10 Ways To Fix Big Brother

Big Brother is in major need of a creative retooling. Here are 10 ways to fix the reality staple, so it can reclaim its status as the cutthroat, strategic game of social chess we once stanned.

If houseguests break the rules, they should be punished accordingly, per the BB rule book (which, yes, actually exists in the house). Snackson Jackson Michie constantly ate while being a Have Not, which ultimately led to the cancellation of Have Nots for the remainder of his season. Based on seasons past, he should've received an automatic nomination or a penalty vote the next time he was on the block. As Big Brother 8 winner Evel Dick Donato once tweeted, "Jackson cheating on slop without punishment cannot be ignored. Production ending Have Nots for Jackson cannot be ignored. How many people have been evicted due to being irritable, pissed off or on edge from being on slop?" He's right. It's part of the mental game houseguests sign up to play. 

As for the aforementioned racism, toxic behavior, bullying, etc? Kick 'em out. Big Brother has only ejected four houseguests in a total of 22 seasons for threatening behavior or violence, a pretty low number compared to its companion series from around the world. Our American version shouldn't be so lenient. 

We'd love to see contestants make hard decisions that force them to rank their fellow houseguests or show their hand. Similar to how Survivor castaways must choose who to take on reward trips (thereby angering those they leave behind), decisions like these always add spice and loads of drama to a season. In Big Brother Canada's second season, Ika Wong was given a choice to give the entire house letters from home... or shred the letters to win $5,000. Little did she know, her castmates were watching — and listening! — from a monitor inside the house. It was an epic Big Brother moment that the Stateside series has never been able to top. (Watch it here.)

Although it's been an utter disappointment, we'll give producers props for throwing together a season under such dire circumstances. Having said that, repetitive competitions were an issue long before the days of COVID. Sure, a couple classic comps each season can be enjoyable (we're thinking OTEV and Hide and Go Veto), but recent years have used pre-made sets and well-established comps as a crutch, so much so that it borders on laziness. We need newer, crazier, whackier competitions instead of... whatever this chicken coop thing was. Comps are an enormous part of the BB game, but lately, they've been putting us to sleep.

Chances are if a show casts two people who live just a short drive away from each other, they very well could run in the same circles. Is it a longshot? Maybe. Did it happen twice on BB21? Yup. (Two pairs — Christie and Tommy and Kat and Holly — knew each other before the game began. And producers had no clue.) Big Brother needs to widen its casting search. Stop recruiting people on Instagram based on their pretty looks, and stop repeatedly tapping the same college's alumni. (It feels like there could be an entire season filled with Texas A&M grads alone.) We want to see superfans and gamers from all over the country, not just the coasts, big cities and casting's reliable haunts.    

Remember the #OscarsSoWhite campaign? That sentiment can surely be directed Big Brother's way. The show's Canadian counterpart has recently pledged to cast at least 50 percent of BIPOC houseguests for its next season. "If we want every player to have the same chance to succeed, we must evolve past the idea that minorities in the country must remain minorities in the house," explained Big Brother Canada host and EP Arisa Cox in a Twitter thread. "This is why we are changing the odds that have legitimately frustrated so many reality fans." After last year's hellacious and very problematic season, the Stateside version of Big Brother should follow suit. Seeing people of color constantly targeted early has become both disheartening and stale — and it's entirely fixable.    

Too often, the TV show edit fails to capture the truth about the goings-on of the house. From changing a contestant's character to protecting its "producers' pets," the episodes are accustomed to show the PG version of events rather than the real tea, frustrating live feed viewers and constantly setting Twitter and Reddit ablaze.

Houseguests sign contracts and are well aware of their lack of privacy. If they use derogatory language or make racist remarks (e.g., BB21's Jackson Michie and Jack Matthews, BB15's Aaryn Gries), expose them. Don't hide their ignorance behind the magic of editing. Use their unaccceptable behavior as teachable moments and let the viewership react. The house is a microcosm of real-life society, and sometimes society isn't pretty! (Hellooo, 2020!)

"Don't tell me the right answer for TV!" Jeff Schroeder once barked at Kalia Booker during a heated conversation about homosexuality on Season 13. Don't worry, Jeff — your homophobic comments never made the air... but the live feeds don't lie. 

What could give All Stars a kick in the keister? What if America was granted the power to choose one week's Head of Household? Or how about letting fans gift one houseguest with a diamond Power of Veto? Similar to Big Brother: Over the Top (which, we'll admit, gave America too much power), letting viewers course correct a less-than-stellar season could help swing the game in an entirely different direction. We'd love to see future iterations adopt some of OTT's format changes, but with slight modifications in execution. (Or just bring OTT back for another go. We're game.)

If you've watched even just two seasons of Big Brother, its repetitious casting has likely hit you like a Mack truck. The show lacks in diversity all around, from race and age groups, to body types, backgrounds and beyond, belittling its participants to mere caricatures like "the old guy," "the dumb jock," "the religious Black person," "the nerd," "the effeminate gay guy" and so on. Yet, some of BB's best houseguests were its most authentic ones who didn't fit into any sort of casting checkbox. We want to see eclectic players who don't fit trite stereotypes we've seen countless times before. Where's the next Nakomis Dedmon or Donny Thompson? 

No shade to BB17's Nolan twins (well, maybe just a little), but the BBUS franchise is in desparate need of some mindblowing new twists. (And BB5 did the twin twist way better, thankyouverymuch.) Cloned twists like Pandora's Box and Duos aren't as effective the second and third times around, and the duplication always fails to create any memorable moments worthy of the BB record books. All Stars' Triple Eviction is a nice start (even if Big Brother Canada beat 'em to the punch five years ago), so here's to hoping the Stateside series will continue finding new ways to turn the house upside down. 

Let Zingbot move in for an entire week, or hell, even an entire summer! It would have really shaken up the "Small Stars" house if a man in a giant robot suit strutted around constantly roasting everybody for weeks on end. (Just imagine how Nicole F. and Christmas would self-destruct!) They did, after all, turn Sam into a robot in BB20, so there's actual precedent! Zingbot for America's Favorite Player! Zingbot for HOH! If Zingbot had more of a presence on the show, at least there would be one houseguest on All Stars we actually wanted to see... ZZZZZZING!