Big Brother Season 25 Is Breaking Tradition With A Delayed Premiere

Expect the unexpected. After a summer of alliances, scheming, and obligatory backstabbing, Big Brother Season 24 finally crowned its newest winner in September 2022. Even before Taylor Hale emerged victorious over Monte Taylor and Matthew “Turner” Turner, CBS producers already had their sights set on Season 25 of the reality competition series. Host Julie Chen Moonves announced during the finale that Big Brother was renewed for another outing, and the network had already started casting for Season 25.

Big Brother has long been a summer staple, and in the show’s decades-long history, new seasons have premiered outside of a late June or early July window only twice. The first was the Season 9 offshoot, Big Brother: 'Til Death Do You Part, and the second was Season 22’s Big Brother: All Stars, which was pushed back to August 2020 likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When CBS announced Big Brother 25’s later 2023 start date in May 2023, the ongoing WGA writers strike was likely the reason the network pushed the reality show’s start date back a month, signaling an anticipated scripted TV drought in the fall.

Along with BB25, CBS also pushed back the start date of its new musical game show Superfan from June to August, adding to a summer reality TV roster that’s also already slated to include The Challenge: USA, and Secret Celebrity Renovation. The delayed premieres will now push the season finales well into the fall, filling would-be empty time slots with at least one reliable ratings juggernaut on the network which also has unscripted mainstays such as Survivor and The Amazing Race on its roster.

There might not be much of a wait for more Big Brother either. Should there be a continued delay in production of scripted content, another season of Celebrity Big Brother, which aired Season 3 in February 2022, or a new All-Stars installment, seem to be natural pivot contenders. As fans await news either way, here’s everything else to know about Big Brother Season 25.

The Big Brother Season 25 Premiere Date & Schedule

Big Brother Season 25 begins with a 90-minute premiere on Wednesday, August 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and will continue airing three hour-long weekly episodes on Wednesdays (at 8 p.m. ET/PT), Thursdays (at 9 p.m. live ET/delayed PT), and Sundays (at 8 p.m. ET/PT).

The Big Brother Season 25 Cast

All 24 seasons of Big Brother, which debuted in 2000, have been hosted by Chen Moonves, who remained in the role even after her husband, Les Moonves, stepped down as CEO of CBS following accusations of sexual misconduct in 2018. That’s unlikely to change, as she told Entertainment Weekly in July 2021 that she had no intentions of leaving the show.

Exactly how long does she see herself serving as Big Brother host? “As long as I can form a sentence,” she told EW, while also pointing out that Bob Barker hosted The Price Is Right for 35 years. “I love it. I feel like it’s my baby, and I can’t imagine ever not doing it. I can’t imagine the show existing and me not being part of it. So as long as it’s on the air, I’d love to continue doing it.”

As for the matter of who will be among the newest group of houseguests, don’t expect that announcement anytime soon: The full Big Brother Season 24 cast was officially announced just one day before the July 6 premiere.

As of fall 2022, producers were looking for a new “dynamic group of individuals who are articulate, interesting, and exhibit enthusiasm for the [show], as well as a willingness to share their most private thoughts in an open forum of strangers.” Applicants are eventually whittled down to 40 finalists who also must have “sufficient physical, psychological, and mental capacity to endure approximately 100 days in a monitored house under extraordinary conditions,” according to CBS’ website.

This post will be updated as more Big Brother Season 25 details become available.