Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves may have never even taken the job had she felt that she had a choice in the matter. That’s the story that Julie has relayed during several interviews.
The history of Big Brother could look a lot different if Julie Chen Moonves had never been a part of it. On one hand, she has made the show her own, becoming one of the most recognizable reality show hosts on television. Plus, many fans agree that she has made the show better by simply being involved with it.
So, why was Julie almost not the Big Brother host? It appears that she had set her sights on a different job at CBS, and she felt that if she became the host of a reality competition show, she might never get that break that she was looking for at the network.
This is one of those stories that is remarkable to look back on because some of the success that Big Brother has had over the years has to be attributed directly to Julie, who has always been great about creating buzz and doing press for the show.
Julie Chen Moonves interview with Entertainment Weekly
“I was working at the network morning news reader for The Early Show for only nine months when I was approached about hosting Big Brother. I asked if taking this job would forever seal the door shut for me to become a 60 Minutes correspondent and when I was told ‘probably,'” Julie said during an extended interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“I said then that makes my decision easy and I turned down the job. Then I was told if I didn’t take it, it could technically be assigned to me and if I didn’t do it, it could be considered insubordination,” Julie went on to say.
The rest is history. Julie did take the job and now she is hosting Big Brother 23.
A new season of Big Brother airing on CBS
Fans already know that Julie has returned for Big Brother 23 and that the season is off and running on CBS. New episodes air each Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday and it could be a very exciting season.
To start the new season, the BB23 cast had to form teams. The 16 brand new houseguests were split up into four teams and that’s how they will be competing for the first few weeks this summer. It’s a flashback to something that was tried with the BB14 cast and it will be very interesting to see how long team loyalty lasts.
The first Head of Household for the summer was Frenchie, and he is already making waves with the rest of the cast and also the viewers at home. On the live feeds, Frenchie was just seen calling his castmates “stupid” as he talked about how easy he is finding the game to be. Could that change when he is not in power?
It could all lead to some great television if we get to see Frenchie sit down with Julie Chen Moonves for an exit interview, as she typically knows the perfect questions to ask houseguests after they get blindsided due to overconfidence.
Big Brother 23 airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.