[James]

I'd say that Big Brother is probably the more challenging of the two although Fame Academy comes close.
The FA students had the pressure of having to sing on live television every week, but at least they escaped the ever-present cameras when they left the Academy. And when they are up on stage they are doing something which they say they love doing, and want to make a career out of.

The Big Brother housemates are under 24/7 scrutiny from the cameras. In addition they are being constantly judged by the outside world, and have no opportunity to react to those judgements. I'd say that aspect of the Big Brother experience would be much more difficult to handle than the boredom and the lack of everday comforts. And it's something that I think the contestants themselves overlook.

The Big Brother contestants definately get treated more harshly by the press than the Fame Academy students did. The press seems to think that talent shows like FA have a purpose unlike Big Brother. And if an FA student gets voted off, it's probably because his or her singing wasn't liked, not because the public thinks that person had character flaws.

Another bonus is the money that successful FA students make from selling records. It's a different show I know, but there was an earnings league published recently that said that Gareth Gates had made over 3 million pounds in the last year and Will Young had made over 2 million. We don't know yet how much the Fame Academy people will make, but that's much more than any ex-BB contestant has earned.