Warning! The following contains spoilers for the premiere of Big Brother: Reindeer Games. Read at your own risk!
When Big Brother Season 25 concluded on the 2023 TV schedule, I was unsure about the spinoff Reindeer Games. Watching a spinoff so soon after the longest season of the CBS reality series in the show's history felt like a tall order, especially since it wouldn't be the typical Big Brother offshoot that many wanted. However, this new show is entirely different, and I'm shocked by how much I love it.
Big Brother: Reindeer Games will only air new episodes on CBS for two weeks, and this is the sign saying it's time to catch up with a Paramount+ subscription and get on board. As a fan who thought this would be a complete waste of time, I'm fully ready to eat crow and admit this is already shaping up to be a series that I'd love to see make a yearly appearance.
The Holiday Element Paired With Returning Houseguests Sells The Whole Spinoff
After my realization that Big Brother seasons that last 100 days are a major problem and the game shouldn't be that long, I figured I'd be too burnt out to watch Reindeer Games. What I hadn't factored in was that I'd be weeks deep into watching the best Christmas movies and that seeing the Big Brother house look like Santa's home away from home would really do something for me. The crew did a fantastic job transforming the house to the point you can't really see any evidence of Season 25 in the design. Also, making the entire cast wear ugly sweaters was a fantastic touch that I absolutely love.
I also didn't think about how much I'd love to see past Houseguests in this festive situation, perhaps because of the bummer season that was Big Brother Season 22. It seems like this new batch of veterans, even the ones that were a part of that season like Cody Calafiore and Nicole Franzel, are much more energized than they were in that appearance. Perhaps we can chalk up the lack of enthusiasm from that past season to a bunch of Houseguests playing a game during pandemic lockdowns? In any case, the cast so far is amazing, with Britney Haynes, Danielle Reyes, and Taylor Hale all being early standouts for me.
No Live Feeds? No Problem.
One major reason I wasn't on board with Big Brother: Reindeer Games was because it didn't have the usual format of the game, which meant no live feeds. The live feeds have historically been the way for fans to see the "truth" behind what went down each season, as evidenced by the television episodes that spun different narratives either to condense or hide storylines. So far, however, I'm not missing the live feeds, and part of that is because of how the show is done.
One Houseguest was left out of the fun despite originally being in talks to join.
Evictions happen due to losing competitions in Big Brother: Reindeer Games, which takes out a lot of the discussion in the reality series. Players don't have to campaign for votes, nor do Houseguests have to decide who to vote for. The winner of the first competition decides who they will send to compete in the elimination game, and that's it. There's no need for live feeds here, though I wouldn't complain if they were added in another season.
Plus, as far as drama is concerned, Big Brother: Reindeer Games already delivered in the first episode. Nicole Franzel talked with Brittany Haynes after unfollowing her on X years ago, and they worked through the drama there. Granted, I wish they would've gone into why many former Houseguests criticized Nicole that season, especially since the fallout resulted in her losing sponsorship deals on social media. I would argue the edit made Nicole a bit more sympathetic than she might've deserved to be in the scene, but I'll take the drama either way.
I'll also take another season of this spinoff next year if that's a possibility because I'm loving it so far.
Big Brother: Reindeer Games airs on CBS on Mondays and Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET and on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Check it out and see who will come out $100,000 richer and won't even need the approval of their Houseguests to obtain it.
