Reality television has inspired a vast amount of theorizing and research. Nevertheless, although speculations and popular accounts of participants' experiences of processes of reality television making, including the publicity, have fuelled many (often moralistic) public discussions, systematic research on the topic is scarce. This article analyses the housemates' experiences of the first Big Brother Finland (2005). Their interviews reveal three key themes: (1) the allure of the experience; (2) the ambiguous celebrity status; and (3) the need for defining the `ultimate truth'. They also reveal the participants' views on the complex power relations emerging in the process of reality TV production. •
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