Big Brother took away the need to make inspiring programmes and replaced them with mindless chatter. It's time to put it in a museum for weird artefacts of television history.
- "Big Brother Stole My Life", The Times, 2008
The Big Brother crew saw a spot in the sky, a parachute. The parachute was trying to land in the garden of the Big Brother house but landed outside the gates. It was the radical TV personality Willibrord Frequin he also had the key for the gate. He needed to be stopped. Spencer Vos, the audio guy, used his leather belt to lock the gate. Willibrord was not able to get in. This audio guy made an good impression to Willibrord and started working for De Week Van Willibrord.
The original Big Brother series were shot on the movie set of First Floor Features, the movie company of Dick Maas. The remains of the Flodder movie were still available, it was like a ghost town.
The original Big Brother was a gamble for Endemol, estimated costs for the first serie was 7 million Euro. If the fist serie would fail in viewer numbers, Endemol would be bankrupt. The serie was a TV hit and made John de Mol and Joop van den Ende billionaires.
After a few successful intruders in 1999 the Big Bother compound was protected 24/7 military style. Nato fence, guarded by dog patrol and more. The guards once tracked a intruder and scared him away before reaching the fence.
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