Yesterday Julie Chen announced the new Big Brother season twist, and today they have officially announced the cast. 16 new houseguests - no returning players! So I guess the Blood Vs. Water/Fans Vs. Favorites ideas really were just rumors. I personally think Blood vs. Water could have been fun. Maybe next season. Who knows what will happen though, I wouldn't put it past Big Brother to slip a returnee in there somewhere.
Cast interviews can be found here. Warning: they're about 15 minutes long each, so I'm going to be making my way through these throughout the day. I'm not making an pre-season judgments on any of them because in the past I have been so off-base with my pre-season favorites. Last season Gina Marie was one of my favorites based on the interview. *shudders*
Take a look at the season 16 cast now!
Amber Borzotra, 26
Brittany Martinez, 29
Caleb Reynolds, 26
Christine Brecht, 23
Cody Calafiore, 23
Derrick Levasseur, 30
Devin Shepherd, 26
Donny Thompson, 42
Frankie Grande, 31 (So apparently he is Ariana Grande's brother. Not too big of a fan of this, considering one of the twists centers around fan votes. He has a clear advantage there).
POST EDIT: So I know I said I would not be picking pre-season favorites, but oops. I already did. I'm actually very pleasantly surprised by the cast interviews. I am usually turned off by a lot of the houseguests initially, but this season seems to have some potential. I'm excited to see where it goes. My favorites based on the interviews are: Christine, Jacosta, Cody, Brittney, and ZACH. Oh my gosh, go watch Zach's interview now. It's hilarious. He's bound to give us some good moments in the house.
The new Big Brother twist is terrible. Also, water is wet. Prepare for another mess of a season.
For the past 14 years, Big Brother has been one of my favorite summer past-times. From the episodes to the live feeds, I would consider myself a Big Brother super-fan. That said, I haven't thoroughly enjoyed a season since 2009 (season 11). Why? Two reasons. Terrible casting and the employment of over-the-top ridiculous twists. Remember MVP? or that terrible coaches twist? Last time I checked, Big Brother wasn't The Voice.
The season 16 houseguests have yet to be released, but after last year's cast of actual human garbage - I don't have high hopes of finding a new favorite houseguest. What confuses me however, is that the same casting agents who cast the US version also cast the Canadian version - which was absolutely amazing this winter.
I wonder how the BBUS producers feel about the Canadian version using their format and completely out-doing them at every turn. Because let's be real - season 2 of BB Canada was by far the best season of Big Brother we've had in a long time. The cast was perfect and supplied us with lots of drama - drama that was not focused around racist nature. It was refreshing to watch after the terribleness of BB15.
DOES EVERYBODY WANT GOOD FUCKING TV? IS THAT WHAT THEY WANT?!!?! It's exactly what we wanted, Sabrina. And thank you for giving it to us. Oh man, I just re-watched that season and it was great. I don't know if BBUS will even compare. Probably not considering the twist reveal today.
Julie Chen announced the twist of season 16 on her talk show (ever so cleverly titled "The Talk"). As expected, it's a total mess. Here's a rundown of this years "most twisted season yet"
There will be 2 Head of Households every week
Each will nominate 2 people, 4 houseguests in total will be nominated every week
The Head of Household isn't safe from eviction anymore
There will be a new competition called "Battle of the Block" that threaten's the HOH's safety
The viewing public will have major impact on the game in a new twist called "Team America"
Terrible. Every aspect of this twist is just unappealing. I thought 3 houseguests on the block last year was overkill, but 4? Are you joking? Stop messing with the original format. The format isn't the problem. It's the awful people they cast and cringe-worthy twists like this one.
The BB16 living room. Only 2 eviction chairs, though?
Hmmm. (Photo via CBS)
The Head of Household isn't safe anymore? What's the point of winning it then? You're only going to anger the people you nominate and you could be evicted by the end of the week anyway. There's no longer an incentive to win Head of Household. If anything, this will encourage players to seek more of a floating strategy which really isn't fun to watch. I think floating can be a useful strategy if you employ it with actual strategics. Most floaters usually just fall into it without any real thought.
