Cassandra Waldon, who played on the first season of Big Brother in the United States, has died at the age of 56. The tragic event took place on September 25.
Host Julie Chen Moonves, who has been with the show since the beginning, took to her Instagram feed to post about it on Friday afternoon.
Cassandra Waldon on Big Brother Season 1
Cassandra was one of the brave people who decided to try out a new type of reality competition show. They didn’t know what they were getting into when CBS decided to try a new twist on things. This was back when the show also had a second host in Ian O’Malley.
The season started in July of 2000 and it was done a bit differently than current seasons. It ran for 70 episodes in 88 days, which is a lot, as Big Brother 21 only had 40 episodes over 99 days. It meant that the Big Brother 1 cast got more screentime, but that also meant more eyes on them.
Cassandra finished in sixth place out of 10 houseguests, but she was an interesting person to watch on the show. Her background included being from Maryland and working for the United Nations. That job would be even more interesting if someone on a current cast did it, but they might not get to with the live feeds.
Video of Cassandra entering the Big Brother house can be found here.
sad news, Cassandra Waldon of Big Brother 1 passed away last month.. she worked at the UN at the time she was on the show, and was well-liked by her roomies and viewers alike ? pic.twitter.com/zgTZwwkGI7
— hamsterwatch (@hamsterwatch) October 4, 2019
Cassandra is the second person from the U.S. version of Big Brother to pass away. Kent Blackwelder, who was a part of the Big Brother 2 cast, passed away on December 24, 2017. Kent was known for his conservative views, which is something the summer cast members haven’t exhibited in a while.
In regard to Cassandra’s time in the game, she was the first houseguest to ever return through a twist and was also the first cast member to actually walk inside the house. Being the first in and not winning led to the curse that fans said befell the first one to walk through the doors each season after that. Eddie McGee ended up winning Big Brother 1.
Big Brother returns to CBS with new episodes in summer 2020.