Big Brother 21 is the twenty-first season of the American version of the television reality program Big Brother. The season premiered on June 25, 2019 and concluded on September 25, 2019. The 40-episode season was broadcast on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada. The show chronicles a group of contestants, known as HouseGuests, as they compete to be the last competitor remaining to win a grand prize of $500,000.
Over the course of the season, the HouseGuests participated in a series of competitions to win power and safety to avoid being eliminated, referred to as "evicted". In the finale episode, previous nine evicted HouseGuests, known as the Jury, voted on who they thought should win the game out of the last two HouseGuests remaining. The HouseGuest who received the most votes would be declared the winner. Prior to the live finale, a public vote is held to determine who would win the title America's Favorite HouseGuest and a prize of $25,000. Jackson Michie was declared the winner of the season in a 6–3 jury vote over Holly Allen while Nicole Anthony won the public vote for America's Favorite HouseGuest.
Despite receiving negative reviews from fans and critics, on September 5, 2019, CBS confirmed that the series was renewed for a twenty-second season.
Big Brother follows a group of contestants, known as HouseGuests, who live inside a custom-built house outfitted with cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day.[2] The HouseGuests are sequestered with no contact with the outside world.[3] During their stay, the HouseGuests share their thoughts on their day-to-day lives inside the house in a private room known as the Diary Room.[4][5] Each week, the HouseGuests compete in competitions to win power and safety inside the house. At the start of each week, the HouseGuests compete in a Head of Household (abbreviated as "HOH") competition.[6] The winner of the HoH competition is immune from eviction and selects two HouseGuests to be nominated for eviction.[7] Six HouseGuests are then selected to compete in the Power of Veto (abbreviated as "PoV") competition: the reigning HoH, the nominees, and three other HouseGuests chosen by random draw. The winner of the PoV competition has the right to either revoke the nomination of one of the nominated HouseGuests or leave them as is. If the veto winner uses this power, the HoH must immediately nominate another HouseGuest for eviction. The PoV winner is also immune from being named as the replacement nominee.[8] On eviction night, all HouseGuests vote to evict one of the nominees, though the Head of Household and the nominees are not allowed to vote. This vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household casts the tie-breaking vote. The nominee with the most votes is evicted from the house.[9] The last nine evicted HouseGuests comprise the Jury and are sequestered in a separate location following their eviction and ultimately decide the winner of the season. The Jury is only allowed to see the competitions and ceremonies that include all of the remaining HouseGuests; they are not shown any interviews or other footage that might include strategy or details regarding nominations.[10] The viewing public is able to award an additional prize of $25,000 by choosing "America's Favorite HouseGuest". All evicted HouseGuests are eligible to win this award except for those who either voluntarily leave or are forcibly removed for rule violations.[11]
On June 10, 2019, CBS reported that the cast would be revealed on June 17, 2019 on Big Brother live feeds to viewers with a CBS All Access subscription.[12] Jeff Schroeder returned to host pre-season interviews with the cast after being replaced by Celebrity Big Brother alumnus Ross Mathews for the previous season.[13]
Jessica Milagros appeared on The Bold and the Beautiful on October 23, 2019.[15] David Alexander and Nicole Anthony returned as contestants for Big Brother: All-Stars.[16] Kathryn Dunn appeared on the fifth season of Ex on the Beach.[17] David Alexander competed on The Challenge: USA.[18] Analyse Talavera and Tommy Bracco competed on The Challenge: Ride or Dies as a team.[19]
Michie begins planning on who he should banish from the house. Michie chooses to banish Cliff, Kemi, Jessica and David from the game. The banished HouseGuests are escorted to the backyard where they begin their competition.
Speculation begins on who Christie will put up on the block. Meanwhile, alliances begin to form making other HouseGuests suspicious.
Ahead of the Power of Veto, the HouseGuests picked players for the competition. Christie, Cliff and Kathryn, along with Sam, Jack and Nicole, participated, with Big Brother 20 winner Kaycee Clark returning to host.
