Being locked in a villa while a pandemic rages might sound safe. But reality contestants from
Germany to
Brazil are in for a huge shock – some of them on live TV
Forget your Zoflora-scented flat or the freshly bleached kitchen table that is now your office, or even the sealed-off hospital rooms accessible only by medical professionals in hazmat suits: the two safest places in the world to hide from the coronavirus are officially the German and Canadian Big Brother houses.
The German version of the show started on 6 February, and the contestants currently have no idea that the rest of the world is living through a pandemic because, as per the rules of the show, they are not allowed any contact with the outside world. When they went into the house, no cases of coronavirus had been confirmed outside China. And, incredibly, even though new people are entering the show all the time, they are not allowed to tell the current housemates anything.