Big Brother (British TV series) series 5
Big Brother 2004, also known as Big Brother 5, is the fifth series of the British reality television series Big Brother. The show followed thirteen contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom-built House. Each week, one or more of the housemates were eliminated from the competition and left the House. The last remaining housemate, Nádia Almada, was declared the winner, winning a cash prize of £63,500.
The series launched on Channel 4 on 28 May 2004 and ended on 6 August 2004. It lasted 71 days - the longest series of Big Brother at the time and the eighth longest series to date. Davina McCall returned as presenter for her fifth consecutive year. Twelve housemates entered on launch night, with one additional housemate being introduced in the fifth week.
Following the negative reception of the "boring" previous series, several changes were made to the format. Big Brother became "evil", resulting in a higher-pressure environment for the housemates, more difficult tasks, fewer luxuries and more twists. Big Brother 5 ultimately became most memorable, and the subject of viewer complaints and press attention, for a physical altercation between housemates in the early hours of Day 20, which later became referred to by fans and in the press as [|"Fight Night"].
The series was watched by an average of 5.1 million viewers, the second highest viewed series of the show to date.
Production
Auditions
For the first time ever, housemates were selected via open auditions rather than via home video. The open audition process would go on to feature in each subsequent series until the thirteenth series in 2012.Format
The series followed the same format as previous series of the programme. Twelve housemates lived in isolation from the outside world in a custom-built house for a period of 71 days, hoping to be the last one to leave the house as the winner and walk away with a large cash prize.Promoted as "Big Brother goes evil", Big Brother 5 saw numerous changes occurring to the game. The main twist of this series was that the grand prize had been increased to £100,000 for the winner, but was gradually taken away as the series went on based on Housemates' performances in various tasks. Nádia Almada, as the winner of the series, received a total of £63,500, meaning that the housemates lost £36,500 across the series. This series also became known for featuring the Big Brother Bedsit, into which Michelle and Emma were sent, unknown to the other housemates, when "evicted" from the house. Whilst in the Bedsit, they had a live feed of the house, which aired in the room non-stop for their viewing pleasure. They were granted access back into the house after five days. Yet another change in the format occurred on Day 69, when the Housemate with the fewest votes to win, was secretly evicted from the house through the Diary Room. This meant that only four Housemates would appear at the final, instead of five.
Broadcasts
The series premiered on 28 May 2004, on Channel 4. The contestants were recorded 24 hours a day with cameras fixed around the house, and had to wear portable microphones. Big Brother 5 was the third of the main series to feature a live launch. The launch night saw Davina give a house tour, as well as discuss rumours that had been going on about the series. She then introduced the new Housemates, and they entered the house live.Channel 4 broadcast a daily highlights show, and from the first week there was a live eviction show hosted by Davina McCall, where the evicted housemate was interviewed. In the nightly highlight episodes, viewers are shown various highlights of a specific day in the house. Big Brother 5 saw the return of the psychiatrists providing commentary on events in the game, with the episodes featuring them being the highlights show after the most recent eviction. The live eviction episode was held on Friday, with a pre-eviction episode and an official eviction episode being held with a 30-minute gap between them. The series ended on 6 August 2004, lasting for a total of 71 days. This made it the longest season of the series at the time.
Spin-off programme Big Brother's Little Brother returned for a fourth year and second year on Channel 4, and was hosted once again by Dermot O'Leary. Live coverage continued to be a major part of E4's daily and nightly schedule.
The Saturday Night Live spin-off series, first introduced in Big Brother 3, saw Housemates competing in live tasks. It would last until midway through this series when it was axed due to poor ratings.
A new spin-off programme entitled Big Brother's E-Fourum, a nod to the network, was hosted by comedian Russell Brand, and featured an audience and viewer discussion and debate on housemates and events going on inside the house. The latter programme returned in subsequent series under a retooled format and was renamed Big Brother's Big Mouth. E4 once again screened Nominations Uncut on Tuesdays featuring extended nominations. Another new show Diary Room Uncut was broadcast on Thursday evening, featuring extra material from the Diary Room, if no nominations took place, Diary Room Uncut would be shown in place of Nominations Uncut.