HouseGuests begin discussing final nominations and deciding who they want to evict. They then participated in the live vote and eviction by voting on who they wished to evict from the house. On Day 15, by a unanimous 12–0 vote, Ovi was the first to be evicted. Julie informed the HouseGuests that Ovi had been evicted from the house and the "Camp Comeback" twist was unleashed. The twist allows the evicted HouseGuests to remain inside the house where they live upstairs in a special room. They will continue to live inside but not participate in competitions or evictions. Once four HouseGuests are in Camp Comeback, they will compete against each other for a chance to re-enter the game. David then re-entered the house.
The HouseGuests begin to make new plans with the Camp Comeback twist unleashed into the house.
Ahead of the Power of Veto, the HouseGuests picked players for the competition. The Head of Household, Jack, Kemi and Jessica, along with Isabella, Michie and Sam, participated, with Big Brother 20 runner-up Tyler Crispen returning to host.
Christie overheard Cliff talking about his new alliance, "The Fellowship of the Zing," with Ovi and Nicole and the four pairs in the house. She relayed this information to the dominant alliance, made up of the four pairs. The HouseGuests had decided to evict Kemi for the entire week, but after the Veto Ceremony, the HouseGuests became undecided after Kemi told Michie that Isabella was playing both sides of the house. On Day 23, by a 10–1 vote, with Michie casting the only vote for Jessica, Kemi was the second to be evicted and joined David and Ovi in Camp Comeback.
The House begins to suspect who cast the rouge vote during the eviction process. Meanwhile, Nick begins debating on who to put up. Nick mentions that he's considering putting up Cliff and Jessica. Michie attempts to pin the rouge vote on Nicole but confides in Michie admitting who he actually voted for. Nick suspects Michie is up to something as he continues to bring up the vote with Nicole's name and suspects the vote could've been him.
The dominant alliance, Gr8ful, along with Sam, met in the Head of Household room. Isabella told them the story Nicole told them about how the Gr8ful alliance, minus Isabella and Nick, were targeting her and Nick, as well as calling them bullies. The others, getting caught in the lie, started getting furious and made Isabella and Nick change their minds and completely gun after Nicole to get her out this week. The eight, along with Sam, start a new alliance called Unde9able.
The Gr8ful alliance formed a new alliance that excludes Nick and Isabella called the Six Shooters. The Six Shooters contemplate saving Nicole over Cliff. Nick and Isabella believe they secured the votes to evict Nicole while the Six Shooters progressively become more committed on the plan to blindside Cliff and send him home. On Day 30, by a vote of 6–4, with Isabella, Jessica, Kathryn and Sam voting to evict Nicole, Cliff became the third person to be evicted and entered Camp Comeback.
After the vote, the Unde9able alliance blew up at each other and disbanded, leaving Nick and Isabella on the outs.
The Have-Nots this week were Christie, Michie, Kathryn, and Tommy. Cliff tells Nick and Isabella that he is targeting the Six Shooters, the six people who voted to evict him. Michie comes up with a plan to be put up as a pawn. On Day 31, Jack and Michie were nominated for eviction by Cliff.[43]
A Have-Not ceremony took place, in which Cliff (as Head of Household) had to name the first four Have-Nots for the summer. He chose Christie, Michie, Kathryn and Tommy, who had to eat slop for the week, take cold showers and sleep in the same room as the Camp Comeback room. After picking players for the Power of Veto competition, Jack used his Chaos Power to force a re-draw on the three additional players.
Now on the Nomination Block as the replacement for Michie, Isabella begins campaigning to stay in the House and makes compelling arguments. The production team shows a segment featuring Cliff's family as they discuss how he's doing on the game. The two nominees, Jack and Isabella, are given a final chance to try and convince the HouseGuests not to evict them. The HouseGuests then participated in the live vote and eviction by voting on who they wished to evict from the Big Brother house. On Day 37, by a vote of 8–2, with Nick and Sam voting to evict Jack, Isabella was evicted from the House.
