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Big Brother (view source)

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It's often actually turned into Machinima, see [[SBB Brothers]] for just one example.
 
Not to be confused with George Orwell's classic work ''[[Nineteen Eighty -Four]],'' in which Big Brother represents the totalitarian Party that treats free thought as a crime. Its name is, however, based on the fact that in the book cameras are everywhere, with everyone being watched by "Big Brother", which is about all most people (think they) know about it. For information on that trope, see [[Big Brother Is Watching]].
 
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** Not in the British version. The British version is musicless and it's very "real" compared to other ones.
* [[Camp Gay]]: Ragan in US S12; Dicesar and Serginho in BR S10; Daniel and Lucival in BR S11.
** The [[Camp Gay]] is a mandatory member in every BR season from 10 onwards (probably since Jean managed to avoid elimination in the first week by playing the "just because I'm gay" card in season [[Or So IheardI Heard|9 or something]]). Season 13 features a two-for-one minority who's both gay and black.
** Marco, Kemal, Shahbaz and Dennis in the UK series. You could also make a case for [[Ambiguously Gay|Craig]] from the 2005 series.
*** The increasing levels of campness are hilariously mocked by [[Lee Mack]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCA5z3KJClY&t=0m5s in his stand up show]
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** Noirin and Bea from the tenth UK series surely qualify. By the time each were evicted, they had succeeded in alienating the vast majority of their housemates. They just had no concept of loyalty ... to ANYONE!
*** And no, this shared trait didn't help them bond. They hated each other just as much as everyone else, coming close to a full-on bitchfight once.
* [[Cluster F -Bomb]]: Nobbi from Big Brother Australia 2008 was so unhappy at housemate Terri's re-entry to the house that the live broadcast was interrupted by, according to Big Mouth host Tony Squires, “about thirty seconds of continual bleeping”.
* [[Crazy Enough to Work]]: Some of the plans pulled off in past seasons of the US show (Nakomis's five-fingered plan, for example).
** Which later turned into an often used strategy itself, called "Backdooring."
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* [[The Cobblers Children Have No Shoes]]: Natalie, a Tae Kwon Do Champion who did ''terribly'' at physical challenges.
* [[Completely Missing the Point]]: BR calls the participants "brothers" and "sisters", sometimes prefaced with the adjective "Big" ([[Gratuitous English]] at its best), ignoring completely that the titular [[Big Brother]] was supposed to be the viewer. Or the director.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]:
** Season 11: Jordan spends the entire season riding on Jeff's coattails and her one head of household victory was handed to her. Then in the final three, she competes in the final head of household round with Kevin and...''wins''. See the [[Moment of Awesome]] page.
*** From the same season, Kevin. Had it not been for Jordan's own [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]], Kevin would have won that season. He basically spent the entire season hiding behind bigger targets in his alliance like Jessie and Ronnie, manipulating others' perceptions into thinking he was worthless, so they would target Lydia (who had not won a single non-food competition) over him. When Jeff finally set his sights on Kevin and he failed to win veto, Kevin walked right up to Jeff, suggested that Russell was a bigger threat because he was more likely to flip. He then persuaded Jeff to backdoor Russell, and he even used the veto ''on Kevin'', no doubt. This forced Jeff's alliance into having a roughly 50/50 shot in the next head of household challenge.
** Season 13: Shelly, Kalia, and Porsche were thought of as "floaters" despite Kalia's Head of Household win that was ''not'' given to her. Shelly then realizes that nobody is playing a game for themselves and obviously producer's pet Jeff & Jordan. Kalia then wins head of household AGAIN and then Porsche, accused of being a floater, wins veto ''AND'' a Head of Household after she slips through by not being perceived as a threat. Even ''Adam'' got this when he wins a crucial veto to keep himself off the block in the final five, and then proceeds to get all six questions right in the penultimate head of household.
** Bonnie Holt, from the UK version, but then disappeared.
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** I think it was more to do with the fact that he was obsessed with Anthony, the straight male housemate who went on to win, and was disturbingly possessive of him, to the point of throwing hissy fits if he thought Anthony was spending too much time with anyone else.
