Every year, us UK Big Brother fans follow our version of the show, but you may not know that it is one of many versions of the show globally. Read on to find out some facts and tidbits about Big Brother from around the world.

• Big Brother has aired in 68 countries globally. Of them, 38 have their own versions of the show, whilst the other 30 take part in ‘group’ or pan-regional versions.
• Big Brother has been on air in at least one country continuously since 13th January 2004.
• 2,913 people (at the time of writing) have been housemates in at least one series so far.
• Big Brother’s first ever series began in the Netherlands in September 1999. By the time the show had ended on New Year’s Eve, it had become the most watched programme in the country that year and its participants had become overnight celebrities.
• Germany can’t get enough of Big Brother - their fifth series lasted a full year. On the same day that it ended, the sixth series, which was entitled ‘Big Brother: Das Dorf’ (Big Brother: The Village, so called because it was set in a village as opposed to a house), began. No end date for that series was originally set, but it was cancelled after a year due to declining viewing figures. Subsequent series of BBDE have lasted five-six months.
• The Big Brother UK house may be in a relatively normal surrounding, but some other countries’ houses are set in more weird locations. For instance, the Norwegian house was built in an old airport, the Swiss house is set in the mountains, and the Australian house is located in a theme park.
• Some Big Brothers’ are nasty, others are nice. For instance, housemates in the South African house had a body piercer and a hairdresser on call to refresh their image if they fancied a new look.
• Belgian Big Brother isn’t so nice however - in fact, Belgian BB is probably the cruellest of them all. Contestants on the show have been caged, electrocuted and even hung!
• Housemates for Big Brother 3 Argentina were chosen purely based on looks. The group included an ex-prostitute and a man whose entire family had been murdered.
• Contestants in the second series of Gran Hermano (that’s Big Brother Spain, don’tcha know) arrived in the house to a nasty surprise - all the furniture was dismantled and it was up to them to build it.
• Big Brother became Big Mother for the fourth Greek series, as all the housemates were forced to live with their mums inside the house.
• Celebrity Big Brother and Teen Big Brother are two more popular variants of the format, but there are also some others. Other formats include Big Brother: All Stars, as seen in Belgium and the USA, which features housemates that have all taken part in a previous series of the show. Some other countries have also had mini-series, which usually last seven to ten days, during which the housemates compete for a place in the next main series.
• A total of seven housemate swaps between different countries have taken place since Big Brother began in 1999. In addition, 8 housemates have been houseguests in another countries’ version of the show after they left the house.

You can find out more about foreign editions of the show on Wikipedia and World Of Big Brother.