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60 free Big Brother trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Big Brother has been locking strangers in a house since 1999, and this quiz covers the whole franchise: the Dutch original and its lawsuits, the American version and its Head of Household, veto and jury rules, the UK show from Davina McCall and Nasty Nick to the ITV2 revival, and the editions in Australia, Canada, Brazil and India that turned the format into the most-produced reality show on earth. The 60 questions run from easy (which network airs the US show, which novel gave the show its name, who has hosted every US season) to genuinely hard (which winner took a 7-0 jury vote, who gave away his entire prize, which future horror director worked on the first Dutch series, and how many votes one Brazilian eviction drew). It suits a finale-night watch party, a reality TV pub quiz round or anyone who has ever shouted at a live feed. Every answer has been checked against a source, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you answer.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Dutch producer created the Big Brother format?
John de Mol
He later co-founded Endemol, whose successor Banijay still owns the format, and went on to launch The Voice.
Q 02In which country did the very first Big Brother series air in 1999?
The Netherlands
That first house was deliberately basic, with rationed food and no luxuries, to add a survivalist edge and stir up tension.
Q 03The show takes its name from the all-seeing ruler in which novel?
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The producers never formally acknowledged the debt, and the author's heirs eventually reached a settlement with Endemol and CBS.
Q 04As of August 2023, roughly how many seasons of Big Brother had been produced worldwide?
508
That total spans more than 63 countries and regions, which makes it one of the most-produced television formats ever.
Q 05What working title did the Dutch creators use for the concept before it became Big Brother?
The Golden Cage
That original idea locked six contestants in a luxury house for a whole year for a million-guilder prize, and was finally made as its own show in 2006.
Q 06Which future Human Centipede director was among the first directors on the Dutch series?
Tom Six
The idea of a round-the-clock stream was borrowed from Jennicam, a 1997 website on which Jennifer Ringley broadcast her daily life.
Q 07In 2000 a company part-owned by which musician sued Endemol, claiming Big Brother copied Expedition Robinson?
Bob Geldof
Castaway's lawyer listed 12 similarities to Expedition Robinson; Endemol replied that sharing a genre is not sharing a programme.
Q 08Who was the very first Big Brother winner anywhere in the world?
Bart Spring in 't Veld
He later told The Times the show stole his life and belonged in a museum of weird television artefacts.
Q 09Which twist splitting the house into unequal halves debuted in the 2001 Dutch third season?
Rich and Poor
Two teams competed for the luxurious side, and the concept has since been used everywhere from Brazil to Tamil Nadu.
Q 10On which US network has Big Brother aired since its 2000 debut?
CBS
The network reportedly paid about $20 million for the format, and the show has aired every summer since, apart from a spring run in 2008.
Q 11Who hosted every season of the American Big Brother from 2000 through 2025?
Julie Chen Moonves
Her stiff early delivery earned her the nickname Chenbot, which she says she takes no offence at.
Q 12What nickname did the US host earn for her heavily scripted, wooden delivery in the first season?
Chenbot
She has suggested the label comes from a precise on-air style rooted in a newsreader's desire to be objective.
Q 13Who won the first American season of Big Brother in 2000?
Eddie McGee
That season used the Dutch format: viewers banished HouseGuests by phone vote and picked the winner from the final three after 88 days.
Q 21From which US season did evicted HouseGuests start living in a sequestered jury house?
4
In seasons 2 and 3 every evictee voted, choosing a gold key with their pick's name and slotting it into a voting box.
Q 22Which season 10 winner became the first US HouseGuest to take the prize by a unanimous 7-0 jury vote?
Dan Gheesling
He came back as a coach in season 14 and lost the final 6-1, then was the first traitor banished on The Traitors' second season.
Q 23What job did Season 16 winner Derrick Levasseur hide from his fellow HouseGuests?
Undercover police detective
He was never nominated until the final three and left with $575,000 once his Team America earnings were added.
Q 14In the first US season, HouseGuests recorded private thoughts not in a Diary Room but in a room of what colour?
Red
Nominees that season were not put on the block but 'marked for banishment', and every other week the public phoned in to send one home.
Q 15After a poor first season, CBS overhauled the US game to focus on strategy, modelling the revamp on which show?
Survivor
The crucial change was that the HouseGuests, not the public, now voted each other out, with a jury of evictees choosing the winner.
Q 16Who won the second US season in 2001, the first played under the strategic HOH-and-eviction format?
Dr. Will Kirby
He returned for All-Stars and later spent more than a decade moderating the jury roundtable segment on finale night.
Q 17Which competition, introduced in the third US season, lets its winner pull a nominee off the block?
The Power of Veto
In its first season it was the Silver version and could not be used on yourself; the Golden version that can became permanent from season 4.
Q 18In the early US seasons, HouseGuests who lost the food competition could eat nothing except what?
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
From season 7 the punishment became slop, a cold shower and a night in the uncomfortable have-not room.
Q 19From season 7 of the US show, have-nots were required to eat what unappetising food?
Slop
Breaking have-not rules usually costs a penalty vote toward eviction, or an extra day on the diet.
Q 20Starting with season 23 in 2021, to how much was the US Big Brother winner's prize raised?
$750,000
The runner-up's cheque rose at the same time from $50,000 to $75,000, and America's Favorite HouseGuest was set at $50,000.
Q 24Which season 8 winner shared the final two with his own daughter, Daniele?
Evel Dick Donato
At 44 he was the show's oldest winner and she, having turned 21 in the house, its youngest finalist; he later revealed he left season 13 after an HIV diagnosis.
Q 25Rachel Reilly, who met her husband Brendon in the season 12 house, went on to win which US season?
13
She has since run The Amazing Race three times, twice with Brendon and once with her sister Elissa, who played season 15.
Q 26Who won the 2020 All-Stars season, Big Brother 22, with a 9-0 jury sweep?
Cody Calafiore
He had lost the season 16 final to his own ally, and the All-Stars season was delayed six weeks by the pandemic.
Q 27What was the 2016 US spin-off on CBS All Access that let viewers pick the winner?
Big Brother: Over the Top
Morgan Willett took the $250,000 prize, and the online-only season showed the ceremonies and competitions that TV normally hides.
Q 28What was the US show's holiday-themed December 2023 spin-off called?
Reindeer Games
Nine returning players played six pre-taped episodes with no live feeds, and the regular host sat it out.
Q 29Which was the first US season to be broadcast in high definition?
16
It was the last prime-time show to make the switch, and the live feeds did not follow until the next year.
Q 30Which US season is the only one to have aired in spring rather than summer?
9
It filled a gap during the 2007-08 writers' strike, and it was also one of only two seasons shown in the UK.