Moment Big Brother broke rules on 9/11 to tell housemate her cousin was missing from attacks
Footage has resurfaced ahead of the 25th anniversary of the devastating 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre of Big Brother producers breaking protocol to tell the contestants of the show about the attacks.
Producers broke their own rules because one of the last few contestants left in the house had a family member who was working in the towers on 9/11, and at the time of them informing her she was still missing.
In 2001 Monica Bailey, Will Kirby, and Nicole Schaffrich were the final three left on the second season of the American spin-off of the hit reality TV show when producers pulled them into the diary room and informed them of the terrorist attacks which killed 2,977 people.
Monica would go on to win the entire show, the first African American woman in history, but the win was tinged with tragedy as she had discovered her cousin Tamitha Freeman was missing following 9/11.
The moment is horrifying viewing, and it later turned out that Tamitha had died in the attacks
Monica is brought into the diary room along with Will and Nicole, all of whom had received no information from the outside world throughout their time on the show as the rules dictate.
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The presenter of the show, Julie Chen, reveals they were told by producers ‘through the diary room’, about the attacks, with Monica shown incredibly emotional as Julie says it ‘hit her especially hard.’
The at-the-time 40-year-old asked producers to pass on a message to her family to inform them her wishes are with them, with her family telling her to ‘stay strong’.
Will stresses that her attitude ‘reiterates how strong she is’, whilst Nicole says she has been ‘a rock’. The last update on the show is that family are together and looking for Tamitha, but ultimately, she died.
It later came out that Tamitha had been in the South Towers when the first plane hit and was evacuated but went back into the building when she realised she had left her purse behind. Family members have stated that they tried to convince her to take the day off work after a late flight, only for her to decide to go in.
Monica spoke about learning of 9/11 whilst on the show in a recent podcast appearance
In a recent interview with Sharon Tharp, Monica spoke about her experience of learning about 9/11 whilst on Big Brother, stating that the contestants knew ‘something’ had happened but never expected the magnitude of it.
She explained: “We were in a bubble, but we knew something wasn't right, but we didn't know something that magnitude… we didn’t know what was going on in the world.
“There was nothing anybody could do right now. As far as I was concerned, the show was over for me.
“It changed the whole energy. You know, we had to keep going. That's how it was.”
“It was devastating to hear that information, but she was missing. So missing and not here are two different things in my mind.”
Monica explained why she decided to stay in the house, saying: “My family's like ‘There's nothing you can do from there. Just finish. Go ahead and finish the game, because you can't come home.’
“Afterwards. And you know, as the years went on, it took me a while and for the young cousins for us to even say her name.
“Grieving is forever. But it's handled better now.”
Topics: Big Brother, TV and Film, TV, US News
Michael Slavin