Big Brother Germany Contestants Will Learn About Coronavirus Live on TV

Consequence of Sound

With everything from movie theaters to Broadway shows closing to prevent the spread of coronavirus, it feels impossible not to know about the pandemic. It turns out there’s a few people living in naive bliss, though, and probably not for the reason you’d expect. Contestants on the most recent season of Big Brother Germany have been locked inside the reality TV house for weeks, completely unaware of coronavirus wrecking havoc in the real world. On the next episode, they will learn about the pandemic live on TV.

The 14-person cast of Big Brother Germany will be informed tonight, March 17th, about coronavirus, reports Entertainment Weekly. Because they’ve been living in isolation since February 6th, they don’t know how quickly the virus has spread — that is, if they even knew about it at all beforehand. Germany has over 7,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 17 of which resulted in the person dying. Producers originally refrained from informing the contestants about coronavirus, but an uproar from viewers caused them to decide to break the news.

As it turns out, Big Brother Germany contestants aren’t the only people sheltered from the realities of coronavirus. Other editions of the show that are currently airing, including Big Brother Brasil and Big Brother Canada, also have yet to be informed of the global pandemic. Jared Leto was also unaware, but for entirely different reasons.

In a recent clip from Big Brother Canada, contestants can be seen questioning why they didn’t hear the audience — which was omitted for safety reasons — during a recent eviction. “It was all empty seats. We [normally] would hear them sitting down because the first eviction we heard people going ‘wooo!'” said one contestant. “We would have seen it on the TV, too. We can’t hear the audience. It’s so strange.” Watch the video below.

Coronavirus is slowing down the entertainment industry, seemingly all at once. Production on new seasons of TV shows like Amazon’s Lord of the Rings and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale have been paused indefinitely, and so have Atlanta and Saturday Night Live. All told, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are expected to cause the film industry to lose up to $20 billion dollars.

For an updated list of all the films, TV shows, and other productions impacted by the coronavirus, click here.

Big Brother Germany Contestants Will Learn About Coronavirus Live on TV
Nina Corcoran