BB FANS

Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:13 PM IST

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A contestant on the Dutch "Big Brother" television reality show gave birth on Tuesday to a baby girl in the house.

The contestant, Tanja, gave birth to a girl she named Joscelyn Savanna, according to Talpa, the television station launched by billionaire creator of Big Brother John de Mol.

Talpa, which has been accused of planning to exploit the newborn to boost the show's ratings, published pictures of Tanja, her mother and the baby on its website as well as comments from the other contestants on the birth.

The 27-year-old from the northern town of Groningen, who was already seven months pregnant when she entered the Big Brother house, gave birth in a special room and the first pictures will be shown in a special extended programme on Tuesday evening.

"We are very proud of you," said Dido, 24, as Tanja returned to the living room of the house to applause from the others.

The ruling Christian Democrats had condemned the idea of a birth on the show and Dutch authorities said the programme's makers could film the baby for only two hours a day and for a maximum of eight days in accordance with rules for child actors.

Unlike other contestants, who must stay in the house until they are either voted off the programme or finally win, the baby will be able to leave the Big Brother house with family members and will have her own room where she may not be filmed.

Versions of Big Brother first aired in the Netherlands in 1999 and have since been produced in dozens of countries worldwide, making De Mol's fortune.

The Dutch version of the reality TV show Big Brother has broken new ground broadcasting a contestant giving birth.

Baby Joscelyn Savanna's birth was shown on Tuesday evening, eight hours after it took place, by agreement between the show's producers and the authorities.

The cameras focused mostly on the face of the mother, Tanja, but also showed the midwife assisting the birth.

Tanja, 27, one of nine contestants left on the show, was seven months' pregnant when she entered the house in August.

The contestants, whose last names are not given, must stay in the house until they are either voted off the programme in a viewers' poll or win the 400,000-euro ($477,000) prize.

Big Brother was created in the Netherlands six years ago and has since been marketed in dozens of countries throughout the world.


Full report from the BBC

Also in the peninsula qatar

And in News24.SA

And The Australian

The story is also in almost every newspaper in the World

Jenny Colgan
Friday October 21, 2005
Full story in The Guardian


Finally, the Dutch Big Brother has gone and done it - a contestant has had a baby "live" on air. Can you imagine turning up for your big break on reality TV and being up for eviction against Tanja, the pregnant lady?

Yeah, tough.

There was a time when this would have been seen, by those who view childbirth as the second coming of the little baby Jesus, as the final nail in the coffin of civilisation. Now, in our world full of celebrity pig jizzing and - although I'm having trouble believing this one to be true and not just a dream I had - celebrity "Alive", where a plane full of D-listers is crashed into the Andes and the contestants have to decide who to eat, showing a live birth seems rather educational and quaint.

Next year they'll have a terminal stage patient in the House, I guess, because euthanasia is legal in Netherlands

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A contestant on the Dutch "Big Brother" reality television show who gave birth in the house last week is quitting the programme because, fed up with her housemates who accuse her of being a bad mother.

Programme makers said Tanja, 27, would leave on Thursday night to be with her baby girl, eager to get away from housemates who joked that she had smoked so much during her pregnancy that the baby would end up breast feeding on tar.

She branded them childish, talkative and manipulative.

"I'm not getting any peace or understanding from the others. I want to enjoy maternity, not feel annoyance," the De Telegraaf newspaper quoted Tanja as saying. "I'll be happy when I am amongst normal people again.

The programme's editor said it was a shame she was leaving because she had been "good television".

Versions of Big Brother, where groups of strangers are locked in a house and gradually voted out by the audience, first aired in the Netherlands in 1999 and have since been produced in dozens of countries worldwide.
Reuters

Yes,getting your birth broadcast on air(albeit not live) is a great start for any motherhood

Suffers attack of good sense
From the Register

The woman who gave birth in the Dutch Big Brother house has walked out of the show after branding housemates "childish, talkative and manipulative", the BBC reports. "I want to enjoy maternity, not feel annoyance," Tanja told Dutch paper De Telegraaf, admitting: "I'll be happy when I am amongst normal people again."


From the BBC

-------------------------------

Big Brother mother leaves house

A woman who gave birth on the Dutch Big Brother reality television show has walked out of the programme.


28 October 2005
RTE
Dutch Big Brother mum quits the house

Dutch 'Big Brother' contestant Tania has left the house with her baby daughter after fellow housemates accused her of being a bad mother.



Dutch Big Brother mother quits show after jibes
Thu Oct 27, 2005 1:00 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A contestant on the Dutch "Big Brother" reality television show who gave birth in the house last week is quitting the program because, fed up with her housemates who accuse her of being a bad mother.


Big Brother mum quits
SMH

Sorry about the bumping of this old thread, but they mentioned this on BBLB, and I wondered how this panned out.

Looking back on this I was surprised that a seven month gone woman made it into the house and I wonder what was the thinking on the part of the producers. I wonder if they felt they had to put her in because of various anti-discrimination laws.

Did anyone ever do any follow up on this after she left the house?

I haven't heard any more about it I'm afraid.