Many Poles Watch, but Others Look Askance at ‘Big Brother’

Heavily Catholic and once-Communist Poland might seem unpromising territory for what some call the “Orwellian voyeurism” of the unscripted “Big Brother” television show.

But midway through a controversial run here, the Polish version of the reality program is a big hit, much talked about even by those who say it’s so boring they hardly ever watch it. Criticism from those who consider it morally reprehensible has had no visible impact other than to add to the publicity.

The ominous overtones of the words “Big Brother”--made famous in George Orwell’s “1984” as the symbol of constant surveillance in a police state--are lost on most viewers. Many are too young to have experienced spying by secret police before the 1989 fall of communism here, and it is unlikely that many of those who watch the decidedly lowbrow show have read Orwell’s book.

But the format has provoked a sharp backlash from critics and fierce debate in the Polish media, even as surveys indicate that about 4 million Poles--or 10% of the population--are regular viewers.

“As with many other psychological experiments, this may end with a catastrophe--a deep breakdown, neurosis or psychological disturbances,” warned Father Romuald Jaworski, vice president of the Christian Psychologists Society, in comments quoted by Tygodnik Solidarnosc, a weekly newspaper.

Contestants--six men and six women chosen from about 10,000 applicants--agreed to live in a specially constructed house with cameras behind one-way mirrors in all the rooms. Programs of 30 to 45 minutes showing their activities are broadcast four times a day, with the final late-night show classified adults-only under a Polish rating system.

As part of the selection procedure, finalists sat in front of a camera while hooked up to a lie detector that checked their responses to phrases and questions like “naked or dressed” and “Have you ever stolen anything?”

“For adults maybe it’s OK, because you may laugh at some of the situations,” said Piotr Kos, 33, a furniture upholsterer. “At the beginning I was watching it some, but lately I haven’t had time. My kids sometimes watch it, but I don’t want them to. Sometimes they show scenes that aren’t for kids.”

As in the U.S. version, periodically one participant is eliminated through a combination of voting by contestants and viewers. The last person left will win about $125,000, but all have the chance to be entertainment stars.

Before the show, aired by the private TVN network, started in early March for a run of 100 consecutive days, Jaroslaw Sellin of the National Radio and Television Council condemned it as “satisfying the primitive needs of voyeurs. ‘Big Brother’ is a dangerous experiment for participants, and a nightmare vision of the television of the future.”

A few weeks later, the council, which awards broadcast licenses, blasted the show for “stupidity, vulgarity and primitivism.” The council warned that it is monitoring the program and may impose fines if it finds the show in violation of Polish broadcasting laws.

So far, perhaps partly because of these warnings, the activities broadcast haven’t been anything much more explicit than some fully clothed caressing between participants or glimpses of shower scenes.

“The most famous thing was the affair Karolina had with Grzegorz,” said Pawel, 28, a fan of the program who was too embarrassed to give his last name. “They were hugging and kissing each other. People of course were expecting something more, but nothing happened.”

Karolina has been voted out.

Pawel added that he had never thought of the name “Big Brother” having an Orwellian connection with Communist-era secret police. “We don’t remember the times when ‘Big Brother’ meant something else,” he said.

Few question that much of the show’s appeal is voyeuristic. After a pretty female contestant, Monika, quit the show to be with her new boyfriend--another participant who had already been eliminated--the Polish edition of Playboy magazine quickly announced that it was offering her a contract to pose for it.

Artur Andrzejuk, a professor at Stefan Wyszynski Catholic University, criticized the show and likened it to a postwar school of literature by Polish writers that examined life in Nazi concentration camps. Both, he told Tygodnik Solidarnosc, are “devoted to human behavior in conditions of deprivation of the natural rights of the human being.”

Fans of the program don’t take any of that very seriously. In their view, participants agreed to a simple deal: In return for fame and a shot at riches, they give millions of viewers something to watch and gossip about.

The program also attempts humor when the character of “Big Brother”--present only as a low and somewhat spooky voice--assigns daily tasks such as putting on a circus performance, undergoing “military training” with gas masks or taking a trip to the moon.

In the moon trip, participants made spacesuits out of aluminum foil and motorcycle helmets, sat in chairs pretending to blast off and travel through space, and even brought along a “space tourist.”

Contestants are cut off from all contact with the outside world during their 100 days in the house, and from their comments it appeared that none had heard of Los Angeles multimillionaire Dennis Tito’s $20-million trip to space.

The space tourist role fell to a woman named Alicja, who performed a “spacewalk” dance while tethered by rope to the rest of the participants in their make-believe spaceship.

Some Poles find all of this rather embarrassing.

“It’s even a worse soap opera than those Argentine soap operas,” complained pensioner Zofia Gortat. “I watched once or twice, but I was so bored. . . . This is not acceptable. People like to look at others’ lives. Maybe it’s curiosity. But I really prefer to read newspapers or a good book.”