CBS has revealed additional details about its upcoming Big Brother 7: All-Stars series, announcing that it will reveal the identities of the twenty former houseguests that viewers will be able to vote into this summer's house during a casting special that it will broadcast on Wednesday, June 21 at 8PM ET/PT.
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Dubbed Big Brother All-Stars: America's Choice, the special will feature interviews with each of the former houseguests, during which they will state their cases as to why they feel viewers should vote them onto Big Brother 7: All-Stars' cast. According to Daily Variety, all twenty former houseguests have already been informed of their finalist status.
As expected, CBS will not be allowing viewers to determine the entire composition of Big Brother 7: All-Stars' twelve person cast. Instead, viewers will only get to decide half of the season's cast, with the top three male and female vote-getters automatically becoming part of the All-Star edition's cast and the show's producers determining which six other finalists will join the group.
Perhaps mindful of what happened during Big Brother's initial season in which viewers determined who would be evicted each week and quickly eliminated most of the more controversial houseguests from the competition, Big Brother producer Allison Grodner admits that a desire to ensure that the show ends up with a "right balance" that includes some of the show's more unpopular former contestants is behind the decision to only allow viewers to decide half of the season's cast.
"We're looking for a showdown," Grodner told Variety. "You've got your Big Brother heroes and villains, and that's what's going to make for the best drama." The "good versus evil" theme will reportedly be reflected throughout the show, right down to an updated Big Brother house interior that will commemorate highlights of Big Brother's first six seasons.
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After the special airs, viewers will be able to cast their votes online via CBS.com until midnight ET on June 28. During the week-long voting period, each finalist will be able to use "use any reasonable means" to do their own additional campaigning.
Although the voting will end on June 28, neither the public nor the finalists will learn of the results until Big Brother 7: All-Stars premieres live on Thursday, July 6 at 8PM. During the premiere, all twenty finalists will gather outside of the house with their bags packed, after which Big Brother host Julie Chen will reveal which twelve finalists will be entering the house and which eight will be returning back to their normal post-Big Brother lives. "They'll be all packed and ready to go," explained Grodner.
According to Grodner, despite rumors to the contrary, houseguests from all six previous Big Brother edition will be part of the pool of twenty finalists. Online rumors had speculated that since Grodner and fellow executive producer Arnold Shapiro hadn't taken over and revamped the show until after its disastrous initial season, first season houseguests wouldn't be eligible to appear on the All-Stars edition.