Big Brother 23 – We’re Back! Live Blogging Episode 1

Good evening, everyone! We’re back!

While we are having a later start than normal, it’s not as late as last year, so I’ll take it! Although, they only started the June premieres a few seasons ago, so technically this could be back to ‘normal’ – whatever that is these days.

Moving on.  I hope you all had a happy and safe winter!  It was a pretty wild one, that’s for certain, so I’m glad it’s over and we’re back to summer mode! Big Brother 23 features all-new faces for the first time in just over two years!  I’m being a little dramatic of course, but it sounds better than saying we just missed a year of new faces. Technically it is over two years as Big Brother 21 premiered in June, 2019 🙂  Wow, one post in and I’m already rambling.  Let’s get back to this season.

I didn’t do profiles on anyone last season because we didn’t know who was going to be in the house until opening night (although there were leaks before, CBS didn’t confirm anyone).  By that time, it felt pointless to make profile pages of those people we already knew, so I skipped it. But this year I was able to go through them all and I have to say I’m very impressed with the early look of the cast.  Other than the fact that like 75% of the people seem to only remember Dan’s Funeral as a memorable moment, there seem to be a lot of good faces. Very balanced other than ages.  We’re still primarily in the 21-25 year group but I’ve just accepted they’ll never have a season full of 35+ year old people.

And let’s be real, as much as showmances annoy me, we still like to see them and write about them and I know fans like watching them.  Maybe some love to hate them, but they’re about as much of Big Brother as Julie Chen, slop, and mostly lame twists they try every season.  We all know CBS loves them as well, if you didn’t realize by them constantly trying to shove Brendan and Rachel or Jeff and Jordan down our throats… or the fact that they follow the show with Love Island.

Enough talking. This may be a long post so let me put the tl;dr version here:

• The show begins at 8 pm est
• Live feeds begin around 12:30-1 am est
• You can get the feeds by signing up to Paramount+ here They give a free trial so you can cancel if you hate them

Alright, time for some show updates

• Got my weekly reminder how bad I am at trivia watching Jeopardy (RIP Alex).  Time for some Big Brother!
• Biggest cash prize in BB history. About time.  Million?
• Time for some introductions
  • First four – Xavier, Travis, Derek, Frenchie
  • Derek in the house first for those keeping track of that
  • Frenchie won but looked like he didn’t want to. He walked to the buzzer
  • Second four – Azah, Britini, Alyssa, Whitney
  • Whitney won her round
• First impressions so far…
  • Derek looks more fun than I expected.  Frenchie seems like a real threat. Xavier is definitely badass. Travis looks like a typical boring bro
  • Britini is super competitive. I love it. Whitney is definitely getting in a showmance this year.  Not much about Alyssa or Azah yet. They seem cool though
• Ok, next four
  • Brent, Christian, Derek X, and Kyland
  • I bet Christian wins this comp based on his pre-game prep
  • And I’m right!  Christian wins.  I could tell. He was studying the puzzle while the other three were just looking around while Julie was talking. Plus once he laid his puzzle pieces all out I knew it was a lock.  Look out for him. He knows how to win these types of comps.
• First impressions….
  • Derek was an underrated houseguest heading in. Dude is fit and good looking.  Brent is douchey. Christian is Travis 2.0. Kyland seemed cool
• Okay, final four
  • Sarah, Hannah, Claire, Tiffany
• First impressions
  • This was an incredibly smart group. Many smart people this entire season but this group of four girls is impressive. Although knowing Sarah wants to float, meh. But that’s okay.
  • Claire wins!
• This is the HoH competition players:
  • Christian, Whitney, Frenchie, and Claire

Okay now that the first ‘half’ is over, intros are done, etc, etc. Julie will start going over twists

• Looks like we begin with the draft
  • Team Claire (Queens) – Kyland, Tiffany, Travis
  • Team Frenchie (Jokers) – Azah, Britini, Derek
  • Team Whitney (Aces) – Brent, Derek X, Hannah
  • Team Christian (Kings) – Alyssa, Xavier, Sarah
• So it’s not a normal draft. The team captain spins a wheel and gets two options.  And it’ll be 2 male 2 female per group
• Captain of the winning team gets HoH (this week)
• Winning team is safe but we knew that already
• I am calling Christian or Claire for this.
• Last place team = havenot
• Wow, Frenchie won!  Christian almost won but his team failed him and dropped the puzzle twice!
• Claire in second place
• Whitney finishes third
• Wow, Christian has to be bummed.  He should have finished first but his team let him down. Now they’re havenots.

New grand prize – $750,000.  Come on CBS.  You’re long overdue for a million

Julie makes Frenchie a double or nothing offer.  Gets a second week of safety for his team. However, if he fails, he’s no longer HoH and his entire team can be nominated. If this happens, Claire wins HoH.

She is letting him think

Personally, I wouldn’t risk it.  The first week is super risky.  The week of safety is nice. Although I’d try to cut a deal with Claire for safety but not sure they would.

Frenchie passes.  Julie makes him play anyway just to see how he would have done.  And he landed it and would have won safety.  Nice job Julie.  Make him a target lol

New competition – Wildcard competition

And that’s it.  Live feeds on in about 3 hours