The Rise of Big Brother
Big Brother is a CBS reality television show that follows sixteen random strangers who enter a themed house outfitted with dozens of cameras and microphones that televises its houseguests 24/7. Premiering in June of 2000, Big Brother is now one of the longest running reality television shows thanks to its national and international success. In each season, the sixteen houseguests are forced to navigate new life within the Big Brother House, and faced with all sorts of challenges: game altering twists, secret or not-so-secret alliances, backstabbing, and most importantly, the chance to win $500,000 (or $750,000 for the newest season). The main goal of the game is to be the last person standing within the house, thus granting you the highly sought after large cash prize.
As soon as the houseguests enter the house, they immediately meet the other fifteen houseguests, and begin forming real (or fake) relationships while striving to win the position of HOH. The HOH, or head of household, has the most power in the house and the ability to nominate two people to go on the “block” for eviction. However, those nominated also have the chance to take themselves off the block with the power of veto competition. This “power of veto” allows you to take either yourself or someone of your choosing off the block while simultaneously granting yourself immunity.
The wildly successful Big Brother boasts over 23 seasons so far as well as a celebrity spin off, Celebrity Big Brother. The newest season, Big Brother 23, has upped the prize pool by adding $250,000 to the original $500,000 to present a whopping grand total of $750,000. What makes this season so well put together is that CBS had promised more diversity within their casts and as such, there is a record amount of people of color and LGBTQ+ members within the house. By adding diversity, it makes the show not only more inclusive, but much more enjoyable to watch as well. While the show may only air three times a week—Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8 PM—the live cams are up 24/7 on ParamountPlus to allow viewers to see different points of view and all the game moves being made in real time, and from four different cameras. As the season progresses, viewers tend to favor certain houseguests and root for them to win the money.
Although this season features a fantastically diverse cast, past Big Brother seasons (BB15 - BB22) have had problems of problematic casts or “characters,” resulting in some houseguests being racist, homophobic, and/or sexist. Sometimes seasons are also deemed boring and thus results in viewers being unhappy with the season or the live feeds being cut too much, resulting in a choppy live feed viewing experience. Fortunately, Big Brother 23 is proving to be quite entertaining and far less problematic than previous seasons.
Currently in the Big Brother House, Tiffany Mitchell, Claire Rehfuss, Sarah Beth Steagall, Derek Xiao, and Kyland Young are the top 5 rated houseguests according to the Big Brother Daily Twitter account. Twitter is where you can go to find a large amount of Big Brother activity since the show is “live” 24/7 and viewers tend to tweet during episodes and when watching the live feeds. As the season progresses, the “Jury of 9” forms, which is essentially the final 9 houseguests that are evicted before the final two. These nine players vote for who they believe to be the better player of the two, and thus deserving of the large prize pool. While we are still a few weeks away from the jury beginning to form, viewers and players within the house are already speculating who they wish to bring to the jury.
If you are someone who enjoys reality television and wants to try to watch a new show or someone just simply bored during the day, Big Brother 23 has the highest ratings of any recent Big Brother season and I highly suggest getting invested with the show and the houseguests.
Cover Photo by CBS. Edited by Katrina Kwok.
