De Gouden Kooi was the original concept and working title for Big Brother. In 2006, it was revived and turned into another format of reality television.

The idea for De Gouden Kooi was born on 4 September 1997 during a brainstorm session at the John de Mol Produkties production house, an independent branch of Endemol. Participants were John de Mol himself, Patrick Scholtze, Bart Römer and his brother Paul Römer. After John de Mol left Endemol he reintroduced the original format for his TV-station Talpa.