The show followed twenty-one contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom built House.

The trailer featured 30 ex-housemates from the past 10 series of Big Brother attending a funeral of the Diary Room Chair, with show narrator Marcus Bentley as the priest.

A further programme, Big Brother Exposed: The Inside Story,[4] was aired on 28 May on E4, brought viewers highlights of the past ten series.

This nominations twist that was held every week is similar to the Power of Veto from the American version of Big Brother.

This series saw the return of McCall announcing the eviction from outside the house with the housemates hearing the live audience cheering, booing and chanting.

The eviction announcements were made in no particular order (see Nominations Table), John James received the highest number of eviction votes, followed by Corin, Sam and Steve, however the order they left the house was Steve, Corin, Sam and John James.

Also, evictees were shown goodbye messages the housemates recorded for them in the event of their departure, similar to the format used in the American version of the show.

The new eviction format continued for Ultimate Big Brother, the only difference that all interviews were performed outside of the studio.

The first aerial pictures of the House were released by the Daily Star magazine[citation needed] as early as mid-May.

In contrast to the kitchen and bathroom's modern effect, the bedroom consisted of a Salvador Dalí design in the beds.

[22] On Day 70, the house was evacuated to a temporary location due to severe flooding in the living area and bedroom.

[23] On Day 1, eighty-one hopefuls arrived at the entrance of the House – seventy-nine of whom had been revealed before the series began.

On the evening of Day 70 the house suffered from a freak rainstorm, resulting in the evacuation of the housemates to a nearby location in the Big Brother compound, due to severe flooding which caused leaks in the bedroom and living room from the roof.

"Phil also highlighted the extent of the flooding by showing that approximately six inches of water had accumulated in the housemates' beds.