The Have-Nots this week were Jessica, Nicole, and Sam. On Day 38, Nick and Sam were nominated for eviction by Holly.[49]
A plan was set in motion to flip the vote to evict Kathryn and use Sam to go after the Six Shooters; however, after a very hectic lead up to eviction, including the breakup of the dominant Six Shooters alliance shown on Sunday's episode, the plan crumbled and flipped back to a unanimous vote by the time Chen Moonves announced it was time to vote. On Day 44, by a unanimous vote of 9–0, Sam was evicted.
Shown in a flashback, the full story of the chaotic, yet unsuccessful effort to flip the vote to evict Kathryn was explained. The fight ultimately ended up with Christie and Michie yelling at each other over a "secret trio" of Kathryn, Holly and Michie. As a result, the Six Shooters alliance fractured into smaller alliances of duos and trios. Kathryn, who had been affiliated with the Six Shooters alliance, was cast out. Cliff, Nick, Nicole and Jessica overheard the fight; Kathryn joined them after being outcast.
Michie said he wouldn't campaign against Jack. The former Six Shooters had a meeting in the Have-Not room, but nothing was decided upon except for the fact that the "Six Shooters" alliance is done. Jack talked with Nick and Cliff to try to get their votes. On Day 51, by a vote of 6–2, with Analyse and Christie casting the only votes for Michie, Jack was evicted and became the first jury member. In his eviction interview, Jack was shown clips of controversial comments he'd made during the season.
Tommy plans on targeting Kathryn; he talks with Christie about plans where she would be guaranteed to go home. Tommy also talks about getting the Six Shooters (minus Jack) back together for the week.
Nick promises to Tommy and Christie that if he wins the Power of Veto, he would remove Christie off the block. Analyse receives her punishment: she has to wear a chicken costume. On Day 52, Cliff and Kathryn were nominated for eviction by Tommy, alongside Christie.[61]
Nick gives Cliff an offer to form a six with him, Christie, Tommy, Nicole and Analyse to which he said he would "do in a heartbeat." Nick gives the same offer to Nicole, but she doesn't trust Nick. Nicole becomes the swing vote between evicting Cliff and Kathryn and both nominees campaign to Nicole to keep them. After Nicole tells Jessica about the new six-person alliance, Jessica tells Kathryn about the alliance they were left out of, throwing Nick and Cliff under the bus. This news spreads to Michie and Holly, who plan on targeting Christie, Tommy, Nicole and Analyse. On Day 58, by a vote of 6–1, with Jessica casting the only vote for Cliff, Kathryn was evicted and became the second jury member.
On Day 59, Michie nominated Analyse and Christie for eviction.[67]
Christie starts thinking about Nick playing both sides. She tells both Analyse and Tommy about her thoughts, but blabbermouth Tommy goes to Nick and asks if he was working with the other side. He denied making a deal with them and he gets upset after he feels like no one trusts him.
The vote starts flipping to evict Analyse after Christie talks with Michie about targeting Nick for future weeks. Nick overhears Christie talking about instigating a fight on Day 63 to paint a bigger target on Nick, dubbed as "Taco Tuesday." On Taco Tuesday, Christie calls out Nick for playing both sides of the house and throwing competitions, which Nick denies. On Day 65, by a vote of 5–1, with Nick casting the only vote to evict Christie, Analyse was evicted and became the third jury member. As a part of Prank Week, on Day 64, HouseGuests had to stay up during the night to listen to an exorbitant number of bird names and sounds as a joke to make the HouseGuests think that was for the Head of Household competition, but before the comp, they were informed about Prank Week and that the competition had nothing to do with bird sounds and names.
In a flashback prior to the eviction explaining how Christie saved herself and evicted Analyse.
Michie and Holly talk about how the pranks from Prank Week will affect her Head of Household powers. Cliff, Jessica, and Nicole receive their punishment: they must make pies and then smash them in the face of the person the announcer tells them to. Cliff, Holly, Michie, and Nicole make an alliance aiming to reach the final four together.
Zingbot 9000 appeared this episode and delivered "zings" to the HouseGuests.
