‘Big Brother’: Is an All-Winners Season Possible? Former Players Weigh In
It’s no secret that CBS likes to bring back some of its most popular contestants for newer seasons of their reality competition shows. Big Brother, Survivor, and The Amazing Race brought back former players, including a few winners. However, Big Brother has never had a season that only included previous champions.
‘Big Brother’ has never had an all-winners season
Whereas Big Brother and The Amazing Race have not once had all-winners seasons, Survivor has.
In 2020, CBS aired Survivor: Winners at War, aka the show’s fortieth season. The competition featured 20 castaways who had each won their respective seasons. For years, there had been rumors that the reality series was contemplating bringing back champions to compete for the grand prize. And it was an overall success.
Survivor Season 40 marked the end of an era for the show, and it provided grand entertainment for the audience. Now, fans wonder if CBS might have a similar idea up their sleeves for an all-winners version of Big Brother. But first, they would need a good handful of former houseguests willing to play the game again.
Which champions would never return to the show?
Unfortunately, there are a few Big Brother winners who claim that they don’t want to return. This list includes Dan Gheesling (Big Brother Season 10), Jordan Lloyd (Big Brother Season 11), and Ian Terry (Big Brother Season 14).
Dan told Entertainment Weekly, “For me, it’s a non-option for a couple of reasons … If we were to boil it down to like two points, one is my family. And two is, to play the game, at least how I play the game, I have to have this intense drive. Both times, I was willing to do whatever it took. I was like training before the season. I was there, I was ready. And I can tell you right now, I don’t have that passion to play right now. I don’t really have an incentive to play.”
He continued, “I don’t have that drive to play the game. I just don’t, I like to compete in other things, but Big Brother, I just don’t have that. I feel like I’m done.
In Jordan’s Entertainment Weekly interview, she said, “No, I would never do it again. I am so appreciative of the opportunity. I’m appreciative that I’ve had a positive experience with Big Brother. It changed my life, and I am so thankful for that. But I’m in a different stage of my life, and I could not be away from my kids and Jeff for 100 days.”
And after Ian’s experience in Big Brother Season 22, he feels done with the game. He told Entertainment Weekly, “I already earned a title that can never be taken away (and 296 other people wish they had). So, with that, the BB book shuts.”
Meanwhile, some other Big Brother winners are more hesitant to never say never. Eddie McGee (Big Brother Season 1) said that he would “need $100,000 up front” if they were doing an all-winners season, per Entertainment Weekly. And Will Kirby (Big Brother Season 2) claims he’s retired from reality television, but he could be persuaded to return.
A few ‘Big Brother’ victors would only return if it were for an all-winners season
There is hope for an all-winners Big Brother season, thanks to a few former victors.
Jun Song (Big Brother Season 4), Rachel Reilly (Big Brother Season 13), Derrick Levasseur (Big Brother Season 16), Cody Calafiore (Big Brother Season 22), and Xavier Prather (Big Brother Season 23) all admitted that they would play again. However, the circumstances would have to be right.
“I would only play in an all-winners season, to be honest,” Jun said during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Nothing else would be worth it. I don’t want to play against just anyone. We’ve had winners try their luck a second time and fail. We’ve had plenty of never-got-close(rs) clamor for chance after chance and come up short. Give me an all-winners season, and I’ll drop everything for one last summer of mayhem and mischief. I’ve still got it in me.”
Derrick, Cody, and Xavier echoed Jun’s sentiments. They would only return if it were an all-winners season of Big Brother. Fingers crossed that CBS pulls that off in the near future.
Big Brother Season 24 premieres on Wednesday, July 6, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
