Big Brother 2005 (UK) - Pre-series

Pre-series

The first reports of this series were announced in March 2005 when Channel 4 confirmed that Big Brother would return for its sixth series in the summer of that year. Within that announcement the company revealed that host Davina McCall, Big Brother's Little Brother presenter Dermot O'Leary, and Big Brother's Big Mouth (called Big Brother's EForum the previous year) host Russell Brand would return along with the show. Soon after, Channel 4 programming director Kevin Lygo told the press that Big Brother 5's evil theme would not return despite its success the previous year and that the programme would be renewed for 2006 and beyond.

In April, Channel 4 confirmed that Big Brother 6 would start on 27 May 2005, in keeping with the tradition that Big Brother UK would start in late May. On 30 April 2005, Channel 4 revealed the eye for the series, a sliced mirror of alternating black and blue strips, in reality two eyes on top of each other. This helped fuel rumours about two houses, an idea that although never coming to fruition, was put into practice during the 2003 series of Big Brother in Australia. On 9 May 2005, Channel 4 began airing countdown bumpers, starting at eighteen days rather than the usual ten days before the launch; subsequent series began airing countdown bumpers ten days before the premiere. Channel 4 contradicted itself two days before the launch show, confirming that Big Brother 6 would, in fact, be evil. The broadcaster also told the press that there would be thirteen housemates with a theme of "unlucky thirteen," inspired by triskaidekaphobia.