“We really felt like,” Grodner exclusively tells Parade.com, “after over a year of all of us being locked in our homes, we wanted our house guests to be able to feel like they’re on vacation. I think we’re all longing for our vacations to get out. It’s beach club meets casino; think Monte Carlo meets Vegas. It’s going to feel like a boutique hotel with a casino vibe. Big Brother has always been about taking chances in high stakes.” And the Vegas vibe won’t stop with the decorating. In fact, season 23 will have the competitors constantly taking a gamble, being presented many opportunities to weigh risk versus reward. “We’re really leaning into this risk worth versus reward dilemmas,” Meehan says. “The idea is that they’re going to have to make decisions that we’ve never really seen houseguests playing the Big Brother make before.” Naturally, this high-stakes decision-making will begin from the jump, starting with the live 90-minute premiere. The live aspect is continued from the previous season, as we’ll see the new contestants move in and officially start their time as houseguests. Many aspects from the Big Brother 22 premiere will continue into this season. The competitors will enter in groups of four, where they’ll be quickly thrown into a competition. The person who finishes the challenge first in each group will fill an incredibly important role for the first night of the game: Team captain. Big Brother 23’s first twist is familiar to fans, as the houseguests will be divided into four teams of four. The show has dabbled in teams in the past in seasons 11, 14, and 18 (as well as duos in seasons 9 and 13). But for the first time, these groups will not be chosen by production or a group of returning players, but among the new houseguests themselves. The four newly-appointed captains will be shown 90-second clips of their competitors recorded preseason. Hopefully, they will serve as a glimpse into the strengths and weaknesses of their competition, giving them an idea of who they want to fill out their team. “One of the things we are adding to the mix,” Grodner explains, “is the ability in this choosing process for these team captains to get a glimpse through pre-taped interview bites, to see part of the personality and strategy of the people they’re picking. This is something that we haven’t done before. And it should add to the strategy of drafting. You get a little bit more than just watching them or judging a book by its cover.” The captains will then draft their other three team members live, creating the teams that they will stay in for the first four weeks of the season. But their job is not done yet. They’ll go on to compete separately to become the first Head of Household of the season. But, in an additional wrinkle, the winner of the challenge will face a brand-new twist from host Julie Chen-Moonves, what Grodner can only say is a “double or nothing offer from Julie that they won’t be able to refuse.” Like in previous team seasons, the Head of Household will earn safety from eviction from that week for them and their team. But for those not part of the winning team, they’ll get another chance at safety through a brand-new competition that will make its debut on Sunday night’s episode. In the “Wildcard Competition,” each of the three nonimmune teams (i.e., the teams without the HoH on it) will nominate a competitor. Those three people will then take part in a competition, with only one winner. That houseguest (not their team) is safe. But going along with the theme, their choice will come with a price. If the winner decides to accept safety for the week, it will result in a punishment that may affect them, their team, or the house at large. “For whoever wins, safety is up for grabs,” Meehan says. “But that safety will always come with a major risk/reward dilemma. So I may win safety, but how I attained that safety might make some people happy and might make some people very upset with me.” And Grodner alludes that the punishment will always fit the crime, adding, “There’s no [putting the house on] slop. Slop would be the easy way out.” Of course, these teams and the Wildcard Competition will not be the only twists for a show that brands itself “expect the unexpected.” But if these two mechanics are any indication, the 16 new houseguests should be in for a summer full of risk, reward, and rapid-fire gameplay. Check out the interview below for more insight from Grodner and Meehan about the opening twists, the brand-new cast, and their thoughts coming into the season. Big Brother 23 premieres on July 7 and will air Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays on CBS. What made you decide to keep doing the live premieres after last season?Rich Meehan: It does a few things that that that we like. For the people watching the live feeds, we can get the feeds on quicker after they move in, and the fans won’t be behind on the gameplay. You’re watching them move in, you’re meeting everybody, the feeds go on, and you’re up to speed from the beginning. You get to see this story happen in real-time. It’s also good for us. When they’re in the house for a really long time, the strategy happens so quickly. When there’s