The new Big Brother housemates will be banned from social media as part of duty of care protocols announced today.
Ahead of Big Brother’s return on its new home on ITV, it’s also been revealed the cast will undergo respect and inclusion training to set out expectations around use of language and acceptable behaviour in the House.
The full protocols include a comprehensive package of welfare measures to ensure housemates are fully supported before, during and after their time in the Big Brother House.
ITV share: “Registered and experienced mental health professionals are engaged throughout the whole series, to assess and support Housemates. An experienced Big Brother welfare team is solely dedicated to the welfare of the Housemates before, during and after the show.
“The welfare of everyone involved in the making of the programme is of paramount importance and welfare protocols have been carefully considered to deliver robust assessment of suitability to participate, informed consent and support throughout the casting and filming process and beyond.”
Among the welfare measures put in place for all housemates are psychological and medical assessments and ongoing support for at least 14 months after the series has ended, with additional help provided where needed.
Housemates – as well as their friends and family – will be prevented from posting any content on their individual social accounts for the duration of their time in the house, while the cast will undergo a series of checks of their social media by an independent specialised service.
Head of Welfare for Big Brother producers Banijay UK, Kym Langer said: “The welfare of everyone involved in the making of Big Brother is of paramount importance to us and the welfare protocols for Housemates delivers robust assessment of suitability to participate, informed consent and support throughout the casting and filming process and beyond.
“The protocols in place for the 2023 series have been carefully considered bringing together the experience of ITV’s compliance and Duty of Care team together with the independent mental health professionals we have engaged and our own in-house production, editorial, casting and support teams.”
Dr Paul Litchfield, a Chief Medical Officer who independently reviews ITV’s duty of care protocols, said: “The measures applied to safeguard the mental health of contributors to reality TV shows have evolved considerably over the past five years. ITV has worked with the team at Banijay to share expertise and to ensure that current best practice is applied for the 2023 series of Big Brother.”
Big Brother: The Launch is on ITV1, ITV2 and ITVX on Sunday, 8 October from 9PM.
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