After another successful season last year, the highly anticipated premier date for season 24 of Big Brother has been set. The summertime reality staple is set to kick off another three months of deception, drama, romance, and shenanigans on July 6th. While season 23 was a smashing success, fans do have a few requests for the next one.
Reddit is one of the largest hubs of Big Brother fans, and with the levels of excitement only rising as the premier comes closer, discussions on possible changes and tweaks have gotten bigger. While most core aspects of the game are not in need of an overhaul, some smaller features could certainly use some changes, according to the superfans of Reddit.
Less Scripted Diary Rooms
Diary room sessions are one of the most important parts of Big Brother, as it gives houseguests a chance to speak openly about what they're thinking. Some are among the most memorable scenes, but far too many over the past few seasons have seemed scripted or pre-planned, leading many fans to clamor for more genuine confessionals.
One Reddit user alluded to this by writing "The DRs don't feel genuine anymore...I want more genuine reactions, emotions, and opinions from the players. Stop making them say things we know are obvious, like "I need to win this veto or I am going home." It is a fair complaint, as fans were spoiled with iconic sessions from people like Dr. Will and Danielle Reyes early on in the show's run.
More Cast Diversity
A common criticism about Big Brother since its inception has been poor diversity in its cast. While season 23 took strides in fixing that by casting far more people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, it still has a ways to go in other contexts.
Reddit commenter furiousdolphins brought this up, commenting "I want to see age diversity!! I’m tired of 20-something wannabe Instagram models." Not many people over the age of forty get cast each season, with Tiffany being the only one in that age range on season 23. Season 10 is a good model to look at, as it is considered a classic season and featured Renny and Jerry, two of the oldest houseguests to ever play.
Less People Solely There For Fame
While reality television will always attract people looking for their five minutes of fame, the rise of social media has exacerbated the problem for Big Brother. Plenty of houseguests have seemingly been more focused on gaining a fanbase than going for a victory. While some of these players have become some of the most popular Big Brother contestants on Instagram, not all fans are supportive.
Redditor calloony made this request, saying that "The players should be normal people, not wannabe social media stars." This is increasingly obvious with the self-advertising some houseguests do when they have live show speeches, which is another controversial topic to some.
No Shout Outs During Voting
In addition to the self-advertising, making shout outs to loved ones has also become a part of the game. Most common during eviction ceremonies, houseguests have something to plug or someone to give a message to after almost every vote now, something unheard of on old-school Big Brother.
UnprofessionalCook mentioned their dislike for it, writing "I'd add a personal peeve to the list: No shout outs allowed during voting." While not being able to directly communicate with people at home during players time in the house is certainly frustrating, some fans find hearing so many random shout outs every week to be frustrating as well.
Early Season Double Evictions
First introduced as a new twist in season 5, the best double eviction Big Brother episodes are among the most exciting in show history. Usually in the latter half of each season, there has never been a pre-jury one in the 18 seasons since the original.
User beast19384728294 requested one, commenting "I would love a prejury double or triple eviction. I think that would help things a lot." The rationale behind it is to speed up the oftentimes slow early game, when big alliances pick off any floaters, and to create more drama to unfold over the summer.
New Competitions
Power is always up for grabs in the Big Brother house, with a minimum of two competitions occurring each week. Production has stuck to its proven formula, oftentimes recycling most formats each season. To some, this is starting to get stale for viewers, and too predictable for new houseguests.
Dixieleeb said, "I wish they would throw out all the old competitions, including OTEV so they have no idea what is going to happen." While some of these competitions, such as OTEV, have become iconic to fans over the years, seeing entirely new rules and layouts for the power battles could be a welcomed change.
New Twists
As Julie Chen always says, "expect the unexpected." One of the best parts of Big Brother is how unpredictable it is, with unexpected twists shaking up the game each summer. The appeal of these twists is how they change the game in never before seen ways, but they have started to get a bit repetitive over the past few seasons.
One Reddit user made a good observation about how the game-changing twist of the last five seasons has been way too similar. "Stop reusing the Den of Temptation: The Den from 19 has returned every season since 19. 20 had the app store, 21 had the Whacktivity, 22 had the Basement, and 23 had the Roller Room," they wrote, as the room has featured a similarly functioning twist with just a different aesthetic each year. It may be time for an original concept.
Different Opening Theme
Big Brother has stuck with similar intro sequences for years at a time, with the current iteration being used since season 16. The format right before that has become nostalgic for many, featuring pictures and videos of each player that fade to the next face.
Redditor ShawshankException wants it back, as they commented "I just want the opening theme to have the HGs slowly vanish like they used to." While this is a minor part of each episode, it would be a nice homage to the show's beloved past.
No More (Or Revamped) Have Nots
First appearing in season 11, the separation into haves and have nots was an added way to create controversy in the house. Competitions or houseguests nominating others to decide who would be put on slop, a term only true Big Brother fans will understand, lead to tension and drama. Some think it has started to lose its luster though.
Commenter KandyKarma wrote, "they’ve gotten extremely lazy with [have nots] and at this point it’s pretty much useless and not needed." It is hard to argue their point, as it was rarely even discussed on the CBS broadcasts of the show and impacted practically nothing with the game.
More Tasks Not Related To Competitions
With three episodes airing each week, things can get a bit stale. There's only so much footage from competitions and of houseguests strategizing, so time needs to be utilized with some filler content. KandyKarma had an idea for some, suggesting "start doing secret task or interesting stuff like Team America."
Team America was a twist from season 16 that had America vote on players to unite and complete secret tasks, oftentimes comical ones. Other Reddit users added that the Canadian version of the show does similar shenanigans to manufacture fun moments, so the U.S. has a successful blueprint to follow.