In 2005, ABS-CBN echoed the immortal words “Big Brother is watching” from George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 when it premiered Pinoy Big Brother. The show is a local version of the international reality competition franchise that features people inside a specially designed house completing tasks and forming bonds and relationships while being monitored and filmed 24/7.
20 years later, Big Brother, called Kuya in the Philippine edition, is still watching his housemates. Filipinos, too, are still watching Pinoy Big Brother. And with the popularity of its current reiteration, Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition, there’s no indication that we will stop watching anytime soon, for better or worse. “Of recent history, this collaboration is the most talked about edition of the show that we’ve had,” said Laurenti Dyogi, ABS-CBN production head and one of the show’s executive producers.
He said the popularity could be attributed to the fact that the 18th season features an all-celebrity cast from the talent pool of former broadcast rivals ABS-CBN and GMA 7. Naysayers may say the word “celebrity” is used loosely here — there are no superstars here, to be sure. But it’s a cast list that is hard to scoff at either, including names such as internet personality Esnyr Ranollo, singer (and reality talent show veteran) Klarisse de Guzman, and former child star Xyriel Manabat on the ABS-CBN side, and actor Will Ashley (who starred as Marian Rivera’s son in the 2024 Cinemalaya entry Balota), rising leading man Michael Sager, and TikTok star Shuvee Etrata on the GMA 7 side.
And realistically speaking, there is no chance popular celebrities would join a show that requires them to be sequestered inside Bahay ni Kuya (located on Eugenio Lopez Avenue, now an iconic landmark in the area) for weeks (or months, if they end up doing well in the show).
“Bigger stars, they don’t really join Big Brother because, unang-una, there is a lot at stake for them. Binoboto ka, you get evicted, there’s a lot of humility that goes with it,” Dyogi said. Still, there’s no doubt that many of the current housemates who weren’t traditionally famous before the show, including online favorites River Joseph, Emilio Daez, Ralph de Leon, Mika Salamanca, and AZ Martinez, will become household names by the end of the season.
“You know, they’re good,” Dyogi said of the current batch of housemates. “And they’re artistas, so people are just interested in their lives.” “For me, the current season of Pinoy Big Brother resonates strongly with viewers for several key reasons. For the first time, Kapamilya and Kapuso stars are living under one roof, with their every move shown across multiple platforms. This unprecedented setup allows viewers to witness raw, unguarded, unscripted moments, stripped of the usual PR polish/guidelines/dos and don’ts, that reveal the housemates’ authentic selves,” said Lendl Fabella, a PR professional who has worked extensively with celebrities for years.
“Plus, ABS-CBN and GMA are fully leveraging their powerful media platforms: from television to their expansive digital channels, to sustain the buzz. With real-time conversations among fans and casual viewers on social media, Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition has seamlessly become part of the daily conversation, keeping us viewers engaged and excited about what will happen next,” Fabella adds.
This power to create stars is one of the reasons why Pinoy Big Brother endured despite changing media (and social media) trends, amid controversies, even after its home network lost its broadcast franchise in 2020.
First aired on August 21, 2005, Pinoy Big Brother was billed as a “social experiment.” 12 strangers living together while being continuously monitored by cameras. No television, no mobile phones, no contact with the “outside world” apart from Kuya, the show’s taskmaster. The housemates nominate who among them will be potentially “evicted” from the house, although it is the viewers’ vote that decides who gets to stay or be eliminated. In the end, the show declares one Big Winner, who takes home a prize package that includes a house and lot and a cool P1 million.
The show as a format was an experiment for ABS-CBN, too. The reality competition show isn’t a foreign format in local television; the early to mid-2000s was an era when reality talent shows dominated popular media. But the keyword there is talent; the network is unsure if Filipino viewers would watch an everyman doing mundane tasks on television.
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