The game of Big Brother slightly changed for season 26. The season started with the Head of Household (HOH) nominating three people instead of two. Houseguests compete in the veto competition which can change a nomination and leave the HOH to replace that person. Those nominees then competed in the BB A.I. Arena to win the chance of taking themselves off the block. This made the outcome of the week more unpredictable.
The houseguests who were nominated at first were often pacified by the fact that they had two shots to take themselves off the block. The HOH was also less likely to make their target clear too early in the week because the competitions could ruin that plan. The producers of the CBS show talked about their plans for the upcoming season of Big Brother 27.
‘Big Brother 27’s Twist Will Be Similar to BB AI Arena in Season 26
Fans of season 26’s format will be thrilled to find out it’ll return in the future. Rich Meehan and Alison Grodner talked about the warm reception to the twist with Entertainment Weekly. “It was lovely,” Grodner said. “It was really nice. And overall, the reception from our usually very critical fan base was really positive, so it was a nice summer.” She explained the arena was created to replace the HoH competitions in the live eviction episode.
There was another problem that the arena solved. “We felt like it kind of got into a little bit of a pattern over the last few years when there were a lot of unanimous votes,” Meehan said. Houseguests want to vote for the house instead of standing out to avoid becoming a target. However, there were many weeks when each nominee got votes to evict until the double eviction with Leah Peters.
“I think it’s something that as we look towards the summer, nothing’s ever going to be exactly the same,” Grodner said. “We love mixing things up. But I think the essence of that is very likely to be carried forward.” Big Brother: Reindeer Games isn’t returning this year. Fans will have to wait to see the new version of the arena next summer for Big Brother 27.