Inside U.K. Ordinary People Become 'Stars' In New TV Show By RICHARD PAYNE	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
新しい視聴者参加者型の超人気番組 赤の他人10人を、外界との接触を断った家の中で共同生活させ、一挙一動を放映する。視聴者は、追放したい人物をインターネットで投票。最後まで残った参加者が巨額の賞金を獲得する——こんなテレビ番組が英国で大ヒットしました。その人気の理由は…？

Imagine yourself locked in a strange house with nine people you've never met and being told you could be staying for the next 64 days of your life. It'll never happen? Well, such an ordeal has just ended for one man — and he won £70,000(¥11.2million) for doing it.

This wasn't a prisoner serving a jail sentence, but a contestant in a TV show that's taken Britain by storm. And the program, called "Big Brother" is threatening to change the way people in this country view TV forever. The concept has been labeled "reality TV," an audience watching and being entertained by fellow members of the public going about their daily lives, albeit in unusual circumstances or surroundings.

It might sound a bit boring; none of the drama created by crime thrillers. But because we are basically a nation of nosey people who love to know what everyone else is up to, this idea has become the most talked about TV event of the year.

The big trick used by the program makers has been to directly involve the public by asking them to vote on which member of the house they want to see evicted.

Week by week, the group is reduced in number until, at the end, only two remain to battle it out for the big prize. To stand a chance of winning, every contestant must agree to turn their lives over to the nation with millions watching their every move courtesy of the 24 miniature cameras set up inside this most public of houses. To keep them occupied and to test their ability to survive, each must undergo a series of tests, both mental and physical, after which the audience decides on who stays and who goes.

Phone votes have been used before in programs in this country, from quiz shows to political debates, but this show introduced a new concept in involving the Internet. More and more people are going "online" and this show had its very own site where events inside the house could be followed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Big Brother" has been a huge hit for the network that commissioned it. Some 10 million people - about one-sixth of the British population - watched the final episode, when the winner was chosen and the website has had, literally, millions of hits.

The publicity of this new concept of TV has been equally massive, although not all of it positive. At the very beginning, the housemates were criticized for spending £105 (¥16,800) of their £170 (¥27,200) weekly budget on alcohol, while producers had to step in to change the topics of conversation after the groupbecame too obsessed with the fear of eviction.

But the biggest story of all came when fraud was discovered within the group. Stockbroker Nick Bateman, or "Nasty Nick" as he was dubbed by the national newspapers, was found to have smuggled a tiny mobile phone into the house, giving him an illegal link with the outside world. He was evicted for breaking the rules - and immediately became a star in the outside world with a newspaper column.

Celebrities have not been slow to catch onto the popularity of the show, either. Pop star George Michael has invited all the contestants - except Nick - for a drink in a message relayed to them when they emerge from the house.

By now, you must all be dying to know who was the eventual winner. It came down to a man from Liverpool named Craig and a London woman, Anna. The nation held its breath and, in the biggest phone vote of more than 3 million calls, Craig emerged victorious.

In a final twist, he revealed all the money will be given away to help his best friend's cousin, who needs a heart and lung transplant in America to save her life.

Such is the success of the program. A second series is already being planned, but it's the format or idea that is talked about.

"Jailbreak" challenges 10 contestants to break out of a custom-built prison during a 21-day stay. Now 100,000 pounds (¥16 million) is on offer to the winner. The "inmates" are competing against each other but again the public has direct involvement by sending clues via email to those they want to help escape.

And a third station has secured the British rights to "Survivor," which has become a national obsession in America. The winner there won $1,000,000 (¥105 million) after beating 16 contestants, who all lived on a desert island near Borneo.

Not all reaction to this new concept of TV has been positive, however. Those who look after standards on TV have told that more money should be invested in gathering real news stories and not on "fashionable" shows which are simply aimed at attracting big audiences. But there is no doubt this new style of TV is here to stay.

Shukan ST: October 20, 2000

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