Big Brother 21: Bringing back BB App Store could work

As producers put together the format for Big Brother 21, one aspect that they should consider bringing back is the BB App Store. Though it didn’t work perfectly during the Big Brother 20 season, it still brought a number of interesting facets to the summer.

Each week during the summer 2018 season, one houseguest was named the most-trending and another was named the least-trending. This went on for the first three weeks that the show was on CBS. Being most-trending came with a reward while being the least-trending came with a punishment. This is something that could work better during the Big Brother 21 season.

A look back at the BB App Store

During Big Brother 20, Tyler Crispen, Sam Bledsoe, and Bayleigh Dayton were awarded the most-trending powers. The problem, though, was that none of the powers got used. Technically, Sam’s power of having a chance to win a competition and return got played, as Kaitlyn Herman got to do a puzzle when Sam didn’t use her power in the first four weeks. Kaitlyn failed.

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Changing things up a bit for Big Brother 21

Looking back, it seems like there was just a blend of bad timing and bad luck when it came to the top-trending power. On the other side of that coin, the punishments were fun to watch. In one, Rachel Swindler had to deal with an overly-critical fan. In another punishment, Faysal Shafatt had to keep eating deliveries of vegetarian ham.

The trending twist wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely a good way to get fans more involved. The one strong request could be that producers and CBS are more open about how the rewards and punishments are given out. Rather than simply the houseguests getting talked about the most or the least, maybe actually do an open vote each time around. It would give viewers some slight control and possibly increase the level of interest.

It’s still a long wait until Big Brother 21 hits CBS. It likely won’t premiere until the end of June or early July of 2019, but it’s still fun to talk about what might be coming for next summer. Casting is rumored to be underway already, but it’s a long process to get the right group of houseguests ready for the public.