Long time BB USA fan on withdrawals, I just watched the BB UK season 11. It was refreshing to watch - better in some ways than the US version, and not as good in others.

BB UK Pros:
1) I like that all the housemates nominate.
2) Love it that they have to do tasks during the week to earn privileges and food for the house.
3) ADORE the tree of temptation!!!
4) Davina kicks Chenbot's butt!!
5) Love the way they enter the house one by one.
6) Punishments for rule breaking.
7) Great diversity of contestants.

BB UK Cons:
1)Public vote reduces it to a popularity contest where a thumbsucking, jealous and possessive brat can beat out what I would call competitors. (Loved Mario, Ben and Dave)
2) Would be better if they were allowed to talk about nominations. That's where you see strategy playing out and drama unfold.
3) Not sure I like new housemates entering weeks in and being eligible for the prize. I did love Sam though. What did JJ do to deserve being in the final more than Corin?

BB USA Pros
1) Housemates vote to evict
2) Housemates allowed to talk strategy and nominations
3) Lots of drama, people hated by the public can still win

BB USA Cons
1) With the exception of seasons 2 and 3, the housemates are the same stereotypes year after year.
2) Competitions have become so repetitive that last season my mate and I successfully predicted 80% of the challenges before they happened. What happened to expect the unexpected?
3) In the beginning housemates had to earn the key to the hot tub and earn luxuries like toaster, blender, barbecue, now they are spoiled and don't get punished when they break the rules. Bring back the iron fist!
4) Pandora's box just plain sucks. Bring on the tree of temptation!
5) I hate the segment where we are tortured with a visit to the new HOH room and I think they should limit how many people can be in there with the head of household at any given time.

I always watch the US live feeds, they are so much better than the episodes. If you only watched the episodes last season, you probably think Rachel and Brendon weren't that bad because they got a good edit. On the feeds they come across in a much more negative light. In season 11 Russell was made to look like a jerk in the edit, but on the feeds he was my favorite.

All in all, it's hard to judge because they are different shows, but I would like to see the US version make some changes for the better. Last season was so boring and uninteresting. The producers could take some elements from the UK version to make it a better show.

I think the strength of BBUK is that you get to know the characters very well with it being on every night, it's weakness is in both the public vote and the fact it's a vote to evict rather than save, which always ensures the person who played the game least wins. Also, since from BB8 onwards the casting has been terrible.

BBUS's strength is that its characters actually play a game, which makes the process of nominations and evictions much more suspenseful, and the lack of a public vote means the ones playing the game best survive to the end. It's weakness is that sometimes the game overshadows everything else, so you can often feel like you're not watching real people, and the fact the highlights show isn't on every day means there's never enough time to see the real side of the characters.

BBUSA has far better endurance tasks and the HMs put all their efforts into them, unlike our HMs who give up rather easily.

But I really prefer our eviction process with the crowd outside, etc...

BB11 UK really put me off watching Big Brother for good. I despised Josie and she was horrible on the live feeds, yet she was given a brilliant edit and people like Caoimhe and Shabby were made out to be the villians. There was also a complete lack of strategy and numerous times people wanted to leave. The UK version is too much of a holiday. Big Brother needs to go back to being mean like in earlier seasons.

BBUS is great when there is two groups fighting against one another. The constant shifts of power in the house makes it thrilling to watch. However, when you have a season where an alliance is dominating the game then it can be very boring and predictive!

Honestly, I think BB USA has, in recent years, declined into being immature and 'a family show'. Looking back at BB2-BB4, the program wasn't aimed at families or anyone under the age of 14. Nowadays, it's admittedly aimed at younger audiences and has gotten more and more immature every season (the tasks have gotten more and more "Double Dare 2000"-ish, the costumes, the punishments, the have-not room, etc.). I miss the simpler times of BB when it wasn't trying to get a family audience and was more mature.

I totally agree that BBUS has dumbed down over the years. I know it's used as an excuse for anything, but I really blame Grodner for it. Virtually every player in the Grodner era is portrayed as one-dimensionally as possible, and those who are in the least bit complex are either portrayed as "the strategic one" or are ignored all together. Think of last seasons cast:

Hayden: Mostly ignored, because he was pretty complex, but the "dude"
Lane: The country boy
Enzo: The lovable (bleugh!!!!) oaf, who was bizarrely pushed as some sort of master social player?!?!?!?!
Britney: The sassy bitch
Ragan: The camp gay
Brendon: Rachel's bitch
Matt: The "evil genius"
Kathy: The walking, breathing sob story
Rachel: Batshit crazy.
Kristen: Pretty much ignored, until they had to show her
Andrew: The Jew
Monet: Pretty much ignored
Annie: Ironically, Annie got one of the least pin-holed edits of the whole cast, but inevitably would have just been "the saboteur"

I'm actually amazed I managed to name all of last years group without having to look. *Seething BB12 hate*

But seriously, its absolutely ridicolous. I think no player exemplifies this more clearly than BB11's Kevin. Clearly a smart guy, totally adept in playing the game, and easily the best rounded player of the cycle... But portrayed almost exclusively as a swishy finger snapping diva.

