En Vast!

Tonight exactly 10 years ago, nine regular dutch people entered a house in Almere, The Nethelands. Not a regular house, but a house filled with cameras. The first Big Brother ever was a fact. From this day 10 years ago untill the big final at the end of december 1999 we watched the show every night. An what did we watch? Nothing at all. Just 9 people being bored, talking about nothing important and trying to get by the week on a small budget. They really didn't have a clue what impact this program had on the outside world. They even wondered somewhere halfway the show if people were still watching them.

And that was the beauty of this first edition of Big Brother. They weren't in for the fame (some even not for the money). It was an experiment which was great to watch for the viewers. And in the seasons following this brilliant program we never looked at ordinary people living their lives in front of cameras. We only saw the wanna-be-famous types, all young and blond and well built. They were there for their 15 minutes of fame and to tell you the truth, I hardly can recall any of them.

While those people in the first season are still on my mind after 10 years, the soundbites still used (the above one in the video is still my favourite!) and they really made an impression with their bored nothingness. Damn, it was a pretty fantastic concept, but the power is still in that first show only.