The House starts realizing that Nick is America's Prankster. Nick starts telling people he is the Prankster, and by the Power of Veto Ceremony, the whole house knows that Nick was the Prankster. On Day 69, Michie decided to not use the Power of Veto, leaving Christie and Nick on the block and vulnerable to eviction.[75]
Note: At the beginning of this episode, the starting sequence showed videos and images from last season as a prank to the viewers.[75]
Nick starts campaigning for votes, knowing that he was likely getting evicted. On Day 72, by a vote of 5–0, Nick was evicted and became the fourth jury member.
Michie tells Christie he plans to nominate her and Jessica, but explains that Christie would only be a pawn. The new final four alliance of Cliff, Holly, Michie, and Nicole agree that if the Veto is used on either Christie or Jessica, Cliff would be the replacement. On Day 73, Michie nominated Christie and Jessica for eviction.[79]
Michie and Holly start fighting.
On Day 76, Tommy decided to use the Power of Veto on Christie. Michie nominated Cliff as her replacement, making the final nominations Cliff and Jessica.[81]
On Day 79, by a vote of 4–0, Jessica was evicted and became the fifth jury member.
Christie and Tommy were nominated for eviction by Nicole.
Cliff decided to not use the Power of Veto, leaving Christie and Tommy vulnerable for eviction. By a vote of 3–0, Christie was evicted and became the sixth jury member.[83]
A flashback to the previous episode shows the gameplay that transpired during the Double Eviction. Later, Big Brother 20 alumns Bayleigh Dayton and Chris "Swaggy C" Williams, who are currently engaged, appeared as guests to host the Head of Household competition.
On Day 80, Michie nominated Cliff and Tommy for eviction.[85]
Tommy tells Michie and Holly that he knew Christie before entering the House.
Very soon after Nicole wins the Veto, Michie and Holly discuss the situation where if Nicole uses the Veto on Cliff, then Holly would automatically have to be nominated as she would be the only option. They also discuss how Cliff and Nicole would be the only votes to evict, meaning that whoever they decided to evict would go home. However, Nicole tells them that she is using it but promises that Holly will not be going home. Nicole then goes to Tommy and tells him that the decision isn't final and either one of them could be going home. On Day 83, Nicole decided to use the Power of Veto on Cliff. Michie had to automatically nominate Holly as his replacement, making the final nominations Holly and Tommy.[87]
To save himself, Tommy offers to throw the next Head of Household competition to either Cliff or Nicole, and in a confessional, confirmed that he was serious about it. On Day 86, by a vote of 2–0, Tommy was evicted and became the seventh jury member.
A flashback to right before the live eviction shows the house meeting. The meeting immediately turned into a fight between Michie and Tommy over a lie Michie told about them aligning to get Cliff evicted.
Cliff and Michie form a Final 2 deal, effectively meaning that they plan on evicting Holly at the Final 4 and Nicole at the Final 3. On Day 87, Nicole nominated Holly and Michie for eviction.[91]
Cliff tells Michie that he will not be taking him to the Final 2, and instead will be taking Nicole. He then says he still wants Michie to take him to the Final 2.
Michie tells Nicole that he will not be taking Cliff to the Final 3, backstabbing Cliff and Nicole. Nicole tells Cliff that he's not getting to the Final 3.
A flashback to the jury house shows the reactions and aftermath of Nick, Jessica, Christie, and Tommy entering the jury.
The final three of last year's season, JC Mounduix, Tyler Crispen, and Kaycee Clark came back to give their thoughts on the season.
Will Kirby, Big Brother 2 and Big Brother 7 alum, returned to host the Jury Roundtable where the jury discussed who deserved to win Big Brother.
On Day 99, by Michie's sole vote, Nicole was evicted and became the ninth and final jury member. The jury, then joined by Nicole, questioned Michie and Holly as to why they should win. Chen-Moonves gave the pre-jury a time to talk about different controversies that happened in the House and gave the other HouseGuests a time to say what they wanted to say. The jury, by a vote of 6–3, named Michie the winner of the season.[99]
Over the course of the game, several twists to the format were introduced.
