Big Brother All-Stars left a bad taste in many in the fandom's mouths, and it looks like Julie Chen and producers looked to rectify that in 2021. We already know CBS is planning to bring a new season to viewers in the summer, but Chen and the reality series' producers wanted 2021 to have something more. According to the host herself, she and producers really pushed CBS to bring back Celebrity Big Brother this winter for Season 3.
The news comes from Season 21 and All-Stars participant Nicole Anthony, who welcomed Julie Chen on her podcast, Hello, Friends!. Chen explained that if ever there was a time to bring back Celebrity Big Brother, now might be it:
I would love to see another Celebrity Big Brother and I think now is the time to do it because most celebrities, they’re not living that jet-set lifestyle of traveling and having to go to their movie premieres.
Julie Chen makes a valid point and, with COVID-19 restrictions still keeping celebrities at home in 2021, the talent pool for who's available may be much larger. Well, theoretically anyway, as a few houseguests allegedly rejected an invite to Big Brother All-Stars due to stay at home orders, while others tested positive for COVID and couldn't compete. If a star is stuck at home and unable to film their upcoming movie or television show, one has to question whether they'll jump on reality television as a substitute.
Julie Chen campaigned alongside Big Brother producers for CBS to get them back for Celebrity Big Brother this winter, though campaigning can only go so far. Chen didn't leave listeners in suspense about how far the talks went and said the network's answer:
The producer and I were pushing for it, but the network said ‘No. Not yet.'
It sounds like CBS is not on board with Celebrity Big Brother in 2021, at least for now. Of course, we all saw last year how CBS was on the fence about Big Brother even airing that year, only to pull the trigger when many other shows were forced to halt production. I think this "not yet" means the network isn't flat-out against it and will be willing to bring back Celebrity Big Brother eventually.
The American version of Celebrity Big Brother debuted in 2018 and aired its second season in 2019. 2020 was obviously an off-year for all television and, now, the current CBS stance is that 2021 will not see the spinoff return, either. With that said, it does sound like CBS will keep an open mind to a return and that we could see Season 3 in 2022 or beyond. Personally, I'm still holding out hope Julie Chen can make a winter 2021 season happen, though I'm not holding my breath.
Big Brother will return in 2021 but, in the meantime, fans can binge past seasons on CBS All Access. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more news on the series and the latest in television and movies.
