The first-ever American version of Celebrity Big Brother premiered Wednesday night and it did not disappoint.
Superfans and new viewers alike were seemingly inthralled as 11 celebrities embarked on three weeks of Big Brother in hyperdrive. The premiere introduced us to our latest batch of houseguests, and of course, most were familiar faces. I use the word most because who is James Maslow? I still don’t know.
Joining James were Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray fame, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, TV host Ross Matthews, 5-second Miss Universe Ariadna Gutierrez, former LA Laker Metta World Peace, Shannon Elizabeth of “American Pie” and “Scary Movie,” “The Cosby Show’s” Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tony-winner Marissa Jaret Winokur, UFC champ Chuck Liddell, and “The Apprentice” star and former White House aide Omarosa.
Let’s get to the first impressions.
The Cast
Now that we covered the lineup, let me figure out what I thought of them right out of the gate. Well, I will say that as soon as the cast was announced last week, I was immediately impressed. It was a much better group than I expected. All I could think of was how few “celebs” I know during every season of “Dancing With the Stars,” so I just presumed this cast would be comparable to those casts. So I was definitely pleasantly surprised.
And the cast surprised me even more during premier night. For example, I thought Ariadna was going to be a throwaway houseguest, but I found her quite enjoyable. Brandi, however, stole the show for me. Her diary rooms are going to be gold, I can already tell. And her throwing shade at James will be one of the highlights of the season. She’s good TV (as long as they keep the booze flowing). And speaking of James, regardless of who he is or thinks he is, he’s a complete tool. Who knew he was going to be such a petty person. He came off almost villainous. He’s going to be fun to watch fail at this game.
I was also impressed with Marissa. I was kind of impartial to her before, but I think she’s going to be fun to watch. I also enjoyed Ross. He knows Big Brother very well and also knows celebrities. I think we can also expect some fun diary rooms, if not tears from him.
And not for the real stars of the show. I’m of course talking about Shannon Elizabeth and Omarosa. Shannon is probably the biggest fan in the house, and her performance during the premiere made superfans proud. And she teamed up with Omarosa, which was a smart move. As Marissa said, it’s definitely better to have Omarosa with you instead of against you.
And speaking of Omarosa, she’s everything we all expected. Her introduction, in a full evening gown, was priceless. She is holding back a little for now, but you can trust she’ll be ready to strike at any given moment. She did have one of the best moments of the night when she shut down James about ready to make a deal during the Head of Household competition. That was a beautiful moment.
The rest of the cast seem fine, but right now are giving me simply eviction fodder. That could change, of course.
The House
I hate the house. I think it looks terribly cheap for a celebrity cast. The colors are too drab and I’m embarrassed by all the Hollywood cliches in the house. The kitchen, which is the hub of any house, is the worst of all, in my opinion. I just don’t get what they’re going for. Luckily the house design isn’t an important part of the game, and since it’s just my opinion I’ll move on.
The Twists
There isn’t a seasonal twist, thankfully, but it sounds like we’re going to be getting a lot of those Grodner gifts throughout the next three weeks. The first one wasn’t bad. The HGs stand in front of numbered stars and Julie pulls a number out of an envelope and the person in front of that one is safe the whole week. Omarosa was awarded that prize.
The second little twist, however, is terrible. Apparently the swag bags (cliche) they were given after the (cliche) HOH includes a power of powers that will let someone “recast the HOH.” And that is a bullshit power to offer on night one, especially following an endurance competition. Why would you reward someone for fighting so hard to win the power only to give someone else the power to take it away. That’s insulting, even for BBUS standards.
We just don’t need any twists. This is a three-week version of Big Brother and it’s a solid celebrity cast. I think those things are twists enough. Just let the game play out without constantly trying to force twists on us.
Everything Else
I was impressed with how many people playing are actually pretty big fans of the show (Shannon, Ross, Marissa and Omarosa). That’s almost half the cast, which is a nice percentage with it comes to Big Brother.
Something else that was a bit impressive was that the ladies seem to actually want to FINALLY make a successful alliance and kick the men to the curb. And now would a perfect time for women to take control of the Big Brother game. Omarosa and Shannon were the first to decide they wanted the ladies to rule and the soon brought in Marissa, Ari and Brandi. I’m not sure where Keshia stands, but I think we’ll find she’s on board too.
Is it too early to get excited for BB Girl Power? Maybe. We’ve seen this all before. The women want to get together, but as soon as a man wins HOH, some of the girls have to jump ship and it can all be downhill from there. But here’s to hoping they can make it work out. They definitely seem willing. So far.
What did you think of the premiere of Celebrity Big Brother?