Big Brother has been on the air for more than 20 years, and while the show has introduced some interesting twists in the most recent seasons, from Pandora’s Box to the Battle Back competition, double evictions and, in the most recent season, playing in Festie Bestie pairs, there’s always room for improvement.
Loyal fans tend to be pretty passionate about the show and have come up with their own ideas on how the show could spice things up and stay fresh in future seasons.
Competitions That Expose Alliances
Currently, Big Brother relies on a lot of secret alliances. When a pair or team of people manage to keep it under wraps, they can usually skate by every vote since they, as houseguests often say, “have the numbers.” Redditor kerseymere wants that to change, believing that there should be more competitions that reveal or expose alliances.
This, they say, “would help force players to more skillfully handle situations where they are exposed, and frankly, would make the seasons much more interesting. Sacrifice power to hide allegiance or gain power and expose allegiance.”
More Cash Incentives
Redditor Haleena is pretty succinct about what they want to see: “more cash incentives to create drama.”
Indeed, in previous seasons when a houseguest opted to take money over safety or continue in a competition that would help their alliance, it showed their true colors. It often caused drama with alliance members believing the person didn’t do their part to help and houseguests perceiving the person to be greedy and selfish. In some cases, taking the money could be one of the worst game-ending mistakes players made on Big Brother. But typically in recent seasons, the only time monetary incentives have been offered is during the one unitard punishment Veto competition.
Cast More Superfans
Nowadays, someone on the show as a superfan is not as common. Like many other reality shows, Big Brother sometimes casts people that producers or casting directors recruit versus casting fans who apply: it’s one of the fakest things about Big Brother, according to cast and crew. Sometimes, it’s obvious the houseguest doesn’t really understand the game and might have watched a few episodes here and there to get the gist before they arrive.
Fans like jwmaie2 think the show should go back to casting only fans. “Cast people looking to win Big Brother,” they say, “not become influencers.” While it might mean the houseguests try to emulate the games of some of the greats, at least it would put everyone on an even keel.
Not Reading Out The Vote Counts
ShinyToyLynz is just one Redditor who has expressed one very specific idea that could change the course of the game: rather than have host Julie Chen say the vote count before someone gets evicted, just say who was evicted and leave the count out.
“I think not reading out the vote count would help things a lot,” they say. This would mean that instead of saying “by a vote of X to Y, ABC has been evicted from the Big Brother house,” Chen would say something like “the house has voted, and ABC has been evicted.” It would create a lot of questions and paranoia in the house with houseguests not knowing who flipped or how many, and players would be able to vote how they wanted without worry about “voting against the house.”
Let Jurors Ask What They Want
One of the crucial moments at the end of each season is when the jury speaks with the final two to make a decision on who they will vote for. During this final episode, they ask the finalists a variety of questions about their gameplay and time in the house. However, in recent seasons, these questions have been minimal and are read from predetermined cards.
Redditor icem4ster07 wants to see things go back to an on-the-fly format where any evicted houseguest can ask questions at the moment. “Old jury format where jurors are allow to ask whatever they want,” they say as the big change to make things fresh. Redditor vino23 adds that overall, there should be more time for jurors to ask questions. It’s no surprise, then, that many of the best Big Brother finales, according to IMDb, are from the earlier seasons when the finale episodes were longer and more conversational.
A Refreshed Cycle Of Competitions
The overall sentiment on Reddit is that competitions have become predictable, with the same popular competitions, or types of competitions, returning each season. “I’m cool with memory comps,” writes Redditor Bazzlie, “but I think it would be better to blindside the houseguests with something they weren’t expecting to have to pay attention to, not just the same things every season.”
Adds AdamoclesYT: “completely revamp comps because it’s the same exact thing every season and it’s so boring.” New competitions are often introduced, but they typically follow the same format each time.
Secret Missions
Taking cues from Big Brother Canada, one of the most popular international versions of Big Brother, Redditor vino23 would like to see secret missions become part of the house. They use the example of one where a player named William had to search the house for different clues to gain power, looking in secret places without anyone noticing.
Another one they cite is “Karen acting like she had to give out game-changing punishments to the other players and, in return, she’ll get 10K.
Don’t Use Scripted Diary Room Sessions
A big part of Big Brother alongside the live and edited, pre-recorded segments are the Diary Room discussions. Some favorite Big Brother cast members, according to Reddit, were deemed so because their personality was able to shine through in the Diary Room sessions. These usually include conversations the players have with producers in a secluded room about what’s going on in the house and how they are feeling. It can be a cathartic way to get things out they can’t say in the house around others.
But of late, the Diary Room sessions have become scripted explanations of what’s going on in competitions with little else. “Stop scripting the DR entries,” Redditor no-buttstuff says rather succinctly. Redditor jksoo adds: “go back to DRs that were the houseguests actually venting and ranting. All the DRs now are just describing what we are already seeing. You barely get to know the HG now and it’s also way less interesting.”
More Diverse Cast
Big Brother has already committed to 50% BIPOC representation in casting and has held good to the promise. But there are other ways that diversity is needed as well. Fans have declared countless times that they desire to see players who aren’t all young, fit, and beautiful.
“I want more of an age and demographic/body type range,” enthusiastically writes Redditor kittylover3210. While there have been a few memorable players over the age of 40 and some with different body types, they tend to be an exception rather than the rule.
Twists Like Project DNA
While the consensus on Reddit is that fans don’t necessarily like the new twists that last for only a few weeks and often don’t really pan out well, they do want to see twists: just of a very different kind. Many cite the Project DNA twist where houseguests were secretly related to others as a good one. Or at least a twist where people know one another outside of the house but don’t reveal that.
Redditor PsychologicalVisit0 takes it another step, suggesting secret duos that are pre-assigned. This might not necessarily require that the two people know one another previously, but they are secretly put in touch with one another before the season starts, and no one knows which two people have been paired, or even if everyone has been put in the same position or just a select few. It would be an interesting way to shake things up.
