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Big Brother is always watching you. That’s the premise of the CBS reality television series Big Brother (2000-present). Part competition show and part Orwellian social experiment, Julie Chen Moonves hosts this long-running reality program that follows a group of so-called “houseguests” who live together while competing for cash and prizes. Every week, one houseguest is evicted by their roommates and sent packing out of the compound. Then after many days of backstabbing and betrayal in the name of money, the winner is determined by a jury of previously eliminated players. While all this is going on, a live feed gives all of America intimate access to these people’s daily lives.
Big Brother has it all. Social strategy. Physical competition. Romance. An automaton named Zingbot that insults the contestants. Now in its twenty-third season, Big Brother has a legion of devoted fans who tune in three nights a week all summer long and follow the contestants’ every move with the live feed footage. But in recent years, there’s been a prevailing sentiment online that Big Brother needs to change. In some aspects, the show has become stale, and past racist scandals have left a dark mark on the brand. It also doesn’t help that host Chen Moonves has publicly defended her husband, ousted CBS executive Les Moonves, after his sexual assault allegations. So, how can CBS listen to fans’ pleas and revitalize this reality TV giant? It’s simpler than you might think. Here are five concrete steps the production team could take.
1. Cast More Diversely
Some fans would call Big Brother a microcosm for society at large. One of the drawbacks associated with that is the show continually faced scandal and controversy over the offensive statements made by some contestants. Though CBS makes it clear that they don’t condone problematic comments houseguests may make, the show has faced criticism for its lack of diverse casting. Though production can’t control what houseguests say, they do have control over the casting process and creating an even playing field for all who walk through the compound’s front doors. It was rare to see more than two Black contestants on the same season of Big Brother until recently. Having a cast lacking in racial diversity doesn’t give contestants of color a fair chance due to preconceived biases, and some fans say that’s why a Black contestant has yet to win the show.
Thankfully, CBS’s recent diversity pledge promises that 50% of its reality TV casts will now be people of color. Many fans saw this as a step in the right direction for shows like Big Brother. The current season of the show is its most diverse ever, thanks to this new rule. To some fans, however, this still isn’t enough. The Big Brother 23 cast is still made up of predominantly Caucasian and African American contestants. Some fans say this is not true diversity because other groups are still grossly underrepresented in the casting process. Additionally, fans have long chided Big Brother for its lack of age diversity. Over time, the casting for the show has begun to skew younger and younger.
The oldest houseguest in the current season of Big Brother is only forty years old. Fans applaud CBS’s decision to prioritize diversity in casting. However, it’s not true diversity until more groups are represented, including people of various ages, gender identities, sexualities, and cultural backgrounds. This new diversity initiative is a welcome change, but there’s still much more work that needs to be done.
2. Have Fewer Twists
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Big Brother‘s motto may be to “expect the unexpected,” but some fans say production now meddles with the game too much. For example, modern Big Brother now frequently includes so-called “battle-back” competitions. Usually, when someone is voted out of the game by their housemates, they’re out. Not so much anymore. In recent seasons, evicted contestants have had the opportunity to get back in the game by winning a competition. This sometimes happens early on in the season and in the post-jury phase as well. As a result, houseguests now expect an eliminated player to return, and thus they do not want to make enemies in the house.
So, if a player knows another player is going to be voted out, they might spoil fans’ fun and tell them just in case they return. This happens in seasons where battle-back competitions don’t even happen at all. Many fans say it would be better to let the contestants play without throwing a new competition or special power their way. Additionally, most of Big Brother‘s twist competitions are the same concept rebranded with a shiny new name and theme every year.
The fact is, many fans aren’t interested in this anymore. So if Big Brother wants to be the best it can be, production should stand back and let the contestants play.
3. Get Rid Of The Gimmicks
Big Brother used to be a serious strategic game. Over time, however, CBS has tried to make the show a more family-friendly summer offering in a bleak TV landscape. So how have they done this? By injecting the show with unfunny, slapstick humor and making the contestants look as dumb as possible. We’re talking silly costumes, montages of people falling, pelting houseguests with slime, and other things meant to embarrass the players.
It’s humor that many fans find forced and juvenile. Big Brother should go back to its roots and leave these failed attempts at comedy in the past.
4. Bring Back The Old Jury Questions Format
Sometimes, the best person doesn’t always win. At least, that’s what Big Brother fans think. In recent years, a player might dominate the game with their strategic maneuvering, only to lose to someone because the other person made more friends and won more competitions. Why does this happen? One thing fans have pointed to is the jury questioning format. At the end of the season, the nine previously evicted houseguests on the jury have the opportunity to ask the final two players to explain their gameplay. This information helps the jury decide who to vote for.
In older seasons, the jury had all the time they needed to ask their questions, and the players could take as much time as they needed to respond. However, this has changed. Now the questioning takes place live on air, and the final two have only a few minutes (or sometimes, a few seconds) to explain almost a hundred days of gameplay. For someone with a detailed, Machiavellian level of strategy going on behind the scenes, this isn’t enough time to explain themselves. Many fans say the new jury questions format hurts rather than helps the best players. It’s also a common complaint among fans that many modern Big Brother players don’t respect the game and prefer to vote for the person who was a better friend rather than a better competitor. Speaking of…
5. Cast More Fans
So, you want to be a social media influencer? Why not go on Big Brother? In recent years, casts for the show included more and more physically attractive twenty-somethings recruited off of platforms like Instagram. Many of these recruits had never seen an episode of Big Brother before appearing on the show. Some do not even watch the episodes provided by production during their time in sequester pre-season. Fans strongly dislike this casting trend, prioritizing having a large social media presence over understanding Big Brother‘s strategy.
Many of these recruited contestants don’t care about winning the show. They only care about getting enough airtime to increase their follower base, which will garner more sponsored content. To some fans, they are — to borrow a turn of phrase from The Bachelor — not doing the show “for the right reasons.” Some fans also argue that recruits are more likely to play the game emotionally: they take moves against them as a personal affront rather than the strategic decisions they actually are.
Fans would rather see other fans play this game they love with strategy and finesse — or, with a catastrophic failure of epic proportions, in the case of this season’s superfan Frenchie. Instead, these diehards are often passed over for someone who doesn’t understand how the game is played. Big Brother would be better off moving away from the influencing age and back to its origins as a strategic game. At the very least, casting superfans will provide more interesting entertainment since they’ll always play hard, even if it doesn’t work out.
Big Brother Is Salvageable
Ultimately, Big Brother‘s problems can easily be fixed with these simple changes in the show’s casting and production. The show’s loyal fanbase has always been vocal about their wants from the series. Perhaps, with changes like the CBS diversity initiative, production might finally listen.
Thanks to its interesting cast, some fans hope Big Brother 23 can be a renaissance for the reality series and return to form after last year’s all-star outing. Let’s cross our fingers.