Big Brother 26 has changed the way viewers experience the show, disrupting the live feeds so drastically that it could ruin the series as viewers have known it for over two decades. Big Brother is one of the longest-running reality TV competition shows, having consistently been on the air since 2000. In recent years, Big Brother developed a spin-off series for the holiday season and celebrated its 25th season of competition, marking a major milestone for the series as it moves into Big Brother 26. With a new season of competition coming in the months ahead, BB season is here.
Big Brother has had a marked difference from most other reality TV series throughout its run, offering unfiltered access to the houseguests on their 24-hour live feeds. Originally, the live feeds were a separate entity from Big Brother, purchased from outside vendors and truly uncensored before moving under the Paramount umbrella in recent years. As the live feeds have become a bigger part of the BB experience with the rise of social media, the producers behind Big Brother have made a change to the live feed experience that will drastically alter the way viewers are able to follow the game.
Big Brother’s Live Feeds Have Limited What The Audience Can See
The Removal Of Flashback & Frequent Cuts Limit Information
After experiencing frequent cuts away from the feeds during Big Brother 25, viewers were ready to experience similar annoyances throughout the Big Brother 26 season, but things have changed even more drastically this summer. Before Big Brother 26’s season premiere, it was revealed that there would be no rewind feature (called “flashback” for BB fans) for the feeds this year. While the flashback feature was a helpful tool for those who couldn’t watch the live feeds in real-time, one of the main reasons the feature was used was to verify things that had happened in the house and prevent misinformation.
While viewers who watch the feeds are used to them cutting out for competition and moments with technical delays, it’s traditional for the feeds to run at a near-constant pace throughout the summer. Big Brother viewers have noticed more cuts to a “We’ll Be Right Back” screen earlier in the season and recent years. In the first days of Big Brother 26’s live feeds, the feeds have been down roughly 15% each day (via FeedsBot) traditionally during the houseguests waking hours. This limits the amount of information viewers have access to, changing the way the audience interacts with the show
BB’s Live Feeds Flashback Removal Makes It Hard For Disabled Viewers To Keep Up
Many Are Reporting Issues Understanding The Houseguests
Although the flashback feature was more of a luxury for Big Brother viewers, removing the feature has caused major backlash from the show’s audience. For some, eliminating flashback has much larger ramifications than simply missing out on live content. Big Brother viewers with disabilities have reported that their interaction with the feeds has been nearly impossible, as they relied on the feature to be able to piece together conversations. As the live feeds are live-streamed, there are no closed captioning options available for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Many would, instead, lip read each conversation, rewinding to catch both sides.
While some viewers are reporting that they’re unable to keep up with the feeds without the flashback feature, others are simply finding it difficult to figure out what’s happening on the feeds in general. With no flashback feature, many are struggling to jump from conversation to conversation and put together what’s happening in the house. The Big Brother live feeds feature four cameras split between two rooms in the house at any time. Without the ability to rewind or pause, viewers must choose between the conversations and forego the one they don’t select, regardless of potential importance to the game.
BB Viewers Have Been Spreading Misinformation & Jumping To Conclusions
Big Brother Fans Are Posting Fake Updates Online
Without the flashback feature to verify what’s happened on the live feeds, many have found that they’re seeing odd updates online without the ability to confirm they’re real. While this happens every season, the inability to fact-check on the feeds has created an entirely new wave of misinformation from viewers looking to cause chaos online. With update accounts on social media doing their best to provide accurate, factual updates to confirm what’s happening, it’s difficult to stop the spread of misinformation entirely. While some of the false information being spread is innocuous, some of it is damning against the houseguests.
As some Big Brother viewers are being plagued by misinformation, others are struggling to remain positive about the houseguests well-being after being unable to confirm what’s happening on the live feeds. Throughout the first week of competition, current BB 26 houseguest Angela Murray has been suffering from sleep deprivation
and some level of paranoia after winning Head Of Household. With frequent cuts during what appear to be emotional outbursts from Angela, viewers have been jumping to conclusions about her mental state, or postulating that someone has chosen to self-evict due to the feeds being down for extended periods of time.
While feed cuts can be irritating even in small doses, the large swaths of times that the feeds are down throughout the early moments of the season have been difficult for some to cope with. Instead of focusing on the more realistic possibilities of technical issues or the possibility that CBS is attempting to keep some of the big drama a secret before the edited weekly episodes of the series, viewers have chosen to jump to dramatic conclusions without the ability to confirm their information. The changes in the live feeds have created some major issues for longtime BB fans.
The BB Live Feed Changes Have Made It Tough To Enjoy The Show In The Same Way
Viewers Have Already Reported Less Interest
With the Big Brother live feed viewers making up a specific set of the long-time audience of the series, there have been some major issues with the way feeds have been rolled out for BB 26. While the majority of live feed viewers are still watching the show, the frequent cuts and inability to flashback has changed the way many feeders want to interact with the series. As a live feed viewer, I believe that the new live feed experience will impact the way I enjoy the show as a whole, as the weekly episodes don’t show everything that happens.
Without the ability to rewind or pause, I won’t be able to confirm what I’m seeing reported online, which could color my perceptions of the houseguests differently. As a Big Brother viewer, I like to be able to make my own judgments about the houseguests behavior without the lens of production skewing my view or other viewers painting the scenes a certain way. Without flashback and with more frequent long feeds cuts that limit the amount of time I get to see the houseguests on the feeds, I’m concerned that my enjoyment of Big Brother may be limited this summer.