Big Brother 2001, also known as Big Brother 2, was the second series of the British reality television series Big Brother. The show followed eleven contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom built House. Each week, one or more of the housemates were evicted by a public vote. The last remaining housemate, Brian Dowling, was declared the winner, winning a cash prize of £70,000.
As with the previous series, Big Brother 2 lasted 64 days. It launched on Channel 4 on 25 May 2001 and ended on 27 July 2001. Davina McCall returned as presenter for her second consecutive year. Ten housemates entered on launch night, with one additional housemate being introduced in the third week. The series was watched by an average of 4.5 million viewers, matching the average viewership of the first series. The Final however attracted Big Brother’s most watched rating ever, Which attracted 13.7 million viewers – making it Channel 4’s second most watched broadcast. It also spawned Big Brother’s first ancillary show entitled Big Brother’s Little Brother, presented by Dermot O’Leary.
| Name | Age on entry | Hometown | Day entered | Day exited | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Dowling | 22 | Rathangan | 1 | 64 | Winner |
| Helen Adams | 22 | Cwmbran, South Wales | 1 | 64 | Runner-up |
| Dean O'Loughlin | 37 | Birmingham | 1 | 64 | 3rd Place |
| Elizabeth Woodcock | 26 | Cumbria | 1 | 63 | 4th Place |
| Paul Clarke | 25 | Reading | 1 | 57 | Evicted |
| Josh Rafter | 32 | London | 16 | 50 | Evicted |
| Amma Antwi-Agyei | 23 | London | 1 | 43 | Evicted |
| Paul "Bubble" Ferguson | 24 | Surrey | 1 | 36 | Evicted |
| Narinder Kaur | 28 | Leicester | 1 | 29 | Evicted |
| Stuart Hosking | 36 | Oxfordshire | 1 | 22 | Evicted |
| Penny Ellis | 33 | London | 1 | 15 | Evicted |
| Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 Final |
Nominations received | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian | Helen, Elizabeth |
Stuart, Helen |
Paul, Amma |
Paul, Amma |
Paul, Amma |
Paul, Josh |
Paul, Helen |
Winner (Day 64) |
8 | |
| Helen | Bubble, Narinder |
Narinder, Bubble |
Brian, Narinder |
Bubble, Brian |
Josh, Dean |
Dean, Josh |
Dean, Elizabeth |
Runner-up (Day 64) |
16 | |
| Dean | Narinder, Penny |
Narinder, Paul |
Paul, Narinder |
Paul, Helen |
Paul, Amma |
Helen, Josh |
Paul, Helen |
Third Place (Day 64) |
4 | |
| Elizabeth | Penny, Helen |
Paul, Stuart |
Narinder, Paul |
Paul, Brian |
Paul, Helen |
Paul, Helen |
Paul, Helen |
Fourth Place (Day 63) |
4 | |
| Paul | Amma, Helen |
Amma, Bubble |
Brian, Bubble |
Amma, Bubble |
Amma, Elizabeth |
Brian, Josh |
Brian, Elizabeth |
Evicted (Day 57) |
25 | |
| Josh | Not in House |
Exempt | Narinder, Bubble |
Paul, Bubble |
Amma, Brian |
Brian, Helen |
Evicted (Day 50) |
8 | ||
| Amma | Paul, Penny |
Paul, Stuart |
Narinder, Paul |
Paul, Dean |
Paul, Josh |
Evicted (Day 43) |
12 | |||
| Bubble | Paul, Penny |
Paul, Helen |
Narinder, Josh |
Paul, Josh |
Evicted (Day 36) |
10 | ||||
| Narinder | Helen, Bubble |
Stuart, Helen |
Amma, Bubble |
Evicted (Day 29) |
12 | |||||
| Stuart | Penny, Narinder |
Amma, Narinder |
Evicted (Day 22) |
4 | ||||||
| Penny | Helen, Amma |
Evicted (Day 15) |
5 | |||||||
| Nomination note |
1 | 2 | none | 3 | ||||||
| Against public vote |
Helen, Penny |
Paul, Stuart |
Narinder, Paul |
Bubble, Paul |
Amma, Paul |
Helen, Josh |
Helen, Paul |
Brian, Dean, Elizabeth, Helen | ||
| Evicted | Penny 58% to evict |
Stuart 86% to evict |
Narinder 62% to evict |
Bubble 53% to evict |
Amma 64% to evict |
Josh 84% to evict |
Paul 84% to evict |
Elizabeth 2% (out of 4) |
Dean 5% (out of 3) | |
| Helen 39% (out of 2) |
Brian 61% to win | |||||||||
^Note 1 : On Day 8, housemates were required to make their nominations during a live broadcast.
^Note 2 : As a new housemate, Josh could not nominate and could not be nominated by his fellow housemates.
^Note 3 : There were no nominations in the final week as the public were voting for who they wanted to win rather than to evict.. The housemate with the fewest votes to win, Elizabeth, was evicted in a surprise eviction on Day 63. The voting lines for the remaining three housemates then re-opened.
| Viewers (in millions) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | ||
| Monday | 3.52 | 2.91 | 4.43 | 4.38 | 4.66 | 4.88 | 3.87 | 5.03 | 5.02 | |
| 4.35 | ||||||||||
| Tuesday | 3.86 | 4.27 | 4.57 | 4.64 | 4.78 | 4.39 | 4.44 | 5.39 | 4.9 | |
| Wednesday | 4.39 | 4.13 | 4.43 | 4.86 | 4.95 | 4.21 | 4.88 | 4.9 | 4.89 | |
| Thursday | 3.93 | 3.56 | 4.44 | 4.46 | 4.77 | 4.25 | 5.19 | 5 | 4.19 | |
| 5.69 | ||||||||||
| Friday | 3.53 | 2.67 | 3.34 | 3.5 | 3.31 | 3.65 | 3.46 | 4.6 | 4.68 | 13.74 |
| 4.43 | 4.5 | 4.62 | 4.51 | 5.02 | 4.59 | 5.56 | 6.12 | |||
| Weekly average | 3.76 | 3.87 | 4.33 | 4.36 | 4.64 | 4.3 | 4.76 | 5.19 | 6.41 | |
| Running average | 3.76 | 3.81 | 3.97 | 4.06 | 4.17 | 4.19 | 4.27 | 4.38 | 4.59 | |
| Series average | 4.59 | |||||||||
