Julie Chen Moonves reveals the jaw-dropping Big Brother twist she wants back
When one goes on Big Brother, one knows to expect a bevy of twists that could immediately derail the game at a moment's notice. The Coup d'Etat. Pandora's Box. The Saboteur. Even something as simple and silly-sounding as the Festie Bestie can wreak havoc on the gameplay in the house, and yes, there was indeed a twist called Festie Bestie.
But of all the twists ever unleashed on Big Brother, what is the one Julie Chen Moonves would like to bring back? We asked the host exactly that recently, and the pick she went with was not exactly a twist in terms of the game, but rather a twist in casting.
CBS Julie Chen Moonves on 'Big Brother'
Old-school Big Brother didn't like to just put random players in a house together. Occasionally, they liked to stack the deck. Season 5 featured the Secret Siblings twist, where Nakomis Dedmon and Michael "Cowboy" Ellis were estranged siblings who didn't realize they were related. (SURPRISE!)
That same season also saw the first appearance of the Twin Twist, where Adria Klein and Natalie Carroll swapped places in the house every few days, completely unbeknown to the rest of the cast. (The twist was later repeated in season 17 with Liz and Julia Nolan.) And season 6 featured a cast comprised entirely of secret partners. Each player in the game had a houseguest with whom they had a pre-existing relationship outside the house, because of course they did.
But none of those casting high jinks are what Chen Moonves wants to see back in the game. Instead, the host wants to go with the most extreme, most dangerous, and most juicy casting twist in franchise history. "I keep asking for the X-Factor to come back," she says, "where we have houseguests move in with strangers and then DING-DONG! — the ex-girlfriend, the ex-boyfriend comes through the front door."
Ah yes, the X-Factor. That evil-genius move came back in season 4 when producers had eight contestants move into the house… and then proceeded to welcome five of their ex-lovers in along with them. And there was certainly fallout.
Tony Esparza/CBS The cast of 'Big Brother' season 4
Scott Weintraub went ballistic when his former flame Amanda Craig entered the house, throwing chairs around the living room, taunting producers ("Come in and get me! You can't handle me. It would take three of you."), and revealing he had a sexually transmitted disease. Producers ultimately pulled him from the game. The fact that Amanda went and had sex with another man in the house probably didn't help matters.
The X-Factor twist was repeated in a limited form with one former couple in both season 8 and 9, but has never been seen since. Chen Moonves has lobbied several times since to have it brought back but tells EW, "They're not listening to me."
However, that doesn't mean the host can't keep whispering sweet X-Factor nothings into producers' ears. And as she says, "You never know. That's the twist that I think jaws just dropped. Talk about uncomfortable!"
Watch Chen Moonves make her X-Factor pitch in the video above, and watch the all the latest Big Brother shenanigans three times a week on CBS.
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