‘Big Brother’ Fans React to Most Diverse Cast in Show’s History

Martin Holmes
15 Comments
Big Brother 23 Premiere
CBS

Big Brother officially kicked off its 23rd season on Wednesday night, and viewers were pleased to see CBS keep its promise in increasing the diversity of its cast.

Julie Chen-Moonves introduced the 16 new houseguests to the “Big Brother Beach House” for another season of alliances, backstabbing, and showmances. And with the new season came new twists, like how the contestants will be competing in teams of four and the overall prize fund being increased from half a million dollars to $750,000. But the most welcome change was the cast itself.

Big Brother has come under scrutiny in the past for issues surrounding race, both on-screen and behind the camera. Several past houseguests have been caught making racist remarks on the show, most notably in the 2015 and 2019 editions. Following backlash over how the network and production handled those controversies, CBS vowed last year that going forward, its reality show casts would include at least 50% Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC).

'Big Brother': Meet the Houseguests of Season 23 (PHOTOS)
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'Big Brother': Meet the Houseguests of Season 23 (PHOTOS)

Fans were happy to see the show deliver on its promise in Wednesday’s 90-minute season premiere. Of the 16 houseguests, eight are POC, and several contestants identify as LGBTQ+. “Shoutout to the new casting team for casting 8 POC & 4 LGBTQ!,” wrote one Twitter user. Many others shared similar sentiments across social media.

“In summers past, we’ve seen some people who are used to their bubble, where their world outside of the Big Brother house is not very diverse, and then they behave in a way that is unacceptable,” Chen-Moonves told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the premiere. “So hopefully with this diverse cast, those who are, quote-unquote, minorities, are going to be able to have deep conversations and school people who maybe come from a neighborhood or an area where there’s not a lot of diversity.”

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Julie Chen Moonves

Julie Chen Moonves

Ashley Trail

Barrett Pfeiffer

Chuk Anyanwu

Drew Campbell

Haley Thogmartin

Jason De Puy

Kamuela "Kamu" Kirk

LaTrice Verrett

Lyric Medeiros

Lyric Medeiros

Mallory Aurichio

Melody Morris

Rome Seymour

Taylor Brown

Yash Patel

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  1. G

    GreenWrench

    now we have a black racist alliance great

    30 1

  2. G

    GreenSushi

    I think contestants should be chosen by ability, interest and percentage of their population in the US. Otherwise we get over exposed groups. Where is our American Indian, etc rep. Or other groups. Yes I agree we are over represented by some groups but maybe it's to make up for times of under rep. Then again I guess we must remember this is really a game show, after all!

    9

  3. C

    CyanBike

    The host and executive producer of Big Brother, have set into play RACISM. When the “cookout” crew stated “no caucasian will win this ‘season’”, the pretense of diversity was turned into garbage. The winner will be selected because of RACE not how well the game was played.  

    Julie and Alison (host & exe. producer) should be called out for their hand in allowing racism, of any kind, to happen. No other group of Big Brother participants would have been allowed to state, “no Black/Asian/Gay/Lesbian, etc… will win this season”. Big Brother has removed past house guests for a variety of unacceptable behavior/conduct and/or statements. Why isn’t the production crew held to the same standards? 

    I have always questioned the standards of the people in charge of casting in previous seasons. How some houseguests made it on the show had me dumbfounded.

    A diversified group of houseguests would definitely create more interesting gameplay. BUT…. by allowing one race of houseguests to vote out all other houseguests on the basis of race alone, is not gameplay, it’s RACISM. Future Big Brother seasons now have a precedent set…. and Alison and Julie are directly responsible.

    No excuse or reason can justify this moral breakdown. The “how does it feel when it happens to you” promoters, believe two wrongs make a right. THIS IS WRONG!!! Nothing will ever make it right.

    Write, email, contact the Advertisers for CBS and Big Brother

    7 1

  4. R

    RedBee

    I hope that in all future iterations of Big Brother, that the White contestants immediately band together and form an alliance based solely on their race. The precedent has been set and the gloves are now off.

    4 1

    1. B

      Blue8Ball

      That has happened season after season because it’s never enough black contestants to band together.

      1

  5. R

    RedToast

    My group of watchers have decided it is not even fun to watch any longer. So predictable who is being voted out. We have decided to watch until the end and next summer do something else. Sad because we just to love it so much

    1

  6. O

    OliveUmbrella

    As a super fan of the show, the white contestants gain up on the minority contestants EVERY season and throw in many racist comments to boot, while they eliminate them first. Where was your outrage then? The was the first season ever where the white contestants did not have an overwhelming advantage and there was actually equality in numbers.

  7. B

    Blue8Ball

    There’s ALWAYS a white alliance and they always vote off the 1-2 black players...

  8. B

    Blue8Ball

    White contestants don’t have to openly say they are aligning with other whites.. they just do it after voting the 1or 2 black players off.. the most racist seasons are the ones that lacked diversity.

  9. O

    OrangeScissors

    Because now they are proving that white people aren't the only racists in the world. It's about time they get theirs. I just hope CBS doesnt spin it to make them heros for overcoming rigged diversity

    1 1

  10. B

    BlueBoomerang

    Before they actually play the game, CBS doesn't have a clue who is the "best player". You never know until they are actually playing the game. People thought Frenchie was going to be a great player because he's a super-fan and look what happened - he sucks! So the producers of the show give people from all walks of life a chance to win - exactly as they should. Before you go around calling people "racist" maybe you ought to look in a mirror.

    1 5

  11. P

    PurpleTeepee

    oh no! What ever shall we do? As if whites haven't been overrepresented for each of the first 22 seasons

    1 8

  12. R

    RedBulb

    how is becoming educated about the experiences of minorities “hate”?

    3 13

    1. G

      GreenBee

      Well seems I can't post the reply I wanted and it was in no way offensive or mean but a msg popped up and said some may find it offensive 🤔 I think that's what it said anyway, it only showed about 1 second. So see this is part of what I meant. We are only allowed to say what others think is ok. So much for free speech!!! So what if I'm offended! SMH

      3 2

      1. B

        BlueBoomerang

        Girl, "free speech" is something that only applies in your own home or a PUBLIC place. Any place of business or website or anything else can limit your speech BECAUSE IT'S THEIR PLACE, NOT YOURS (Facebook can ban you if use speech that goes against their terms of service and that's fine) but the good news is that you can just leave if you don't like it. The only thing businesses can't do is discriminate against protected minority groups or the disabled.

        1 2