Big Brother Ireland Wiki

Big Brother is the Irish version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The series was first broadcasted on 1st May 2000 on IrishTV, and was hosted by Holly Willougby up until 2010. Davina McCall and Dermot O'Leary took over as presenters from 2011 onwards.

Big Brother
The original series of Big Brother began on 1 May 2000, with a second series airing three months after in the same year. Because of a double celebrity series airing in 2012, Big Brother 4 was postponed to 12 May 2003. From Big Brother 8 onwards, original series began airing in Spring, not Summer - with the exception of 2010's series, which aired in the usual Summer period. Big Brother 12 holds the record of longest series with 94 days (just over 13 weeks), with Big Brother 7 holding a record of most housemates, with 23 housemates in total.

Celebrity Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother first aired on 1 March 2002, with one of three celebrity series overall to air in Spring rather than the usual Autumn. Celebity Big Brother 9 and 10 also aired in Spring. Celebrity Big Brother 8 was postponed to 2009 as Teen Big Brother took its place, and Celebrity Big Brother 10 was postponed to 2011 as Ultimate Big Brother took its place. Owing to this, two celebrity series aired in 2012. Celebrity Big Brother 7 holds the record of most celebrity housemates, with a total of 13, as well as longest celebrity series, airing for a total of 26 days.

Spin-off series
So far, two Big Brother spin-offs have aired, both taking the place of 'Celebrity Big Brother' for that year. Teen Big Brother aired in Autumn 2008, whilst Ultimate Big Brother aired immediately after the original 2010 series of Big Brother aired.