My View: Big Brother, the show that made reality stranger than fiction

It is 10 years since British viewers became voyeurs, in what was seen initially as a social experiment where a group of strangers were put in a house together, with their every move filmed by scores of cameras for 13 weeks with no contact with the outside world.

Started in Holland in 1999, the show was snapped up by countries across the globe. Looking back to that first series in 2000, no-one could have predicted the phenomenon that was to follow, with a celebrity version and off-shoot programmes on Channel 4 and sister station E4. I remember being glued to the first series as relationships and human interaction became addictive. Compared to later series, the manoeuvrings of Nasty Nick look pretty tame.

Scouse builder Craig Phillips became the first winner and went to star as a handyman in makeover TV shows.

Big Brother 2 winner Brian Dowling became a children's TV presenter, while late Big Brother 3 contestant Jade Goody eclipsed the fame of winner Kate Lawler, earning millions before her death from cervical cancer last year.

But later series seemed to lose their way and while some winners got their five minutes of fame, they have since disappeared into the ether.

Although Channel 4 say they decided to pull the plug on Big Brother "while it was on a high", one wonders if they felt it had run its course.

While presenter Davina McCall admits that, for her, Big Brother was a golden goose, and that she went into shock when she was told it was to be axed, Big Brother was very much a creation of the Noughties. It defines a decade obsessed with the idea of celebrity and getting rich quick. You can't help but feel in the decade of austerity we are entering there is no place for such a programme.

Channel 4 says the 11th series of Big Brother will see it go out with a bang. This year, unusually, show bosses have announced a list of 79 people who are in the running to enter the house. The final line-up will be announced tonight during the live launch programme.

Each of the hopefuls will be present as Davina McCall hosts the launch show from Elstree Studios.

The contestants themselves will only learn whether they have been chosen as housemates on the night.

Linford Christie's niece, an Iranian dwarf, a female wrestler and a batch of beauty queens are among the hopefuls who are aiming to take part in the final Big Brother. They also include a one-legged author, a couple who starred in a televised naturist wedding and a Beyonc lookalike who checks herself out in the mirror 100 times a day. Come back Nasty Nick, all is forgiven.

The final series of Big Brother is the end of an era, and while I cannot say that I won't be tempted to take a peek, I will definitely not be dedicating my entire summer to it.