July 11, 2001

1:08 AM

What happens to the stars of Big Brother afterwards?Big Brother 2 is in full swing in the UK, and just starting in the USA. Here, Jon Ronson investigates what happened to the original contestents on BB1 in the UK. It's surprisingly poignant. (From The Guardian)
posted by salmacis (13 comments total)

"I don't feel I've actually done it until I've told you about it."

How sad.
posted by netsirk at 2:54 AM on July 11, 2001

"Things are on the up for Tom. He's a roving reporter for BBC Northern Ireland, is soon to present the Irish version of It's A Knockout, and is expecting a baby with his fellow housemate Claire Strutton. "

Am I the only person who finds this bizarre? Wasn't it Claire and Craig that were all over each other in last year's Big Brother? I didn't realise Claire and Tom had 'got it on'.
posted by metaxa at 3:21 AM on July 11, 2001

The people on Big Brother are freaks. They must be miserable to live with when the spotlight turns away from them.

Why people think that sort of programming is entertaining anyway is utterly beyond me. I have seen Big Brother a few times, and it is utterly vapid.

As the article said most of them seem to be as thick as pig-shit.
posted by tomcosgrave at 3:22 AM on July 11, 2001

I really like Jon Ronson - he's made a career of writing about people who try to live to scripts they have written for themselves which deviate wildly from reality. Sometimes this is obvious and potentially insane – UFO abductees, Remote Viewers, people attempting to build careers as celebrities on the slenderest of "talents", sometimes it's more subtle (like the piece he did last year about Evangelists.

Although he is almost certainly writing hatchet jobs, he does appear to have a genuine affection for the people he writes about, an interest in the way that their minds work, which distances him from people like Nick Broomfield or Louis Theroux. For example compare his "For the love of..." series with Theroux's "Wierd Weekends".
posted by Grangousier at 3:30 AM on July 11, 2001

Claire and Tom did indeed 'get it on'. From other articles I've read, I get the feeling that it was a random thing. They're definitely not getting married and they're not even seeing each other at the moment. Kind of sad, don't you think?

Mom, tell me about when I was born.
Well, son, there was this TV show...
posted by web-goddess at 3:53 AM on July 11, 2001

It was only last night that I wondered why Endemol hadn't done a follow up piece.
I think the ronson piece was a pretty good insight, I wonder what will happen to the current class of 2001.
posted by kramer_101 at 4:52 AM on July 11, 2001

Less, probably. Less fame, less insanity, less fall out. For which they ought to (but won't) be grateful.
posted by Grangousier at 5:24 AM on July 11, 2001

Although if Paul had been nominated and spared yet again, I imagine we might have seen the psychiatrists sent in. Talk about "fort-da".
posted by holgate at 5:36 AM on July 11, 2001

The cast of the first American Big Brother promptly disappeared of the face of the earth...
posted by ph00dz at 6:01 AM on July 11, 2001

The cast of the first American Big Brother promptly disappeared of the face of the earth...

Not totally, Josh (2nd place) was on Blind Date last week.

Yes, I am sorry, I watch Blind Date, please be easy on me... :-)
posted by internal at 7:22 AM on July 11, 2001

Appearing on "Blind Date" and disappearing off the face of the earth are not mutually exclusive events.
posted by swell at 11:19 AM on July 11, 2001

Here's an article I found about the American cast:

Five were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantationowners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the contract knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Whew! Pretty rough time of it. I didn't realize the Brits were so protective of their TV series, though.

Yes, it's that Founding Fathers e-mail, debunkery here.
posted by dhartung at 11:25 AM on July 11, 2001

Of course, you've all visited the page at my site BB UK: Feeling Listless which according to the Open Directory Project offers 'updates on the original Big Brother Eleven' - which is somewhat off the mark. I'm amazed at the interest. It's not that interesting, yet it still gets an average of ten hits a day.
posted by feelinglistless at 1:33 PM on July 12, 2001