On Friday 11th August, I visited Big Brother for the very first time! Karen, who works in digital at CBB, organised the visit and tour for me and she deserves so much more praise than I can give! Thank You Karen! This is juts a little (long) blog about my time there…
On Friday I arrived at Elstree studios and was guided towards the main entrance by security. I got to a door, and wasn’t sure if it was the right door… then I noticed the BOTS buggy sitting outside, and then suddenly Rylan walked out! To my surprise, he knew exactly who I was (I love that he loves the BB fans) and he directed me into the BB offices to meet Karen. I was in awe at both Rylan and the offices which I’d seen glimpses of on TV for the last however many years… I then stood in the digital office for about fifteen minutes (and don’t get too jealous… but I could see about 10 different live feeds of the house). While there, I met the lovely Tom Read Wilson who was EXACTLY like how he is on TV! He was lovely, and he was just wanting to talk about the show as much as me! Then Rylan came back, and he decided to take me on a unplanned tour of the offices and BOTS which was amazing! We went through the BOTS green room where I then met Charlotte Dawson (and if anybody is interested, I know her full story for Celebs Go Dating which hasn’t even began on TV yet) but the Pricey hadn’t arrived yet 😦
The BOTS studio was (like the main set which I’ll come to later) very shiny and bright, but smaller than it looks on TV. Rylan had me go up the back stairs and down the main stairs (like what Emma does!) and it wasn’t even as daunting as I’d expected, but was soooo cool to do. Right in the middle of the BOTS studio (where the camera men usually are) they were filming Charlotte and her ‘story on the side’ which was on Sundays BOTS. It was just a chair and a green screen! We then went through to the gallery (which you can constantly see from the BOTS stage) where Rylan showed us how they can pick any camera to look at, from the WHOLE house or BOTS studio….
Next up was the house tour (which I done via the camera runs obviously, as there are housemates inside) – this was supposed to be led by Karen, but Rylan decided to join in too!
We walked up the street, past all the workshops where tasks are built etc, and towards the back end of the orbit eviction studio. While we were waiting for security to allow us in the actual house, Rylan decided to take us on to the main stage! This wasn’t planned, so thank you Rylan!
The arena is so small, smaller than it looks on TV, but the stage, doors & screens are MASSIVE! So incredibly bright and just huge. It’s actually the largest wraparound screen in the whole of Europe! As there was still no audience, I actually got to go onto the stage while rehearsal were going on. Did you know that the rotating stairs are actually rotated by two men laying beneath them? Yep! I walke up them, they’re really wobbly.
We went back out around the eviction studio again, to the back of the house ready to go inside. While we were waiting to get in, Rylan explained how up the ladder there was roof access for maintenance and that that’s where they sort out all the fireworks for finale – housemates in the garden can see them do it!
I had no idea how close the inside of the house actually was… We could hear housemates talking and laughing from the garden, and when we went through one single door, we were in the house already, just feet away from the celebs!
So in the house, the first mirror (window) we looked through was straight into the bathroom where we saw Trisha Paytas sitting staring straight at us, as Amelia Lilly straightened her hair… CRAZY
They were literally sat chatting RIGHT in front of us and had no idea… well, actually… Rylan said that daylight in the bathroom actually means they might’ve seen some movement when he lifted the curtain…
We then made our way around the house, looking at Trisha & Amelia from the other side, then into the garden where we saw Sarah Harding come out and get into the hot tub… (there were actually water problems in Elstree that day, so she was having a wash!) then we moved round to the other side of the garden, then onto the bedrooms. Chad was getting dressed… then we could see into the living room where Brandi shouted Sam through, but I couldn’t hear what she then told him. Jemma was just chilling on the sofa staring into blankness, it was honestly like being in a zoo. Rylan explained to me here that there are two types of lighting inside the house. Spot lights, which are used during the night when it’s dark outside, and strip/panel lights which are used during the day to try and act more natural, since natural light doesn’t really reach the inside of the house!
We eventually made it round to the other house, and where I ACTUALLY stepped foot inside the Big Brother house! There wasn’t much there… the whole house is one big room now, as they ripped out the bedroom & bathroom to make a task space. The garden. Looks the exact same as it did last year and the walls are pretend brick, still from January’s ‘hell’ twist. It was still amazing being in there though, with the lighting and cameras and everything. We went further around and into the new small task room, which is next to the kitchen and below the diary room. We went inside that too, which is where BB18’s heaven and hell evictions took place. Off of this is a secret staircase that leads to the existing diary room, and it’s the only place in the whole house (except toilets) with no cameras. The door was open and I was so tempted to run up into the diary room…
Next up was the kitchen which was remarkably clean! Nobody was in there so I got my face right up to the glass to check it out, as usually you have to stand back or someone could see you. The kitchen looks amazing, definately my favourite room. After the kitchen, we were back to where we started and I noticed that the whole Big Brother House is actually very small! We didn’t walk that far and we circled the whole thing!
So that was the main tour over, and next up I hung around the Elstree bar waiting for the actual live show to begin. I was taken down at around 8:10pm (before the 8:30pm show) and the audience was already full. I was stood right on the front row of the productions guest area, right next to the stairs and stage… it was absolutely amazing!
The live show IS all pantomime, they tell you to boo and cheer for whoever you like or don’t like, and during the ad breaks, warm-up guy Andy gets you jumping and singing in attempt to win T-Shirts and cue cards! The atmosphere is amazing. Seeing the house on the screen during the results and then seeing the eviction take place (Karthik in this case) is so surreal. It’s not like the door he just came out leads to the house on screen at all, if that makes sense….
Watching Emma do her job was so mesmerising… she’s such a pro. Only feet away from me too. When she was doing the interview, I was reading her auto cue and she barely followed it at all. She’s completely natural!
Overall I had a fantastic experience, the tour was incredible and more than I could’ve ever dreamed of! Huge shout out to Big Brother, Karen, Rylan and everyone who made it happen! They all honestly do a brilliant job with this show. Trust me, they are fans like us and they’re always listening to us. It’s made me hungry for more so I’ll definately be heading back down for another live show at some point, and you should too – it’s a brilliant experience.
super TV 24/7 