Big Brother (British TV series) series 9

Big Brother 2008 is the ninth series of the British reality television series Big Brother scheduled to air on Channel 4 and E4. The series was launched on 5 June 2008, and it is due to run for 13 weeks until 5 September 2008. This series started later than normal so that it did not clash with Britain's Got Talent, which was being aired on ITV during May. Big Brother held auditions from 21 November 2007 to 25 January 2008.

Broadcasts

It has been confirmed that Big Brother's Big Mouth, Big Brother's Little Brother and Diary Room Uncut will return. It is unknown whether Big Brother On The Couch will return. It has also been confirmed that Davina McCall will return as the host.

Dermot O' Leary will not return to host Big Brother's Little Brother, and has been replaced by Zezi Ifore and George Lamb. James Corden and Mathew Horne will also not return to host Big Brother's Big Mouth, and will be replaced with a different guest host each week. Chris Moyles, Jack Whitehall and Steve Pemberton have all been confirmed as guest hosts when the new series begins. Live streaming from the house will return to E4, but has been changed from Big Brother Live to Big Brother:Direct From The House.

The series has moved back from the usual 9pm timeslot to 10pm for the first time in two years. We will also see the return of the Saturday highlights shows, which were abandoned for Big Brother 8. Weekend shows will be airing at 10pm, with the eviction times moving back to their former slot for the first time since Big Brother 5.

The weekly podcast made by the housemates in BB8 has been axed for BB9, with a 30 minute radio show Big Brother's Big Ears as its replacement. Like the podcast, it will be available for download on the Channel 4 website and is to be hosted by Iain Lee and Gemma Cairney. It will air twice a week.

For the first time in the show's history, there will be no live web stream and there will be less live coverage on E4 because of the decision that E4 Music will continue during the series' run rather than taking a break until the series is over.

Twenty Second Round Up

A new feature of the show to be included in this series is that at the start of each show, a round up of the previous day's events will be read by mock news reader 'Dai Davis Peach'

Logo

The official "eye" logo was revealed on 12 May 2008, on the official Big Brother website. On 15 May the eye started its televised comeback with clips interspersed throughout the breaks, being first broadcast during the break of Come Dine With Me. 10 days before the Thursday a countdown began that featured the number of days left to wait in the new eye style. These adverts will air everyday until June 5th. Each Big Brother show will share the same logo with a minor but significant difference in each one. The difference will be the coloured shard will be different to reflect the show, for example BBBM will be green.

House

The house has been completely rebuilt with a new look for the series, the house is bigger than any other series since Big Brother began in 2000. Many of the walls are padded and are slanted, facing inwards. The door to enter the house is on a wall covered in a picture of a glass eye shattered, in keeping with the logo. For the first time ever, there are two sets of stairs that the housemates will enter and exit the house via. Usually these stairs are only seen by the housemates when they enter the house and when they are evicted, but this year they will be seen by the housemate every day, as they are separated by the Diary Room.

Garden

The garden has green and red walls with slanted mirrors and a boat-shaped pool. It also sees the return of a smoking area, that includes an over sized ashtray, to conform with UK wide legislation banning smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces.

It also includes a small sectioned-off, indoor seating area, big enough for two. Another new feature is the prison, a tiny caged off corner of the garden, where housemates are locked in if they disobey the rules. It is comparatively larger to last year's garden.

Bedrooms

The bedroom contains eight beds. The walls are made completely of what appear to be lockers, similar to those seen in a gym. For the first time in three years there are only single beds, made of metal. It is the first bedroom in the last five years to not have a large glass wall looking into the house, instead it only has a small window.

The second bedroom, accessed via the garden, has a feel of luxury. It contains, eight double beds, one for each housemate and has walls covered with red, velvet curtains. The beds, lockers and mirrors are all framed with gold.

Bathroom

The bathroom has a look of glamour and luxury to it, with marble fitting and golden statues and taps. Unlike last year, it contains a bath, a small sitting area and for the first time ever has a glass wall, looking through the rest of the house.

Diary Room

The Diary Room separates the two sets of stair that the housemates enter and exit the house via. The door is, like the door they enter the main house through, covered in a picture of a shattered eye. The walls of the Diary Room are red and bumpy. The chair is sliver-coloured and leather.

Housemates

Alexandra

Alexandra De-Gale is a 23 year old accounts executive from Croydon, London. Alexandra is a single mother who bore a daughter when she was 16 years old; her daughter is now seven. She was raised as a Christian but a few years ago converted to Islam. Alexandra describes herself as quirky, outgoing and a go-getter, and hates to be bored.

Dale

Dale Howard is a 21 year old student and part-time DJ from Liverpool. Although he is a physical education teacher, Dale has admitted that he doesn't like kids and would rather play football and tried out for Manchester United and Wigan Athletic; he failed in his attempts.He took a grey fluffy teddy bear into the house. The strangest job he ever had was in a garlic factory. He claims he lasted 45 minutes.

Darnell

Darnell Swallow, an ethnically black albino, is a 26 year old songwriter from London. He was born in Ipswich but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri until being deported after becoming involved in gang culture.. He has been arrested at least five times. He says that he has never watched Big Brother. He truly believes that money can buy happiness.

