Big Brother 2001 (UK)

Big Brother 2001 (UK)

Big Brother 2001, also known as Big Brother 2, was the second series of the British reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Netherlands series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The season premiered on Channel 4 on May 25, 2001 and lasted nine weeks until the live finale on July 27, 2001. The second season continued the success of the original, being a ratings success for the company. There was a total of 7.3 million votes in the final week. In terms of ratings, it matched the success of the first with a series average of 4.5 million viewers.

The premise of the series remained largely unchanged from the previous installment in the series. The series revolves around ten strangers living in a house together with no communication with the outside world. They are filmed constantly during their time in the house, and can have no communication with those filming them. Each week, each contestant, referred to as "housemates", choose two people to be up for nomination. The two or more people with the most votes will be nominated to leave the house. The viewers then decide which of the nominees should leave, with the selected person leaving during a live show. This process continued until only three housemates remained, in which the viewers would decide which of the housemates would win the £70,000 grand prize. A housemate can be ejected from the show for breaking rules, such as discussing nominations when not permitted. Later in the season, an intruder entered the game, the first in Big Brother history, bringing the total number of housemates to 11. The series ended after 64 days, in which housemate Brian Dowling was crowned the Winner, and Helen Adams the Runner-Up.

Since their appearance on this season, various housemates have went on to appear in other seasons of the series. Winner Brian Dowling was an official housemate for Ultimate Big Brother, in which he became the only person to win the game of Big Brother twice. Housemate Amma returned that season as well, though it was only to participate in a shopping task. Brian later returned to Big Brother again in 2011, when he became the host of the new Channel 5 version of the show, replacing Channel 4 host Davina McCall. In 2009, housemate Stuart Hosking announced plans to launch Big Brother: The Musical in London's West End, and was granted approval by Endemol.