The first live show of “Nguoi giau mat” (The hidden man), the local version of America’s “Big Brother,” will air tonight, Nov 12.

Unlike other reality shows, “Nguoi giau mat,” including its first live show on Nov 12, will be broadcast on VTV6 at 8pm every day for the next 65 days.

The 12 selected contestants of the Vietnamese program will spend that time living in one large house. During their stay, they’ll be totally isolated from the outside world and will not be aware of outside events, denied access to the telephone, Internet, radio, newspaper, and friends and relatives.

Contestants will be continuously monitored by over 30 in-house cameras as well as personal microphones during their stay. They will also face highly demanding challenges provided by ‘the hidden man.’

The contestants will have to learn how to cooperate and interact with one another to complete the challenges while outwitting each other to avoid elimination.

In every weekly live show, a contestant will be eliminated based on the collective decision of the other house members and viewers’ votes. The last person in the compound by the series' conclusion will be crowned winner and own the key to a VND2 billion (US$95,800) house.

Since its casting round, the local show has appealed to a great number of youths for its novelty and huge prize. “Ba Tung” (Ms Tung), or Le Thi Huyen Anh, who created quite a stir online some months ago with her breast-flaunting video clip and outrageous statements and was banned from performing nationwide, also joined the show’s casting round, along with other sexy locals.

The show has attracted mixed opinions, as many have voiced concerns that it might be culturally inappropriate to display the contestants’ personal lives 24/7 over 65 consecutive days.

The local show is directed by film director Nguyen Quang Dung and hosted by MC-actor Huy Khanh.

Smash-hit “Big Brother”, which is a reality game show franchise created by John de Mol, has been made into 40 different versions around the world and draws over 2 billion views each year.

Since its debut in 2000, the concept and implementation of the American reality television show Big Brother has regularly been the subject of controversy and criticism among the American public and media for the houseguests’ bullying and offensive language, violence in the common house, and manipulation and unfairness by producers.