The first episode of Big Brother: Reindeer Games finally aired. The competition for a $100,000 prize began, with the houseguests battling in a series of challenges.
Santa opened the Big Brother multiverse and found nine former houseguests to help him save the holiday season.
The Big Brother: Reindeer Games cast was introduced, person by person. Each former houseguest talked about when they appeared on the regular show and brought some laughter to the spin-off.
Setting aside the silly premise, it set the stage for Big Brother fans to have something fun to watch this winter.
Three people have returned from Big Brother 16 (Cody Calafiore, Nicole Franzel, and Frankie Grande), and so has someone from BB25 (Cameron Hardin).
As the players were introduced on the Reindeer Games season premiere, the production made it look like they didn’t know who was on the cast before arriving on set.
Who is on the Big Brother: Reindeer Games cast
Below is the list of players competing for the $100,00 prize in Reindeer Games.
- Nicole Franzel from BB16, BB18, BB22, and The Amazing Race
- Danielle Reyes from BB3 and BB7
- Josh Martinez from BB19 and The Challenge
- Xavier Prather from BB23 and The Challenge
- Taylor Hale from BB24
- Britney Haynes from BB12, BB14, and The Amazing Race
- Frankie Grande from BB16 and Celebrity Big Brother UK
- Cody Calafiore from BB16, BB22, and The Traitors
- Cameron Hardin from Big Brother 25
The first episode of Big Brother: Reindeer Games
The premise for Reindeer Games is the people compete in challenges in each episode. One person gets eliminated each night, leading to a finale where the final four compete for the $100,000 prize.
After Santa explained the game format to folks, people started breaking off to form alliances. Cody and Frankie from BB16 teamed up again, Danielle and Britney chatted, Nicole and Britney chatted, and Taylor and Josh aligned. Xavier, Danielle, Josh, and Taylor also tried establishing a foursome.
Big Brother 11 winner Jordan Lloyd came out later, letting everyone know she is an elf for Santa. That translates to her being a co-host.
Jordan told them it was time to begin the challenges.
The Big Brother: Reindeer Games begin
The Naughty and Nice Challenge begins each episode.
Jordan explained that the first challenge was to solve a riddle based on clues they found in the house. They had to use the clues to figure out the name of a song.
Britney Haynes guessed it correctly. She received an advantage in an upcoming challenge and could give someone a disadvantage.
Britney chatted with every player before making her decision. She went with Cody as the player who would get the disadvantage. Nicole was pleased.
Jingle Bell Brawl
Jordan revealed the next challenge as the Jingle Ball Brawl. The winner would acquire safety for the night and help decide who would be at risk of going home.
The challenge had the competitors delivering letters from one side of the backyard to the other. The first part of the challenge was for a houseguest to put their letters in someone else’s mailbox. The second part of the challenge was for the houseguests to empty those mailboxes. Strategies included targeting one player (Cameron) so he couldn’t win and Cody going after Nicole.
Frankie Grande won the Jingle Bell Brawl. He gained safety from elimination on Day 1. Frankie then had to select two players to face Santa’s Showdown.
Santa’s Showdown is the challenge that decides who goes home each night.
The first Santa’s Showdown
Ahead of his decision, Nicole went to Frankie to find safety. Nicole told the cameras in a Diary Room session that she would backstab them (Frankie and Cody) but needed to play the BB16 card first.
In his own Diary Room session, Frankie said he planned to send two strong players into Santa’s Showdown. But would he?
Frankie met with everyone and decided to send Cameron and Xavier to Santa’s Showdown. One of them would soon be eliminated.
A massive puzzle awaited Cameron and Xavier in the backyard. The winner would be safe, and the loser would be the first person sent home.
The puzzle was intense and intricate. Xavier and Cameron had different strategies, and it made for good television.
Diary Room sessions had the spectators talking about how they were pleased that two big competitors were battling and that one would go home.
Xavier Prather won Santa’s Showdown. Cameron Hardin was sent home first.
Cameron got to choose a random gift from under a Christmas tree. Jordan said prizes ranged from $5,000 to fruit cake.
Cameron received a year of jelly.
That brings an end to the first Big Brother: Reindeer Games episode.
Here is the full episode schedule for Big Brother: Reindeer Games.
Nicole Franzel shared an image of injuries she received while playing the game.
Former houseguest Janelle Pierzina claimed producers ghosted a Big Brother winner. She claimed it happened after that person was contacted about the show.
Big Brother: Reindeer Games airs on CBS.