Meet Heath Luman, The Man Who Brings Big Brother Competitions To Life

Get a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the series' most memorable comps came to be.

My role’s basically front-end and development. Once we get [the] creative approved, then it transitions to staffing the competition department, working with more hands-on people, and producing these competitions.

My first games job was on a show called

and, at the time, it was super top-secret because the concept of that show was that there’s one

"real" person and everyone else are actors playing the roles of funny, reality-show types. My first gig there was actually designing games and telling the actors how to make sure they win it. It was a hybrid: part scripted, part unscripted.

A guy I worked with on that had actually worked on

so he said, "Hey, what are you doing after this? I’m doing BB4 and we could use some help."



So, I interviewed and got hired. I did Season 4, then I freelanced a bit with Animal Planet, Pros vs. Joes, came back for Season 7, and have been [with Big Brother] every since Season 14, when I began leading the department.

It kind of started with the movie

. I had this idea, [like], "What if it’s like a news-type thing where they’re reporting the weather and they’re getting doused with stuff?" How do we make that into a game?

Were there any changes made to the "Under The Weather" before it was taped?

Yes, there was another format we originally brainstormed, where we were going to just let the teleprompter go and have each Houseguest read back every word. If they messed up a word, it'd a strike. When there were three strikes, they’d be out.



We’d judge them off of a script and the teleprompter would get faster as they go.



But, then we were, like, "Oh, man. Pronunciation or trying to judge if each word counts might be hard," so we didn’t go that route.

Fans and Feeders, allow us to introduce you to Heath Luman, Big Brother Co-Executive Producer and the visionary behind the show's fun and inventive competitions.This California native—who worked on Seasons 4 7 , and 14 through 18 —is the creative brains behind some of the the series' most memorable Head of Household and Power of Veto battles and, with every passing season, he challenges himself to think outsideBefore coordinating production for the, which aired during, Heath took some time to talk through the details, obstacles, and joy he gets out of his unique role on Big Brother.So, what exactly goes into creating a made-for-TV comp? Read on.[Then,] once we’re into production, we have to figure out exactly how to pull these ideas off.Sometimes you have a vision—like a funny comedic thing you want to produce—but it takes a lot of thought, time, and care to deliver that in a way that’s safe, that the cameras can cover, and that's fair.We have something called "The Wall" that breaks down every comp of the entire season, showing how many players, how many non-players, and the overall game layout in a clear schedule.The Joe Schmo ShowBig Brother,That’s where I lean on my team a lot. A lot of time, I’ll do the broad strokes of a competition and then I trust the team to break down the details.Something like the BB Roadkill that was filmed on Fridays requires each Houseguest to be shot one at a time. That’s 15 people coming through the backyard.That was a new thing this season and was a lot of work for post-production to put together for a screening the next day. There’s a lot of thought that goes into how to make things like that work.AnchormanThere are two things. One is the writers' room vibe with me and my team, where we're all just brainstorming and bouncing ideas off each other. It’s hard not to be happy and have fun when you’re laughing and coming up with Zingbot jokes.The other part that’s pretty cool is the live adrenaline pressure.One that’s pretty memorable—we won an award for it—was Tumblin’ Dice in Season 16 . That was special because we had the idea in Season 14, but we didn’t do it until two seasons later.When I first pitched it, people didn’t quite get it and it was met with a lot of resistance. [But] it was a fun balance, movement, and mental comp, and was satisfying to finally have it come to life and have people enjoy it.Watch Big Brother on Sundays and Wednesdays at 8/7c, and Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS, and stream full episodes on CBS All Access