[Amy]

Germany is attempting to take reality TV to new lengths - and possibly depths - with the world's first real-life Truman Show, a programme, its producers say, that could run without end. Near Cologne, construction is under way of the top-secret set for Big Brother: Das Dorf (Big Brother: The Village), the latest project by producers Endemol, which is set to be screened on 1 March.

Unlike previous Big Brother shows, contestants living in the 4,000 sq m mini-town won't be playing for a cash prize or a stab at C-list fame. Instead, they'll be expected to spend decades in the village - working, marrying, breeding, divorcing and dying.

"We're creating a brand new world," says Katja Hofem-Best, entertainment head at Big Brother broadcaster RTL2. It is thought that the village will include shops, a market square, church tower and even its own wood, where, according to one report, "inhabitants will be able to gather their own mushrooms". Like the 1998 cult film The Truman Show there is even talk of shipping in "real people" to boost the village population. The producers are utterly convinced they have a hit on their hands. But others seem already to have lost interest.

"Big Brother that will run for decades?" laughs Professor Jo Groebel, head of the European Media Institute. "I give it five years, max." Others are even more sceptical. "It'll survive for six months and will definitely be the last series they make in Germany," says Dr Lutz Erbring, a media specialist at Berlin's Free University and a man convinced that reality TV is dying out.

It's not the first time Germanyhas attempted to push back the boundaries of reality TV further than anyone else. As well as letting Russian TV incarcerate 12 young women in a shipping container for 100 days last year, then denying them food, the last Big Brother series, BB5, was the world's first to put housemates away for an entire year and offer a €1m prize to the winner. But the show, which launched last March, never took off and now, limping towards the end of its run, has only about one million viewers.

Commentators say Big Brother: Das Dorf, dubbed a real-life soap by Endemol, is Germany's last-ditch attempt to breathe life back into reality TV. With the latest figures revealing unemployment at 4.4 million, and tough labour market reforms just beginning to bite, there is something attractive about a small, sheltered community with the promise of a job for life. Some 20,000 applied for a place on the last series, and reports say all contestants on the new show will be single and unemployed.

One contender, or so he claims, is Jerry Bejaoui. He might not be unemployed quite yet, but the cheeky 23-year-old from Stuttgart and one-time BB5 cast member can't quite adjust to life in the real world. He'd rather not go back to his job in a spark-plug factory. Instead, he wants to come back for some more of the "fairy-tale life" he had in the Big Brother house. "What's wrong with that?" asked the man who had sex in the Big Brother toilet. But Endemol seems undecided whether to let Bejaoui perform for the cameras for the rest of his life.

Even if Bejaoui isn't let back in, there should still be plenty of procreation in the Big Brother village. A whole new generation of Germans could be born into this artificial world. Likely as not, though, it won't happen. Even if children are born on Germany's very own Truman Show, by the time it happens, no one - not even Big Brother - will be watching.

Article Independent

[James]

This starts soon

Germans enter Big Brother … forever

By James Hamilton

Germany's version of the Big Brother TV show takes a giant leap on Tuesday with the opening of a small town mimicking The Truman Show.
In the Jim Carrey movie a man called Truman is unwittingly the subject of a 24-hour TV programme that monitors his every living moment for a worldwide audience.

In the new Big Brother village, the only difference will be that contestants willingly participate in this next-generation leap into voyeurism, and it will run indefinitely.

Fifteen people will move into the set of Big Brother – The Village complete with market square and stables.

The “village” includes three different types of housing: a “poor” home located right next to the stables and equipped with the bare necessities, a “normal” house and a “rich” villa, where occupants get three-course meals and massages every day. Everyone will have to work for the show's farm, a car mechanic or a fashion label and fulfil duties according to their social status.

“It’s a societal microcosm complete with class struggle, envy and chances for climbing and falling down the social ladder,” said a spokesman for TV station RTL II.

Contestants, who will compete for prizes and money totalling €1 million per year, will also be required to take on personal challenges, such as learning a new language or getting occupational training.

Whether they’ll ever be able to put their new skills to use is questionable as RTL II officials would like to keep them locked up for good.

Katja Hofem-Best, the channel’s entertainment executive, said the show would be “endless” – “God and TV viewers willing.”

Contestants will, it is hoped, live there for years; falling in love, going to school, even getting married. The producers hope to lure in more businesses to employ them, teachers to teach them and doctors to care for the sick.

Big Brother producer Rainer Laux said: “We hope couples will get pregnant and family groups will interact with all the usual family frictions.”

Celebrity contestants will occasionally appear to raise the quota. But the main group of contestants will remain “for decades” according to Laux.

