Big Brother 2024, also known as Big Brother 21, is the twenty-first series of Big Brother. It was the second series of Big Brother to air on ITV2 after ITV plc gained the rights to the format, and the third series to air on the network overall. The series began on 6 October 2024 and was again co-presented by AJ Odudu and Will Best, who also returned to host the companion show, '.
The series concluded on 15 November 2024, when Ali Bromley was announced as the winner with Marcello Spooks finishing as the runner-up. At age 38, Ali became the oldest woman of the British franchise to win Big Brother. At 41 days, this was the shortest-running civilian series of Big Brother in the UK, surpassing the previous series which ran for 42 days.
In August 2023, prior to the beginning of the twentieth series, which was the first to be commissioned by ITV following the programme's revival on the channel, ITV's commissioning editor Paul Mortimer confirmed at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that the show would return for a twenty-first series in 2024, stating that the show had been confirmed for "two six-week runs" and also hinted at a revival of Celebrity Big Brother, which in turn was also commissioned and aired its first series on ITV, the twenty-third series of Celebrity Big Brother, in March 2024. Applications for the series opened on 17 November 2023, during the final of the previous series, and closed on 31 July 2024.
The series is set retained the same format from the previous series, running for 36 episodes and airing six nights a week from Sunday to Friday. Unlike the previous civilian series, the launch show was live, and as a result the series ran for 41 days, the shortest series in the show's history. ITV confirmed that the series would again feature a "new cast of carefully selected housemates, from all walks of life" [...] with "cameras capturing [the housemates'] every move, and the nation following every twist and turn." Shopping tasks, nominations and live evictions will return, with the public once again voting throughout the series and ultimately determining the winner, who will walk away with a cash prize. Hosts Odudu and Best also teased that the tasks for this series would be "taken up a notch".
In April 2024, it was reported that the Big Brother house was set to be moved from Garden Studios due to it being situated next to a canal, which in turn had resulted in disruption from the public and boat users. However these rumours were later debunked a month later, with planning applications revealing that the house would remain at Garden Studios, with the live set and garden situated in the same place as it was for the previous series. On 4 October 2024, two days before the show's launch, Richard Arnold conducted a tour of the kitchen and living area on Good Morning Britain, before ITV revealed photos of the house on social media later that day. The house maintained a similar structure to the previous series, but with updated colour schemes, as well as decor that resembled dripping paint throughout the house which adapted the theme of the eye logo. The diary room chair also followed the same theme, with multi-coloured cushioning and the outside frame taking the shape of dripping paint.
On 29 July 2024, the official eye logo for the series was revealed in a 20-second teaser trailer, which aired during the ad-break of the final of the eleventh series of Love Island. The eye depicts different coloured paint mixed together which in turn, drips down to the bottom of the screen.
The official trailer for the series was released on 13 September 2024. It featured a smaller model of the previous series' house, filled with guinea pigs who are seen in different rooms undertaking various activities, all of which are being overseen by hosts Odudu and Best who peer inside. A further promotional teaser on social media featured a person walking towards the London Eye, which features the new eye logo inside it. The series was also promoted via billboards featuring the guinea pigs from the trailer.
On 6 October 2024, the day of launch show, the Big Brother social media accounts posted close-up teasers of the sixteen housemates' eyes several hours prior to the launch.
The main events in the Big Brother 21 house are summarised in the table below.
Introduced this season was the Head of House Role. In addition to Immunity from Nominations, the Head of House also had the opportunity to use a Killer Nomination (single-handedly nominating a housemate for eviction), or a Save & Replace (saving a nominee, while also nominating a replacement nominee). The Head of House is indicated by and their decion is listed in the HoH Power Row.
Official 7-day consolidated ratings in the table below are taken from Thinkbox and include +1, but exclude viewership on devices.
On Day 17, during the episode broadcast on 22 October 2024, housemate Ali Bromley was shown to be wearing a black t-shirt with a watermelon in the shape of the region of Palestine, with the fruit being used a symbol of solidarity with the State of Palestine in the wake of the IsraeliâÂÂPalestinian conflict.
Following the airing of that night's highlight programme, both it and the accompanying Late & Live episode were taken down from ITVX following a complaint to the regulator Ofcom by Campaign Against Antisemitism. Following the re-upload of both programmes, Bromley's t-shirt was censored, with the watermelon removed.