Jürgen, Zlatko and Co.: These names probably still sound familiar to most people who watched TV around the turn of the millennium. The residents of the first German “Big Brother” season took part in a real TV experiment at a time when social media and reality TV were actually foreign concepts. As more or less normal people who had neither camera experience nor an Instagram account. Today, when “Celebrity Big Brother” and similar formats are populated with C-Z celebrities and influencers, “Big Brother” with “people next door” is sure to be attractive again.

Laup.1 will broadcast the candidates' competition live

The people in charge of Joyn and SAT.1 also thought so: from Monday, March 4, the reality classic will celebrate a small comeback in its old form – without prominent participants. But more or less the way the format started on local television 24 years ago. It starts on an online streaming platform; From 8:15 p.m., SAT.1 will broadcast live the entry of 16 candidates.

As in the first season, the candidates have to withstand each other in a container house for a whole 100 days. With a special discount: the winner of the show will receive 100,000 euros. 24-hour live streaming accompanies Joyn+ residents day and night; Both the daily summaries (daily from 21:00) and the weekly summaries should be streamed for free on the portal.

On linear television, SAT.1 shows live every Monday “The Decision” – namely who was chosen next from the container. It starts on Monday 11 March at 10.55pm, followed by an hour-long live show a week later at 10.20pm, which can also be seen from Joyn. Then every Monday until late at night, the channel shows the highlights of the previous week. Each day in the container is summarized in a 40-minute episode.

A comeback after 24 years

The new edition is presented by Jochen Schropp, the face of “Celebrity Big Brother”, who also refers to the origins of the popular format: “Big Brother revolutionized television 24 years ago and created a completely new genre: Reality TV,” he said in the moderator. statement. In the new season, they want to focus on what's important: “Authentic people that we can watch live 24 hours a day. I am looking forward to seeing the personalities of different ages and all their emotional stories unfolding in the container over 100 days.

However, not much is known about the inhabitants. “We want people in the neighborhood who you don't know from reality shows. They don't know how to behave when cameras are pointed at them 24/7,” says Joyn's content boss Thomas Münzner, describing the streamer's goal in an interview with Teleschau news agency: “We want to create the original feeling of that time. – and “professional reality” stars are therefore not wanted on the show. People from every social class and every age group would participate – “a collision of very different personalities,” says Münzner: “People who would never have met in real life would participate.”

This year's “Back to the Roots” is not the first attempt to revive the classic format with regular candidates outside of “Celebrity Big Brother”. The last time SAT.1 tried it was in 2020 – also after a four-year hiatus – without success. Finally, prominent guests should help break out of low ratings.