** The US version switched away from public voting after Season 1 because the [[Jerkass|JerkAsses]] were getting voted out early, leaving the less entertaining contestants (Sans George) behind. <ref>Part of the reason they changed from it was because of George's hometown organized a ''mass'' callout to save him. Even in future seasons where viewers could impact the game, people attempted to do just that. In Season 11, Ronnie's wife posted instructions on how to bot the CBS website, and there were ''plenty'' of bots that countered the pro-Ronnie ones. When viewers sent saboteur suggestions in US Season 12, several of the messages were attempting to spoil secrets the saboteur(s) couldn't have known</ref>
** Emily Parr and the whole [[N -Word Privileges]]. Nobody raised a fuss about ''Charley'' using the N-Word, but ''Emily'' said it?!? KICK HER OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!!
*** If it wasn't for the Celebrity edition scandal a mere four months earlier, Emily most likely would have got away with a formal warning. They were terrified of another backlash. Ironically, the only backlash was anger against Emily's unfair explulsion!
** A common one from the American series: "It's alright for ''me'' to nominate ''you'' because I see you as a threat, but ''you'' nominate ''me'' for the same reasons?! How ''dare'' you!
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** Jeff also would regularly insult the newbies and walked in claiming he deserved to win...and was ''dumbfounded'' when they went after him.
* [[Executive Meddling]]: Producers have the power to slant the show via [[Obvious Rule Patch]], such as evacuating the houseguests if they are injured or if something happens, showing that it is [[Tropes Are Tools|not a bad thing]].
** Fans suspect that the producers interfere with on-line fan polls and in the game itself for ratings. Season 13 has so far been a hotbed of suspicion--Brendon, a [[CreatorsCreator's Pet]], beat out Keith, Cassi and Dominic (the latter two very popular with fans) in America's Vote to come back into the house after being evicted, and the challenge where he had to face the fifth evictee Lawon in to get back in was a physical challenge, which Brendon is excellent at and especially that kind. During the teacup challenge, they seemed to have been dumping a ''lot'' more soap suds over some lanes, with Jordan, Porsche and Adam getting it the worst and Shelly and Rachel getting it the least. Then, Jeff appeared to be drawn for literally every veto whether he was on the block or not; fans have suspected this wasn't just darn luck. Several Feed watchers have apparently overheard Rachel claim that the producers promised they (The veterans) would all make Jury. Later, a feature called "Pandora's Box" returned, allowed Porsche to get 5000 dollars but at the cost of an unknown twist being introduced--the twist turned out to be pairing up the houseguests for that week only, and by pairing up Rachel and Jordan which Porsche had no hand in, it was ensured that if either of them won the Veto then both of them stayed for that week, since the HoH's two nominees for eviction have to be a pair. Given that Rachel and Jordan are the only two Vets left in the house, the timely introduction of this twist when their enemy Porsche was HoH has saved them both. Conveniently; the veto competition was an endurance challenge...and almost literally the ''same'' endurance challenge that Rachel won first in the season. Even former player Matt joked that Pandora's Box was just [[Executive Meddling]], calling it "Producers Box", and Porsche has even confirmed on the feeds that she ''was'' forced to open it.
*** Fans have even been suspecting them of intentionally ''casting'' players to be living props, (since it worked so well in ''[[Survivor]]'''s 22nd season) knowing that they wouldn't be mourning the newbies if they were evicted since they wanted to see their old favourites - and if they stood against the veterans? Zero percent approval rating. Add in a bit of [[Manipulative Editing]] to portray them as a villain, and voila.
** Fans also suggest executive meddling by producers turning a blind eye to rule violations or equipment malfunctions. Key examples being Jeff in the teacup challenge somehow getting away with using his hands to hold soap and not just cover it, and Dick and Daniele supposedly not being penalizd at for violating slop restrictions, as well as Dick not getting yelled at for burning Jen with the cigarette or not getting yelled at for having a code written by his son in a letter from home. Jameka evidently had an equipment failure in Season 8; but this has neither been confirmed or denied. (The other main equipment failure was ''very'' obvious since buttons wouldn't work for a couple players; requiring them to reshoot the challenge.)
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* [[Informed Ability]] / [[Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: We're told houseguests are good at stuff and are told their jobs but we rarely see them do it in-game. Justifiable in that we're not following them on their jobs.
** This was what sealed Natalie's fate in Big Brother 11. She was supposedly a huge competitor yet lost just about every individual competition she played in and made people wonder if she was even ''trying''.
** Jeff&Jordan and Brendon&Rachel are apparently very good game-players. Both times Jeff played, he overstepped himself and got evicted. [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] moment aside, Jordan was somehow unable to win a single competition without having someone give it to her. Liekwise, Brendon and Rachel apparently are good at the game yet they were somehow unable to do so without alienating half the house. And all four somehow couldn't manage to win without blatant [[Executive Meddling]] helping them.
