Big Brother 18 Casting: How To Apply For 2016 Season

CBS has begun officially announcing the return of casting for Big Brother 18 and thanks to last season’s double renewal of Big Brother we know the series will be back for the 2016 summer.

Julie Chen at the Big Brother house
Julie Chen at the Big Brother house – Source: CBS

Houseguest hopefuls can begin submitting their online application videos and preparing for open casting calls in the spring of 2016. A deadline has not yet been announced, but don’t let that stop you from getting ahead of the next round of applicants.

Repeating a similar message from last season, the official casting site reads:

We are now accepting applications for Summer 2016

Although no application deadline has been set, we do encourage people to apply as early as possible.

As always, our team will be traveling the country again this year searching for great game players. Please check back soon for open calls and events in a city near you.

Those casting calls are usually not announced until the spring but once they are we’ll have all the details including dates, locations, maps, and more published here on the site for easy reference.

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U can apply any time for #BB18 here http://t.co/zVDTYRUTzZ, but open calls won't be announced until we start up next year around April. :)

— Robyn Kass (@Kassting) September 21, 2015


Fans are also reminded they must meet eligibility requirements including being at least 21 years of age and a U.S. citizen residing in the U.S. Our friends to the north should be sure to apply for Big Brother Canada 4 which is casting now.

Casting also wants you to keep in mind that once you’re in the process of applying and receiving any callbacks, etc. you must keep quiet about everything involved. It’s a surefire way to get the boot by revealing any callback or progress you’re making with the casting team. Until the final cast is decided you’ll want to remain hush on the subject.

Do you think you will apply to be on Big Brother 18? Best of luck to everyone who tries out whether it’s online, at a casting call, or via your favorite dating app. And I’m not kidding about that last one. If Kassting is going to use that as a recruiting tool then you might as well have it on and running if they come to your town for a casting event.

Can’t wait to see who Big Brother brings together for our next summer of fun!

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50 Comments

    • Right, all those peeps who take the time to apply, travel at their own expense, then get cut in favor of a cocktail waitress or former successful gamblers…not worth the effort!

      • What if those same cocktail waitress also happend to be applicants themselves?

        There are also auditionees who previously never watch the show that end up applying anyway or are casual fans who know zilch about the game (i.e. Jocasta).

      • Yes, some people are just applying on the casting websites for just about any show, in pursuit of a career.

      • Like Piff the Dragon. Saw him last year on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and this year, he was a finalist in America’s Got Talent. :D

  1. Please CBS, no people with famous family members, and no one where there could be any question as to whether there is some kind of relationship tending, past, or current with CBS or affiliates. Freaks, geeks, hes, shes, attractive, plain, dark skin, lighter skin, young, not so young, skinny, not so skinny, rich, poor….. a few of each sounds good to me. Sometimes pretty people are so ugly on the inside that it makes them very unappealing to watch. Sometimes unattractive people are so beautiful on the inside that they become very easy on the eye. IMO, pretty, young, perfect bodies does not mean instant entertainment,(ok, in some instances), but not BB. You have proof of that.

  2. Bring in 8 people 40+ so at least it’s not one token person 40+. (Donny was pretty great during Season 17.) When this year’s oldest person was 33 and seemed to run the house like a Kindergarten teacher running 5-year-olds, maybe it’s time to tweak things a bit. Go back to your roots and make it a bold social experiment again. All young people all the time is boring.

    • I’m sure Robyn Kass have manage to find people over 40 willing to play but don’t make the cut once she passes them over to Les Moonves for approval which is unfortunate.

      • Contestant choice is a lot harder than two people. (Kass and Moonves.) There’s a pretty complex process players go through where if they’re fortunate enough to make it to the finals of casting players meet with a LOT of people in a one on 40 (or whatever the number is) group setting. The Producers at that point have a big say. I wouldn’t put it all on Moonves’ shoulders.

      • Right. Although he has the final say and can do what he wants, he is not meeting with every person that applies. The casting team will tell him what they think and probably give him just their final group. He then looks at the group and says yes or no for each person. Probably yes for all unless there is some glaring issue. His job is too big to put that much focus into the BB cast.

      • Kass simplified in layman’s terms the casting process in a lot of her interviews, especially the one she had recently with the Toronto Sun. Les’ involvement with the casting process may really be too complex for her to really explain thoroughly (as would probably those for TAR and Survivor as well).

        She also dispelled some popular myths about recruits wherein many of the recruits they get happens to be either superfans or casuals mixed in with those who are unfamiliar with the show. The only advantage these people is that they didn’t have to line-up so they just skip the first part of the process.

        Cody was a recruit but has long stated he knew the show beforehand, in part because his father and a few family members are die-hard fans of the show.

        Sometimes we do get people with occupation that may prove to be advantageous to their chances in BB, but more often than not, not all of them live up to their own hype. Derrick who’s a copper were able to use their skills from their profession to help them go deep, while it didn’t work out for someone like BB12’s Kathy who’s also a cop.

      • I will have to read the article. It will be interesting to know more about the casting process. I completely forgot that Kathy was also an officer. She was so bad and it was really a waste for matt to use the diamond veto to get her out. Very frustrating moment for me.

      • Oh please, derrick got lucky that he was on the show when there was a cast of no one willing to make moves. His being a cop didn’t do anything for him. His age and ability to sit back and watch everyone else destroy themselves while he just sat in the corner watching was what won it for him.

