That turned out not to be the case.
There wasn’t the proactive recruiting process in place that there is today.
Rather, prospective applicants were directed to theBig Brotherwebsite.
Credit: CBS
[McGee lost his leg to cancer at the age of 11.]
JAMIE KERN LIMA [BB1contestant]:I saw a flyer for it on my college campus.
We had a very bright woman who worked at the United Nations.
Eddie McGee on ‘Big Brother’ season 1.LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP via Getty Images
There was a Los Angeles-based lawyer who has now become a Superior Court judge.
I think we did quite well, particularly considering that no one knew anything about the show.
I said then that makes my decision easy and I turned down the job.
CBS
KELLY KAHL [CBS Entertainment president]:It was on six nights a week.
It was a very different pattern for anything that had been on American TV before.
There was a garden in the backyard because they had to grow their own vegetables.
We had a chicken coop where they were able to get fresh eggs.
The floor plan of the house was an exact replica of theBBhouse in Holland and could not be altered.
CHEN MOONVES:The whole thing felt very Biosphere 2.
BOSWELL:I think we had to dance for a week.
It was 24 hours a day.
One person would have to switch off in the middle of the night and their partner would dance.
I remember thinking, “Wow, people [are] watching.”
CHEN MOONVES:What we soon learned is that Americans voted out the controversial people first.
Our audience didn’t like the troublemakers, even though they made the show interesting.
KAHL:The gameplay that we’re familiar with now was then very passive in comparison.
There weren’t alliances, there was no Head of Household or Power of Veto.
It was very much a popularity contest.
I didn’t have a wife, a family or a real career to protect or look out for.
I was a pretty upfront, bold New Yorker and I just spoke my mind.
I’m here to win and I won’t let you stand between me and taking this money.
And then I met people who were unwell.
One guy showed up at the Kinko’s where I was making copies.
It was pretty scary.
BOSWELL:It changed my life.
I have done so many amazing things.
I’m on television still to this day, and I owe it all to that show.
I work for Mecum classic-car auctions on NBCSN, and there’s actually a Chicken George Fan Club.
Believe it or not, I’m going to have “Chicken George” put on my tombstone.
I feel like my experience onBig Brotherplanted a seed and helped me to become more confident.
MCGEE:I paid off my parents' house and put my little brother through college.
He got a criminal justice degree and is now a proud member of the NYPD.
I got my first agent a year later.
Very rarely do people recognize me from that first season.
I’m okay with it.
WOLLMAN:Eddie McGee was someone that every one of us in the casting process liked before the move-in.
He was a bright, funny young guy and I think was a deserving winner.
CHEN MOONVES:The reviews of me were not good.
I just had to tap my inner Chenbot and make it my brand.
By season 3 I found my way and the body glitter aisle.
The rest is history.
