the kid wrote:What the f#ck are you guys talking about

Who/What is Big Brother other than something from a dark novel written a long time ago

Oh well Billy,
glad you asked!!!
Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where, over 15 weeks or so, a number of contestants (usually 12) try to avoid periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house and hence win a cash prize. The show was invented by John de Mol of the Netherlands and developed by his production company, Endemol. It has been a prime-time hit in almost 70 different countries. no TV, radio, telephone, Internet or other media are available to the housemates, not even writing materials. The last remaining contestant is the winner.
Besides housemates living together, which is the major attraction of the contest, there are 4 basic props: the stripped-bare back to basics environment in which they live, the evictions system, the weekly tasks set by Big Brother, and the "diary room", in which the housemates individually convey their thoughts, feelings, frustrations and their eviction nominees.
Each week, the housemates each privately nominate a number of people who they wish to see removed from the house more than the other residents. The ones with the most nominations are then named on the television show, and viewers can vote for whom they want to be evicted.
After the votes are tallied, the "evictee" leaves the house and is interviewed on-camera by the host of the show, usually in front of a live studio audience. The last remaining housemate is declared the winner and receives a substantial sum in prize money, the amount of which has varied widely around the world.
Despite derision from many intellectuals and other critics, the show has been a commercial success around the world. Criticisms typically are based on the ironic aspects of George Orwell's dystopic vision of Nineteen Eighty-Four being consciously aped by producers for public entertainment. More generally, the voyeuristic nature of the show, where contestants volunteer to surrender their privacy in return for minor celebrity status and a comparatively small cash prize, has attracted much scorn.
Nevertheless, we love it regardless.
While any pretences to be a cultural experiment are dubious, reports of the different results of the show around the world have been mildly interesting from a pop-anthropology standpoint; i.e., in Spain, the competitors designed an agreement to achieve they all were nominated automatically and annul then their power of decision inside the process of elimination in the contest. This only happened once, as afterwards, Big Brother modified its rules to prohibit this type of agreement. On the other hand, other versions have involved plotting in the vein of the most cruel soap opera. Some versions have been filled with sex-crazed housemates, whereas others decided to base the conflict within their programs around difficult or romantic personalities, as in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Philippines or Spain. With the passing of time, it has been demonstrated that the most successful versions were the ones that emulated a soap opera, whereas the versions where the principal attraction was sex have been eliminated, as in Hungary or Poland. The amount of sex shown on the televised versions varies from country to country depending on censorship rules, with some countries editing out all sex and nudity, and others allowing the show to border on the pornographic.
Big Brother facts
* General
o Winners: 66 males and 43 females
o Country with most seasons: Spain, 7 finished seasons
o Country with most seasons in total: UK, 11 finished seasons (6 main, 4 Celebrity & 1 Teen)
o Country with most days with Big Brother on air: Germany, 1,142 days
* 1999
o First Big Brother: Netherlands
o First contestant to be evicted: Martin Jonkman, BB1 Netherlands
o First contestant to voluntarily leave: Tara van den Bergh, BB1 Netherlands
o First replacement housemate: Mona Rooth-de Leeuw, BB1 Netherlands
o First Big Brother winner: Bart Spring in 't Veld, BB1 Netherlands
* 2000
o First Big Brother in America: Big Brother USA
