[Simple_Plan]

Interesting Variations From Around The Globe

*In France and Canada, the format has been developed using couples. Twelve single people stay in the same house until only the winning couple are left.

*In France, M6 aired two seasons of Loft Story in the summer of 2001 and 2002. TF1, the other main french private channel then aired Nice People in 2003, an adaptation closer to the original format with 12 Europeans. M6 created a new format called "Les Colocataires" ("the Housemates") with a house divided in two parts (the girls' house and the boys' house), the format was not produced by Endemol though. In June 2007, Secret Story was launched, in this adaptation every housemate has a secret he's supposed to keep, a housemate who unveils another housemate's secret wins the money he has in his personnal "savings".

*Big Brother USA currently uses a different set of rules from the other countries' versions of the show, as it has starting with its second season (the first season followed the traditional format). In the US version, viewers do not vote for eviction; all voting is done by houseguests, making for "alliances" and intense political game playing among the contestants. Public voting is limited to periodic "America's Choice" votes, with the public deciding who gets typically minor prizes such as phone call from home, or a walk-on appearance in a television show. In season 6, however, the public was allowed to vote one of the evicted contestants back into the house. Also, the nominations are done by one houseguest, the HoH (Head of Household). The US Big Brother also introduced the Power of Veto, with a houseguest having power to save a housemate from the nominations. It's been adapted in Brazil and since then some countries modified their nominations rules. In the 2007 season, US Big Brother introduced "America's Player", who is given assignments, unknown to the other contestants, through votes from the viewing public. Included in the public voting is which nominated Houseguest America's Player should vote off.

*The third Dutch edition introduced the notion of "The Battle", in which the house is separated into a luxurious half and a poor half, with two teams of housemates constantly fighting for time in the luxurious half. Separated houses have also been used in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Scandinavia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Australia, Italy and Mexico added punishment zones to their houses.

*The fifth UK edition introduced the "Evil" touch, where the Big Brother voice became almost a villain. He was establishing punishments and was proposing hard tasks and secret tricks. This was also seen in Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Pacific, Scandinavia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Philippines, and Mexico.

*In 2004, the fifth German edition was the first version to run for 365 days consecutively. In this season, the contestants were separated into three teams (rich, regular, survivor) and equivalent living areas. The ultimate winner got a prize of 1,000,000 €.

*Also in Germany a new version of the show started: Big Brother - Das Dorf (Big Brother - The Village). It was the sixth season and started the same day season 5 ended. This was the first version supposed to run for years (without a predetermined end). It was set in a small artificial village including a church tower, a marketplace, 3 houses, 3 working areas (farm, car garage, dressmaking and later a small hotel, where celebrities from the real world could move into), a matcharena, a pub and a fitness room. The season ended after 363 days in February 2006 because of low ratings. In season seven RTL II switched back to a traditional version.

*The Voice Graph system in BB Argentina, BB Australia & BB Germany.

*The fourth Greek season introduced a new element: the mother. In Big Mother nine houseguests take part in the game with their mothers, with whom they must coexist during the contest. The "mamas" were not able to win the prize but they would stay with their children until their eviction. However, this proved to be a failure with the show's audience and the show switched back to the traditional Big Brother format in mid-season.

*There are five special pan-regional versions of Big Brother. All these follow the normal Big Brother rules with the exception that contestants come from different countries in the region where it airs:
Africa: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Balkans: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia
Middle East: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Tunisia.
Pacific: Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
Scandinavia: Norway and Sweden.

*The seventh season of Big Brother Australia focuses upon environmental issues, having contestants generate their own electricity and water.