[Captain.Remy]

We hear from BB7 executive producers Paul Osborne and Claire O’Donohoe:


What's going to be different about this year's Big Brother?
Well, this year Big Brother will be more twisted than ever, with lots of new tasks and twists. Plus of course there’s a brand new set of housemates who’ll all be living in a very different house. It’s the smallest Big Brother house ever. Cosy is not the word! There are more glass walls in the house design than ever before, giving a very exposed feel to the place and no hidey holes like last year’s Loft, so the housemates will find it very difficult to get away from one another. There are also more one-way mirrors than ever before, so Big Brother can keep a very close eye on all of the housemates all of the time – there really is nowhere to hide. There is a bathroom this year with one bath, a shower and two urinals, so in that department at least things are a little more… convenient.

In terms of how the house looks, this year the design is all flipped around, swapping hard textures for soft and vice versa. It may look chic and stylish but it won’t be a very comfortable place to live.

How did you go about the audition process?
The open auditions were fantastic this year – 25, 000 people came to audition, more than ever before. We went to seven major cities across the UK and Ireland, plus this year we introduced for the first time our Casting Coach, which visited some of the smaller towns so that even more people got the chance to come along for the chance to become a housemate.

What kinds of people turned up? Who did you rule out straight away?
All sorts, as you can imagine! A 'Dalek' auditioned in Glasgow - a fully functioning Dalek, motorised with sound effects and everything. It stopped working when a young child jump-kicked it. There was a woman who took out her glass eye as her party trick and we also had two fake vicars (in Cardiff and Birmingham). A man who had BB7 shaved into his head turned up to almost every audition and was first in the queue. Oh, and there was a dance-off in the queue in Manchester!

What sort of things did you ask them to do in the audition?
We simply chatted to them initially to find out a bit more about them - everyone who turned up got a chance to talk to the producers. Anyone who we felt had something special went through to the Diary Room stage where they had one minute to sell themselves to Big Brother. Those who made it through that stage were invited to London.

Do the new housemates have anything in common – what have you chosen them for?
We won’t reveal anything about the housemates until launch night. What we can say is that they come from all walks of life and we hope we’ve chosen a fascinating and entertaining set of housemates. We hope viewers agree with us when they finally meet them on launch night.

How do you keep the housemates’ identities secret before they go in?
That would be telling. Suffice to say the whole process is shrouded in secrecy and the housemates themselves are keenly aware of how important it is that their identities aren’t discovered.

What kinds of tests are done to ensure the housemates are suitable to go in the house?
Once narrowed down through the auditioning process, all the potential housemates are put through rigorous psychological screening. Our experts are basically there to ensure the applicants are strong enough emotionally to cope with the Big Brother experience. Should these psychological experts have concerns about any of the applicants, then we have to rule them out of the line-up.

How many people are working on the production this year?
This year’s Big Brother team is the biggest yet – especially as we have the new Monday night live psychology show. There are around 300 of us working on the Big Brother shows.

What is it like working on the show – is there a typical day for you?
Not at all! Things can change minute-to-minute in this show, so to be honest there is no real routine. Of course, we plan tasks, nominations, twists and evictions, but other events in the house are really unpredictable and we have to react and make decisions as these things happen. The housemates have a habit of always keeping us on our toes!

Are you doing anything special to tie in with the World Cup? Will housemates get to know anything about the tournament or even watch?
The housemates are cut off from the outside world and that includes the World Cup. But if they are desperate for information about how it is going then Big Brother may decide they can earn a World Cup reward.

So can we expect any changes to the format this year?
All will be revealed. There are plenty of twists to be played out and secrets to be revealed over the summer… let’s just say that Big Brother is very, very twisted this year…