It isn’t the barbecues and mosquito bites that signal summer’s arrival: It’s the start of a new Big Brother season, which finally arrived on Wednesday night.
Now, if it’s twists you’re looking for, one of those already happened before the season officially began: Just hours after Season 24’s cast was revealed, chemical processing engineer Marvin Achi was dropped from the lineup and replaced by lawyer Joseph Abdin. (CBS hasn’t elaborated on the reason for Achi’s exit, but it presumably had something to do with his status as a current competitor on America’s Got Talent‘s 17th season. Whoops!)
That said, let’s recap what else was in store for Big Brother‘s first episode back:
* The houseguests’ intro packages are expectedly cringey and staged, but perhaps none are more memorable than Alyssa Snider’s, which features this bonkers bit of poetry she’s written: “My love is water, it will comfort you / Your love is water, take a sip.” I simply cannot wait for her Diary Room sessions.
* More than half of the premiere is dedicated to the houseguests’ arrival, which involves each of them finding a ticket to a Big Brother-themed music festival in the backyard, then revealing whether their ticket grants them access to the merch table, the piercing tent or the Porta-Potty station. The outlier here is Joe “Pooch” Pucciarelli, whose BB Fest ticket reveals him to be the Backstage Boss instead of placing him at one of those three areas; more on that in a sec.
* Before the official first Head of Household competition takes place, three mini-comps are held to determine a winner from each of the three festival areas: Monte Taylor wins the Porta-Potty station’s game; Matt Turner (who goes by Turner) triumphs in the piercing tent’s competition; and Daniel Durston emerges victorious from the merch table’s face-off.
* Those three gentlemen then advance to the actual HOH competition, which requires them to assemble an oversized drum kit in the fastest time. Daniel gets it done quickest and becomes the summer’s first Head of Household, while Monte puts up a respectable effort, and Turner either convincingly throws the competition, or doesn’t know how puzzles work.
* As for Pooch’s Backstage Boss ticket, it comes with some good news and some bad news: Pooch can’t compete in any of the week’s competitions, nor will he cast a vote on eviction night next Thursday. But! He can’t be nominated or evicted this week. But, he now has to choose three other houseguests that will join him backstage for the week; he selects Paloma, Alyssa and Brittany, none of whom will participate in competitions this week — and though they can’t be nominated for eviction during Week 1, Julie Chen Moonves advises that the three women are still in danger of potentially going home next Thursday, unlike Pooch. (That said, America can vote to keep one of those ladies safe, in the event that any of them made an impression on you in the last 90 minutes.)
With that, I hand it over to you. Which Season 24 houseguests have your early support? Who would you target for eviction? Tell us below!