Big Brother contestants around the world have only just been told about the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 198,000 people globally.
Housemates in Germany and Canada have been in the dark while filming the programme, which sees contestants cut off from the outside world during production.
On the Germany series, production began on February 6, not long after the first details of the virus were emerging in China.
Four housemates which then joined the programme in March were reportedly told not to discuss the virus.
But Tuesday's episode showed producers revealing the news to the cast live on camera.
Contestants were filmed watching a video that explained the global scale of the virus. They were then allowed to speak with the programme's resident doctor and watch video messages from relatives.
Family members joked that the cast was probably in one of the safest places in Germany, as cases continued to spread outside.
After criticism on social media, producers defended their decision to keep contestants in the dark, in an interview with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
They said the show’s rules state that its “information blackout” is typically only lifted in extreme cases, including during a family illness.
On the Canadian version of the series, contestants were recently filmed discussing why they couldn't hear a live audience during an eviction from the house.
Sitting around a table in the house, one contestant said: "The first eviction we heard people."
Another guessed perhaps the house may have been sound-proofed since that time.
Audience members had stopped attending on March 12 as a result of the virus outbreak.
Producers said the cast has since been updated on the scale of the virus outbreak and that all their family members are doing okay, the BBC reports.
