Participants of the final edition of the Argentine version of “Big Brother”. big brother
Argentina’s entry into 2023 is shrouded in uncertainty. The country is going through droughts, heat waves, forest fires and a serious economic crisis. In October there will be presidential elections, and while the television stations are promoting the war between Peronism and the ruling right, a ghost from the beginning of the century has burst onto the screen. Big Brother returned to television after seven years and broke audience records.
The most famous truth of the show from the television world has returned to the cradle of Latin America with all its usual confidence: a month ago, it was a hot topic of insults from one of the finalists to his hobbies. Julieta Poggio, a 21-year-old model, claimed that her family was traveling without care, which fed their dogs and sparked outrage on social media. After a few days of production, two puppies decided to live in the house. One of them almost drowned in the pond.
The television program, which has been closed since October after the crises and loves and heartbreaks of 20 people in the house, is going to end. Six contestants remain in the popular contest. Open television has been dying for years all over the world, but Argentina’s Big Brother has filled it again with milestones: more than 700,000 families follow its decisive programs every Sunday, not counting the hundreds of thousands who follow it on YouTube. online transmission, which allows you to see the house for 24 hours.
The first country in Latin America to criminalize abortion and to allow homosexual marriage, one of the few who have not yet given a real chance in the elections of the ultra-red, he is concentrating all his efforts on who will bring the prize money in Big Brother; beloved model of young people in social networks, former national deputy and student of Catholic law, quiet and faithful in the gymnasium.
“One of the great stories of Big Brother is that the whole society is represented,” says Yamila Heram, PhD in Social Sciences and researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Argentina (Conicet). “Construction is like any other artificial work,” he analyzed. “The casting is well done in the sense that it chooses stereotypes that play a role in guaranteeing the conflict, but I don’t dare to say what it is like to show Argentine society.”
One of those eliminated a few weeks ago confirms his theory. Wálter Santiago, a 60-year-old businessman who earned the nickname Alfa, dominated the big brother house for almost three months. The first controversy in the crisis of the government almost ended: on the third day inside the house, he stated that he had known the president Alberto Fernández for 35 years and that he named him with money, who pays money or is called in Argentina. The conversation did not appear in the television transmissions, but the cut that went viral on social networks forced the presidential spokesman to declare that he did not know the president of Alfa.
Alfa took flight: he said that he had relationships with several people from the national show business, he refused to support the Argentine team in the World Cup, he defamed one of the girls in the house because he slept with his partner and insinuated himself to others. two times He reached the point of controversy and was removed after a fight with another player and when comments about another teammate’s body crossed public limits.
“The program highlighted many issues such as the issue of fatphobia and bullying,” Heram analyzes. “It was necessary to talk about these things that ended up being trivial in a very complicated situation. They will tell me that this cannot be asked of television and that what it sells is a fight, but I think it is required to address these issues according to the conditions and times in which we live.”
The success of the program has been replicated in social networks, where the most controversial debates between the sport and Chicanas are multiplied. One of the most passionate relationships in the show, Thiago, a 19-year-old cartonero, and Daniela, a 22-year-old artist, was the one that raised the most comments, especially racists. After being eliminated, Thiago tried to use the bomb program from his social networks, without any success. Daniela, however, is one of the favorites of the media.
“It’s a different story that the program is selling,” says researcher Heram. “There is always one monetizing program that ends. Few are very long-lasting, and certainly there are many who tell how quickly the reputation has led to excess and depression,” he said.
The project ends on March 12 with the prize of a prefabricated house and 15 million Argentine pesos. After the Argentine inflation of the four months that the program lasted, its value has already decreased by 22% and today it is equivalent to about 75,000 dollars in the official exchange, half if the players want to accept that money. convert into dollars in one possible place: the black market. The unchangeable reward of eternal fame remains.
