Mmm, so it transpired today that Big Brother is down to start sometime during the week starting 4th June, this feels like a surprisingly early start given that pictures of the house suggest the extension haven’t been completed yet, and people were expecting it to start at towards the end of June.
But.
It as recently revealed that on May 30th Love Island starts on ITV2, a show that didn’t set the ratings alight last year but evidently did well enough with the young demos advertisers like that ITV2 have bought it back for a second run. The problem for Big Brother is that it’s competing for the very same audience and likely to be in a head-to-head timeslot. Love Island lasted six weeks last year and started two/three weeks into Big Brother‘s run, this year it’s going to have a headstart of at least a week.
Has Love Island forced Channel 5’s hand? Is this the best strategy, or should it wait until mid-July when Love Island will finish? Were we always wrong and was it always set to begin in early June?
We don’t tend to cover Big Brother in any great detail these days as it’s a show we tend to dip in and out of (we recommend BB Spy as a source of news and gossip). This year the press pack is making a big thing of producer shit stirring “an ominous force” running through the house leaving housemates “suspicious” and “paranoid”. Sounds like secret tasks ahoy!