page_title: Big Brother (British series 10)
section_title: Format
hierarchical_section_title: Big Brother (British series 10) / Format
caption_attribution_description: English: Davina McCall at the BAFTA's on 26 April 2009.
context_page_description: Big Brother 2009, also known as Big Brother 10, was the tenth series of the British reality television series Big Brother. The show followed a total of twenty-two contestants, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom built House. Each week, one or more of the housemates were evicted by a public vote. The last remaining housemate, Sophie Reade, was declared the winner, winning a cash prize of £71,320.
  The series launched on Channel 4 on 4 June 2009 and ended on 4 September 2009, lasting 93 days – the joint-second longest British edition of Big Brother to date. Davina McCall returned as presenter for her tenth consecutive year. Sixteen housemates entered on launch night, with an additional six being introduced in later weeks.
  Big Brother 10 was watched by an average of 2.5 million viewers. It was the lowest rated series of the show since its inception, becoming the first series to draw an average of less than 3 million, and remains the lowest rated series of Big Brother to be broadcast on Channel 4.
context_section_description: The format remained largely unchanged from previous series. Housemates were incarcerated in the Big Brother House with no contact to and from the outside world. Each week, the housemates took part in a compulsory task that determined the amount of money they were allocated to spend on their shopping; if they passed, they received a luxury budget and they were allocated a basic budget if they failed. Housemates were instructed to nominate two fellow housemates for eviction each week. This compulsory vote was conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room and housemates were not allowed to discuss the nomination process or influence the nominations of others. On Day 68, Big Brother changed the rules to allow housemates to discuss nominations until further notice. The two or more housemates who gathered the most nominations per week faced a public vote and the housemate receiving the most votes was evicted from the House on the Friday and interviewed by Davina McCall. Housemates could voluntarily leave the House at any time and those who broke the rules could have been ejected by Big Brother.
  In a change from previous series, Channel 4 announced that it would no longer donate any of its income from the premium-rate telephone lines, by which viewers vote for whom they would like to see evicted or win the programme, to charitable organisations. The broadcaster said that the current economic downturn is to blame for this decision and that the change would bring Big Brother into line with other programmes of its kind, such as The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. The format of the live eviction interview programme was altered for this series. Unlike previous series in which McCall interviewed evicted housemates by herself, she was instead joined by two guest panellists to "interrogate" the evictee. Panellists included former housemates, journalists, psychologists, and fans of the programme. A new rule was added to the programme at the start of the series; "fake romances" were not permitted.
caption: After a housemate was evicted, they were subject to an interview with Davina McCall.
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