Big Brother 21 (US)

 is the current 21st season of the broadcast edition of Big Brother (U.S.).

Development
CBS announced that Big Brother had been renewed for a twenty-first and twenty-second season on May 15, 2019. CBS later announced on May 20, that the twenty-first season was set to premiere on June 25, 2019. Unnamed insiders close to the production of the show previously cast doubt if Julie Chen would return to host following sexual misconduct allegations against her husband Les Moonves. Chen Moonves however, returned for Celebrity Big Brother 2 (US) and it was later announced that Julie Chen Moonves would return to season 21.

Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan to return as executive producers for the series which is produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment, in association with Endemol Shine North America.

Casting
Despite not having an official renewal announcement from CBS at the time, casting for the season was open until April 2019. Kassting, Inc. returned to provide casting services for a twentieth consecutive season since season 2 with Robyn Kass serving as the casting director.

It was then announced by former season 11 & season 13 contestant, Jeff Schroeder that the houseguests would officially be introduced on June 17th at 11 AM ET/8 AM PT on the live feeds, after they were released an hour earlier.

Cast Relationships
Moments after the cast was revealed, it was noticed by fans that many of the new houseguests have a relationship with one another. Christie Murphy used to date Tommy Bracco's aunt and is tagged in many of each other's Instagram photos. It was revealed by Rob Has a Podcast Life Feed Correspondent, Brent Wolgamott that Holly Allen and Kathryn Dunn were friends and knew that they would be cast together for weeks prior to sequester.

Air Schedule
The season features an initial time slot change from previous seasons; new episodes are set to air on a Sunday/Tuesday/Wednesday schedule through the first six episodes before returning to a traditional Sunday/Wednesday/Thursday schedule as in previous seasons.

The 24/7 internet live feeds are also expected to return with a CBS All Access subscription following the two-night season premiere on June 26. In addition, Big Brother: After Dark is expected to return on Pop also following the two-night premiere on June 26 or June 27, depending on viewers local time zones.

House Reveal
As with previous seasons, the program is filmed at CBS Studios, sound stage 18 in a custom-built two story house. The House is equipped with 94 high-definition cameras and over 113 microphones in order to monitor and record the houseguests. The living room, three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and lounge room are located on the first floor. The Head of Household bedroom and bathroom, and an additional lounge area known as the "Sky Bridge" are located on the second floor. The second floor is accessible by a ladder located in the entry way or a spiral staircase located in the kitchen next to the sliding glass doors that lead to the backyard. The backyard area features outdoor amenities for the houseguests. Entertainment Tonight showed the first look at the house with Kevin Frazier during their episode on the night of June 20, 2019. Entertainment Tonight then released a sneak peek of the house through a brief tour on their website on June 21. Meanwhile, a full house tour with the host, Julie Chen, and other photos were released through the show's social media outlets.

The house theme matched the season's overall theme and received a camp theme; Production Designer Scott Storey designed the house's features. The living room features a birch-wood coffee table and a large and a 23-foot triangular window illuminated by LED lights. The first bedroom features a "sleeping under the stars" theme and includes two double-beds and the exterior of a camper. The camper, is only a facade into the second bedroom which features three double-beds and is assumed to be that of a camp counselor's bedroom. The third and final downstairs bedroom is a sports-themed bedroom primarily based from archery. In the kitchen many of the appliances have been redone in an attempted to blend them in with the rest of the theme, an electronic camp fire has been added to the center of formal dining table. The downstairs lounge area received a boat theme while the bathroom received a boat house like theme. The upstairs lounge area, for the first time in the series history is also accessible by a ladder from the entry way, has been updated to resemble a tree house; the Head of Household bedroom and bathroom have been changed to resemble a Moroccan-style bedroom. The backyard features a pool with kayak's and an attached hot tub, lawn chairs surround the back yard which also features a pool table and a washer and dryer, workout equipment, outdoor lounge areas, a hammock, and a mini-fridge.

Multiplatform Coverage
In the pattern of the past few seasons, this season will have coverage among multiple platforms.

