Big Brother to go ‘back to basics’ to save it from getting the axe

BIG Brother is to go "back to basics" in a bid to avoid the axe.

Earlier this year, it was claimed Channel 5 was about to "pull the plug" on the reality show after 18 years on air amid plummeting ratings.

Now The Daily Star Sunday claims show bosses are stripping the show back to its original format in a desperate bid to keep it on air.

A source told the publication: "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.

"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."

When the show first began on Channel 4 back in 2000, the housemates featured as part of a social experiment, caring for their own chickens and washing their clothes with a mangle, rather than the over-the-top reality show it has become in later years.

Even the show's host Emma Willis has said she would like to see the programme return to its roots.

She previously 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 all…keep the psychological games they put in now, but have it bare bones as in what they get and what they have to live on."

The next series of Big Brother airs this summer, with a Celebrity version to follow straight after.

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