Big Brother
18 Reality TV 
/ Betfair Education / 26 June 2008 / Leave a comment
It's that time of year again and it's time to take a closer look at the important features of betting on Big Brother.
Reality TV events are significantly different to any other betting markets, and Big Brother is the worst of them. Why?
Think about it - nearly everything else betting firms offer comes under some sort of rules and regulations. Horse and greyhound racing are solely organised for betting, but other sports such as cricket, football and tennis at least have organised procedures - a result is not official unless X, once a team has been beaten in a knock-out competition they are out, etc.
In reality TV, there are no rules. The producers of the show will do whatever they want in order to improve ratings. In previous series in the UK and abroad, we've had people kicked out because of inappropriate behaviour (does that constitute an eviction or not?), evictees reinstated because 'Oops, we miscounted the votes', evictees placed in a secret house and then brought back into the house later, and even new additions to the house long after the programme has started.
Imagine trying to right the betting rules to cover all that! This is why's Betfair's Rules and Regs for Reality TV events is thorough but also open-ended:
If there is an announcement of any change to the established eviction procedure or any ambiguity as to who is voted off, then Betfair reserves the right to void this market in its absolute discretion.
Don't make the mistake of laying someone who has just been evicted at 1000 in the winner market because there simply are no rules as far as the producers are concerned, so that person could be back in the house quite soon! It has happened before, and sure enough, it will happen again.
The key to finding a winner on Big Brother has nothing to do with form, nothing to do with stamina, nothing to do with ability. It all comes down to who the public will vote for.
Here's an old article from the InPlay archives - it's a fascinating insight into how you can use proper analysis techniques to improve your BigBrother trading.
BigBrother 2005 with Steven Gait
