Big Brother 2 is the second season of the Belgian version of Big Brother aired in the Flemish Region of Belgium on Kanaal 2. The show started on 2 September 2001 and finished on 16 December 2001 with a total duration of 106 days.
Changes for this season making it harder to live for housemates: add an isolation cell, lower the budget of the group and add the opening twist (eleven male housemates and only one female housemate on opening night, but changed at the end of the week by having six male and five female housemates). Those measures impacted the group dynamic in many ways. An exception was made about the news of the outside world, when producers decided to inform the housemates about 9/11 since a family member of one of the housemates was involved.
The season was known for many conflicts and some parties that got out of hand, which led to much criticism. One of the positive highlights was the task for charity. The housemates collected more than 7 million Belgium francs (BEF) in one week.
Ellen Dufour was the winner and won 5 million BEF. The ratings of the highlights shows and the highlights compilation shows dropped. But still, Big Brother was successful, having the live shows often with more than 1 million viewers. The finale was the eighth highest-rated show in 2001 in Flanders and was watched by 1.1 million viewers. Pay television CanalDigitaal which offered a 24 hours live stream had more subscribers because of Big Brother.
Format This season had the same Back to Basics format as the first season. The tag line of the season was "Bigger, harder and better". The season was indeed harder to live since there were some changes that made staying in the house a lot more difficult for the housemates: The daily budget was only 100BEF (decreased from 150BEF). The group could only receive 50 or 100% wage for the weekly task (in comparison with 25, 50, 75 and 100% in the first season). The luxury products like alcohol, cigarettes and shampoo increased by 75%. An isolation cell was built for housemates who not following the rules. The cell was only 4m².
Another difference was the nomination system Three housemates (instead of two in the first season) with the most nominations were nominated. A "floche" was added. After the announcement of the nominated housemates, one of them could pull down the "floche". This housemate would have been saved from eviction but the group would lose its weekly budget. The public could vote during the live show to rescue one of the nominated housemates. The remaining nominated housemates faced the public vote for eviction.
Housemates Name Age on entry Hometown Occupation Day entered Day exited Result Ellen Dufour 20 Zutendaal student store manager 6 106 Thierry Andries 34 Bruges baker 1 106 Peter Persoons 33 Tessenderlo sports monitor 1 106 Aurore Vangu 22 Evere student physical education 36 106 Kurt Willem 30 Ostend club animator 1 99 Dominique Cardon 27 Bruges manager roadhouse 7 92 Sabine Therssen 23 Tervuren hairdresser and administrative clerk 5 78 Lincy Vynckier 27 Waregem cook 36 71 Mustafa El Oiamari 29 Merksem support-computer engineer 36 64 Detlev Van den Eynde 25 Westmalle land surveyor modellist 1 50 Irena Milano 21 Opglabbeek sales window dresser 3 36 Dirk Rasking 33 Sint-Truiden sauna receptionist 1 34 Patricia Cornelissen 28 Tielt-Winge postman 1 22 Liesel Pauwels 18 Berlaar social worker 4 13 Eric Van Damme 42 Boom pharmaceutical distributor 1 13 Miguel De Wilde 27 Rumst manager supermarket 1 7 Tom Switten 23 Diepenbeek coach young people 1 6 Geert Quisenaerts 33 Antwerp office holder race 1 5 Bachir Boumaâza 21 Antwerp student informatics 1 4 Kurt Samyn 28 Langemark fish seller 1 3
Weekly summary Week 1 Entrances On Day 1, 11 male housemates, Bachir, Detlev, Dirk, Eric, Geert, Kurt, Miguel, Peter, Thierry, Tom and Tuur, one female housemate Patricia entered the house. On Day 3 Irena entered the house. On Day 4 Liesel entered the house. On Day 5 Sabine entered the house. On Day 6 Ellen entered the house. On Day 7 Dominique entered the house. On Day 8 Dirk re-entered the house. Twists On Day 1, 11 male housemates and 1 housemate entered the house. At the end of the week, Big Brother wanted to have the same amount of male and female housemates. The only female housemate, Patricia, had to choose three male housemates to up for eviction. Once the public had evicted one of the male housemates, the next female housemate would enter the house. She had the same task as the first female housemate. On Day 8, the audience could vote for one of the evicted male housemates (Kurt S, Bachir, Geert, Tom, Miguel and Dirk) back into the house. Dirk, who had just left the house, was voted back in. Tasks On Day 2, housemates were given their first weekly task, which required them to pump up 2,500 soccer balls. They also had to gather when the national anthem was played. Each completed fall had to put on a tower and wasn't allowed to fall. The housemates wagered 100% on this task. The group failed the task. Nominations On Day 2, Bachir, Eric Kurt S were nominated by Patricia. On Day 3, Bachir, Eric and Geert were nominated by Irena. On Day 4, Geert, Peter and Tom were nominated by Liesel. On Day 5, Detlev, Eric and Tom were nominated by Sabine. On Day 6, Eric, Miguel and Thierry were nominated by Ellen. On Day 7, Detlev, Dirk and Peter were nominated by Dominique. Exits On Day 3, Kurt S was evicted from the house. On Day 4, Bachir was evicted from the house. On Day 5, Geert was evicted from the house. On Day 6, Tom was evicted from the house. On Day 7, Miguel was evicted from the house. On Day 8, Dirk was evicted from the house. But he was re-voted in by the audience. Week 2 Tasks On Day 9, the housemates were given their second weekly task, which required them to photoshoots with themes (historical or biblical, vacation shots, movie scenes, artistic