In 2008, Big Brother aired a season that sought to find love connections between the houseguests.
Before entering the game, the prospective players filled out compatibility forms to help find someone.
Big Brother 9 even had a subtitle, with Julie Chen Moonves letting everyone know it would be called Til Death Do You Part.
Seven women and nine men entered the house to play the game, but the twist was quickly revealed that they would be playing as duos.
A secondary twist was that two of the houseguests were already dating, and two houseguests were exes who had recently broken up.
The exes were paired up as one duo, the couple was split up, and their past relationships were kept a secret from everyone else.
Big Brother 9 becomes a dating show
Some couples the producers had created were very excited about being together, while others were not so sure.
Natalie Lynn Cunial and Matt McDonald were very excited about their pairing, but Adam Jasinski and Sheila Kennedy butted heads right away.
Sharon Obermueller and Jacob Heald were a couple who had used to date, and she was mad to be stuck in the house with the guy who had cheated on her in real life. They didn’t work well together, and Jacob created a toxic situation that turned other houseguests against them.
The secret relationship was between Ryan Quicksall and Jen Diturno. They weren’t told they would be teamed up with other people inside the house, creating a tricky situation.
A winter season of Big Brother
Big Brother 9 aired during the winter, which was a result of a Writers Strike. Is that something that could happen again this year?
Having a season during the winter months gave Big Brother fans something fun to watch, and giving it a specific theme differentiated the BB9 cast from seasons in the past.
This was also the first time that 16 houseguests played the game, setting a new standard for bigger casts that would follow.
The BB9 cast was also aided by having coverage on Showtime Two, where Big Brother: After Dark used to air.
For fans who haven’t had the chance to watch this season, Big Brother 9 is available for streaming on Paramount+.
The season moves along quickly, and it’s easy to binge-watch this group of intriguing characters.
More Big Brother news
A new season of Big Brother debuts this summer.
Fans will enjoy an extended season of Big Brother, even though it got pushed back until August.
As for why Big Brother got delayed this year, here is a breakdown of the BB25 postponement.
In addition to the new season, a special on CBS celebrates 25 seasons of the hit reality competition show.
Big Brother 25 debuts on August 2 on CBS.