        But let’s put the theory to the test and have a season of all cops…. see if they really are good at their jobs.

      • He was reeled into an alliance (the size of a house) he didn’t ask to be a part of so he was able to work his way in getting into these people’s head into getting to trust him and his opinions, only because they couldn’t think for themselves, especially Cody.

      • Exactly, so in any other house his ass would have been voted out. He got lucky he was with the cast he was. He gained trust by not doing anything and just shutting up.

        That’s what every big brother player should do, don’t open your mouth!

      • yeah. But he got into a position where he had a good read on everyone so he managed to not just gain their trust, they all come to him for game talk. So he knows how to approach each and every one of them. Donnie is the one he can’t control so he did what he did, unfortunately, to take him out.

      • Still, doesn’t make him a good player. That bunch was easy to read.

        Have him back in the house in an allstar version see if he’s any good.

    • I agree. Some older people, as long as they feel they can compete in comps, would make things so much more interesting. Life experiences have a lot to do with entertainment value, especially the ability to carry on an interesting conversation. We didn’t get a whole lot of that this past season, IMO.

      • Speaking of 16, but not Vanessa, my sweet, beautiful, intelligent, witty, well-mannered and behaved first granddaughter/child will be 16 on Friday. I’m giving her one of those very expensive Sweet Sixteen BD parties(not)…..chicken pot pie and brownies with cream cheese icing, 2 of her favorite things that I make homemade. I know it’s off subject, but I’m very proud of her.

        And Happy BD wishes to Lynn( use to be Hoosier), on Sept. 26th.(if I remember correctly)

        The thought of 16 Vanessa’s is very, very unpleasant! Cyril, you are bad to the bone and I love it!

      • Ok..I made her this birthday cake (^)..You’re gonna make all that for her?..SWEET!..you’re the ‘Barefoot Vanessa..I mean Contessa

      • Nice of you to do that, Cyril. :)What does the upside down v on your beautiful cake stand for? voodoo, virgin, vagina…Need I look up your lovely design for it’s insightful meaning? Or should I even ask? I’m sure that it is very innocent and befitting a 16 yr old “good”girl, and no she doesn’t have me fooled.(I don’t think so anyway.) No barefootin’ for me in the kitchen. I have neuromas and they don’t like my Wilsonart floors. You sure are doing a fine job of making sure you get Vanessa’s name in your posts. Did you bet something valuable, like a bottle of Patron, that you would use her name? I think we all may need something especially soothing to make us forget tomorrow night, right as Survivor ends, bring on the heavy, strong, stuff that puts hair on your chest and makes us forget who Ronessa Vausso is.lol

      • lol. so funny! I’ll be taking shots before the show even started. ..you better be here. ..cheering for Steve.

      • I’ll be taking shots too, at some posters in my backyard, with my Ruger 22. I’ll feel really good once BB starts.

      • Today’s 40 is the new 30, as they say. There are 40-ish folks who are in great shape, running marathons, cycling, etc. But most of those probably have F/T jobs so that makes it tough.

      • I hear you, bbadboy, but there are 330m people in this country. Finding 8 between 40-70 shouldn’t be an impossibility!

      • I’ve been married to a man for a little over 20 years who is now 54 and just summited the Tetons before he had roto-cuff surgery. His normal cycle ride is 40 miles. He does the 3 State 3 Mountain Century ride from Chattanooga yearly along with any other special event rides, within a reasonable area, if he can manage to get time off of work. There are quite a few other people around his age who are just as fit, too. Knowing this, I can’t imagine the excuse CBS uses for not including a few “older” people in the equation. Surely, there are 6 or 8 interesting, able, available adults who have applied and fit this category, surely.

      • So many unemployed nowadays I’m thinking there are plenty 40+s out there. They need a house of them though, otherwise they get voted out right away. Like the young ones think ‘they’ have cooties. Look at Donny (BB16), no one would do an alliance with him, though I think he probably did have ‘cooties’.

      • I’m one of those unemployed, but not sure I could even come near competing for BB…I have no real physical strength due to arthritis setting in! :-)

      • We didn’t get a whole lot of anything this season.

        The lack of common interests and the inability to listen, learn or even care, were lost with this crew.

    • Couldn’t agree with this any more!!! Everyone 40+ and Donny be the host of every competition!!!

    • I was wondering if they had a casting process before season 7. If they did not than that would be a good indicator of season 18 not being all stars. If there was then this thought can be completely ignored.

  3. Cast call? Request for videos, etc.? ~ CBS smoke screen. Cast has already been chosen by Julie and hubby et al. I’m not usually cynical. Where are all the able-bodied intelligent fans in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond who have applied for, but never been given an equal opportunity and/or ‘chosen’ by the powers that be. Older people are very capable human beings ~ give us a an equal chance CBS!

  4. Last season truly sucked!! The Austwins were so annoying that I literally stopped watching, the only characters I really liked were Steve, Vanessa and Johnny Mac, possibly Jason at times. I miss the characters like Eddie McGee, Rachael, ect.. :-/

  5. All I ask is no ‘poker-players’… another one of those will send me to the nutzo-house for sure. Btw, how many or who from BB17 have hit it BIG??? I’m guessing NONE!!!

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