Each summer, UK Big Brother fans eagerly tune in to Channel 4 and E4 to see what’s happening in the house in Elstree. But the UK Big Brother is just one of many, many versions of the programme around the world. You might think the antics of British housemates are weird, funny or risqué but the overseas houses have more than their fair share of intrigue, odd behaviour and tough-talking Big Brothers.

Here are some of best bits from the wonderful world of BB around the globe:

• The very first Big Brother began in the Netherlands on September 16 1999. By the final night, New Year’s Eve, the show had become the most watched programme of the year and the participants had become overnight celebrities.

• Big Brother 5 in Germany was the first year-long Big Brother.

• On the same day that this year-long series ended, Big Brother: The Village began. Big Brother: Das Dorf lasted two years and was originally intended to have an indefinite run, with its residents housed in an entire village instead of just one house.

• Big Mother was introduced into the fourth series of the Greek Big Brother when housemates took part in the game with their mothers with whom they had to co-exist during the contest.

• In Holland’s first series the show’s producers invited, Marco Borsato, a famous Dutch singer, to ‘hover’ over the house and sing for the group. In reality, Marco was carried over the wall and put on a podium box held by a crane. 

• The Norwegian house is built in an old airport.

• Wednesdays in the Polish house are gambling nights. Not only do these live shows include darts and roulette but other activities include eating a bottle of ketchup in record time, shaving heads and body piercing.

• In the first series of the Polish show Big Brother provoked a mutiny by the smokers in the house for refusing to supply any more cigarettes. As punishment Big Brother set a small fire in the compound. The only non-smoker in the house, 45-year-old Janusz Dzieciol, was the only housemate to get up and put it out. As reward for his good behaviour, Big Brother offered Janusz a personal phone call or a supply of cigarettes for the house. He went with the cigarettes and, out of gratitude, was never put forward for eviction by his fellow housemates. He went on to win the series.

• Also from the first Polish series, housemate Sebastian Florek stood for election three months after leaving the show and was duly elected as a Labor Union deputy to the Polish Parliament. Florek has since developed a reputation as a feminist since he started fighting for free contraception in the largely Catholic country.

• A couple in the Portuguese Big Brother fell in love and decided to get married during the show. After getting approval from her family they married in front of the house during a four-hour live show. Denmark also had a real wedding inside the house which was also broadcast live.

• South Africa’s Big Brother featured a body piercer and a hairdresser to give candidates a new look if they chose.

• Series 2 of the Spanish show got housemates working for their luxuries – all the furniture was dismantled, and housemates had to assemble it the first night they arrived in the house. They were also treated to a small box that was installed in the middle of the living room. Every day the housemates had a few minutes to try and open the box which contained a surprise.

• The cruellest and most unusual punishments ever to be inflicted in Big Brother history was in the sixth Spanish series. Between them, seven contestants had just five days to memorise the contents of the proposed European Constitution. Housemates had to then relay the 325 page document to a non-Spanish speaking Polish woman.

• The Big Brother house in Switzerland is situated in the mountains.

• Housemates were severely tested in the fourth series of the US Big Brother when 10 of the 13 participants found themselves face to face with one of their ex-partners.

• Several countries have included twins, and in some cases triplets, in their shows, without warning other housemates. At first, twins would constantly swap places until the trick was revealed or someone figured it out.

• Cherise Makubale from Zambia, winner of pan-African Big Brother received a congratulatory message from President Levy Mwanawasa for her exemplary and encouraging conduct, including sweeping and cooking in the house – exactly what a ‘Zambian woman must do’.

• In series 3 of the Argentinean Big Brother housemates were deliberately chosen purely based on their looks. The housemates included a man whose entire family had been murdered and an ex-prostitute who went on to become the winner.

• In this same series, all tasks were charity related, including getting housemates to build beds for orphanages.

• The Australian Big Brother house is located in a family amusement park.

• One evictee of the Australian house brought controversy to the programme by refusing to speak to the show’s presenter in protest against the mandatory imprisonment of refugees in Australia. Instead Merlin Luck taped his mouth shut and held up a banner that read ‘Free Th Refugees’ (the ‘e’ had fallen off) which he’d made prior to entering the house.