* [[Informed Flaw]]: The editors don't know who some players are, yet it becomes weird when they start winning competitions or actually doing well. Porsche in season 13 did not do poorly in the competitions she needed to win, but got ultimately outplayed. (She finished in second quite a bit, even in the teacup competition) Rachel even said Porsche is not bad at competitions, or questions for that matter. Finally, she won two competitions that she really ''really'' needed to win.
* [[In -Series Nickname]]: The Brazilian version has its name officially shortened as "[[Added Alliterative Appeal|BBB]]", and the contestants were occasionally nicknamed as "brothers" and "sisters". During the first season of this version, a contestant named the elimination process "Paredão" (literally "big wall" in Brazilian Portuguese, meaning the place where people are taken to be shot by a firing squad), which eventually became the official name.
* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: In US S12, [[Camp Gay|Ragan]] was obviously crushing on Matt. Who was straight. And married.
** Untrue. Matt isn't his type by self-admission; they think of each other like brothers. Ragan stated in the first episode of the season that, as he is the brains in relationships, his partner must be the brawn. (He only ever showed romantic interest in ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQwMLGw2Rg#t=3m55s Brendan ]'' of all people.)
* [[Irish Names]]: The most recent UK series has an Irish housemate named 'Caoimhe'. An utterly unremarkable female name in Ireland, it is brain breakingly difficult to spell and pronounce in Britain. Cue mass bafflement.
* [[Its Personal|It's Personal]]: A lot of players play personally. Among them, Rachel, Lydia, Amber.
* [[Jerkass]]: Most of the contestants, and most of the US winners. Not only that, but douchebags are often prized by the BB fandom (Chill Town and Evel Dick come to mind.) The only people that played the game well, won, and weren't jerks about it were Drew from Season 5, Dan from season 10, and Jordan from season 11.
** Plenty in BBUK too. Due to the vote to evict, they usually bit the dust as soon as they were on the block. Now the voting system has changed to "vote to save", controversial characters (such as The Shannon Twins) manage to survive longer (even make the final). But, in the end, good usually wins.
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** Season 13 has featured a ''lot'' of swearing on live shows. There was a blurb of silence when Rachel was eliminated from a live competition, and in the double eviction episode, even ''more'' random blurbs of silence.
* The Load: There're some.
** Jordan. season 11, she was carried to the end but [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|managed to win two competitions by herself]]. Season 13, she [[Double Standard|somehow does even less, yet is considered less of a load than Adam]].
** Jerry in season 10.
** Chicken George.
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* [[Moral Myopia]]: James during Big Brother: All Stars has too many examples to list, but the gist of the story is that he wanted Janelle to make the nominations that HE wanted when she was HOH in week four, and when she didn't comply, he got all pissy at her for the entirety of the game. This happened in spite of James' multiple betrayals to the Sovereigns.
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: In the UK at least one every year. Usually ends up on ''Nuts'' magazine.
** Also in Brazil, where at least 3 end up on ''[[Playboy]]'' yearly. (which is probably why many end up as runner-ups but not first place, [[Money, Dear Boy|the magazine's paycheck won't matter if they win...]])
** BB Australia had Krystal, a nineteen-year-old who had already had a boob job before entering the house.
* [[Neon Sign Hideout]]: When Aisleyne was "evicted" to the secret House Next Door in Big Brother UK Series 7, the housemates could hear noises from where the House Next Door was located and sussed that there was a secret place.
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* [[No Indoor Voice]]: Anamara in the tenth edition of the Brazillian version. And <s>she's</s> she used to be ''a police officer''.
** Also, Hayden and Rachel from season 12 of the US version.
* [[Non Gameplay Elimination]]: Happens ''quite a bit'', house guests either break rules (Fight Night in UK Version, [[N -Word Privileges]], Turkey Slapping in Australia, the "Knife incident" & "Hirochima" in America come to mind) and get kicked out, or decide to leave (Sometimes due to family emergencies, injuries like Rima in Australia or Keeley in ''2010'', or just not wanting to play the game).
** Interestingly, there have actually been a lot less house guests walking or being ejected in the US version. Only two house guests ever left the show (Neil in Season 9, who left because of a family emergency, Dick who also had a family emergency), while three were ejected. (Two of 'em being within the first week) In the recent UK season, ''four'' people walked.
