Big Brother has been a semi-regular fixture on British telly for years now with numerous seasons of the show being aired since the year 2000.

The programme is back and will once again be broadcast on ITV with Will Best and AJ Odudu taking on presenting duties.

With the 2024 series only days away, here is everything you need to know about the origins of the show.

How much are Big Brother contestants paid?

 

While the exact sum paid to each contestant on the ITV iteration of the show has not yet been revealed, the sum paid to those on previous versions was reported to be £50.

Mark Byron, who took part in Big Brother 15 said that housemates are offered a small cash sum to handle bills on the outside world.

He said: "They give you a little bit to help you, they do give you a subsidy.

"I think, when I was on, it was only something like £50. It's not a lot but they do help you."

 

When and where did Big Brother start?

Big Brother was originally created by producer John de Mol in 1997 with the programme first being broadcast in the Netherlands in 1999.

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The name of the show is inspired by George Orwell's literary classic Nineteen-Eighty-Four which details a dystopian society featuring near-constant surveillance and an ever-present figure known simply as Big Brother.

Following on from the success of the Dutch show, a British edition was commissioned by Channel 4 and broadcast yearly until 2018.

As of 2023, there have been 508 episodes of the show with Big Brother having over 63 franchises globally.