Now that Big Brother 21 has crowned its winner, we have decided to reflect on the show we have all followed for so long. This season gave us a lot of time to think about what Big Brother once was and has become. The show has changed a lot through the years, and to be frank, we miss a lot of what the show used to be. So we thought we would put together a list of things we miss about the show we have loved for so long.
Big Brother: 10 Things We Miss
The Key Wheel. When I sampled Twitter, I was flooded with “key wheel!” responses. We really do miss this small part of the game (There’s even been a few petitions on change.org). There was just something exciting about the HOH lugging that big wheel out and putting it down on the table letting the HGs find out one by one if they are safe or not. Now we have the “nomination block” that I think came about because of the horrendous Battle of the Block twist? I can’t even remember if that is why or not because I blocked that twist out.
Julie interviewing HOH. Remember when the HOH used to be sent to the HOH room and told by Julie to speak freely because no one can hear them? Why did that stop? I liked that. It helped us get a feel of what people are thinking without the Diary Room scripting or influencing. It’s not a huge deal that it’s gone, but I miss it.
The old outro music. The is another silly one, but in Big Brother 21 when we first heard that new episode outro music we all freaked out. We clearly don’t like change when it comes to Big Brother (at least not the cosmetic changes). We want the old music back. This new music doesn’t even have the right flow to it. It’s an odd thing to fixate on, but fans surely took notice.
Food and luxury comps. Big Brother likes to come up with twists that often include competitions so they have something to show during Sunday episodes. These twists often impact the game in a way that hinders gameplay and the fans hate it about 90 percent of the time. So how about instead of some unfair and usually dumb twist, they just bring back food competitions? Or make them compete for beds or something. Or at the very least a Have-Not competition. I know that concept might be outdated, but Big Brother has become too easy for these people. They get what they want when they want it and that’s lame.
Casting twists. As I just mentioned, BB loves game twists whereas the fans mostly do not. But we do like casting twists. We would love to see another exes or enemies season. Or even secret duos (and not just bad casting decisions like Tommy and Christie from BB21). I was happy to see the twin twist return in BB17 even if they did cast two identical twins that weren’t actually totally identical.
Pressure Cooker. This is up there with the key wheel when it comes to what fans want to see again. We know that it’s a nightmare for production if a comp lasts as long as the pressure cooker did in BB6. But surely there’s someway around it. Even if it’s the first HOH. They have two weeks to film and edit that before we see it. Just do it, BB! We want it!
Real Endurance comps. And speaking of endurance, we really miss those as a whole. Endurance competitions now last about two hours, sometimes WAY less. We miss the days of players digging in and fighting for it. I don’t know if it’s just a matter of who they’re casting these days or if they’re told not to drag it out too long.
True Have-Nots. After this season where Jackson cheated on slop and then the whole Have-Not thing was just canceled, who knows if we will even see it next season. But if we do, we would love to see the rules actually enforced. That whole part of the game is to see how people cope with only slop, cold water and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. Either get rid of it, or enforce the rules.
The Unexpected. We miss “expecting the unexpected.” Everything is so predictable now. I remember when the show could still shock us and surprise us, but now it’s just the same formula every season. The same comps, the same casting archetypes. We want you to surprise us again, BB!
Basic Big Brother. I’ve touched on this a bit already, but we are just over the game twists. Remember how great BB10 was and it was back to basics. We want natural Big Brother. We are sick of the Battle of the Blocks, the Roadkills, the Camp Comebacks. We just want Big Brother.