** [[Non Gameplay Elimination]] is even ''less'' common in the Brazilian Big Brother, wherein there have been ''no'' ejections and only ''three'' people leaving the show out of their own free will.
* [[Noodle Incident]]: Sometimes, houseguests talk about incidents and events that happened in the house but were not shown on the show.
** Sometimes; there is actually controversy around what happens on the live feeds that's not shown on the main show. Among these include comments and behaviour of Evel Dick that were not shown on the highlights, [[N -Word Privileges]], Adam's comments towards Autistic people calling them "Retards", Jeff's homophobic comments towards ''[[Harry Potter (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'' (Especially worse since [[Harry Potter (Film)|the movie]] had ''just'' been released around the time), and a ''LOT'' of Chima's house-deeds.
*** Averted when Chima was ejected from the house, though - before her outbursts, we had seen her make a racist tirade that was censored and...that's just about it, outside of verbally abusing Russell. However; the houseguests mention that Chima has broken rules from day one, but we hadn't seen any of this. Cue a flashback montage of Chima doing stuff like refusing to come to the diary room when called, covering cameras with blankets, and saying that she was going to say a bunch of terrible stuff on live television.
** "Fibergate". Wherein Porsche put Fiber inside Muscle Milk. This wasn't aired on the live shows at ''all'', yet people were talking about it on fan sites.
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** Aisleyne and Imogen from the seventh UK series. Imogen's closest friend, Grace, HATED Aisleyne, and the feeling was mutual. Somehow, after Grace's eviction, Aisleyne and Imogen became close friends, and they still are to this day.
* [[Once a Season]]: Certain shows have traditions, this show is no different.
* [[Out of Focus]]: With [[Spot Light Spotlight-Stealing Squad|editors picking their favourites and keeping them perpetually in focus]], this sad fate is bound to happen to a couple houseguests.
* [[Pixellation]]
* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]]: The Sovereign Six from Big Brother 6 and Big Brother: All Stars
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* [[Sdrawkcab Name]]: Several veto competitions have featured some kind of mascot or creature named "Otev".
* [[The Snark Knight]]: Daniele Donato could be seen as this, especially during Season 13.
* [[Spin -Off]]: Many, many type 9 spinoffs.
** The UK series has most notably had: ''Big Brother's Little Brother'', a BB news fanzine; ''Big Brother's Big Mouth'', a BB public opinion/talk show; ''Big Brother Live'', live streaming from the house; and ''Diary Room Uncut'', in which notable Diary Room conversations were played in full. With the show's move to Channel 5, a new spinoff known as ''Big Brother's Bit on the Side'' exists: it functions similarly to BBLB and Big Mouth six days of the week, and on Sundays it's a quiz show.
** The US version has ''Big Brother After Dark'', a 3-hour block of live streaming from the house. Until Season 11 the US version also had ''House Calls'', which was a talk show where viewers could call in questions.
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* [[Stopped Numbering Sequels]]: The US version stopped numbering its seasons after 10.
* [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]]: Matt not only found himself unwittingly in a homosexual showmance with Ragan, but near the end of his time in the house starting dreaming of [[Walking Shirtless Scene|shirtless Hayden]].
* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Dr. Will, Kaysar Ridha(occasionally filled this role), James Rhine(who doesn't have black hair, but fits the tall and snarky parts perfectly), Evel Dick, and Russell Kairouz.
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: Will Kirby in US Season 2, Maggie Ausburn in US Season 6, Mike "Boogie" Malin in US Season 7 (All Stars) and "Evil" Dick Donato in US Season 8, Adam Jasinski in US Season 9 (he used his prize money to start a drug ring).
* [[Transsexual]]: This was featured in the Aussie version of Big Brother, where Miriam (of There's Something About Miriam fame) came on as a gag housemate. Famously featuring the line from hyperawareness-enabled housemate Ryan (Fitzy), "I see them frank-n-beans".
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** Luke in [[BB 9]] UK had one after his romantic interest Rebecca was evicted. His bitching went into total overdrive and he became noticeably more aggressive. He was evicted the following week, his final words being "watch your back in here, Lisa".
* [[Walking Shirtless Scene]]: Hayden, US S12.
* [[What Did I Do Last Night?]]: Quite common in the Norwegian and Brazillian versions.
* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: For the couplings ("showmances") that sometimes happen on the show.
** Happening in the Filipino version with Jason and Melissa, affectionately dubbed "Melason".
*** A more famous Filipino example: Kim and Gerald ("Kimerald") from Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition
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