On the first premiere night, Julie announced that the HouseGuests would vote for a Camp Director. That person would be safe from the first eviction as well, but they had to select four HouseGuests to "banish". Those four HouseGuests would then compete to stay in house. The three winners would go back into the house while the loser stayed banished and did not return. Michie was elected Camp Director and banished Cliff, David, Jessica, and Kemi. David lost the competition and was evicted.
On the second premiere night, Julie announced the Whacktivity Competition where a game-changing twist would be unleashed onto the house. Every week for the first three weeks, five designated HouseGuests, unless previously evicted (denoted with strikethrough text), would play in the competition to win a special power in the house.
During the first live eviction show, Julie announced to the audience that the first person voted out of the game would not go anywhere. After revealing Ovi's eviction, the HouseGuests were told that the evicted HouseGuest would not leave the house as normal, but live inside the house as part of Camp Comeback. At this time, David returned to the house. One of the first four HouseGuests to be eliminated would win their way back into the game. The evicted HouseGuests would not compete in competitions or ceremonies and would sleep in a special bedroom. The four HouseGuests, David, Ovi, Kemi, and Cliff, competed immediately after Cliff's eviction on Day 30. Cliff won and made his way back into the game, while David, Ovi, and Kemi were forced to immediately leave the house for good.
This twist also postponed Have-Nots as the Have-Not room was being used by the HouseGuests in Camp Comeback.
A twist called America's Field Trip was teased at the end of the July 25, 2019 eviction episode. On the August 1, 2019 eviction episode, it was revealed that America would vote for three HouseGuests who would compete against one another, with the winner being given immunity for the week, the runner-up being given a punishment and the loser being a third nominee. Should this third nominee be vetoed, no replacement nominee would be named, with only the HoH's two nominees facing the eviction vote. Voting for America's Field Trip opened shortly after the twist was revealed on the August 1, 2019. Voting closed on August 9, 2019, with the competition taking place shortly after. That same day, Analyse, Christie and Michie were voted in to compete in the competition. Michie won, meaning he was immune from eviction for that week. Analyse was the runner-up and received a punishment. Christie lost and was nominated as the third nominee.
During the eviction episode on August 23, it was revealed that Prank Week would take place during Week 9 in the House.
The main feature of the week was America's Prankster twist. The HouseGuest voted as "America's Prankster" anonymously nominated one HouseGuest for eviction at the Nomination Ceremony, leaving the Head of Household with only one nomination. If their nominee is taken off the block by the Power of Veto, they will also anonymously name the replacement during the Veto Meeting. Holly, as Head of Household, was not eligible to be voted for America's Prankster. Voting opened for America's Prankster on August 22, 2019 at 6:30 pm PT (9:30 pm ET) and closed on August 23, 2019 at 9:00 am PT (12:00 pm ET).[101] Nick won and, on Day 66, nominated Christie.
Big Brother also played various pranks on the HouseGuests and the viewers during the week that did not affect the game. The pranks of Prank Week included:
Color key:
CBS announced that Big Brother had been renewed for a twenty-first season on May 15, 2019.[102] CBS later announced on May 20, 2019 that the twenty-first season was set to premiere on June 25, 2019.[103] Unnamed insiders close to the production of the show previously cast doubt if Julie Chen Moonves would return to host following sexual misconduct allegations against her husband, former CBS CEO Les Moonves.[104] Chen Moonves, however, returned for the second season of Celebrity Big Brother and it was later announced that she would return as host of the main series as well.[105] Casting for the season was open until April 5, 2019.[106] Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan returned as executive producers for the series which is produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment, in association with Endemol Shine North America.[105] The season featured an initial timeslot change from previous seasons; new episodes aired on a Sunday/Tuesday/Wednesday schedule through the first six episodes before returning to a traditional Sunday/Wednesday/Thursday schedule as in previous seasons.[107] The 24/7 internet live feeds also returned with a CBS All Access subscription following the two-night season premiere on June 26.[108] Big Brother: After Dark returned on Pop for its fourteenth season overall and fifth season on Pop following the two-night premiere on June 26 or June 27, depending on viewers local time zones.[109] Off the Block with Ross and Marissa did not return for a second season as an aftershow interviewing HouseGuests after their eviction.[109] Replacing Off the Block, Big Brother host Chen-Moonves hosted extended interviews with the evicted HouseGuests from outside the house.
