ABSTRACT
As viewers look on through the voyeuristic frame of their television sets, the house-mates also have to undergo various ordeals as set for them by the voice of ‘big brother’ – a voice that regularly comes over a personal address system to give orders, administer punishments and provide information. The voyeurism is also one of competition. The house-mates are contestants, and each week one of them is evicted from the show based on audience voting of who viewers would like to stay and who they would like to go. The person who remains at the end wins a signifi cant cash prize. But this is not the only mode of competition. In the sixth season of the Australian version there is also an activity known as the ‘Friday Night Games’. Each Friday the house-mates participate in a competition against one another. The main prize is that the single winner can select another contestant and together they spend two nights in the ‘rewards room’ where they enjoy creature comforts denied them in the normal house – DVDs to watch, good food to eat, alcoholic beverages and the like.
