BIG Brother has wasted no time proving Season 28 won’t be like anything fans have seen before on tonight’s jaw-dropping premiere.
Just minutes into Thursday night’s highly-anticipated episode, host Julie Chen-Moonves stunned both viewers and the brand-new houseguests with a game-changing announcement that completely flipped the competition on its head.
Julie opened the premiere by welcoming viewers back to the Big Brother house before introducing this year’s “Time Warp” theme, explaining that the season will feature twists inspired by the past, present and future of the long-running CBS reality series.
The newly redesigned house also leaned heavily into the futuristic concept, with glowing neon accents, oversized clocks, gears, shifting timepiece-inspired décor and rooms designed around different eras as the game promised unexpected “time shifts” throughout the summer.
Rather than bringing out the entire cast together, Julie first introduced the seven women competing for the $750,000 grand prize.
This season’s female houseguests are Ashley Trail, Haley Thogmartin, LaTrice Verrett, Lyric Medeiros, Mallory Aurichio, Melody Morris, and Taylor Brown.
After welcoming the ladies onto the stage, Julie then unveiled the seven male contestants through a video package before introducing them to the audience.
The Season 28 men are Barrett Pfeiffer, Chuk Anyanwu, Drew Campbell, Jason De Puy, Kamuela “Kamu” Kirk, Rome Seymour, and Yash Patel.
Once all 14 new houseguests entered the Big Brother house, Julie gathered everyone for what is being considered one of the biggest twists in the show’s history.
She then revealed that this season would not feature just the 14 competitors who already entered the house – leaving the group’s jaws on the floor.
In addition to the crew of 14, three controversial reality television legends would move into the house and compete alongside the newcomers for the full $750,000 grand prize.
The identities of the mystery players would remain secret until after the first competition of the season got underway.
The first reveal immediately sent shockwaves through the house as the mystery contestant turned out to be controversial Big Brother alum Angela Murray.
The reaction from the cast was instant chaos.
Several houseguests screamed as Angela walked through the front door, while some jumped up in disbelief, and others even briefly ran out of the room trying to process what had just happened.
Some contestants openly admitted they never wanted to play alongside Angela and even said she would have been their last choice they would want to enter the game.
Others immediately began discussing whether they should target her as soon as possible, with talk of sending the returning player home at the first opportunity.
Angela was part of Big Brother’s 25th season and was known for her chaotic gameplay and stirring up trouble amongst her cast.
The season’s opening challenge then continued before Julie unveiled the second mystery reality TV veteran.
The next familiar face entering the game was Survivor fan favorite Rick Devens, who officially joined the show alongside the new cast.
Rick is a favorite amongst the CBS fanbase however, to fellow gamers, he’s seen as a major threat and an “untrustworthy” ally.
While most of the houseguests already knew the famed weatherman, it was Angela who appeared the most excited to see the Survivor 50 alum.
Following one more round of the competition, it was then revealed that Big Brother alum Rachel Reilly would be part of the season.
The reveal was particularly stunning as Rachel, who dominated seasons 12 and 13 of the show, also played last year.
However, not everything was as it seems as just minutes later, Rachel got “eaten” by a dinosaur in the Mesozoic-themed challenge and she was out of the competition as fast as she entered.
Confusion erupted on set as it was unclear what that meant for the season – with Julie quickly informing players that one more surprise was underway.
Thursday’s episode ended on a cliffhanger as it has not yet been officially announced who the third and final reality TV veteran joining the cast will be.
However, The U.S. Sun previously disclosed the player’s identity.
Following the premiere, the series will air Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with episodes also available to stream on Paramount+.
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, the season is already off to a rocky start after hopeful contestant Levi Banks was removed from the season just days before the first episode.
