Pinoy Big Brother is the Philippine version of the reality television show Big Brother (the word Pinoy is a colloquial term for Filipino).
It follows the same premise as its many foreign counterparts around the world: twelve Philippine residents are forced to live with each other inside a house for about 100 days (extended to another 12 days for the first season due to inefficient scheduling of nomination and eviction of housemates in the first week).
It is shown on ABS-CBN Channel 2 and its international affiliate, The Filipino Channel, with snippets shown on local affiliate Studio 23. The uncut 24/7 version of the series can also be seen on the internet through streaming video and a special cable channel provided by ABS-CBN-owned cable TV provider, SkyCable.
The elimination process in the show is the reverse of the original Dutch format. At the start of the elimination process, the "housemates" (as the contestants are referred to) vote for which two (sometimes more if there are ties) fellow housemates they should eliminate. Once these nominations are chosen, the viewer votes come into play. For a week viewers are asked to vote, via SMS or voice messaging through PLDT's hotline, for whoever they wanted to stay longer in the house. The housemate with the least viewer votes is eliminated. In the final week, the one with the most viewer votes will win the grand prize package worth six million pesos (approx. $111,000) all-in-all, including the one-million peso cash prize (about $18,000), a house and lot of his/her own, a Nissan Frontier, an entertainment component system, a Yamaha motorcycle, and a livelihood showcase just for the first season alone. The second season adds an overseas tour package to the list of prizes.
Other essential elements of the Big Brother franchise are present, such as weekly and daily challenges, the confessional room, and the voice known only as "Big Brother."
The first series started with a grand entrance party on August 21, 2005, with the first primetime episode airing the next night. The finale was held December 10 of the same year, 111 days after. The second series began its run on February 25, 2007, and its finale was held 126 days later on June 30 the same year.
by Wikipedia®