Dennis

Dennis McHugh is a 23 year old dance teacher from Edinburgh. Dennis says if he could make any law, it would be that everyone must wear fake tan, and his dream job is to be a dancer and then perhaps a personal shopper.

Jennifer

Jennifer Clark is a 22-year-old model from Chester-le-Street. She says being the mother of her 22-month-old daughter has made her the proudest person in the world. The most expensive thing she’s bought is a Vivienne Westwood handbag which cost £400. She has strong pro-life views, strong anti-immigration views, and is strongly pro vegetarianism. She has been described as looking like Cheryl Cole. She has a fear of tomato soup.

Kathreya

Kathreya Kasisopa ('Kat') is a 30-year-old Thai massage therapist from Kent. She relocated from Bangkok, Thailand to the UK seven years ago and she has an obsession with cookies. Kathreya says she’s addicted to them and she carries a cookie jar with her wherever she goes. Kathreya is a Buddhist, believes strongly in karma, and will do anything to avoid an argument. She loves wearing bright clothing, and wears platform boots at all times to give her extra height as she is only 5ft tall. She loves Techno music. She dreams about cookies. She wants her gravestone to be made of cookies so that her relatives can eat it. She is scared of the dark. She wants to be reincarnated as a pokemon. She says her best feature is her mouth, as it never stops smiling.

Lisa

Lisa Appleton is a 40-year-old beauty and tanning sales rep from Warrington. She is also involved in charity fundraising. Lisa is a former bodybuilder is a fitness and health fanatic and has an 18-year-old daughter. On Day 1, along with Mario, Stephanie, and Luke, Lisa was given a secret mission to hide her relationship with fellow housemate Mario; failure to do so would result in automatic nomination.

Luke

Luke Marsden is a 20-year-old student and part-time pro-wrestling announcer from Wigan. He is a proud supporter of the Conservative Party. He doesn’t smoke, drink, do drugs or swear, and says a typical weekend night out would be going to the wrestling, Pizza Hut, bowling or the cinema.

Mario

Mario Marconi is a 42-year-old civil servant from Warrington and was formerly a probation officer. He was christened Shaun but changed his name to Mario to suit his image. Mario entered the house on Day 1 with his partner Lisa; they were the first housemates to enter the House this series. Before he met Lisa, his romantic past includes having his heart broken by Miss Copenhagen when he was 18, and he claims to have slept with over 200 women.

Michael

Big Brother's first ever blind housemate, Michael 'Mikey' Hughes is a 33-year-old radio producer from Ayrshire. He lost his sight during an operation in 1998.

Mohamed

Mohamed Mohamed is a 23 year old toy demonstrator from London. Mohamed was born in Somalia and then moved to Kenya, Yeman, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Dubai before moving to the UK with his family.

Rachel

Rachel Rice (born March 7th, 1984) is a 24 year old trainee teacher from Torfaen in Wales. A former child actress, she was a runner up in the 2003 Miss Wales contest. She took part in around 20 television commercials globally - including the Sony Handicam's 'Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden' in 1991 - until she secured her first film role in Night Train to Venice with Hugh Grant in 1992. She is a devout Catholic. She owns five cats.

Rebecca

Rebecca Shiner is a 21 year old nursery nurse from Coventry. She is fond of many former boy bands, especially the American group Hanson. She screamed "This is for Cov!" as she entered the Big Brother house. She is extremely excitable.

Rex

Rex Newmark is a 24 year old chef from Hampstead. He claims that his proudest moment was winning a culinary challenge in college.

Stephanie

Stephanie McMichael is a 19-year-old student from Liverpool. In 2002, Stephanie was disqualified from Popstars: The Rivals, the show that created Girls Aloud, for being too young. On Day 1, along with fellow housemates Mario, Lisa, and Luke, Stephanie was given a secret mission to hide the relationship between housemates Mario and Lisa; as part of this task she was required to pretend to be Mario's girlfriend. Failure to successfully complete this mission would result in an automatic nomination of not only her, but also Mario, Lisa, and Luke. Stephanie is the only blonde-haired female in the house.

Sylvia

Sylvia Barrie is a 21-year-old student who fled to the UK from Sierra Leone when she was 11. She describes herself as a devout Catholic, who prays daily and attends church regularly. She describes herself as having "a sharp tongue". She regards her mother as her best friend. She says the cruelest thing that she has ever done to another person is cutting up all their clothes.

Weekly summary

Week 1	Tasks	On Day 1 the first four housemates to enter the house, Lisa, Mario, Stephanie and Luke, were given a secret mission by Big Brother. The group must keep secret the fact that Lisa and Mario are a real couple, and instead convince the other housemates that Mario is in a relationship with Stephanie. If they fail the task, the four face eviction; otherwise, the rest of the housemates will face the public vote.
	Entrances	Mario, Lisa, Luke, Stephanie, Rachel, Dale, Sylvia, Dennis, Michael, Alexandra, Rex, Mohamed, Rebecca, Darnell, Jennifer and Kathreya entered the House on Day 1.
	Exits

External links

• Official Website
• Big Brother UK Website
• Big Brother Special from Biogs
• Official Big Brother Bebo
• IMDB entry for Rachel Rice