Julie Chen Moonves Shares What Makes Some Showmances Work on ‘Big Brother’ While Others Flame Out
Big Brother is a social game, and sometimes it helps to have a partner by your side. From Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd to whatever Vince Panaro and Morgan Pope had last year, showmances have been a staple of the game for almost as long as it has existed.
But what makes some showmances work, while others falter? Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves ventured a guess, exclusively telling Us Weekly that the showmances that work are “the ones that know how to not rub people the wrong way.”
She cited Jeff and Jordan (Big Brother 11 and 13) as an example, pointing out that they did not kiss in front of people in the house, minimizing their threat level as a duo. Jordan, now 39, went on to win the season, while Jeff, 48, placed fifth.
But it’s not that simple. On Jeff and Jordan’s second season, Big Brother 13, they were joined by fellow returning showmance Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly. They were known for flaunting their love, with Rachel, 41, introducing the iconic line “no one comes between me and my man” into the Big Brother lexicon.
“We saw Rachel Reilly be loud and brash and take home the prize,” Julie, 56, said, referring to the Big Brother 13 winner.
“I guess it’s just prayer?” Julie concluded.
In a game for $750,000, not all showmances are created equally. Tyler Crispen and Angela Rummans made it to the final four on Big Brother 20, while that same season, Bayleigh Dayton and Chris “Swaggy C” Williams both went out relatively early.
As Julie loves to say, expect the unexpected. Even she had to admit, there’s no hard-and-fast rule to guarantee a showmance makes it far in the game.
Through 27 seasons, however, it has become clear that having a partner — or partners — to look out for you can help you get far in the game.
That may hold especially true for Big Brother 28 as details of the upcoming season begin to seep out. Rumors have flown for weeks that CBS will bring back returning players as part of a way to celebrate the upcoming 1,000th episode of Big Brother.
And with a time travel theme that the show revealed on Wednesday, July 1, every twist, competition and era of the show can come back into play.
“Does that mean we’re going to bring back some competition you haven’t seen since season 3, 2, 4, 5? I sure hope so,” Julie teased to reporters during a preseason interview. “I’m pretty sure you’re gonna see, like, ‘oh, they haven’t done that forever.’”
Big Brother 28 premiers on CBS Thursday, July 9 with a 90-minute episode beginning at 8 p.m.