fellow contestant Claire Strutton and in 2003 McDermott and Strutton moved to southern Spain with their toddler son Pierce and ran a property website. Tom and Claire have since split up^[8].

Nominations table

	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7		Week 8	Final Week 9		Nominations received
						Round 1	Round 2
Craig	Caroline, Sada	Caroline, Nichola	Caroline, Nichola	Darren, Nichola	Darren, Anna	Darren, Anna	Darren, Anna	Darren, Melanie	Winner (Day 64)		20
Anna	Andrew, Darren	Andrew, Tom	Craig, Tom	Tom, Craig	Craig, Tom	Claire, Craig	Claire, Craig	Craig, Darren	Runner-Up (Day 64)		6
Darren	Sada, Caroline	Andrew, Melanie	Craig, Tom	Craig, Tom	Tom, Melanie	Melanie, Craig	Claire, Craig	Melanie, Anna	Third Place (Day 64)		17
Melanie	Sada, Craig	Craig, Caroline	Caroline, Nichola	Darren, Nichola	Craig, Darren	Claire, Craig	Craig, Claire	Craig, Darren	Evicted (Day 57)		9
Claire	Not in house				Exempt	Darren, Melanie	Melanie, Darren	Evicted (Day 50)			5
Tom	Caroline, Sada	Darren, Caroline	Darren, Caroline	Nichola, Anna	Anna, Darren	Evicted (Day 43)					12
Nichola	Andrew, Tom	Andrew, Craig	Melanie, Tom	Craig, Tom	Evicted (Day 36)						9
Nick	Sada, Caroline	Caroline, Craig	Nichola, Caroline	Craig, Nichola	Ejected (Day 35)						0
Caroline	Andrew, Darren	Tom, Andrew	Tom, Melanie	Evicted (Day 29)							14
Andrew	Sada, Caroline	Caroline, Nichola	Evicted (Day 22)								8
Sada	Darren, Andrew	Evicted (Day 15)									6
Nomination note	none				[1]	[2]	none		[3]
Against public vote	Caroline, Sada	Andrew, Caroline	Caroline, Tom	Craig, Nichola	Anna, Craig Darren, Tom	Claire, Craig, Darren, Melanie	Claire, Craig	Craig, Darren, Melanie	Anna, Craig, Darren
Ejected	none			Nick	none
Evicted	Sada 55% to evict	Andrew 68% to evict	Caroline 62% to evict	Nichola 72% to evict	Tom 30% to evict	Nominations void	Claire 79% to evict	Melanie 69% to evict	Darren 13% (out of 3)	Anna 49% (out of 2)
									Craig 51% to win

^1 As a new housemate, Claire was unable to nominate or be nominated.
^2 In week 7, Darren's nomination for Melanie and Craig was overheard by the rest of the house. Big Brother decided to cancel all the nominations and the housemates had to nominate for a second time in which Darren changed his nominations. Had this not happened, Claire, Craig, Darren and Melanie would have faced the public vote.
^3 There were no nominations in the final week. The public voted for who they wanted to win.

References

1. ^ "Car-crash television". The Guardian (London). 17 July 2000. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2000/jul/17/broadcasting.mondaymediasection. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
2. ^ Cozens, Claire (18 September 2000). "Craig's Big Brother victory wins 10m viewers for Channel 4". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2000/sep/18/tvratings.broadcasting. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
3. ^ Anthony, Andrew (23 July 2000). "Let's bomb them". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2000/jul/23/features.review127. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
4. ^ "Big Brother Craze Hits Britain". zdnet.co.uk. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,2083359,00.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 
5. ^ "Big Brother through the years". BBC News. 26 August 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8072445.stm. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Lawson, Mark (18 August 2000). "So, where were you when Nasty Nick was kicked out of Big Brother?". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2000/aug/18/g2.bigbrother. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d} "Big Brother 1". Channel 4. http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/B/bb1/housemates_bb1_index.html. Retrieved 2007-06-18. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} "UK Big Brother Housemate Library". Smeggy's Forums. 2008-05-30. http://www.smeggys.co.uk/big_brother_housemate_library.php. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 

External links

• Big Brother – Series 1 at Channel4.com
• "Craig Phillips Official Website"

Coordinates: 51°31′39″N 0°0′11″W / 51.5275°N 0.00306°W / 51.5275; -0.00306