Kassting, Inc. returned to provide casting services for a twentieth consecutive season since Big Brother 2, with Robyn Kass serving as the casting director.[110][111]
As with previous seasons, the program is filmed at CBS Studios, soundstage 18 in Studio City, California in a custom-built two-story house.[112][113] The House is equipped with 94 high-definition cameras and over 113 microphones to monitor and record the HouseGuests.[114][115] The living room, three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, bathroom and lounge room are located on the first floor.[116] The Head of Household bedroom and bathroom and an additional lounge area known as the "Sky Bridge" are located on the second floor.[116] The second floor is accessible by a ladder located in the entry way or a spiral staircase located in the kitchen next to the sliding glass doors that lead to the backyard.[116] The backyard area features outdoor amenities for the HouseGuests.[116] The house also features two diary rooms where the HouseGuests can privately share thoughts or send requests to producers of the series.[117]
The theme for this season is a summer camp called "Camp B.B."[118] The house, competitions and twists were designed around the camp theme. Entertainment Tonight showed the first look at the house with Kevin Frazier during their episode on the night of June 20, 2019.[119] Entertainment Tonight then released a sneak peek of the house through a brief tour on their website on June 21.[120] Meanwhile, a full house tour with Chen Moonves and other photos were released through Big Brother's and CBS' social media outlets including Instagram,[121][122] Twitter[123][124] and Facebook.[125][126] Big Brother 21 house theme matched the season's overall theme and received a camp theme; Production Designer Scott Storey designed the house's features.[127] The living room features a birch-wood coffee table and a large and a 23-foot triangular window illuminated by LED lights.[128] The first bedroom features a "sleeping under the stars" theme and includes two double-beds and the exterior of a camper.[129] The camper, is only a facade into the second bedroom which features three double-beds and is assumed to be that of a camp counselors bedroom.[129] The third and final downstairs bedroom is a sports-themed bedroom primarily based on archery.[129] In the kitchen, many of the appliances have been redone in an attempt to blend them in with the rest of the theme, with an electronic campfire added to the center of the formal dining table.[130] The downstairs lounge area received a boat theme, while the bathroom received a boat house-like theme.[131] The upstairs lounge area, for the first time in the series history, is also accessible by a ladder from the entryway and has been updated to resemble a tree house; the Head of Household bedroom and bathroom have been changed to resemble a Moroccan-style bedroom and is expected to resemble glamping.[132] The backyard features a pool with kayaks and an attached hot tub, lawn chairs surround the backyard which also features a pool table and a washer and dryer, workout equipment, outdoor lounge areas, a hammock and a mini-fridge.[133]
The last remaining HouseGuest, Jackson Michie, received $500,000.[134] The runner-up of the season, Holly Allen, received $50,000 while the HouseGuest deemed America's Favorite HouseGuest, Nicole Anthony, received $25,000.[135] As part of a promotion for new CBS series Love Island, Sam Smith won a trip to Fiji in a Power of Veto competition.[136] During another Power of Veto competition, Kathryn Dunn received a trip to Hawaii and Nick Maccarone was awarded $5,000.[137] During a surprise luxury competition in Week 12, Michie won $10,000.
