Big Brother's executive producer Allison Grodner has revealed additional details about the reality franchise's milestone 20th season -- including surprises involving the cast, and what its big twist entails.
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Allison told Entertainment Weekly's radio show, Morning Live, that Season 20 will actually stick with its cast of 16 newbie houseguests and include no veteran players competing for the $500,000 grand prize when it premieres June 27 at 8PM ET/PT.
When asked whether any returning houseguests might secretly show up to compete, Allison replied, "No, there will be not."
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"I can confirm there will not be. It's different," Allison said. "We always try to mix it up and keep it fresh and this year, as you've already seen, there are 16 brand new houseguests that will be playing this game."
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Big Brother's 18th season featured four returning houseguests: Da'Vonne Rogers, Frank Eudy, James Huling, and Nicole Franzel.
In addition, Big Brother allowed for Paul Abrahamian to play again in Season 19 thanks to a twist in which the house was punished after Kevin Schlehuber chose to accept a temptation of $25,000 cash without knowing the consequences. (Paul is now a two-time Big Brother runner-up).
CBS All Access' Over the Top edition of Big Brother which aired in Fall 2016 also featured a couple of returning houseguests in Jason Roy and Jozea Flores.
However, fans can still expect to see former Big Brother houseguests throughout Season 20 in a different role or capacity.
"Now it is the 20th season," Allison noted to EW. "It's our 20th anniversary of Big Brother so there will be nods to our history and our past houseguests from the get-go. You will see that in the show and throughout the summer."
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CBS previously announced the new season will include a "BB App Store" twist that will be unveiled during the Sunday, July 1 episode at 8PM ET/PT.
The twist will allow viewers to get their favorite houseguests trending on social media, resulting in power apps or punishments that could crash their game.
So is the "App Store" twist similar to "America's Choice," where viewers could vote for a particular houseguest to receive an advantage?
"It is sort of a spin on that. It's a big different though," Allison explained, adding that viewers will be able to go online and complete a survey about the houseguests.
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The survey will apparently result in some houseguests trending the most and some houseguests trending the least.
"In that case, the houseguests will go one at a time into the App Store, similar to last year, but instead of people voting people to have certain powers, the people that are trending the most based on the survey will have access to choose certain powers," Allison elaborated.
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"So it's a little different. I think in this way it sort of gives the houseguests some outside information they've never had -- who might be popping more and who might be popping least. They will get that feedback depending on whether they were given a power or a punishment in the App Store.
The upcoming Big Brother edition will have a high-tech, Silicon-Valley theme complete with interactive elements.
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According to EW, the new 16 houseguests actually entered the house on June 20, so the game is well underway!
"We have a lot of Super Fans in the house. A lot of very smart people. It's interesting to see once again how the game just sort of takes off for the beginning," the executive producer shared.
"There's already divisions in the house. There's already power shifts. There's people that are rubbing each other the wrong way -- just like every summer, but it's different."
Allison said while there is immediate comradery and pleasantries exchanged, the dynamic among houseguest "changes so fast."
"It's inevitable that the first day everyone moves in and there's that comment, 'Look at this, we're a great group. We're going to have such a fun summer. Everybody's going to like each other and get along. It's going to be a party!'" Allison noted.
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"And then instantly once someone wins a power or once someone starts to play the game, things change."