Twenty-five years after 9/11: Piers Morgan thought the public had rejected “Big Brother-style trivia.” Big Brother won.

With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, I came across this October 2001 speech by Piers Morgan, who was then editor of the Mirror referring to the recently finished 2001 series of Big Brother and comparing it to 9/11.

Morgan argued that the attacks had fundamentally changed what people wanted from the media. He claimed that “people in this country are rejecting the Big Brother-style trivia they so adored five weeks ago” and hoped this new appetite for serious news would last.

Looking back, he could hardly have been more wrong.

Big Brother didn’t just survive. Reality television became more and more dominant over the following 25 years. There were talent shows, dating shows, celebrity competitions and programmes following every detail of people’s private lives. Contestants who once received “15 minutes of fame” could now turn reality-TV exposure into entire careers.

Then social media took the basic Big Brother idea even further. Instead of watching a few strangers live under constant observation, millions of people began broadcasting their own lives, relationships and arguments online. Reality contestants became influencers, influencers became celebrities, and personal drama increasingly became news. A reality TV star, Donald Trump, even became US president.

Celebrity culture didn’t decline after 9/11, it became far bigger, more intrusive and harder to escape. There is also some irony in Morgan himself going on to build a much larger career as a television celebrity.

I’m not suggesting that Big Brother caused all of this. But Morgan viewed BB2 as the dying symbol of a shallow pre-9/11 culture when it was actually an early indication of where popular culture was heading. Compared with today’s influencer economy, Helen, Paul, Bubble and the rest of the 2001 BB2 house almost seem innocent.

Does anyone remember whether reality TV genuinely felt trivial or doomed in the weeks after 9/11?