Article content

Watch your back, Winter Olympics!

CBS and Global are counterprogramming the big games in Pyeongchang, South Korea with a boldface edition of TV’s guiltiest pleasure: Big Brother.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or CELEB WARFARE: Julie Chen sounds off on Omarosa, reveals Big Brother secret Back to video

Fans and critics have been demanding a star version of the reality TV series, especially since the U.K. franchise has had great success with its celeb editions.

While CBS has explored the concept over the years, host Julie Chen tells us in an exclusive interview that the stars literally aligned for its first ever celebrity edition.

Chen says, “With the Olympics airing for two-and-a-half weeks, it allowed us to get the celebrities we wanted after we made sure it was economic to produce. In the past, we realized a celeb edition was difficult because the stars we wanted wouldn’t agree to be locked up in a house for three months during the summer. So every time we explored it, the answer was, ‘No.’ It was a counterprogramming move, for sure, so it all worked out.”

Fans shouldn’t worry that CBS will penalize Big Brother Celebrity’s ratings if they aren’t as high as they usually are given the Winter Olympics. “The measuring stick will be different,” assures Chen. “We have to look at what we had programmed against the Olympics in previous years and compare those numbers. We’re not expecting to beat the Olympics; we’re just hoping it’s a fun alternative. Not everyone watches the Olympics. I don’t think we can lose!”

Since the season will be significantly shortened, the broadcast schedule has increased to four days a week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday) with two live shows a week and the Friday live eviction episode is a two-hour show. “It’s like Big Brother on speed,” says the Queens, New York native.

Chen will continue to pull double duty on the Emmy-winning The Talk but she’ll “only miss one episode, maybe two from the talk show. The two studios share a parking lot,” she notes.

As for the roster, Dancing With The Stars casting director Deena Katz lent her acclaimed talents to finding the perfect cast: a mixture of in-the-headlines, on-the-rise and buzzworthy celebrities.

“She has it down to a science,” raves Chen, who says she only made one casting suggestion but the star wasn’t available.