“Big Brother: Unlocked” announces hosting shakeup and new game twist

Dalton RossTue, June 30, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC

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James Gunn, Derrick Levasseur and Taylor Hale on 'Big Brother: Unlocked'Credit: cbsKey Points -

Three is the magic number, as Big Brother: Unlocked is adding a third host into the mix for 2026.

The companion talk show is also launching a fan vote that will impact the game.

Should we get tickets and be in the live studio audience? Kind of considering it.

Expect the unexpected. With the season 28 premiere of Big Brother just over a week away on July 9, the CBS reality competition show has announced a change to its hosting lineup for companion series Big Brother: Unlocked. And a new twist that will have a “major impact on the game.”

Former winners Taylor Hale and Derrick Levasseur will once again be hosting the talk show, but they will be welcoming a third personality to the mix in Jerry O’Connell.

This will be far from O’Connell’s first brush with the summer guilty pleasure. An avowed superfan of the franchise, O’Connell stepped in as Big Brother’s first-ever substitute host on Sept. 12, 2024 when Julie Chen Moonves came down with a case of Covid.

Jerry O'Connell filling in for Julie Chen Moonves as host on 'Big Brother' season 26Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Now he will be joining his fellow panelists Taylor and Derrick on a regular basis to break down the show and share their insight and perspective.

“Big Brother is my summer and rolls into my fall too,” O’Connell said in a statement released by the network announcing the move. “I’m already watching on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, so the fact that CBS is now paying me to do it is kind of amazing. It’s an absolute honor to sit next to Derrick — ‘Champ,’ as I call him — and Taylor, who is my all-time favorite Big Brother winner (sorry, Jag). This is what we call in showbiz a dream gig. I’ll do my best to be the voice of the fans, but as Julie says, expect the unexpected. And most importantly, remember to love one another. I’m soooo excited to join the Big Brother fam!"

That’s not the only change to Unlocked. Not only will there be a live studio audience for the companion show’s second season, but the network also announced: “The premiere episode launches a new interactive fan vote that will have a major impact on the game.”

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What that vote will be and how it will impact the game remains to be seen, but it sounds like an extension of the America’s Choice voting that has taken place throughout the series’ run, in which viewers vote on certain twists and advantages.Perhaps those votes will now be more often and first announced on Unlocked.

Lance Bass, Derrick Levasseur and Taylor Hale on 'Big Brother: Unlocked'Credit: cbs

Big Brother: Unlocked made news when Hale helped book Superman director (and Big Brother superfan) James Gunn as a guest in its first season. Now we will see if O’Connell — who has starred in everything from Stand Be Me to Sliders, and has other CBS reality TV experience as host of The Real Love Boat — opens up his celebrity rolodex to bring in more famous faces.

He certainly handled himself well on his one-night-only guest-hosting stint on the mothership show. “I knew I had to be true to Julie Chen Moonves and true to the show,” he told Entertainment Weekly the morning after his surprise experience. “I didn't want to go out there and ruin anybody's Thursday night, especially Big Brother fandom, who are quite vocal and not afraid to let their opinions be known.”

Their opinions will surely be made known about this latest move as well.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”