Haven't we learned that involving the viewers almost always leads to a hot mess? Like the time America pulled a collective Topaz and nominated Elissa, while thinking they were voting for the MVP?
On a brighter note, there is some good news about this season! This will be the first to air in high definition. Let's welcome the Big Brother producers to 2009! It was literally the only show on network television still airing in standard definition. Well not anymore! We get to watch this mess in HD now!
Rumors have been circulating for weeks about past houseguests returning to play the game again. However no mention was made of the cast by Julie Chen. Now that the twist is out, I'm expecting a cast reveal sometime tomorrow. I don't mind past players returning and it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility considering they've brought people back for multiple seasons (Season 7, 11, 13, and 14 all had returnees).
When all is said and done, I'm still going to watch this season religiously like I have in the past. It's the one show I just refuse to give up no matter how bad it gets. I guess that makes me a true super-fan.
Big Brother 16's two night premiere will air on June 25 and June 26th on CBS. Check out the CBS press release here.
Survivor will begin it's 28th cycle when Survivor: Cagayan premieres this Wednesday (Feb. 26). This season will consist of 18 castaways divided into three tribes – One tribe of "brains", another of "beauties", and a final tribe of "brawn." Hmmm... I seem to remember a similar reality television show that used that same exact premise for one of their seasons. This may be the first time Allison Grodner has beaten Mark Burnett to the punch. Good for you, Grodner!
The season 28 cast interviews have been up on the CBS site for quite some time now along with a recently added preview clip of the premiere. I went through and watched some of the one-on-one interviews, but I usually hate picking pre-season favorites for Survivor (and Big Brother as well). I've done so in the past and have regretted almost every single one. It's always the same. I like them based on their pre-show interview but end up aggressively hating them for the duration of the season. I will say that it looks like the beauty tribe might be at a disadvantage here. Yeah, good looks can help you manipulate others but it isn't going to help win competitions which is VITAL in the beginning stages of Survivor. Some of the beauty tribe members do look a bit athletic though, so who knows.
In celebration of Survivor's 28th cycle, I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite moments from season's past.
Amanda uses the hidden immunity idol (Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites)
Okay guys, you don't even know. Amanda is probably my all-time favorite castaway. So this moment was like euphoric for me. It is kind of annoying looking back at all the jurors celebrating, but then failing to vote for her at the end (although I do love me some Parvati as well, so I can't be that mad).
Randy plays a fake idol and is subsequently laughed at by his foes (Survivor: Gabon)
I don't want to sound over-the-top, but when I die I want this video to be projected on my gravestone on an infinite loop for all eternity. No but seriously, this probably ranks atop my favorite moments on Survivor ever. From Crystal screaming her vote to the giggle-fest at Randy's expense, what's not to love? And let's be real, Randy was awful. He deserved that.
Castaways draw rocks at tribal for the second time in history (Survivor: Blood vs. Water)
I LOVE when players are willing to make big and bold moves and this falls right into that category. Hayden and Ciera were my favorites and they went in hard at this tribal. Hayden was able to successfully flip Ciera and force them to draw rocks. I just wished it had worked out more in their favor. Tyson drawing the white rock would have been ideal. Nevertheless, it's still a great Survivor moment.
Erik gives up immunity and is voted out minutes later (Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites)
It's almost painful to watch but it's just too good not to mention. Micronesia is definitely in my top 3 seasons because it gave us moments like this. I can't even comprehend the thought process of giving up immunity at final four. Oh, Erik.
After rummaging through Survivor's best moments from the past 27 seasons, I can definitely say I'm excited and eager to see what comes from it's 28th. Not many shows can say they've kept viewers on their toes for almost 30 seasons, but Survivor sure can.
The 2-hour premiere of Survivor: Cagayan airs Wednesday February 26th at 8pm on CBS.