Prizes
The thirteen Housemates in the game were competing for the grand prize, which eventually amounted to £63,500. Each week, the Housemates attempted to complete various tasks assigned by Big Brother in exchange for a weekly budget, which they used to buy food and luxuries; this included buying things such as alcohol and cigarettes.House
The Big Brother house has been located at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire since Big Brother 3 onward. To go along with the format change of the "evil" Big Brother this year, the house was much smaller in size. The house was one-third smaller, and featured an elevated floor and a lowered ceiling, adding a feeling of claustrophobia. The kitchen remained simple, with only necessities such as an oven, fridge, and sink. There was only one bedroom, and housemates were required to go through the garden to get to the bedroom. With eight single beds and two double beds, housemates were forced to share beds, and when a Housemate was evicted from the series, their bed was removed from the house, effectively preventing bed swapping. The showers in the bathroom this season were made of glass which led out into the garden, thus providing Housemates with no privacy. The Diary Room this season featured a red and blue background, with a large red chair which was attached to the wall. Big Brother 5 was the first series to not feature the chickens in the backyard. The house for this series was later described as being "horrible", with a member of production stating it was "designed to be as uncomfortable as possible, with none of the luxury gadgets of previous years."Bedsit
Located behind the Diary Room, the bedsit contained one double bed, a small kitchen, a small bathroom, tattered armchairs, a telephone and flowery wallpaper, the only modern feature of the bedsit was the plasma screen where housemates could view the main house. Outside the bedsit was a corridor leading to the Diary Room. Due to the close proximity of the bedsit to the main house, housemates were required to speak quietly in the bedsit to avoid detection. The bedsit was resurrected six years later in Ultimate Big Brother.Titles
The sequence starts off with an eye zooming out with faded clips of security, the house and cameras before showing the eye and fading from the eye to a black and blue gradient. Then, it goes on to the show.Housemates
| Name | Age on entry | Hometown | Day entered | Day exited | Result |
| Nádia Almada | 27 | London | 1 | 71 | |
| Jason Cowan | 30 | South Lanarkshire | 1 | 71 | |
| Daniel Bryan | 30 | Hull | 1 | 71 | |
| Shell Jubin | 22 | Glasgow | 1 | 71 | |
| Stuart Wilson | 20 | Macclesfield | 1 | 69 | |
| Michelle Bass | 23 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 1 | 64 | |
| Victor Ebuwa | 23 | London | 1 | 57 | |
| Ahmed Aghil | 44 | Liverpool/London | 1 | 50 | |
| Becki Seddiki | 33 | London | 31 | 43 | |
| Marco Sabba | 21 | Middlesex | 1 | 36 | |
| Vanessa Nimmo | 26 | South Africa | 1 | 29 | |
| Emma Greenwood | 20 | Oldham | 1 | 23 | |
| Kitten Pinder | 24 | Brighton | 1 | 8 |
Ejections
Weekly summary
Nominations table
;Notes- : There were no nominations in Week 1; on Day 2, housemates were instead asked to nominate one person who they felt was least deserving of their suitcase. Kitten - despite refusing to participate - received the most votes and did not receive her suitcase for the rest of her stay in the house. Kitten was later ejected by Big Brother on Day 8 after constant rule breaking; Kitten was deemed on the show to be the first person evicted from the house, however, this is technically an ejection, as she was not voted out via a public nor an internal house vote.
- : The housemates were told there was a double eviction. In reality, the public voted for which two housemates would enter a secret Big Brother Bedsit, where the two evictees would live for five days, be able to watch their fellow housemates on a television screen, and then return to the house, still eligible to win the prize money. Emma and Michelle received the most votes and moved into the Bedsit. Initially planned for Week 1, the Bedsit twist was postponed one week due to Kitten's ejection from the house.
- : Emma and Michelle made their nominations from the Bedsit. The other housemates could not nominate them, assuming they had been evicted.
- : Due to the fallout from the fighting on Day 20 and Emma’s ejection from the house on Day 23, Week 3’s eviction was postponed until Week 4. There were thus no nominations in Week 4, and Daniel and Vanessa remained the nominees for eviction.
- : As a new housemate, Becki could not be nominated by her fellow housemates and believed she could not nominate. However, Big Brother told her that she had to nominate one housemate, who would automatically face eviction, by kissing them on both cheeks. If she didn't do this, she would automatically face eviction. Becki kissed Michelle, meaning she was up for eviction against the two housemates with the most nominations, Marco and Nádia.
- : As punishment for constant discussion of nominations, Jason and Victor were banned from nominating.
- : There were no nominations in Week 8; the weekly army-themed task determined instead who would face the public vote. Sergeants Jason and Michelle were made privy to the nominations twist. If the privates passed the task, all six privates would face eviction. If the privates failed, sergeants would face eviction. The Privates passed, meaning the six of them faced eviction.
- : There were no nominations in Week 9. Instead, all housemates automatically faced eviction; this news was not made privy to them until the actual eviction on Day 64.
- : There were no nominations in the final week. On Day 69, a vote count was done and the housemate with the least public votes to win secretly left the house in a surprise eviction during a party. Stuart was evicted, leaving Daniel, Jason, Nádia and Shell in the final four.