The 4 little-known strict rules Big Brother stars have to follow - from napping to smoking
Big Brother has some very strict rules the housemates have to follow 👁📺
- Big Brother has returned for a new series on ITV2.
- The latest batch of contestants are starting to get settled in.
- But what are the strict rules they have to follow?
Big Brother is about to welcome even more housemates in the coming hours. ITV surprised viewers by confirming that four people would be joining the cast after the first eviction.
The contestants will make their debuts in tonight’s episode (September 30). Remind yourself of how to watch the show in 2025.
However, the new housemates will soon have to get used to some very strict rules while under Big Brother’s all-seeing gaze. See who is in the cast currently.
Here, researchers from Northerner share the strictest rules on Big Brother and some of the most famous rule-breakers from the seasons past.
Smoking and vaping
In the past, when the show was aired on Channel 5 or Channel 4, the infamous Big Brother House would have a very visible smoking area, usually with a memorable design. One year, the housemates even had to sit in a big ashtray as part of a task!
Along with the move to ITV2, other things have changed, and now any smoking must happen off-camera. The smoking area is the only place in the house where housemates are allowed to smoke or vape.
The area does have cameras in it, but the footage is never intended to be broadcast, although the production team has been known to make the occasional exception when conversations that took place in the smoking area have been deemed too important not to air.
Napping
Napping is banned in Big Brother to ensure constant filming and content generation, as the production wants to capture the housemates' interactions and behaviour at all times.
If a housemate attempts to sleep during the day, an alarm will be sounded to wake them, and producers will provide a signal for bedtime when they have enough filmed content. Big Brother runner-up Deborah Agboola claimed her co-star Tom Barber would often try to sleep using his sunglasses before being told to take them off.
The outside world
The core purpose of the ban on access to the outside world is to cut off the housemates from their normal lives, forcing them to rely on each other and the show's environment to increase tensions and drama within the house.
To ensure this, housemates are banned from using the internet, phones and social media throughout the show. While housemates are typically isolated, major world events, like the COVID-19 pandemic, have been communicated to them by producers if deemed important.
Secret Messaging
Secret messaging between contestants is also a no-go. Fans may recall instances during Celebrity Big Brother when Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa were accused of exchanging secret messages by writing on each other's hands.
Another instance was when Chris tried to speculate who his fellow housemates would nominate for eviction. In 2023, Olivia Young and Hallie Clarke faced penalties when Hallie was spotted tracing messages on Olivia's back about their co-housemates.
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