Producers of the new 24-hour show say the present format has had its day and outgrown the container. The plan now is for an entire community to be scrutinised around the clock.

The Carrey film saw Truman Burbank grow up in a city that is actually a vast studio . RTL II has ideas not quite so ambitious – but nearly. Their Big Brother village, built from scratch along the lines of a theme park, will afford fans of the show visits to the community to see the residents just as if they were visiting a zoo.

Media psychologist Jo Graibel voiced concerns that people who stayed in the fake community for any length of time would find it hard to adjust to the “real world”.

27 February 2005

http://www.sundayherald.com/48038

[Dan_]

That sounds crazy.

[James]

Picture of the village

[James]

Another

From gettyimages.com

[Amy]

German Big Brother to run and run

The new series of Big Brother in Germany attracted 26000 applicants
For Germany's latest and sixth series of Big Brother, TV channel RTL II has gone one step further than a house and built an entire village just outside Cologne. And with no set end date, contestants could well find themselves living in it forever.

Eleven young hopefuls have moved into the new village, which covers an area of 5000 square meters and includes a bar, a gym, and a market square.

In the show, which began at the beginning of March, rather than sit around on sofas, the contestants also have to do some work. Either in a farmyard, a car workshop or a fashion atelier.

And, whereas the winner of season five walked away with one million euros, in this series prize money will be given out bit by bit.

The money, which is paid into Big Brother bank accounts as a reward for challenges successfully carried out, will be lost if the contestant leaves the village voluntarily.


The "poor" living quarters will test the contestants' stamina

Those taking part are divided into three social classes: rich, poor and average. The bosses give the orders and the lower ranks carry out more menial duties.

Even the accommodation reflects each contestant's social standing in the village.

"It seems to be a bit like a social experiment," says Katrin Brinkhoff, a Berlin-based media psychologist.

"And I find it especially interesting to have class distinctions in the programme in times likes these, when a seventh of all Germans are now defined as living in poverty."

'Soap opera'

But, according to Dr Joachim Huber, who writes about the media for the Berlin newspaper Der Tagespiegel, it's exactly because of the country's economic problems that around 26000 people applied to be on the show.

"I think it is rather an ironic coincidence that the new Big Brother started on the same day that record figures of 5.2 million unemployed were announced," he says.


Contestants in the luxury quarters give orders to the lower ranks

"Out of the 11 contestants, five or six of them are unemployed. They have obviously seen this as a chance of doing something.

"Faced with having no work, this new form of media celebrity, living in a sort of TV Truman show, is certainly another option."

RTL II is calling the Big Brother Village "the world's first real-ife soap opera". They aim to build on the massive ratings Big Brother has attracted so far.

The four-hour finale episode of the fifth series, which was broadcast after 365 days on 1 March, had by far the highest ratings for that slot and was watched by almost 30% of its target 14-29 year-old audience.

Pulling power

Not everyone however is so impressed. "I find the people who go on Big Brother a little bit ridiculous," says one viewer.

"Their whole goal is to do something outrageous simply in order to become famous.

"It's not like it's fame based on anything they have actually achieved."

Despite mixed reactions, critics agree that Big Brother - The Village looks as if it will have no difficulty pulling in viewers.

No doubt helped by the fact that, for 15 euros a month, fans can now even watch the series round-the-clock via an online livestream or on the dedicated 24-hour Big Brother TV channel.

Article BBC News

[James]

German Big Brother to end early

The Cologne set included a bar, a gymnasium and a village square
Germany's version of reality show Big Brother, which had been intended to run indefinitely in the style of 1998 film The Truman Show, will finish next year.

Big Brother: The Village began in March on a purpose-built set outside Cologne that covered 5,000 square metres.


The Cologne set included a bar, a gymnasium and a village square

But the series - the longest Big Brother so far - will end on 26 February 2006 due to falling ratings.

"The series has not attracted as many viewers as we would have liked," said Katja Hofem-Best of TV channel RTL II.

Germany's sixth series of the reality TV phenomenon gave contestants the chance to compete for a 1m euro (£682,000) prize.

Unlike previous editions, however, participants were expected to work, with the nature of their employment dependent on which social status they were assigned on entering the village.

When it launched RTL II described the show as "the world's first real-life soap opera".

The Dutch version of Big Brother broke new ground last month when a contestant gave birth on the show.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4484726.stm

[Arneldo]

Thank James - I occasionly vist the BBGermany site to see who's in and who's out.

Ive heard that the 7th series will be gin in march of 06 - just 1 mounth after the 6th ends!