Production needs to revamp the show and throw the old stereotypes out the window. They also have to stop force feeding us showmances made in hell. Season 10 had such a diverse bunch of strong personalities and no showmances. It was a great season. Season 11 had some big players but the floaters ruled in the end. Boring. As for all stars, I don't like it. I would rather see unfinished business, bring back players that got evicted too soon, like Brian and Angie BB10, Laura BB11, Annie, Andrew and Kristen BB12 and others that got hosed, like Russell BB11, Matt BB12, Danielle BB3, and Keesha, And please AG, never under any circumstances bring back Jesse. Ever! We hated him season 10 and season 11 and she still had to bring him in for an appearance in season 12.I also think Eric BB8 deserves a chance to play for himself.

BB11UK isn't a good representation of BBUK, both US/UK are terrible atm imo. Try BB5!

BB10 had one of the biggest showmances ever, the shag twins, April and Ollie.

That being said, I agree with virtually everything else you say, and everyone you suggest to come back! Any excuse for Laura () coming back and I'm on board!

I think the 10th series had a decent cast.

Haven't seen enough of the American one to comment. But hopefully I'll get into this years.

tbh BB USA kicks the UK Version out of the water.

Its a Game Show there unlike here. theres a reason why The USA version is still pulling in the viewers.

Our version is full of fame hungry people. The fights are rubbish.

The tasks on BB USA are better and all about endurance our HM's give up way to easily.

BB UK Died for me when i watched BB USA for the 1st time from season 8 onwards.

I have to agree,bbuk is ruined by the public vote as the players are evicted from poor editing.

It should be left to the players as to who wins and bbuk are very cheap when it comes to competitions/prize money considering how much they rake in from phone votes.

I much prefer the US version, which is sad because I used to love BBUK when it was on 4.

I didn't even watch the this year's BBUK after a couple of weeks in.

I gave up after a few weeks aswell.

I think the US version has completely surpassed the UK one now. BBUK used to be an essential part of my television year - something which I'd never dream of missing. BBUS has now completely usurped its role, and I just drifted in and out of BB12 UK after the early weeks.

if you liked BB11, which wasn't even that good of a series, you would love BB5, BB6, BB7 & BB9 well theyre my favs anyway lol

I liked this year's BBUS, but I still prefer BBUK.

I enjoy both. I love the gameplay aspect of BBUS but love the more social experiment of BBUK.

BBUK massivelly fails with the contestants they get if they are really billing this show as a social experiment with the prize unimportant then they should really vet the housemates they let in the house. They are actually contacting agencies for wannabe wags and models whom are there for only one thing. admittedly it is hard in this current climate to find someone who wants to be on tv whom doesn't want to be famous but i feel it can be done.

BBUK not allowing talk of nominations is just ridiculous it haandt worked for them in one series if they open it up they would get more talking points more drama without having to prod or script it themselves

BBUK leaving the vote up to the public narrowed the housemates who could win down to 1 or 2 each year. No housewife is going to vote for a slim pretty glamour model, or anyone to that effect so its hardly worth them being on the show

BBUSA production is light years ahead of BBUK and the games the camera work and storyline the editing looks so much more professional then the UK one

I watched BBUSA a couple of years ago or something and I liked it but nowhere near as much as BBUK. I don't really like the fact that they are playing more of a game and concentrating just on winning etc.

You should check out last years and the year before.. Rachel would surely change your opinion! The selection of HMs in the US is so good, the dramas are massive and you see some nasty fights break out!

CH5's BB was far weaker than the American version last year.

I get genuinely excited about the American version. It's dastardly. I like the uncertainty that your favourite can get hoofed out without you having a say in it, and the tasks actually mean something, it's like watching sport, because it matters.
Ours is good, but it's a completely different show. The US one makes my heart race!

See, I completely disagree. I like that the contestants are more focussed on winning, because it seems to give it more of a point. It's far more interesting that they are all there for a purpose, where most of our housemates are just there to sit around in the hopes of getting a spread in Heat magazine.

There was a Save and Replace task, but CH5 got rid of it.