Big Brother’s 9/11 Blackout Broke

In 2001, "Big Brother 2" kept its final three contestants under a strict news blackout, leaving them almost completely cut off from reports about the September 11 attacks. CBS broke that rule after contestant Monica Bailey’s cousin was listed as missing in the World Trade Center collapse. Producers told Bailey, Will Kirby, and Nicole Nilson that a tragedy involving planes had happened in New York, but they did not show them disaster footage or give them full outside news updates.

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