When CBS revealed the first house photos of Big Brother 27 on Wednesday, July 2, fans took note of one nugget that the network teased along with them: There will be a mystery houseguest joining the game.
Julie Chen Moonves, who has hosted Big Brother since its first season, only added to the intrigue when she told Entertainment Weekly that this player surprised even her when she learned their identity.
“What I can say is the mystery houseguest, when I was told who this person is, I had to expect the unexpected,” she said in a story published Thursday, July 3. “I never expected that person. And I was very excited because, in my opinion, getting that person is epic. And that person is also very polarizing. So there’s going to be a strong reaction in both directions for this mystery houseguest.”
With still more than a week to go before the season premiere, that’s plenty for fans to chew on before the big reveal. Rumors have already run rampant that a former Survivor player would join the cast. Survivor fan favorite Kelley Wentworth even shared a video via Instagram on Thursday to confirm she is not in Big Brother sequester.
Survivor 47 castaway Teeny Chirichillo raised eyebrows on Wednesday when his Instagram account captioned a post, “But First,” which is one of Chen Moonves’ Big Brother catchphrases. But he has also been active in the comments, indicating he is not in sequester, and he’s not exactly polarizing either.
More names will surely surface in the coming days, but in the meantime, Chen Moonves, 55, also teased another twist: a masked visitor and their secret accomplice.
“The accomplice this person’s going to have — they’re going to have responsibilities, and they may or may not be able to pull it off, and that will affect the game,” she said. “And the masked visitor — very disruptive, and on another level that is more far reaching than Ainsley last year.”
Although Big Brotherfollows a basic formula from year to year, fans know to expect the unexpected when it comes to production twists. While some twists have jeopardized player’s games — see season 8’s “America’s Player,” Eric Stein — other houseguests have used the unforeseen circumstances to their advantage. Jun Song, for example, pretended to hate […]
Last season, an AI figure named Ainsley wreaked havoc on the game with her own twists after players decided not to let her play the game herself. Chen Moonves’ description sounds closer to a saboteur, a la Big Brother 12, or maybe an America’s Player, without the fan voting that guided Eric Stein’s game in Big Brother 8.
Chen Moonves didn’t offer much more to go on, but she did have welcome news for fans. The Big Brother 26 “AI Arena” twist kept eviction nights exciting by keeping houseguests from knowing the final two nominees until the last minute. While she didn’t confirm the twist would return, she pointed to the Power of Veto as an example of a twist that worked so well it became part of the fabric of the show.
“That became a staple after season 3. So I would say it’s like shaking the Magic 8 Ball — signs are pointing to yes,” she said about the twist’s return.
Big Brother 27 premieres Friday, July 10, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
