One of the stranger stories I've been tracking during this otherwise incredibly strange moment has been the saga of Big Brother Germany. Producers this week came to the decision to let cast members know about the global COVID-19 pandemic after keeping them in the proverbial dark about it since filming began in early February. This follows in suit with the franchise's tradition of not letting contestants receive any news of the outside world, save for family-related issues. In fact, filming of the US version coincided with the 9/11 attacks and producers only let the final three cast members know of it after one had a family member pronounced missing in New York.
I haven't yet watched the footage, but there was a special aired this evening in which cast members were informed of the pandemic and received taped messages from loved ones (image below). It's critical to note that this occurred live, which creates for us a fascinating portrait of liveness with regards to the time/place of "reality" on television as it collides with the unfolding temporality of a global news event.
As we all adjust to social distancing, isolation, and working from home for an indefinite time it will be curious to witness how all of these orientations - specific to Big Brother - will affect the structure and interactive content of the program. How will space inside the house, questionably "quarantined" from Germany society, come to inform contestants' relation to their own temporality within the game?
Hey Anastasia!
ReplyDeleteI was also following this as the news was coming out. This is completely wild to me! I am reminded once again of Lifetime's gem Unreal. In the first season a contestant's father has a heart attack and we watch the producers grapple with whether or not to tell her. If I'm remembering correctly, they stall and he ends up dying and then they have to notify her and she's rightfully pissed that she didn't get to say goodbye. What I found most interesting about Unreal as a series is that it unveiled the intricacies of television production and how reality is carefully curated and edited. It's fascinating to think through how the PR teams for BB Germany spins not telling the contestants something like this and then mining it for viewer entertainment.