nudes and sports photos). They had to send these photos by post and on Friday with pigeons. The task was succeeded if one photo of each theme would get the cover of a Flemish journal. The housemates wagered 50% on this task. The task was modified because of 9/11. The photos weren't needed to be on the cover anymore but anywhere in the journal or newspaper. The group failed the task. Many photos were publicized but only of the themed artistic nudes. Punishments On Day 10, the housemates were punished for the whispering of Dirk and Patricia. They have to give 11 negatives of the photos to Big Brother. On Day 12, after multiple warnings about gossiping and whispering, Big Brother punished Patricia by placing duct tape on her mouth. Exits On Day 13, Eric and Liesel escaped the house by climbing over the roof. Nominations On Day 15, Dominique, Ellen, Irena and Patricia received the most nominations. Ellen was saved by the audience. Dominique, Irena and Patricia faced the public vote. Week 3 Tasks On Day 16, the housemates were given their third weekly task, in which they would have been chained up at a rope throughout the house. The housemates wagered 50% on this task. The group failed the task by refusing doing it. Highlights On Day 17, because a member of Irena's family was involved, the housemates were informed about the attacks at September 11 by the spokesman of VTM Mark Vanlombeek and a psychologist. Exits On Day 22, Patricia was evicted from the house. Week 4 Tasks On Day 23, the housemates were given their fourth weekly task, which required one housemate at each time to sit in a water tank. Other housemates could give the housemate in the tank air by pumping air into the helmet. They wagered 100% of their budget on the task, which they passed. Nominations On Day 29, Detlev, Dominique, Irena and Sabine received the most nominations. Sabine was saved by the audience. Detlev, Dominique and Irena faced the public vote. Week 5 Highlights On Day 29, the housemates became very drunk at a party and the first alcohol in weeks. Detlev & Irena, Dirk & Dominique and Peter & Sabine became intimate. Tasks On Day 30, the task was to build a hot air balloon with two stitching machines. By individual tasks, the housemates could earn air. The task was succeeded if the balloon with one housemate in the casket would stay five minutes into the air during the Live show. They wagered 100% of their budget on the task, which they passed. Exits On Day 34, Dirk voluntarily left the house. On Day 36, Irena was evicted from the house. Entrances On Day 36, Aurore, Lincy and Musti entered the house. Week 6 Tasks On Day 37, housemates were given a building task, in which, they had to make a big sandcastle with specific requirements. The group wagered 50% on the task, which they passed. Nominations On Day 43, Detlev, Musti and Thierry received the most nominations. Musti was saved by the audience. Detlev and Thierry faced the public vote. Week 7 Tasks On Day 44, housemates were given their weekly task, a return to prehistoric times. The group was divided into two teams. Team A was Detlev, Lincy and Thierry. Team B was Aurore, Peter and Sabine. The teams had to compete with each other. The team that won, could exchange one of its members for one of the other housemates. The housemates wagered 100% of their shopping budget. The group passed the task. Exits On Day 50, Detlev was evicted from the house. Week 8 Tasks On Day 51, the housemates were given their weekly task, which saw them break down in the garden and rebuilding and repainting a Citroën 2CV into the house. During the live show, the car had to be able to drive from the kitchen to the living area, use the turn signals and sound the horn. The housemates wagered 100% of their budget on the task, which they passed. Highlights On Day 52, tired of the drinking of his fellow housemates, Musti emptied all the remaining beer bottles in secret in the garden. Nominations On Day 57, Aurore, Dominique, Musti and Sabine received the most nominations. Dominique was saved by the audience. Aurore, Musti and Sabine faced the public vote. Week 9 Tasks On Day 58, for the task the housemates had to build rails throughout the house where they had to travel on in a trolley. The housemates wagered 100% of their budget on the task, which they failed. Exits On Day 64, Musti was evicted from the house. Entrances On Day 64, two pets entered the house. The cats were named George and Pluche. Week 10 Tasks On Day 65, the task involved building a trail with domino bricks. There had to be 28.000 bricks and there had to be three logos into the pattern: of KanaalTwee, Big Brother and the blueprint of the Big Brother house. The housemates wagered 50% of their budget on the task, which they failed. Highlights On Day 67, plenty of telegrams were delivered at the house and given to the housemates for Ellen and Kurt W's birthdays. The telegrams contain birthday messages to celebrate housemates but also contain negative messages for the other housemates. Exits On Day 71, Lincy voluntarily left the house. Nominations On Day 71, Aurore, Dominique and Sabine received the most nominations. Aurore was saved by the audience. Dominique and Sabine faced the public vote. Week 11 Tasks On Day 72, the housemates had to build 1,500 birdhouses, marked with the Big Brother logo. All the housemates have to sleep during the week in a nest in the living area. Every day a housemates is named the breeding bird by Big Brother. This housemate has to sit on an egg all day. The housemates wagered 100% of their budget on the task, which they passed. Exits On Day 78, Sabine was evicted from the house. Week 12 Punishments On Day 79, supporters of Dominique were on the other side of the fence. Thierry put her on his shoulders so she could have a look. Big Brother punished the group by taking 20% of the budget.