that big, long delay, there’s just so much story to try to get through when you can only pick and choose what we’re able to show from the big things happening. This allows us to get up to speed on the show from the very beginning, which we really like. Allison Grodner: The energy of a live television broadcast is unlike anything else. There’s the “expect the unexpected” for everyone, and the little glitches and mistakes are part of the fun. Last year we had the Have-Not Room door locked, which of course, was not intentional. But it’s part of being on live television. And I think that fun is something that we’re embracing and makes it all feel like an event. What inspired you to go with the gambling/risk vs. reward theme for season 23?Meehan: Last year, actually, we had some fun twist ideas. And when we looked at them, we were like, “You know what? This kind of feels like its own idea.” It was very much in this risk/reward space. So we decided to hold off on those ideas and develop them further. We like playing in spaces that are inherent to the game. And risk is is a huge part of Big Brother, who you’re aligning with, who you’re betraying, whether or not you’re throwing comps. So we thought, “Why not take this risk versus reward idea and really blow it up and go big with it?” Let’s talk about the team twist that will start the season. What made you decide to revisit the idea of diving up houseguests for the first time since season 18?Meehan: There were a couple things. It’s been a little while since we’ve done it. We like how it challenges the players in a different way, especially towards the beginning of the game. It also changes up the whole dynamic. There have been a couple of seasons of these large alliances bonding very early on and not swaying. We think that the team dynamic will force you to play the game in a different way and not allow that to happen as easily. Grodner: Right off the bat, you’re going to have some close relationships with your teammates, and these are smaller groups. There’s a feeling that can really twist up the gameplay from what has been more expected over the past couple of seasons. Many fans have regarded last season as the “end of an era” for Big Brother. Do you agree with that assessment, and does that affect the way you approach this season?Grodner: That’s an interesting question. I think you’re right in that with the all-star season, and everyone had been waiting for it. And I think a lot of those players, that was their last hurrah; I think they said so themselves. That was putting a cap on 21 amazing seasons. And now here we are. Off we go again to start something new. One of the new approaches is certainly to bring back team play, and as we are doing this season, but in a bit of a different way. But honestly, we try always to remain current and evolve with the times. And in some ways, Big Brother has always been a bit ahead of the time, especially when it comes to technology. We’ve always been a live streaming show, and we’ve always used social media and the interactivity of fan involvement. I feel like we were always a little bit ahead of the curve. And that’s what we strive to continue to do, to make sure we’re staying current in terms of the types of people we’re casting and the types of twists. You produced Big Brother 22 during the height of the pandemic last year. With restrictions lightening up worldwide, what’s the status of your own protocols for the show?Grodner: Our restrictions are still in place. And I think it’s really important to still err on the side of caution for the safety of the cast as well as our crew. It’s not going to be that much different from what we put into place last summer, in terms of the way we’re operating behind the scenes. Certainly, there is a sense of relief because of the availability of vaccines and because of the numbers going down tremendously. But we’re still sticking to how we produced it until we can really safely do otherwise. Meehan: We kept all of our new engineering and policies and procedures all in place during this down season. Last year was very challenging because we had to rebuild and refigure out had to do the show. Now that all that’s done, all those things and systems are in place, it’s a little bit easier for us. What can you tell me about this season’s cast, especially with this being the first Big Brother season produced since CBS’ new diversity initiative that asks for its reality casts to have at least 50% BIPOC representation?Grodner: It’s a fantastic group, we’re really excited. The diversity is certainly there. And it’s diversity as well in occupations, life experiences, all of that. We always look for that every year, but I feel like this year, it’s truly there. And we’re really excited to see it all play out. As always, we have huge fans who’ve been watching all their lives, and we have some people that are new to the game. It’s fun to see them take different approaches. Meehan: They have a lot of really interesting layers to their personalities and stories. We’re really excited to watch them come into the house and play the game together. Next, here’s everything to know about Survivor 41, which will air in the fall.
