‘Big Brother’s Julie Chen Moonves Reveals the Twist She’s Always Wanted to See

Brittany Sims July 3, 2026, 3:00 pm

Julie Chen Big Brother — Monty Brinton/CBS

What To Know

Julie Chen Moonves wants to bring back the X Factor twist in Big Brother.
She also hopes to see two special seasons featuring past winners competing against each other.
For the show’s milestone season and 1,000th episode, Chen Moonves aspires to compete.

Julie Chen Moonves has been the host of Big Brother since Season 1, so she has seen every twist, every houseguest, every theme, and more. But after 27 seasons, what past twist would she like to see return, and what has the show never done that she would like to see?

On May 18, she asked her Instagram followers what elements from past seasons they would love to see return for Season 28, so we asked her the same question. Moonves said that she would love to see the X Factor concept return, except this time, everyone’s ex is in the house instead of just half of them. “Is that wrong? Maybe. Would love prevail? I sure hope so. The first competition would be my tagline ‘Love One Another’….whoever does the biggest act of love for their ex wins the competition,” she said.

The X Factor twist was a shake-up from Season 4, where five of the houseguests’ ex-girlfriends and boyfriends entered the game to play with them all summer long. It showed up again in Season 8 when Joe Barber’s ex, Dustin Erikstrup, entered the game. Then in Season 9, houseguests Sharon Obermueller and Jacob Heald were also exes, but there has never been a season where everyone has their ex show up.

As for a twist that hasn’t been done before that Moonves would like to see, well, where does she start? She’d love to see two versions of Celebrity Big Brother, “where Season 1 is all of the first 16 winners compete against each other in a shortened one-month version. Season 2 (the next installment) would have the winners from Seasons 17-28, plus the three celebrity edition winners (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Tamar Braxton, and Miesha Tate), plus the winner of Big Brother Over The Top, Morgan Willett, compete against each other.”

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“The numbers add up and are perfect. Sixteen past winners for the first installment, sixteen past winners for the second installment,” Chen Moonves told TV Insider. “I would call it ‘Twisted Brother’ and ask the lead singer of Twisted Sister, Dee Snider, to do the theme song and change the lyrics of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.'”

Chen Moonves also told us that Season 28 will “have something for everyone, no matter their age,” which also seems to fit into the throwback element. Because the show promised that this will be the “biggest season yet,” due to its 1,000th episode, and more programming hours than ever before, the host wants to try something she has never done before — compete in the iconic wall competition.

She wants to stay on for at least 1,000 seconds (16 minutes and 40 seconds, for those counting in their heads). “Only God knows if I can do it and if the Powers That Be at Big Brother and CBS say yes to my unexpected idea!” shared the host. “Pray they say yes, and pray I make it!”

Big Brother, Season 28 premiere, Thursday, July 9, 8/7c, CBS