Did anyone watch Daybreak this morning? Of course you didn’t. However (according to a friend of mine who DID watch it), apparently there was some rather intriguing news few have picked up on – Jonathan Ross (who has recently been associated with Endemol) is apparently working on a UK version of The Golden Cage for the BBC.
We’ve mentioned TGC a few times at the bar already as it’s a bit of a curio, but if you’re new: The Golden Cage is originally a Dutch show (in fact it’s the idea that begat Big Brother but didn’t get turned into its own show until John de Mol launched his own TV channel a few years ago) where a number of people live the life of luxury in a villa. When you’ve had enough you leave. Last person standing wins the villa and a significant cash prize – “how much freedom are you willing to give up for ultimate freedom?” The show was meant to last indefinitely, but poor ratings and a change of channel (after de Mol’s Tien network shut down) led to them modifying the format to find a winner and end the show. The show made the news for inter-contestant bullying, but despite the fact the show did fairly well amongst the Dutch youth it was never really captured the nation’s imagination in the way Big Brother did.
It will be interesting to see how they adapt it for the UK audience. I suspect they won’t ask for a €10,000 deposit to dissaude people walking before six months or was it two years? I forget), and will they make it indefinite, or will it just be Big Brother under a different title?
The BBC their Trust has recently asked to stop ploughing money into derivative entertainment formats so the licence fee can get better value for money.
I would NOT have put them down for this, it’s a surprise, that’s for sure. Desmond’s 5 would be a better for, no?
Without having seen the interview, I’m terrifed I’ve got the details wrong, but my chum said BBC and I’ve got no reason to doubt her so…
Better fit for Channel 5? Possibly, but if they’ve already turned down Big Brother… this doesn’t strike me as a very BBC show really. But it might work on BBC3.
Plus hasn’t Wossy cut all his ties with the BBC after Sachsgate?
I’ll be surprised to see him back so soon.
Oh, and not that it is any proof of correctness, but it was also reported in The Daily Star.
I dunno!
He’s not cut ties with the BBC, he’s doing a stargazing thing for the Beeb in January.
I’m happy to have the Daily Star back me up here!
Ross’s company has signed a development deal with Endemol, so this all now makes perfect sense.
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/indies/endemol-in-development-deal-with-rosss-hotsauce/5020892.article
IT’S THE NEXT BIG THING and it’s going to do really good in the 18-49 demographic.
I hate old people and TV broadcasts which don’t end with a blue eye.
Brig’s note: For fairness, I should just point out that this is not THE Joe. I know who you are!
“IT’S THE NEXT BIG THING” D=
Annoyance at overused phrases aside, this probably will end up selling massively just because it’s a spin on Big Brother.
But the format’s been around for years and it’s not really done very much, except fail in its country of origin.
Jonathan Ross’ involvement may make it more interesting though.
I apologise for my previous post being slightly non-sensical…my iPhone’s predictive text becomes stranger and stranger with each passing day.
Anyway, the original De Gouden Kooi lost TWO-THIRDS of its audience in a WEEK. So I laugh in the face of it being ‘the next big thing’. Or maybe I just laugh in the face of most of the remarks Joe comes out with.
No. “The Next Big Thing” was a 1993 television series, following grebo-rockers FMB and singer-songwriter Leona Naess from obscurity to a handful of Sunday teatime docs on Channel 4. Then leaving them to return to obscurity.
I’m convinced this is going to Five until I see it confirmed for certain otherwise. Five can afford it, while also needing the ratings of an enduring cult hit – I don’t see any other good fit.
There’s no way it’s going to the BBC, reason given by Tom H, above. The Sun will smash them to bits for it, and that kills the show in the target demographic.
Random bit I discovered while Black Friday shopping today: The board game “Smart Ass” seems to be based on “What/Who am I”-type questions, and there appears to be about ten clues on every card. Some of the sample questions on the back of the box looked kinda pathetic, but if you’re looking for a starter deck for your home version of Going for Gold, it might be something to consider.
Dominique is finally unseated on TLMVPSP after 150 victories and €160,000. Djamila rejects €5,000 and becomes the new championne.
Quite off topic, but does Richard Bacon’s pseudo-Beer and real Pizza Club always feature gameshows as a topic? Caught a couple of them recently and they’ve done their homework for clippage, featuring Knightmare and Kevin Ashman on 15 to 1. If I’m not mistaken, they’ve gone to the effort of sourcing whole episodes in order to edit a couple of good bits. The show itself feels like the sort of thing you’d see on ITV at 1am on a Friday night in the 90’s.
According to my ol’man he thinks it’s the worst programme on TV at the moment. Yet, he has never watched the show…
To be fair, that doesn’t stop half the people here from slagging off shows based on what they might be like…
(ok, mostly they are right, but still)
I think that’s quite a good description. The twenty minutes I’ve caught seemed amiable enough, but it’s always on when I’m doing something else (I don’t quite see the point of making each discussion point a ’round’, a bit like The Christian O’ Connell Solution of 5Live last year). I’m pretty pro Richard Bacon generally anyway.
Also: can anyone remeber who hosted the pilot? I remember seeing tickets for this going a wgile ago, and Richard Bacon’s name wadn’t associated with it. May have been Jason Manford.
Jason Byrne.
Good research, ta.
I agree with the above comments about the Golden Cage being unlikely to be for BBC, unless the tone for the show is changed dramatically.
Maybe it will be done in a more of a ‘social experiment’, pop-science type of way similar to The Young Ones (old celebs in a house) exploring the effects of greed on the human brain or some bollocks like that.