The familiar ritual begins anew. For another year, the normal world recedes, and the gaze of Big Brother falls upon a new cohort of celebrities. Their every utterance, every gesture, will be captured and broadcast for the public’s scrutiny.…

The air within the house hummed with a newfound tension. Twenty-four hours had passed since their arrival, a blur of shared spaces and constant observation. They were beginning to adapt to the pervasive presence, the communal living, the un…