This season was the least-watched and lowest-rated season of the series with about a 20% decrease in viewers and 25% decrease in demographics from the previous season.[138] The season ended with an average viewership per episode of 4.38 million, over one million fewer than the previous lowest. Despite the decrease in ratings, CBS announced on September 5, 2019 that Big Brother was renewed for its twenty-second season and will premiere in the summer of 2020.[139][140]
Big Brother 21 was criticized negatively by critics and fans due to the HouseGuests' discriminatory tendencies.[141] Professor of African American studies and the UCLA Dean of Social Sciences, Darnell Hunt, stated, "Race is the central axis of social relationships. Even when, in public, we try to deny its significance, it creeps through in unexpected ways. When people are in a house like that 24 hours a day under those conditions, it's difficult to hide an inconvenient truth about American culture and society. The camera is the great equalizer."[142] However, the way CBS handled the situations was somewhat praised by viewers as they dedicated a time during the live finale to address them and let the HouseGuests explain themselves.[143][144] Justin Carriero of The Young Folks wrote, "These HouseGuests got away with a lot and they avoided the blowback by being in jury, so they had no idea what storm was heading their way. They needed to know what they did and how the public viewed them." He ended up rating the finale an eight on a scale from one to ten.[145] Overall, the season was criticized for its non-diverse casting, leniency with specific rules like Have-Not rules, and deceptive editing of the episodes compared to the events shown on the 24/7 Live Feeds.[146]
Following the two-night season premiere, HouseGuest Jackson Michie received the "Camp Director" power and was required to choose four HouseGuests to banish.[147] Michie chose David Alexander and Kemi Fakunle, the season's only two black HouseGuests, Jessica Milagros, a Latina plus-size model and Cliff Hogg, the oldest person in the house.[148][149] But, other viewers suggested that Michie only picked Fakunle due to lack of communication and that Alexander, Milagros and Hogg were only picked because they competed against him for the position of Camp Director.[150]
Big Brother is a reality show about a group of people who live together at times, the Houseguests may reveal prejudices and other beliefs that CBS does not condone. Views or opinions expressed by Houseguests are those of the individuals speaking and do not represent the views or opinions of CBS. Viewer discretion is advised.
CBS disclaimer reportedly appearing more since the incident[151]
Once the Live Feeds began, Jack Matthews started making obscene and prejudiced remarks about fellow HouseGuests Kemi Fakunle, Ovi Kabir, and Jessica Milagros, behind their backs.[152][153][154] Matthews was warned by production about comments made and to prevent further such comments.[155] Many of his comments were addressed in episode 20 during his post-eviction interview with Julie Chen Moonves where he denied racism being behind any of the comments, though he did apologize for his actions that were deemed offensive.[156]
During Week 3, an incident involving the dominant "Gr8ful" alliance, which was partially shown during episode 10, was sharply criticized by the viewing audience.[157] The incident started when Nicole Anthony confided in Isabella Wang, telling her that the majority alliance, spearheaded by Jack Matthews and Jackson Michie, would come after Wang and Nick Maccarone, but Wang, who was included in this majority alliance with Maccarone, immediately told the group about it. The alliance swiftly denied Anthony's idea that they would target the couple despite earlier conversations where they discussed targeting them. The group proceeded to speak very negatively of Anthony.[158][159] This incident was brought back up during the live finale to give the HouseGuests a chance to talk about the matter.
During Week 4, Cliff Hogg, the then Head of Household, named Jackson Michie as one of the Have-Nots for the week.[160][161] Despite being named as a Have-Not, Michie was seen on the Live Feeds breaking the Have-Not rules by eating prohibited food behind the shower wall out of camera view.[162] Michie received no punishment normally given to HouseGuests who break the Have-Not rules.[146] After this incident, the Have-Nots aspect of the game was not included for the remainder of the season.[163]
"Well, in the case of Big Brother, a producer—we learned that a producer, in an attempt to get a soundbite from one of the houseguests overstepped. That producer was reprimanded, received unconscious bias training—as did all the producers on the show—and we don't believe that an incident like that will happen again."
Thom Sherman, CBS Executive responding to the incident in question[164]
At the 2019 Television Critics Association, CBS executives were questioned about diversity and racism issues on Big Brother.[165] In an open interview with CBS executives, Big Brother was accused of giving "contestants of color unfair cuts or early eliminations" as well as editing out comments by HouseGuests that have been interpreted as racist.[166][167] CBS executives defended editors of the show stating that it's difficult to edit days worth of content into 40 minutes.[168] CBS executives also stated that they would "closely reexamine Big Brother 21 and see if we can do better next year."[169]