George Cheeks and Amy Reisenbach Explain How ‘Big Brother’ Sustained 1,000 Episodes

“Big Brother” celebrated its 1,000th episode on Thursday night, bringing back over 100 former houseguests to the Radford Studios lot in Los Angeles as a Season 28 fan-favorite was evicted from the house.

After the special, 90-minute episode, host Julie Chen Moonves was joined by EPs Allison Grodner, Rich Meehan and Chris Roach, as well as top CBS executives George Cheeks, Amy Reisenbach and Mitch Graham for a block party right outside the BB house, complete with food trucks, bars, two red carpets and cake.

“I’ve been the steward leader of CBS for six-and-a-half years. However, I’ve been a ‘Big Brother’ fan for 25 years,” Cheeks, chair of TV Media at Paramount, told the crowd. “I started watching the show with the second season, and when I say fan, I’m not talking casual fan; I’m talking crazy-ass fan — in the blogs, ‘Big Brother’ spoilers. I watched Showtime ‘After Dark,’ I was up with glassy eyes the next day because I was up all night watching the live feeds.”

“It’s everything about this show: I love the format, I love the gameplay, I love getting to know these houseguests for the summer. I love the fact that I love some of them, I love to hate some of them. I pretend I know how to play the game when I don’t have a clue how to do it,” he continued. “But also, as the steward of CBS, what I love about this show is that you built and sustained water cooler TV. In spite of the fact that there’s so much audience fragmentation now, people are doing different things, there’s so much competition for mindshare, people still want to be part of the ‘Big Brother’ community.”

“I started my career in the scripted side of this business, so when I took on this role as president three-and-a-half years ago, I knew ‘Big Brother’ as CBS’s iconic summer franchise. But I had no idea that I was about to enter a whole new world and learn an entirely new language,” Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, added. “That is the magic of ‘Big Brother.’ It isn’t just a show, it’s a phenomenon. It’s a culture-defining show. It creates a community and a summer-long conversation.”

“One thousand episodes is an incredible milestone for a series that was ahead of its time from the start when it premiered in 2000. With 24/7 live feeds, appointment viewing on CBS and the kind of passionate fan conversation that every single show wants,” she further noted. “And here’s what makes this moment even more amazing: In its 28th season, the ‘Big Brother’ audience is up 10 percent from last season. Last summer, viewers spent 8.6 billion minutes with the show and live feeds — this summer, we’re on track to nearly double that with 15 billion. That is, in fact, 50 percent more time than a certain summer dating show on a competitor’s platform.”

During the live show, Chen Moonves revealed the winners of some fan-voted superlatives, such as Best Moment (Dan’s Funeral in BB14), Best to Never Win (Janelle), Best Comp Beast (also Janelle), Best Alliance (The Cookout in BB23), Best Quote (Rachel’s “Floaters, you better grab a life vest!”) and Best Winner (Dan, again). Then, Guinness World Records even presented the show with two of its own awards — most episodes of a primetime TV show and most episodes of a competitive reality TV show.

“As you have all heard, many of us have been asked the question: ‘Did you ever think, did you ever think?’ No, none of us thought. But you know who knew we’d all be here tonight? The Lord,” Chen Moonves later shared with the crowd. “What I love the most is that despite any online nonsense any of you have ever read or heard, I think we have learned in 1,000 episodes we’re all just human and we’re all flawed and we all need some mercy, some grace, some forgiveness, and there is always redemption. I need you all to say it with me … what do we need to do? Love one another!”

Of course, there were simply too many familiar faces in attendance to list outright, but notable guests included: Rachel Reilly, Britney Haynes, Janelle Pierzina, Taylor Hale, Kaysar Ridha, James Rhine, Jen Johnson, Josh Martinez, Jessie Godderz, Xavier Prather, Dan Gheesling, Hayden Moss, Porsche Briggs, Cody Calafiore, Paul Abrahamian, Michelle Costa, Natalie Negrotti, Hannah Chaddha, Tiffany Mitchell, Claire Rehfuss, Joseph Abdin, Felicia Cannon, Cam Sullivan-Brown, Cedric Hodges, Chelsie Baham, Leah Peters, Jimmy Heagerty, Kelley Jorgensen, Vinny Panaro, Morgan Pope and Ashley Hollis, just to name a few.

Thursday’s live eviction saw Drew Campbell once again unwittingly save himself from a blindside with his second Block Buster win, with Taylor Brown then surviving a 6-2 vote over Mallory Aurichio. However, the night’s big twist cut off the live feeds as the contestants were sent back to medieval times — meaning we’ll have to wait until Sunday to see the potential fallout … or if anyone gets stuck forever in the Year 1000.

“Big Brother” airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on CBS before streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes of “Big Brother: Unlocked” planned for Sept. 4 and Sept. 18.