The summer craze we’ve all come to love over the years is back, as Big Brother returns for Season 25. Julie Chen Moonves welcomed us back into the house on Wednesday night during the live 90-minute premiere. As always, much of the first episode was spent introducing us to the cast. The action was few and far between but when we finally got there, it truly felt like the start of a season that will be much different than we’ve become accustomed to. Big Brother always encourages its fans to “expect the unexpected” and the premiere gave us a few twists that certainly deliver on that promise.
Related: 'Big Brother' Season 25 Welcomes 16 New Houseguests
‘Big Brother’ Season 25 Is the Latest to Enter the Multiverse
Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and films like Everything Everywhere All At Once, the multiverse has become a pretty common occurrence across all forms of media. Big Brother is the latest to join in on this trend, as Julie announced that this season’s first twist would be in its structure. The 16 houseguests that entered the house didn’t just walk in as they normally do. They were broken down into four separate groups. As we’ve come to learn thanks to Marvel, the multiverse is all about separate timelines and fractures. That’s what makes this season so different from the get-go. The four groups were all separated and competed in separate challenges on their own “timeline.” As such, the multiverse also mixed up the traditional Head of Household competition. Instead, the Scramble-verse made it a Nomination Competition. This actually was a fun change of pace. I’m not sure if this will be the best plan moving forward, but to start off the season, it makes a lot of sense. No longer does the first person who wins power become a target immediately.
With the nominations now being made by those who finish in last place, the three separate challenges resulted in one person finishing in last place. The ones who didn’t complete their challenge included Jared, Kirstin, Felicia, and Cory. That means all four are now up for nomination. Unlike most premieres, there also is no Head of Household winner (for now). The twist really did change how the game is played, so it will be interesting to see where the competition goes from here, particularly after seeing the final twist that Julie announced.
A ‘Survivor’ Legend Enters the ‘Big Brother’ House
Sticking with the multiverse theme, which also saw three former houseguests in Frankie, Britney, and Danielle enter the house to set this whole multiverse thing into play, CBS entered the picture by bringing in one of its most recognized reality competitors. Cirie from Survivor joined the house in the final moments of the premiere, becoming the 17th houseguest. Cirie is one of the most popular Survivor contestants ever after appearing on four seasons but never winning. Despite that, she is considered among the best Survivor players. With her arrival also came another twist. She automatically will begin as a nominee, meaning there will be five people up for nomination.
The Cirie twist doesn’t just end there, though. When the cast was revealed, one of the most notable facts to come out was that Cirie’s son, Jared (who also is a nominee), was going to be on the show. So now we have a mother-and-son duo in the house. This will make for an interesting dynamic as we wait to see how the two will play this. There may be a strategy for coming out and revealing the whole truth. With Cirie’s track record on reality television, she can probably rally some troops to her side, and sharing with them that Jared is her son could be seen as an easy way to gain trust. That could also backfire, however, and because they’re both nominees, it’s likely that they’ll end up just keeping this a secret for the first week as they try to avoid being the dreaded first person to be eliminated.
Big Brother will air three nights a week on CBS on Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
