CBS Optimistic ‘Big Brother’ & ‘Love Island’ Will Air This Summer

Peter White
·3 min read

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Big Brother and Love Island were two of the big-ticket reality shows that have been put into a holding pattern as a result of the COVID-19 production shutdown.

However, CBS is confident that both non-scripted formats will air this summer, albeit slight later than originally planned.

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“With Love Island and Big Brother, we still hope to have on the air this summer, it could be a little later than usual but we’re still optimistic about getting those on,” CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl told Deadline. “Those shows turn around pretty quickly, Big Brother has live shows every week and Love Island literally airs the night after it shoots, those shows do not have long post processes.”

Big Brother generally starts airing at the end of June. The show, which is hosted by Julie Chen, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, having launched on July 5, 2000, making it the second longest-running adaptation of the Dutch format following the Spanish version.

Given the lockdown in Los Angeles, where the show airs, the 22nd season of the evergreen format is unlikely that filming will be able to begin before mid to late summer.

One of the curious traits of Big Brother, which essentially isolates its contestants, was the fact that in a number of international territories, contestants had no knowledge of the Coronavirus as it was causing destruction around the world.

Love Island was originally planned to begin airing on May 21. The first season of the show, which is hosted by Arielle Vandenberg, was filmed in a villa in Fiji. CBS and producer ITV Entertainment are understood to be exploring other locations, including domestic options, as and when filming will be able to be back up and running.

One of the advantages for the show, which features a group of sexy young single “Islanders” on a lookout for romance brought together in a stunning villa in a beautiful tropical location, is that once given the greenlight, the show can be up and running relatively quickly. ITV America CEO David George told Deadline in March that each episode of the show is turned around in less than 48 hours. “Once the switch is turned on, we can get it to air very quickly,” he said. “We’re trying to get it as ready as possible so when [CBS] says ‘go’, we’re ready, location-wise, build outs, casting.”

CBS’ Love Island, which is based on the format owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group, is exec produced by David George, Adam Sher, David Eilenberg, Simon Thomas, Mandy Morris, Ben Thursby, Richard Foster and Chet Fenster.

Big Brother is produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment and Endemol Shine North America. It is exec produced by Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan.

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