Julie Chen Moonves Explains Why ‘Big Brother 26’ Is the ‘Craziest Year’ Yet

Longtime Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves has long since learned to “expect the unexpected.”

After going 24 years without missing a live eviction, Chen Moonves, 54, was forced to sit out a September episode of the CBS reality series due to a positive Covid test. Jerry O’Connell seamlessly filled in as her substitute, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Chen Moonves’ journalistic gravitas — which stands in stark contrast to the show’s zany competitions and quirky sound effects — is an integral part of Big Brother. When she was suddenly gone, her contributions became all the more obvious.

“I didn’t expect anything [when I came] back. But it’s a live show, and we have a live audience,” Chen Moonves exclusively reveals in Us Weekly’s Reality Stars of the Year issue. “I’m back and Covid-free, [and] people clapped. [It was like] when Sally Field won the Oscar a million years ago [and] she was like, ‘Do you like me? You really like me?’ I was like, ‘Oh, they knew I was gone. That’s so sweet.’”

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Chen Moonves has helmed Big Brother since it premiered in 2000. Fans have lovingly dubbed her “The Chenbot” because of her precise delivery. When she interviews evicted houseguests, it’s easy to forget you’re watching a reality competition series and not 60 Minutes.

While speaking to Big Brother 15’s Aaryn Gries, who sparked backlash for making racist and homophobic comments in the house, Chen Moonves gave Gries, 34, an opportunity to explain herself before reading back verbatim some of the statements she’d made.

Chen Moonves tells Us that after actor Mark Feuerstein saw her 2013 interview with Gries, he told her, “‘You were like [esteemed broadcast journalist] Edward R. Murrow.’” Because “journalism is [her] first love,” Chen Moonves says that Feuerstein’s comment and being told that she’s “funny” are the “two nicest compliments I could ever get.”

Chen Moonves missing an eviction isn’t the only reason that Big Brother 26, which kicked off in July, has been an unprecedented season. The power of veto was used every single week until week 11, setting a record and making for messy and interesting gameplay.

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“No question, this is the craziest year,” Chen Moonves tells Us. She chalks up the consistent use of vetoes to the season’s big twist, the BB AI arena, which forced the Head of Household to nominate three players for eviction instead of two. The three nominees had to compete live on eviction night, with the winner earning safety and the remaining two nominees left to face a live eviction vote. Although the twist ended after week 7, Chen Moonves says it set the tone for the entire season.

“The BB AI arena forced people to have to make decisions on the fly,” Chen Moonves explains, pointing out that it’s harder to reach a consensus about who to vote out when you don’t know for certain who the nominees will be. “Because they couldn’t huddle up and have that herd mentality, early on they were in a situation where they had to think as an individual. … ‘I may be on the wrong side of the vote, but I gotta do what’s right for me.’”

The twist did, in fact, make for fewer unanimous votes and more surprising eviction nights. Chen Moonves says she “wouldn’t rule out” the BB AI arena returning in one form or another during future seasons.

“I think it was successful,” she tells Us.

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Chen Moonves was just as invested as the viewers watching the BB AI arena competitions, and even had to hold back her emotions when fan-favorite Tucker Des Lauriers lost during week 6, resulting in his eviction.

“[With] my journalism background [I’m] trying to be unbiased. But I’m a human being, and everybody loved Tucker,” says Chen Moonves, who names Des Lauriers, 30, as her personal Reality Star of the Year.

While the show is already in its 26th season, next summer will mark 25 years of Big Brother, and Chen Moonves is grateful that there’s no end in sight.

“The fact that we’re going to get another year, I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you, Lord,’” she says. “I feel like we get new viewers every year because kids suddenly discover it. I hear from friends, they’re like, ‘Oh, my daughter in 5th grade, she just discovered [Big Brother]. Now she’s binge-watching.’”

Big Brother airs on CBS and Paramount+ Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. You can watch episodes on Paramount+ the next day.