Big Brother 20 (US)

 is the 20th and current season of the broadcasted edition of Big Brother (U.S.).

Development
The season was announced in August 2018 as part of a double renewal which gave the show its 19th and 20th seasons respectfully. The season will once again by produced by Endemol Shine North America and Fly on the Wall Entertainment alongside executive producers Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan.

Casting
CBS began allowing online applications in September 2017, however open casting calls did not begin until March 2018. In an interview with GoldDerby head executive producer Allison Grodner stated that season 20 would feature an all new cast.

CBS would announce on June 12 that once again the cast would be revealed live on the CBS All-Access Live Feeds on June 18 at 11 AM ET/8 AM PT. The cast would go on to be a fresh cast of 16 new houseguests from all over the country.

Air Schedule
During the Big Brother Canada 6 finale, host Arisa Cox confirmed that the season would premiere on Global in June 2018, although no official word had come from CBS or anyone involved with the Big Brother U.S. (franchise) at that point.

However, after an unusual break in press by CBS, it was announced on May 22, 2018 that the season would premiere on June 27, 2018. It was also revealed that the summer airing schedule was to change for the first time since Big Brother 15. However it was later revealed that the Wednesday night episode would move to the nine o'clock hour after the season premiere.

CBS's Initial Schedule shows the following:
 * Wednesday, June 27 - 8:00-10:00 PM Big Brother (two-hour Season 20 premiere)
 * Thursday, June 28 - 9:00-10:00 PM Big Brother (Thursday premiere)
 * Sunday, July 1 - 8:00-9:00 PM Big Brother (Sunday premiere)
 * Wednesday, July 4 - 9:00-10:00 PM Big Brother (moves to regular Wednesday time period)

However, the timeslot never changed for the show. TKO: Total Knockout moved to the 9:00 slot and Big Brother moved down to the 8:00 slot.

After Dark
Big Brother: After Dark returns to POP for the eighth consecutive season. On April 25, 2018 Pop Press released the following:

"BIG BROTHER AFTER DARK (Premieres: Summer 2018): Pop returns as the exclusive television home of BIG BROTHER AFTER DARK (BBAD), the ultimate after-show to the fan favorite television hit “Big Brother” on the CBS Television Network. BBAD is a live, late night feed inside the Big Brother House, which airs seven nights a week all summer long."

On June 22, Pop released the schedule for the airing via Orwell the Owl's Twitter Account. The schedule is the following (Times in ET):
 * Monday - 12AM - 3AM
 * Tuesday - 12AM - 3AM
 * Wednesday - 1AM - 4AM
 * Thursday - 1AM - 4AM
 * Friday - 12AM - 3AM
 * Saturday - 12AM - 3AM
 * Sunday - 12AM - 3AM

Multiplatform Coverage
Once again, following in the path of Celebrity Big Brother 1 (US), this season will follow a pattern of multiplatform coverage.

Off The Block with Ross and Marissa
Similar to the recap show with Jeff Schroeder since Big Brother 14 (US), former celebrity houseguests Marissa Jaret Winokur and Ross Mathews will host a weekly recap show on Facebook Watch. During the show, the two will recap the weeks events, evictions, and more. The first episode will air on Friday, June 29th.

Ultimate Big Brother Bracket Tournament
To commemorate the upcoming 20th edition of the show, CBS decided to hold a bracket contest to lead up to the premiere. Each week leading up to the premiere fans would go to the CBS Big Brother website and vote on which moment should move on to the next would with the winner being announced the day of the premiere.

The rounds were as followed:
 * Round 1 = May 30 - June 6
 * Round 2 = June 7 - June 13
 * Semifinal Round = June 14 - June 20
 * Final Round = June 21 - June 27, when the winner will be announced.

The bracket can be seen below.

House
The house was revealed on June 20, 2018. The new theme is Interactive Technology. The house includes a rock wall, a new gameroom, moving couch, and communication for the HOH that has never been seen before.

The Press Release said the following: This season's house was designed by Scott Storey. The house pictures can be seen below.

Alumni Launch Crowd
For the launch of season 20, CBS sent out invitations out to previous houseguests to come to the launch taping. However, CBS would not pay for flights to Los Angeles, so houseguests who wished to attend must fly out themselves. Every main broadcast season had at least one representative.

