ENTERTAINMENT

Big Brother, EH?

With its continued success on CBS each Summer, it was only a matter of time until Big Brother went North with a Canadian version.

Airing exclusively on Slice, Big Brother Canada follows the same formula and wackiness as its American sibling....put a group of strangers under the same roof for several weeks and follow their every move as they battle to remain in the house and take home top prize.

The layout for the Big Brother house (located in Toronto) is stylish with plenty of Canadian flair, with the decor coming from The Brick and shamelessly promoted on the Big Brother Canada website.

The 15 houseguests are rather standard fare. You have your jocks, your pretty blondes, your geeks and your stereotypical flaming gay house guest. You can check out the bios for these guests at BB Canada's website.

New episodes air Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with the latter being the weekly live eviction show.

Assuming Julie Chen's hosting role for Big Brother Canada is Arisa Cox. You can find out more about her on the website as well.

Typical of Canadian versions of popular reality shows the prize awarded is less than its U.S. counterpart. The winner takes home $100,000, a new car and a $25,00 shopping spree at the Brick, rather than half a million, which is still not too shabby.

Since Canadian TV censorship is more liberal than the U.S., there will be less bleeping when BB houseguests swear. "Shit" was muttered numerous times in the first episode alone and apparently "titties" is ok too...but the F-bomb is still a no-no..

Whether the Great White North version will be a hit or not remains to be seen. (Think Canadian Idol, Canada's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance Canada....all of which enjoyed limited success and are no longer around.)

Another strike against Big Brother Canada is where it airs. Although Shaw media also owns the national network Global TV it chose to air BB Canada on Slice, which is available only to cable and satellite subscribers, a move which could spell disaster for the show.

To find out more about Big Brother Canada, Catch up on the latest episodes, watch live feed, blog along and dish the dirt, visit Big Brother Canada by clicking here.