Big Brother (Albanian TV series)


Big Brother Albania is the Albanian version of the international reality television Big Brother created by producer John de Mol in 1997. The show follows a number of contestants, known as housemates, who are isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom-built house. Each week, one of the housemates is evicted by a public vote, with the last housemate remaining winning a cash prize.
The show started airing from 24 February 2008 on Top Channel and it has had nine seasons to date. Arbana Osmani hosted the first seven seasons and the ninth one. :sq:Ledion Liço|Ledion Liço hosted the eighth season as Osmani was pregnant and took time off to be with her family.
The eviction show aired on Saturdays except for the seventh season where the eviction show was moved to Fridays.
Live pay-per-view channels are available on Albanian TV platform DigitAlb.

Format

Big Brother Albania is based on the international Big Brother series produced by Endemol in the Netherlands which began in 1999. The show's name comes from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which revolves around a dystopia in which dictator Big Brother is the all-seeing leader. A group of people live together in a house, where 24 hours a day their every word and every action is recorded by cameras and microphones in all the rooms in the house. Access to television, the Internet, print media, and time is prohibited. In addition, the housemates live in complete confinement; they have no access to the outside world. At least once a week, the housemates secretly nominate two housemates they wish to face a public vote to evict. The two or more housemates with the most votes face the public vote. The viewing public decides which of them gets evicted through text message votes or phone calls. The nominee with the most votes is evicted and leaves the house.
Should their stay inside the house become difficult for them to bear, a housemate is allowed to voluntary leave at any time during the game. In the event of a withdrawal from the house, a replacement housemate usually enters in their place.
In the final week of each season, the viewers vote for which of the remaining people in the house should win the prize money and be crowned the winner of Big Brother.

Series overview

Series details

Until now in Albania Top Channel has shown 9 regular seasons.

Season 1

The debut season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother launched on Saturday, 23 February 2008, with fourteen Housemates entering the House. The show ran for 100 days and the winner was Arbër Çepani. He received a €50,000 prize. The main host was Arbana Osmani, while Eno Popi received the contestants in and out of the house and conducted interviews with their families.

Season 2

The second season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother launched on Saturday, 7 February 2009, with fourteen Housemates entering the House. The show was set to run for 99 days until Saturday, 16 May 2009, and the winner, Qetsor Ferunaj received a €70,000 prize. The main host was Arbana Osmani, while Eno Popi hosted a Sunday morning edition called "Big Brother Albania Fans' Club", featuring dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show.

Season 3

The third season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother launched on Saturday, 23 January 2010, with twelve Housemates entering the House. The winner, Jetmir Salaj received a 10,000,000 Leks prize. The main host is Arbana Osmani, while Eno Popi hosted the Sunday morning edition called "Big Brother Albania Fans' Club", featuring dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show.

Season 4

The fourth season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother launched on Saturday, 25 December 2010, with fifteen Housemates entering the House. The winner was Ermela Mezuraj and received a 10,000,000 Leks prize. The main host is Arbana Osmani, while Eno Popi hosted the Sunday morning edition called "Big Brother Albania Fans' Club", featuring dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show.

Season 5

The fifth season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother launched on Saturday, 18 February 2012, with fifteen housemates entering the house. Arbër Zeka won the season and received the 15,000,000 Leks prize. The main host is Arbana Osmani, while Albana Osmani hosted the Sunday morning spin-off called "Big Brother Albania Fans' Club", featuring dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show.

Season 6

The sixth season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother started on 23 February 2013, on Top Channel and ended on 1 June 2013. The eviction show aired on Saturdays at 21:00 CET, while a spin-off aired on Sundays called Big Brother Albania Fans' Club. The main host is Arbana Osmani, while Albana Osmani hosted the Sunday morning show, featuring dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show. The winner received 15,000,000 Leks. Anaidi was the winner of the season, being so the fifth male winner in the Big Brother Albania history. The house was rebuilt from scratch with a new location in Kashar, Albania. In the house, there are four new rooms added: The Secret's Room, The Surprises' Room, The Matrix Room and The Library.

Season 7

The seventh season of the Albanian series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother started on February 21, 2014, on Top Channel and ended after 99 days on May 30, 2014. The main host was Arbana Osmani, who returned for the seventh season in a row. :sq:Ledion Liço|Ledion Liço was rumoured to be the host of the spin-off show Big Brother Albania Fans' Club thus replacing Albana Osmani, but in last-minute changes, Albana Osmani returned for the third season in a row. The Fans' Club show featured dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show. The winner was Nevila Omeri and received 15,000,000 Leks.

Season 8

The eighth season of the Albanian television series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother was on 7 March 2015. The main topic of this season is the host :sq:Ledion Liço|Ledion Liço, while Albana Osmani hosted the Sunday morning show, featuring dialogues with eliminated contestants and fans of the show. The show ran for 99 days and the winner was Vesel Kurtishaj. He received a €100,000 prize.

Season 9

The ninth season of the Albanian television series of the worldwide franchise of Big Brother was on 18 March 2017 and the final was on 24 June 2017 in Top Channel. The main host was Arbana Osmani. The show ran for 99 days and the winners were Danjel Dedndreaj & Fotini Derxho. They received a €100,000 prize.

Spin-off shows

From season two, have been different spin-off shows aired on Top Channel.

Big Brother Fans' Club (2009–present)

Big Brother Fans' Club launched on 8 February 2009 with Eno Popi been the host for 3 seasons, from season 4 that premiered on 19 February 2012 the host is Albana Osmani.

Jashtë Bigut (2014)

Jashtë Bigut aired during season seven of Big Brother Albania with Ledion Liço been the host.

Big Bastards (2017)

Big Bastards launched in March 2017 with Adrian Pojana and Florian Binaj. The show was every Saturday after the Live Show.