It's a four-store building and it's got an attic room. I think there might be a basement too, but it's difficult to see. It's semi-detached and it's in a traditional style - it's painted a grey-green colour with a black or brown roof. It's in a normal street, but it's very strange because it's incredibly thin. It's probably only about two or three metres wide so I imagine it's quite small inside. I really like it because it's so unusual - I think I'd like to live there.
READING AND SPEAKING
Look at the photo and discuss the questions.
• What is happening in the photo?
• What kind of TV programme does the photo come from?
• Which reality TV shows are popular in your country?
Read the text and decide whether it’s (T) true or (F) false.
1 □ Big Brother has been shown all over the world.
2 □ It was the first reality show in which strangers lived together.
3 □ Lots of programmes since Big Brother have used the same idea.
4 □ The writer suggests that viewers find personality problems entertaining.
5 □ Jo Barnett thinks that shows like Big Brother reflect real life.
6 □ Bart Spring is very pleased that he appeared on Big Brother.
LIVING IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS
1 O ay the words ‘reality TV’ and the show that comes into most people’s minds is Big Brother. Love it or hate it, the programme is a global phenomenon: there have been versions in more than seventy countries! The basic format is simple: put a group of strangers into a house, record everything they do and watch how they manage to live together.
2 Actually the idea wasn’t original. A similar show, The Real World, was broadcast in 1992 on MTV. But the format really became popular with the success of Big Brother, and it has been copied again and again, including celebrity versions. In similar shows, contestants have been sent to the jungle or put on a desert island. In Wife Swap
a mother goes to live with a family of strangers and tries to run their home; in Young, Dumb and Living off Mum a group of spoilt teenagers with no life skills learn to live together and look after themselves.
3 So what makes these shows so addictive? Inevitably, living with strangers is stressful and personality problems are common. Contestants often have to share tasks and chores and this also brings conflict. ‘It’s all about relationships,’ says TV critic Jo Barnett. ‘Some characters are pleasant, and some are unpleasant but they are all real people. If you aren’t interested in reality TV, you aren’t interested in people.’
4 But is it healthy to be this interested in other people’s private lives? And what kind of people want to appear in front of TV cameras twenty- four hours a day? Not everyone approves of such shows, including the first ever winner of Big Brother, Bart Spring. ‘I’m not a fan of the programme or of people becoming famous for being stupid. If I helped to create this mindless monster, then I’m not proud of it,’ he says.
Find the missing word (or phrase) in the text to match the definitions.
1 organize (paragraph 2)
2 badly behaved because they have been given too much (paragraph 2)
3 disagreement (paragraph 3)
4 not nice (paragraph 3)
5 thinks something is good (paragraph 4)
6 stupid, without any real reason (paragraph 4)
Discuss the questions.
• Do you think reality TV reflects real life?
• Do you agree that contestants 'become famous for being stupid'?
• Would you ever appear on a reality TV show? Why? Why not?