Big Brother (British TV series) series 13

Big Brother
Series 13
Series thirteen logo
Presented byBrian Dowling
No. of days70
No. of housemates17
WinnerLuke Anderson
Runner-upAdam Kelly
Companion showsBig Brother's Bit on the Side
No. of episodes73
Release
Original networkChannel 5
Original release5 June (2012-06-05) –
13 August 2012 (2012-08-13)
Series chronology
← Previous
Series 12
Next →
Series 14

Big Brother 2012, also known as Big Brother 13, was the thirteenth series of the British reality television series Big Brother, and the second series to broadcast on Channel 5. The series premiered with a live launch on 5 June 2012[1] and ran for 70 days, concluding on 13 August 2012.[2] The series was originally planned to run for thirteen weeks, but was cut back to ten weeks in order to accommodate Celebrity Big Brother 10.[3] The series was won by Luke Anderson, who won half of the £100,000 prize fund, with the remainder taken by Conor McIntyre as part of the White Room twist.[4] Anderson is the second transgender contestant to win the show, the first being Nadia Almada who won the show back in 2004.[5] The runner-up was Adam Kelly. The series was announced in April 2011 when Channel 5 signed a two-year contract to air the show. With Big Brother 12 having been broadcast in autumn 2011, this is the first series to air in the show's regular summer period on Channel 5 since it acquired the show from Channel 4 in 2011.[6]

There were 16 original housemates, eight men and eight women, who all entered the house on Day 1.[7] Shortly after the first eviction of the series, Becky Hannon, one of three wildcard housemates, was chosen by the public to enter the house on Day 4.[8] For the first time since Big Brother 4, all housemates left the house as part of the game - no housemate left the House walked from the house for personal reasons or by being ejected. The only housemate not to be evicted by the viewer's Vote was Conor, who was bribed out of the house with half of the £100,000 prize fund as part of a Dilemma in the White Room.[9]

Brian Dowling returned to host the main show, with Emma Willis, Alice Levine and Jamie East also returning to host spin-off show Big Brother's Bit on the Side.[10] This series was sponsored by hair product brand Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL. Though overall ratings were higher than the previous series, the episode broadcast on Friday 27 July recorded the lowest figures in the programme's history at just 615,000 (being broadcast at the same time as the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics),[11] then the episode broadcast on 12 August recorded even lower figures at just 483,000 (being broadcast at the same time as the closing ceremony).[12]

This series sparked much controversy, with Ofcom receiving a total of 2,085 complaints regarding the bullying and intimidating behaviour from Conor McIntyre,[13][14] and 50 more complaints about the same from Caroline Wharram.[15]

  1. ^ "Big Brother 2012 launches on Channel 5". Facebook. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Celebrity Big Brother 'start date revealed'". Digital Spy.
  3. ^ "BB13 Cut Back To 10 Weeks – Big Brother 2012 (series 13) on C5 ..." Big Brother Fan Club. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Conor McIntyre takes home £50k in Big Brother's White Room". Mr Paparazzi. Retrieved 25 August 2012.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Big Brother's Luke Anderson: 'It's great to feel accepted' | Orange UK". Web.orange.co.uk. 14 August 2012. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Big Brother two-year Channel 5 deal: The details". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  7. ^ "Three Face Eviction After Big Brother Launch Night | Big Brother | News | MTV UK". Mtv.co.uk. 6 June 2012. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  8. ^ "Becky Hannon enters Big Brother house as wildcard choice - Big Brother News - Reality TV". Digital Spy. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Big Brother's Conor McIntyre chooses to leave house with £50,000 - Big Brother News - Reality TV". Digital Spy. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  10. ^ Sweney, Mark (3 April 2012). "Big Brother to stay with Channel 5". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  11. ^ "Olympics Opening Ceremony peaks with 27m viewers in UK". Digital Spy.
  12. ^ "Olympics Closing Ceremony scores 26.2 million peak in UK". Digital Spy.
  13. ^ Tarley, Rachel (28 June 2012). "Big Brother 'bully' Conor McIntyre sees Ofcom get 1,000 complaints". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  14. ^ "Big Brother breached Ofcom code over Conor incident, Facebook". Digital Spy.
  15. ^ "Big Brother Race Row As Viewers Complain Over BB Caroline's 'Gorilla' Comment". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.