Twists

 * Pre-Existing Relationships: Among the sixteen houseguests, there are various that had known each other each before entering the house. The show acknowledged that Christie Murphy was in a previous relationship with Tommy Bracco's aunt. However, it was discovered online that Holly Allen and Kathryn Dunn had been friends for years, and are Facebook friends. The show did not acknowledge the relationship between Holly & Kathryn.
 * Camp Director: On Night One, the houseguests had to elect a "Camp Director" to rule over the house. The winner would have the power to banish four houseguests to the Hit The Road competition where the loser would be evicted from the house.
 * Hit The Road: The four banished houseguests from the Camp Director would be secluded to backyard where they would have to battle to survive in order to stay in the house.
 * Whacktivity Competition: Every week, five houseguests would competed in a camp-themed competition in order to win a secret power. The winner would be awarded in private and be given a secret power. Due to Camp Comeback, any player who wins a Whacktivity Power and then gets evicted is allowed to regain the power if they return to the game.
 * Nightmare Power: After the Head of Household makes their nominations, the winner would be able to activate the power to nullify the nominations and wake everyone up in the middle of the night and force the Head of Household to name two new nominees on the spot. This power lasts for the first six nomination ceremonies.
 * Chaos Power: After the players have been drawn for the Power of Veto competition, if the winner is not satisfied with the player selection, they would be able to force the HoH and the two nominees to redraw the players. This power lasts until the Final Six.
 * Panic Power/Diamond Power of Veto: In a rule change from its previous appearance, the Diamond Power of Veto allows the holder to anonymously Veto one of the nominees and name the replacement themselves. This power lasts for the following four veto meetings.
 * Camp Comeback/Previously Evicted Contestant: Starting after the second eviction, the evicted houseguest, along with the returning banished houseguest from the Hit The Road competition, would continue to live in the house. The evictees would be able to participate in the social game. They will not be able to participate in competitions and ceremonies, they will be secluded to the Camp Comeback Cabin. The twist will end after the fourth eviction.

Premiere Night Racism
Following the two-night season premiere viewers accused houseguest Jackson Michie of discriminating against race and age. Jackson received the Camp Director power and was required to choose four houseguests to banish. Jackson chose to banish included the seasons only two African American contestants, the Hispanic-American plus size model, along with the oldest person in the house. Viewers then questioned the series for the Head of Household competition which occurred the same night and was named "Color War."

Jack Matthew's Comments
Once the 24/7 live feeds began some viewers began calling for CBS to remove HouseGuest Jack Matthews from the series. Matthews was seen on the live feeds making vicious and violent remarks about Kemi Faknule, behind her back. About Fakunle, Matthews said that she is "fucking poison"; ahead of the Power of Veto competition he stated "B*tch, you're fucking going up and you can play your f*ckin' veto, but I'm gonna f*ck you up!" Most notably Matthews stated "F*cking Kemi makes me want to f*cking stomp a mud hole right through her chest." Aside from this Matthews was also seen making other derogatory comments against other contestants including Ovi Kabir who he called a "brown flame" and Jessica Milagros who he called a "maggot." A Change.org petition was started in an attempt to get Matthews removed from the game for Fakunle's and others safety. Matthews was warned by production about comments made and to prevent further such comments. Meanwhile other live feed viewers state that the CBS disclaimer has appeared more since the incident.

Treatment of David Alexander
On the evening of July 4, Jack and Jackson were in the kitchen discussing the piling up of dishes in the sink in order to upset David Alexander, an African American houseguest, after he returned to the house days earlier. Jack and Jackson repeatedly said "He’s a n*****" when discussing David. The conversation further escalated when one stated, “I’m gonna f*** with n****** bro”. However, it is unknown who exactly stated it due to poor audio quality. Just earlier, Jackson alongside Kathryn Dunn were talking about David in the Head of Household room where he stated that David should “Go back to Mexico" after Kathryn called him a snake. He would later on state that he would like to “mule kick him [David] in the teeth." He would go on to receiving a warning from the Diary Room, which led him to concerning about how it was being perceived in the outside world.

Trivia

 * With their 21st season, the Big Brother U.S. English speaking edition will be the first country to air 21 civilian seasons of the show.