Big Brother (Albanian season 7)

When the sixth season of Big Brother Albania ended, Top Channel released a statement saying that the sixth season would be the last of the series in Albania. Two months later, Arbana Osmani said in an interview for Albanian magazine Anabel that Big Brother would be taking a break from the 2013–14 season to return in 2015 with the seventh season.[6] Osmani also said that she was focusing more on the Albanian version of MasterChef, that then, was rumored to start in January.[7] However, MasterChef Albania was postponed and was set to start on March 8, 2014 with no host at all. During November, the Albanian television news portal IMA Albania posted an exclusive news saying that Big Brother Albania would return with a seventh season on February, 2014. The news was later confirmed by trusted sources inside Top Channel.[8] The production team of Big Brother Albania had to undergo some series of changes after last year's viewership drop. First it was announced that four-year signature executive producer Rezart Aga wouldn't be returning and Zefina Hasani was going to replace him. Hasani at the time was also executive producing Dancing with the Stars and expressed her wish to return to the crew of Big Brother Albania during a live television interview.[9] Edi Oga, game show personality, was also hired to be the author of the games and the weekly tasks this year. When the show started he was confirmed to be one of the producers of the show.[10] Arjan Konomi left the chair of the panelist eight hours before the season premiere and season one co-panelist, Armand Peza, replaced him.[11] The night of the live show was also moved from Saturdays to Fridays at 21:00 CET to give Big Brother a longer-lasting time slot.

Before the seventh season began the producers of the series promised a lot of changes and a return to the basic format of Big Brother. They also promised a reduced number of housemates, unlike any other season. However, these changes were dismissed as soon as the second live show and the third one brought in some of the worst ratings for this show in many years. As for the number of housemates, the seventh season ranks third with twenty-four housemates, only behind season five's twenty-five and season four's twenty-six housemates.[12][13]

As soon as the sixth season of this reality show ended, there were rumors that AMC, which had been sponsoring Big Brother since its beginning was dropping from the position held before, leaving so the reality show without general sponsors at all. The rumors were denied a lot of times until it was officially announced that AMC had left Big Brother for good. The great concern was if the producers and Top Channel were going to afford their plans on a new home and stage for the show. When the seventh season started it was revealed that SIGAL Uniqa Group Austria was replacing AMC as the general sponsor of the reality show. However, part of the show were made more than nine official sponsors which helped on designing the House and constructing it.[14]

Being one of the most-watched shows in Albania, Big Brother is widely known for the high commercial cost. The biggest change in the fees was made during season six and since then it has changed with only a 5% increase for the seventh season. The highest commercial cost is for the Fridays live shows which measures up to 4,410 Leks per second and 132,300 Leks per thirty seconds for commercials before the live show stars and 7,800 Leks per second and 234,000 Leks per thirty seconds for commercials during the live show breaks. High commercial costs apply also for the spin-off shows; Big Brother Albania Fans' Club requires 1,400 Leks per second and 42,000 Leks per thirty seconds for commercials before the show starts, 1,600 Leks per second and 48,000 Leks per thirty seconds for commercials during the show breaks, and 2,400 Leks per second and 72,000 leks per thirty seconds for commercials after the show ends.[15]

Because of the ratings expected to be really high for the season premiere there was a flux of commercials before the first live show started. The number of commercials shown was planned to be 25 but ended up being more than 68 commercials by more than 52 companies. SIGAL Uniqa Group Austria had their commercial repeated five times. This also affected the live show to begin with forty-five minutes delay and caused a lot of displease on the fans and the viewers. A delay was also noticed after the first commercial break during the live show. A lot of critics started making fun of the happening. Anabel, an Albanian magazine posted on their Facebook page what a fan wrote to them saying: "I had time to shower, dry my hair, pet my dog, play some video games, talk to my grandmother, and when I came back to see they were still showing commercials". A parody sketch aired on Portokalli addressing the show's delay.[16]

Like every other season of Big Brother in Albania, the seventh season was no exception regarding to the basic format of evictions and nominations which is based on the Big Brother basic format. However, there were some really small changes for the game of the housemates that were going to enter the House on the first day. When the first live show kicked off all the housemates were in the Big Brother Albania stage and the male housemates were randomly paired with the female housemates, according to the different adjectives each of the male housemates chose to describe their "perfect woman". After all the male housemates were paired there were only three female housemates that were left with no partner: Ardijana, Esida and Juliana, so they entered the game playing as a single housemate. While the other housemates were paired as follows: Ardit with Violeta, Enkelejd with Matilda, Fatjon with Daniela, Meridian with Mikela, Valer with Nevila, Rigels with Jona, Ervin with Andia and Erald with Esterina, the female housemates who entered as a single one were given a mission by Big Brother to split the couples and make them fight.[21] Andia decided to walk from the House and leave the show only five minutes after her entrance. Ervin who was paired with Andia was now left a single housemate and according to the rules he had to be ejected.[22] The following live show Big Brother asked each of the single female housemates for the name of the couple they thought they had split. Ardijana said Valer, Esida said Erald and Juliana said Fatjon. Each of the mentioned male housemates entered the Diary Room and were asked if they wanted to "trade" their current partner with either of the single female housemates, so Valer was asked if we wanted to change Nevila for Ardijana, Erald was asked if he wanted to change Esterina for Esida and Fatjon was asked if he wanted to change Daniela for Juliana. From all the three male housemates only Erald accepted to change his partner. Ardijana and Juliana were both put up for eviction for failing to accomplish their task, meanwhile the newly single housemate Esterina was also put up on the block along with the other girls for failing to keep the pairing.[23]

