Actually the idea wasn’t original. A similar show, The Real World. Was broadcast in 1992 on MTV. But the format really became popular with the success of Big Brother, and it has been copied again and again, including celebrity versions. In similar shows, contestants have been sent to the jungle or put on a desert island. In Wife Swap a mother goes to live with a family of strangers and tries to run their home; in Young, Dumb and Living off Mum a group of spoilt teenagers with on life skills learn to live together and look after themselves.