Auditions Auditions for the series returned to
London and
Manchester, as well as
Glasgow and
Cardiff for the first time since the show's move to Channel 5, in February 2012. Auditionees could also submit a video to
YouTube to be fast-tracked to the producers interviews.
Pre-series On 10 May, pictures were released of potential housemates being moved into a café in London, whilst having blankets over their heads and bodies to hide their identity.
Jamie East and
Brian Dowling were also there.
Trailers On 15 May,
Channel 5 aired a 60-second advert for the series. It features an Olympic-style theme promoting the
2012 Summer Olympics in
London, with famous Big Brother tasks being included and Dowling, East,
Emma Willis and
Alice Levine overlooking a
Big Brother stadium before Dowling calls "Let the fun and games begin!". On 1 June, during an interview on
Loose Women, Dowling and Willis announced that 16 housemates would enter on launch night. A further housemate will be chosen by public vote from a choice of three "wildcards" selected by East and will enter the house during a live show on Day 4. The three potential contestants – Becky, Bhavesh and Anthony – were announced and confirmed during the
Big Brother: The Auditions broadcast. During the opening titles, a
product placement logo is visible in the upper-right hand corner, and at the end of the closing credits, it is seen that not only is the hair product brand
Schwarzkopf used as product placement, but also the supermarket
Morrisons, which is where the housemates receive their weekly shopping from.
Eye Logo For Series 13 the eye was exactly the same shape and size as the
previous series. The centre of the eye was a 3D purple sphere that had a white glowing pupil. The rest of the eye was separated into multi-coloured sections that would rotate and spin during the title sequence, at the beginning and end and also when the day and time was being announced by narrator Marcus Bentley.
Title sequence The title sequence for the series consisted of a series of spinning coloured blocks which included the original sixteen housemates faces.
Becky Hannon, the wildcard was not included in the titles due to her entrance on Day 4.
The House The house followed a completely different theme from its previous
celebrity series, following a glitzy
Las Vegas theme, and was announced to be the largest Big Brother House ever. The House stairs featured another make-over with the spiral stairs being removed from 2011 and the previous Celebrity Series, and replaced by a straight staircase. The Diary Room is situated below the stairs as with every series since 2008, featuring a royal themed Diary Room Chair. The Living Area features a set of sofa seats, as well as the Memory Wall which features squares for Housemates Faces. Each time a housemate was evicted, their face on the Memory Wall went red to signify their eviction. The Kitchen is to the right of the Dining Table, where the 2011 Bathroom was situated. It features a black design with a breakfast bar and the Store Room. The Bedroom is accessed via the Garden or Corridor in the Living Area. The Bedroom carries a Vegas Showgirl theme throughout with the walls being covered in images of showgirls and shiny textures. There is space for 16 Housemates. The Bathroom is directly opposite the bedroom through the Garden and can only be accessed via the Garden. It features a cave like wall design as well as a posh royal design. It has a Shower and Bathtub. The Garden structure remains mainly unchanged from 2011, with the pool being situated in the same place. A Hot Tub has been added near the end of the pool, while the Smoking Area is directly at the bottom. There is an outdoor Dining Area, seating area and water feature in the Garden. During the 'Turf Wars' task, a secret room was revealed to the Blue Team situated off the Living Area. The room was used again as part of the Museum shopping task where Housemates were instructed to go in order to receive treats. The House still features the Large Task Room which is situated in the Garden, and the Small Task Room which is accessed via the Diary Room.
The White Room Situated in the corner of the garden, a mysterious 'White Corridor' appeared on Day 57 in which three housemates were to compete in order to win a free pass to the Final. In receiving the fewest nomination votes that week, Conor, Luke S, Sara and Scott had to decide which three of them would move into the white room. With Scott dropping out, Conor, Luke S and Sara entered The White Room. Soon after entering The White Room, the white housemates competed against the main house in several challenges. If the housemates in the main house failed to win 2 out of the 3 challenges, the housemates will only receive an economy shopping budget. The three challenges are as follows: • In the first challenge the main housemates and the white housemates were shown a diagram of , with some of them including paint balls. All housemates had to do was hit the cups that didn't have the paint balls in them. The white housemates won. • In the second challenge white housemates took on the main housemates in a mind test in which they were given statements housemates made on their application forms. Ashleigh won the task for the main housemates. • With the current scores tied, the third challenge took place, in which Deana and Luke S went head to head in a test of agility in which they had to pour milk into a long glass tube whilst in body wire which made it hard for housemates to move. Luke S won and therefore the main housemates received an economy shopping budget, whilst the white housemates, Conor, Luke S and Sara won luxury white foods. On Day 58, housemates in The White Room were told they now had to eliminate someone from the group. Sara volunteered to leave and therefore Conor and Luke S remained in The White Room. As a result, for losing a task in which the white housemates had to guess what the main housemates were dancing to, Conor and Luke S received a punishment: slicing onions and putting them in a bucket in the middle of the room until it reached the top. On Day 60, the true nature of the White Room task was revealed, when Conor and Luke S were faced with a dilemma. The two housemates were presented with half of the winner's £100,000 prize fund, and were informed that pressing their button would allow them to receive some of the money, at the price of their place in the house. Not accepting the offer would result in the housemate returning to the house with a guaranteed pass to the final night. Starting at £0, the amount of money that one of the two would receive rose over one minute, before reaching a five-second countdown at £50,000. The first housemate to hit his buzzer would leave the house with the amount displayed at the time he pressed the button. Despite initially seeming to encourage Luke S to hit the buzzer, upon seeing his opponent prepare to hit the buzzer, Conor swiped at the last moment, winning £50,000 and leaving the house moments later. For being the last housemate to hit his button Luke S earned a guaranteed pass to the final night of the series.
Wildcard housemates Eight potential
wildcards were moved to a nearby café in London to take part in several memorable Big Brother challenges, more significantly the Electric Shock task from
Big Brother 9. Jamie East and
Big Brother 7 housemate
Nikki Grahame were present during the run. When all challenges were completed, Jamie had to choose three wildcards to become potential housemates. He chose flute-player Anthony, 'Indian Brian Dowling' Bhavesh, and Becky, who is nicknamed 'The Hurricane' by her friends. All three faced a vote held via the Channel 5 website in which Becky received the most votes to enter the house and therefore entered on Day 4. ==Housemates==