Big Brother is back on CBS, and the show’s 28th season arrived Thursday night with a cast twist that reality television fans had been anticipating for days. The 90 minute season premiere introduced a new time travel concept called Big Brother: Time Trip, along with a wave of surprise houseguests pulled straight from Survivor and past seasons of Big Brother itself.
The premiere landed at a moment when nearly every major Big Brother related search term was trending at once, from questions about what time the show airs to the identities of Angela Murray, Rick Devens and Dee Valladares. Here is what actually happened, and why it matters for the rest of the summer.
Latest Verified Developments
CBS confirmed that Season 28 premiered Thursday, July 9 at 8 p.m. ET with an extended 90 minute episode. The season carries extra significance for the network because it marks Big Brother’s 1,000th original episode, making it the first primetime series in television history to reach that total. CBS built the season around that milestone, expanding the programming schedule to include more original hours than any previous cycle of the show.
Host Julie Chen Moonves, who has led every edition of the American version since it debuted in 2000, returned to introduce the new group of houseguests and lay out the season’s central twist. During the premiere, Season 26 standout Angela Murray and Survivor veteran Rick Devens were confirmed as part of the cast, joining 14 previously announced players. A third reality television name, Survivor 45 winner Dee Valladares, had been widely reported in the days leading up to the premiere and was expected to be formally introduced during the companion series Big Brother: Unlocked, which debuted Friday, July 10.
Why Everyone Is Searching For Big Brother Today
The surge in interest traces back to two overlapping storylines. The first is straightforward curiosity about scheduling, since the show shifted its usual rhythm this year with a longer premiere, an expanded companion series and a new live feed option on YouTube. The second is the cast itself. Casting pulled contestants from Survivor’s landmark 50th season and from Big Brother’s own recent history, a crossover strategy CBS has leaned into more heavily over the past two summers.
That combination, a milestone episode count, a reworked schedule and a roster built partly from other reality shows, is what pushed so many related terms onto Google Trends simultaneously.
Complete Cast Update
The season’s initial 14 houseguests were revealed on July 7 during a livestreamed event CBS called the Big Brother Broveal. That group includes Jason De Puy, who competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars under the name Salina EsTitties, aerospace engineer Mallory Aurichio, MMA fighter and coach Kamuela “Kamu” Kirk, and Lyric Medeiros, the daughter of 1980s pop artist George Medeiros.
Hours after that reveal, Entertainment Weekly and other outlets confirmed that Angela Murray, who first appeared on Big Brother Season 26 and later competed on The Amazing Race with her daughter, would return for Season 28. Rick Devens, known for his run on Survivor: Edge of Extinction and his more recent appearance on the milestone Survivor 50 season, was confirmed as one of two former Survivor castaways joining the Big Brother house this summer. With those additions, the confirmed cast entering premiere night stood at 16 houseguests.
What Dee Valladares’ Involvement Means
Dee Valladares, who won Survivor 45 and later competed on Survivor 50 alongside Devens, was reported throughout premiere week as the second Survivor castaway heading into the Big Brother house. Multiple outlets, citing house insider Sharon Tharp, indicated her arrival would be held back from the initial premiere episode and instead revealed during Big Brother: Unlocked on July 10, timed to coincide with the start of live feeds.
Her arrival is notable beyond the crossover novelty. Valladares has now competed on The Challenge, Survivor and Big Brother within a twelve month stretch, a run no other contestant in reality competition history has matched across those three franchises. Her Survivor resume, built on strong social gameplay and challenge performance, gives her an experienced foundation heading into an unfamiliar format.
Angela Murray Update
Murray’s return drew a mixed but loud reaction from longtime viewers. Her original run on Big Brother 26 was defined by high energy gameplay and frequent conflict with other houseguests, and her Season 28 casting continues a pattern CBS started last summer of bringing back a single alum to play alongside an otherwise new cast. How she is received by 16 new castmates, several of whom will have watched her prior season, is expected to shape an early storyline.
Rick Devens Update
Devens enters Big Brother with one of the more decorated recent Survivor resumes in the cast. He first gained attention during Survivor: Edge of Extinction, then returned for the expanded Survivor 50 season earlier this year. His competition background and public profile make him one of the higher visibility additions to the house, and his presence alongside Valladares gives Season 28 two houseguests already accustomed to being filmed under game pressure.
Julie Chen Moonves Announcement
Chen Moonves used the premiere to formally unveil the season’s Time Trip concept, describing a house built around shifting time periods, hidden relics and competitions designed to disrupt strategy early in the game. The design includes a themed living room blending decades of decor, a hallway of retired game props from Big Brother history, and other rooms built around the time travel concept. She also confirmed the return of BB Block Buster, a twist requiring the Head of Household to nominate three houseguests rather than the traditional two, now in its third consecutive season.
Where To Watch, Streaming and Premiere Schedule
Big Brother Season 28 airs on CBS with new episodes on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, and Wednesday episodes run 90 minutes throughout the season. Viewers with a Paramount+ Premium subscription can stream episodes live as they air, while Paramount+ Essential subscribers and Premium subscribers alike can access episodes the day after broadcast. Big Brother: Unlocked, the companion analysis show featuring past winners Taylor Hale and Derrick Levasseur alongside new panelist Jerry O’Connell, airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
Live feeds, which allow subscribers to watch the house around the clock between episodes, began Friday, July 10 at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. For the first time in the show’s history, CBS is also offering limited windows of free live feed access on the official Big Brother YouTube channel following each episode of both the main show and Unlocked.
What Fans Should Expect
With 16 confirmed houseguests and a third high profile name expected to join through Unlocked, Season 28 is shaping up as one of the more crowded and star driven casts in recent memory. The Time Trip theme introduces new competition formats built around the show’s decor and props, while the returning BB Block Buster twist adds early pressure to the Head of Household role. Expect the show’s opening weeks to focus heavily on how new houseguests navigate relationships with three experienced reality competitors already inside the game.
Industry Context
Big Brother’s push toward reality television crossover casting mirrors a broader trend across unscripted programming, where networks increasingly recruit contestants with existing fan bases from sister franchises to boost engagement and social media conversation. CBS has paired that strategy this season with the show’s 1,000th episode milestone and an expanded live feed distribution model, signaling an effort to modernize the franchise’s reach as it enters its 28th season on the network.