o Season with least contestants: 10, BB1 USA, BB1 Sweden and GF1 Italy
o First contestant to be expelled by Big Brother: Nicholas Bateman, BB1 UK
o First Big Brother 2: Netherlands
o First female winner: Daniela Kanton, BB1 Switzerland
o First bisexual winner: Bianca Hagenbeek, BB2 Netherlands
o First evicted housemate voted back into the house: Marion, BB2 Germany
* 2001
o Most Big Brothers to start in a year: 21
o First Big Brother 3: Germany
o First Big Brother in Oceania: BB1 Australia
o First replacement housemate to win Big Brother: Marcelo Corazza, GH1 Argentina
o First Loft Story season: LS1 France
o First Big Brother to have more than one winner: Christophe Mercy & Loana Petrucciani, LS1 France
o First gay winner: Brian Dowling, BB2 UK
o First incorrect eviction: Klaudiusz instead of Alicja, BB1 Poland
o Oldest Big Brother winner: Janusz Dzięcioł, 47, BB1 Poland
o First Big Brother with Head Of House: BB2 USA
o First Big Brother in Africa: BB1 South Africa
o Big Brother winner with the highest percentage: 90.03%, Ferdinand Rabie, BB1 South Africa
o First Big Brother 100 Days Later: Norway
o First Big Brother The Battle: Netherlands
* 2002
o First housemates swap: GH3 Spain - BB1 Mexico
o First Big Brother to have BB nominating all housemates: BB2 Australia
o First Big Brother double eviction: Alex and Nathan, BB2 Australia
o First Big Brother with Power Of Veto: BB3 USA
o First pregnant housemate: Michelle, BB2 South Africa
o First Big Brother 4: Netherlands
o First Big Brother host to spend 24 hours in the house: Martijn Krabbé, BB4 Netherlands
o Least eviction difference: 0.08%, Alison 38.52% vs. Alex 38.44%, Alison evicted, BB3 UK
o Most eviction votes survived in succession: 8, Kiko, GH3 Spain & Nok, BB2 Thailand
* 2003
o First Big Brother with a couple competing: Pasquale and Victoria, GF3 Italy
o Oldest Big Brother housemate: Mihalis Apostolides, 63 years old, BB3 Greece
o First international version: Big Brother Africa
o First black winner: Cherise Makubale, BB1 Africa
o First Big Brother with ex-couple housemates: Alison & Justin, Amanda & Scott, David & Michelle, Erika & Robert, Jee & Jun, BB4 USA
o First winner of Asian descent: Jun Song, BB4 USA
o First Big Brother Teen: UK
o First Big Brother All Stars: Belgium
o First Big Brother 5: Spain
o First contestant to become pregnant in the house: Sissal, BB3 Denmark
* 2004
o First blood related housemates: Domenico and Ilaria, father and daughter, GF4 Italy
o First Big Brother in Asia: Big Brother Arabia
o First Big Brother with a praying room: Big Brother Arabia
o First Big Brother suspended: Big Brother Arabia
o First Big Brother Reality All Stars: Denmark
o Only contestant to win 2 Big Brothers: Jill Liv Nielsen, BB1 & BB Reality All Stars Denmark
o First "Evil" Big Brother: BB5 UK
o First transsexual winner: Nadia Almada, BB5 UK
o First twins competing: Natalie and Adria, BB5 USA
o First Big Brother 6: Spain
* 2005
o Longest Big Brother: 365 days, BB5 Germany
o Seasons with most contestants: 59, BB5 Germany & BB6 Germany
o Longest time in Big Brother house: Sascha Sirtl and Franziska Lewandrowski, 365 days, BB5 Germany
o Shortest gap between 2 Big Brother seasons: 0 minutes, BB5 > BB6 Germany
o Highest eviction percentage: 95%, Aline, BB5 Brazil
o First Big Brother village: BB6 Germany
o Shortest Big Brother: 60 days, BB3 Mexico
o First Big Brother where all the housemates have a secret playing partner: BB6 USA
o Youngest Big Brother winner: Anastacia Yagalova, 19 years old, BB1 Russia
o First Big Brother with twins winning: Greg and David Matthews, BB5 Australia
o First Big Brother house to have an altar: BB1 Philippines
o First Big Brother ~ Big Mother season: BB4 Greece
o First Big Brother 7: Spain
o Longest gap between 2 Big Brother seasons: 966 days, BB4 > BB5 Netherlands
o Lowest eviction percentage with positive voting: 1.06%, Martin, BB6 Germany
o First Big Brother birth: Tanja Slangenberg gave birth to Joscelyn Savanna, BB5 Netherlands
* 2006
o Most housemates left on the final: 6, BB6 Germany
o First HIV-infected contestant: Kenny van Quickelberghe, BB5 Belgium
o Most successive times nominated for eviction: 9, Nok, BB2 Thailand
Hope that answered your question....hehehehe