German Big Brother Contestants Are Going To Find Out About Coronavirus Live On TV

On most reality shows, like Big Brother, you’re completely cut off from the outside world. Usually that means a month or so of no news, as well as not hearing from your nearest and dearest. For the contestants on the current series of German Big Brother, that means they haven’t yet heard about the extent of the coronavirus pandemic{ =nofollow}.

And now, over a month after they entered the house - and following mounting pressure on social media - the 14 men and women currently residing in a house in Cologne are going to be told about the worsening crisis. Live on TV. Now Germany has close to 7,000 confirmed infections, with 14 deaths.

It’s in very rare cases that contestants on game shows are told news from the outside world, but exceptions are sometimes made. For example, in medical circumstances - like Jade Goody being told she had cancer on Indian Big Brother - or when family members become ill or pass away, such as when Angie Bowie learnt of her ex-husband David Bowie’s death. When 9/11 happened, the final three contestants on America’s Big Brother were told of the attack, but only because contestant Monica Bailey’s cousin was listed as missing.

Originally, the channel which on which Big Brother airs, Sat.1, were not going to tell the contestants - though they did say they had ‘special hygiene measures’ - but they have since done a U-turn.

Many have compared the situation to Dead Set, the 2008 series written by Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker{ =nofollow}, where a zombie outbreak happens outside the house. ‘Okay, fuck it,’ Charlie tweeted, retweeting a tweet which highlighted the similarities. ‘This is happening so frequently I’m just going to have to accept that I’m a soothsayer or a mystic or whatever you want to call it.’ However, he positively added, ‘With that in mind, I will now make an optimistic prediction in the hope it also comes true: we’ll come out the other side of the coronavirus crisis a more empathetic, altruistic, and globally conscious society. And I was going to add a cynical punchline here but nope not today.’

READ MORE: Coronavirus In Italy: What It's Like Living In Lockdown