The first few seasons of Big Brother UK had nighttime episodes where you could watch the contestants sleeping. They were very popular, and even had catch up shows so you could see what you'd missed 🤷🏻♂️
Same here in Germany, but they weren't sleeping. People were watching because of all the trash whispering and waiting for the first touchy situations inter the covers.
They even had a time where one channel was broadcasting live nighttime. I think that stopped after a few seasons.
Those first seasons were pure trash, but so naive, compared to what it mutated to over the years.
In Lithuanian one (they called it the Aquarium, but the idea was the same) two people fucked under the sheets and they broadcasted that on TV, causing massive uproar because apparently the audience wasn't really ready for that.
Yeah the format was invented by two Dutch guys. Made them very rich when they licensed the format world wide. And years later one of them created The Voice.
Also this guy, John de Mol, made Fear Factor. So you can probably blame him for keeping Joe Rogan relevant when he was a washed up actor/comedian