After a lot of negative responses from the public, the game and from critics of the show, the game in pairs was dismissed shortly after the fourth week. Even the housemates did not like the game in pairs as they publicly expressed their frustration with the new format. The game in pairs was allegedly made to help the secret of the marriage of Matilda and Fatjon and make the housemates more connected to each other. Critics blamed the producers for forcing the making of a showmance in the House.[24]

This year the finale was organized in a different kind of way. Unlike any other season the lines weren't open for the finalists so the public could not vote to decide on the winner; so during the week of the finale there was no public televote. On the finale night it was introduced to the public a new way of deciding on the winner of the season. It was decided that according to certain dynamics, chemistry and relationships between the housemates, selected housemates would be facing the public vote in couples. The first couple were Ardit and Valer. They were both asked if they wanted to face the public vote together and they both accepted. If one of the housemates would not accept to face the public vote with certain housemates then they could pick a letter from a box with the name of a housemate in it. Firstly the lines were open for Valer and Ardit. The public had to decide on who should be going on the final round. The winner of the first televote was Valer so he was automatically the first finalist. The second couple were Juliana and Jona and they also accepted to face the public vote together; which decided for Jona to go towards the final round alongside Valer. The last couple were Nevila and Meridian and in the end Nevila won the most votes to join Jona and Valer as the three ultimate finalists. This new finale format was well-received from fans of the show.[25]

A lot of racial comments were made during this season because for the first time in the history of Big Brother in Albania a Romani woman, Esterina, entered the house. Erald was one of the housemates that started making comments about how Esterina's clothes stank and also made comments about her skin color. Later on the game Meridian started telling Esterina that she shouldn't have entered the Big Brother house because she wasn't a very smart person, a comment that caused a fight between the two housemates.[26] Osmani, the host of the show, addressed these bigoted remarks on a television interview and also during the live show of March 7, 2014. She also talked to the housemates about them. The panelist of the show, Armand Peza also criticized Meridian and Erald for their racial slur and their racist jokes towards Esterina and other housemates. The comments were brought up again later on the show during the night Esterina was evicted as she expressed her feelings on the derogatory comments made towards her. She added that the racist remarks were the only reason she wanted to enter the Big Brother house and also said that she wanted to prove everyone wrong about Romani people. During Week 5, Rigels called Ardit's face "very black".

Another controversy this season was the use of physical assault and violence from the housemates. Jona expressed her feelings since Week 1 about Rigels and said she didn't want to have been paired with him to play the game. As a pair, Jona and Rigels had a lot of fights but their relationship reached a boiling point during Week 4, when Jona, furious that Rigles had eaten all her french fries, threatened to stab him with a knife, while holding the object in her hand and making several attempts to do so. While this was happening, none of the other housemates, who were watching the whole scene, attempted to stop Jona or grab the knife from her hand. Jona was then called to the Diary Room by the production team and she apologized publicly about her actions and said she had been in the heat of the moment and didn't have the nerves to put up with Rigels's games as she had not eaten for days. During the live show of March 14, 2014, Armand Peza, the panelist criticized Jona's actions and said she had still to make an apology to Rigels, but Rigels said that they had already settled into an agreement that would be the best for both. Other housemates such as Mikela, Violeta and Ardit were surprised that Jona wasn't ejected. Violeta then pointed out that Rigels was "the luckiest person" because Jona was seriously aiming to stab him.[27]

The first live premiere show for the seventh season of Big Brother Albania aired on February 21, 2014; it averaged 681,433 viewers and achieved a 34.8% share, which was slightly down from last year's season premiere's ratings. In this season was also set an all-time low peak for a season premiere's ratings of Big Brother Albania. Lots of critics blamed the schedule change from Saturdays to Fridays stating that: "Big Brother Albania [now had to compete] against Zonë e Lirë. However this season premiere did better than Zonë e Lirë which averaged 576,909 viewers. Then again, the ratings on May 23, 2014 of the live show showed a total win of the reality show over the rival channel TV Klan which was broadcasting Zonë e Lirë.[28] During the third live show, Big Brother Albania lost a lot of viewers and set a new season low to date. On March 21, 2014 live show, Big Brother had a spike in ratings due to new entrances in the House. Afterwards the live shows' ratings reached a constant point similar to other seasons' ratings.[29] The reason why Big Brother this year was always ranked in second place in the weekly rank of ratings is thought to be because of the high ratings every Champions League match has in the rival channel TV Klan.[30][31] The weird thing this year with the ratings was said to be the fact that the live show of Friday, May 8 got higher ratings than the season premiere. This thing was called a "ratings' disorder".[32]

This year's finale is the highest-rated episode of Big Brother in Albania for the last two years. It is also the highest-rated and most watched finale in all of the Big Brother Albania history with a record share percentage and a record number of viewers.[33]

Despite all the fluctuations in the ratings, according to TELEMETRIX SH.A. and Monitor, Big Brother Albania is the second most-watched show on Top Channel and the second most-watched show overall in Albania. It is also the most-watched reality TV Show, thanks to the great popularity it has gained during the years among all Albanians. In spite of the fact that Big Brother Albania is currently on its seventh season, it still have great popularity with an average share of 55.55% and an average rating of 27.26, which are also far better for the critics' expectations.[34]