A Big Brother contestant has spilled the beans on a crafty trick used by housemates to keep certain conversations off ITV’s airwaves.
The latest series of the popular reality show wrapped up this week, with Richard being crowned the champion out of 16 contestants, bagging the £100,000 prize after spending 48 days under constant surveillance.
Given the constraints of time, not everything that happens in the Big Brother house can make it into each episode. A full day’s worth of footage is typically condensed into an hour-long programme.
Even the return of the live stream doesn’t guarantee viewers will catch every moment inside the famous abode. Some fans have even grumbled about the live feed’s audio being intermittently muted.
Despite this, the show’s editors rarely miss the most explosive moments or juicy chats to include in the final cut. However, it’s now been revealed that this year’s group had a cunning plan for when they wanted to discuss something they didn’t want broadcasted, reports OK!
In a TikTok video for Lyndsey and Louise’s Truth or Dare series, Zelah was asked: “Tell us something the viewers would be shocked to know about the Big Brother house.”
His reply?
“We used to say Davina McCall when we wanted them to not air the things we were saying. Yeah like we weren’t supposed to do it.
“We got told off for it. If we were talking about, I don’t know, someone talking about substance abuse, someone talking about I don’t know a secret about their family, we’d be like ‘Davina McCall, Davina McCall.’ They’d never let it be aired because she’s Channel 5. So we’d be like ‘Davina McCall, Channel 4, Channel 5′”.
Davina only presented the Channel 4 version of the show from its inception in 2000 until 2010. Brian Dowling, a former winner, took over as the presenter on Channel 5, with Emma Willis stepping in until 2018.
Zelah’s theory seems to suggest that ITV producers are reluctant to include any references to the show’s history on other networks. However, this approach hasn’t always been foolproof.
The former housemate also confessed: “I have seen conversations that I Davina McCalled and they’ve been aired. They obviously just edited it out.”
The TikTok video has since been posted on the Big Brother subreddit page, where fans have been discussing this ‘sly’ technique. One person suggested: “So this is proof that they will never have any legends/icons from the Channel 4/5 days as guests on Late and Live. so weird..”
Another observed: “In previous seasons they would sing Disney songs so it wouldn’t air.”