[smartalec2718]

I live in the US but I honestly enjoy watching both BBs equally - they're just different shows, and to put them next to each other isn't a fair comparison. BBUSA is much less a "reality" show than a scripted gameshow, but it serves its purpose as a sort of semi-real combination soap-opera/competition for $500k. That sort of guilty pleasure TV has a loyal audience in the US.

BBUK, on the other hand, is a lot more real, and it's a lot more personal. It's less of a competition than a story, and that's what makes it so enjoyable to watch over the course of a summer.

In other words, I guess you could say BBUSA is the dependable version that doesn't take a lot of risks, has a safe viewing audience, and will likely be renewed for a few more years at least (the ratings this year have been great, thanks in part to expanded LF and a great houseguest crop) while BBUK is the unpredictable version that lives on the wild side, is controversial and spontaneous, and is more about the people than the game. Too bad C4 lost sight of this in the past couple of years.

Although I'm happy BBUSA is still going strong, it sucks that BBUK is getting dropped from C4. Hopefully this won't be the end of the line for BBUK, but it looks as though it might be.