Production company Endemol is determined to prove the format shouldn't be ditched when its contract with Channel 5 expires this year.
We told in January how network chiefs are likely to axe it.
Just weeks later Channel 5 chiefs proved we were spot on when they messaged a string of production companies asking for ideas to replace it.
But Big Brother bosses are still convinced they can stave off the axe if they make the next series just like its first run in 2000.
They plan to take it back to its roots as a social experiment rather than as a controversial reality format.
BB became a national sensation when it hit our screens, featuring "Nasty" Nick Bateman and eventual winner Craig Phillips.
A show insider said: "The problem is they've had the same producers since the beginning and they have just found themselves in a rut. They have let the desire for drama take away from the science experiment aspect people loved.
"Execs plan to restrict producers from 'over producing' and want to let the characters unfold naturally rather than forcing them to do so with manipulative tasks.
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"There will be far fewer tasks this time around. They want it to be a true social experiment because they realise they have lost that element along the way."
Big Brother will air this summer followed by a celeb version - but that could be the end.
Host Emma Willis, 42, has previously admitted that she would like to see the show going back to its roots.
She said: "I would go back to basics. I'd strip it all out and make it like series one and make them bake their own bread, use a mangle and look after chickens in the garden to get their eggs.
"Just get rid of it allkeep the psychological games they put in now, but have it bare bones as in what they get and what they have to live on."