The following former houseguests attended the launch:

Twists

 * Premiere Competitions: The first competition starts almost immediately on premiere night with three challenges that will yield a game-changing power—and two unprecedented punishments. The houseguests were divided into two groups for two competitions. The winners of each competitions would advance to the final competition while the houseguests that would come in last would be punished. The winner of the final competition would give immunity to two out of four groups to enter.
 * House Division: Similar to Big Brother Canada 6's opening night twist, the houseguest who won the final premiere competition would have to grant immunity to half of the house, leaving the other half to play in HoH and be nominated for eviction. The house was split into four groups of four, based on the groups that they entered the house in.
 * BB App Store: Similar to season 19's Den of Temptation, viewers will go online to the CBS website to fill out a survey about the houseguests. The survey results will end with some houseguests trending more than others. The houseguests will then be able to enter the new "BB App Store" room and will be able to choose different powers and advantages or punishments. The only difference to the Den of Temptation is that viewers will not be directly vote for one person to get a power but is based on how the audience perceives the dynamics in the house. The apps are divided up into two different types of apps, "Power Apps" and "Crap Apps". Power apps are good for your game while crap apps are given as punished.
 * Hacker Competition: TBA

Nod to Previous Seasons
With this season being the 20th season anniversary of the show, nods to all of the past seasons will be spread around the season.
 * Week 1
 * Alumni Audience for the Premiere
 * "The Trash Folder" - "The Black Box" (introduced Big Brother 15 (US))
 * "Surfing the BB Web" - "Wipe Out" (introduced Big Brother 6 (US))
 * Live Feeds - Throughout the season, during competitions, ceremonies, and other important events, the feeds will cut to episodes of prior seasons instead of fish or animal shelters. The first episode shown was the premiere of Big Brother 5 (US).
 * Week 2
 * "Yell!" Crap App - "What's the Hold Up" (introduced Big Brother 19 (US))
 * Later reappeared in Week 6 as the "InstaGranny" punishment.
 * "HouseGuestsOnly.com" - Big Brother 19 (US)'s Jessica Graf and Cody Nickson returned to host.
 * Eviction #2 - Celebrity Big Brother 1 (US)'s Ross Mathews and Marissa Jaret Winokur appeared in the audience.
 * Week 3
 * "Mamma Mia Madness" - "Dizzy Dog" (introduced in Big Brother 18 (US))
 * Week 4
 * "Out On A Limb" - "The Wall" (introduced in Big Brother 10 (US))
 * "Chop, Bonk, Spank" - "Slap, Punch, Kick" (introduced in Big Brother 19 (US)) - Big Brother 12 (US) and Big Brother 13 (US)'s Rachel Reilly returned to host.
 * Week 6
 * "Boom Power Trip" - "Yankee Swap" (introduced in Big Brother 8 (US)) - Big Brother 10 (US) and Big Brother 11 (US)’s Jessie Godderz returned to host.
 * Eviction #6 - Big Brother: Over The Top's Alex and Morgan Willett appeared in the audience.
 * Week 7
 * "#HashtagTooLong!" - "Knockout" (introduced in Big Brother 8 (US))
 * "OTEV the Sneezy Skunk" - "OTEV" (introduced in Big Brother All-Stars (US))
 * Week 8
 * "Glow & Flow" - "Slippery Slope" (introduced in Big Brother 8 (US))
 * "Zing Force" - "Hide and Go Veto" (introduced in Big Brother 8 (US)) - "Zingbot Competition" (introduced in Big Brother 12 (US))
 * Week 9
 * "TBA" - "Perfect Shot" (introduced in Big Brother 18 (US))

BB App Store History
The App Store was divided up into 5 Power Apps and 5 Crap Apps. The 10 different Apps are shown below. However only 6 Apps, 3 of each kind, were able to be selected:

Power Apps

 * -|Week 1=BBAppBonusLife.png Bonus Life Description: This power gives you or the houseguest of your choosing the CHANCE to return to the game if evicted. This power is good through the first four evictions. But here's the catch, if the Bonus Life is not used at one of the first three evictions, the 4th person evicted automatically gets a chance to return to the game.

Outcome: The App was won by Sam Bledsoe. After not using the app for the first 3 weeks, Sam won the Week 4 HoH in order to still have control over who the app was used on, and eventually got Kaitlyn Herman evicted, but when the Bonus Life competition was offered, she couldn't complete it in time, thus eliminating both her, and the Bonus Life.
 * -|Week 2=BBAppTheCloud.pngThe Cloud Description: Keep yourself from going on the block at any one Nomination Ceremony or Veto Meeting. If you are worried you could be nominated, sit in the cloud, and you cannot be put on the block.

You have a two-month subscription to the Cloud. So for the next eight weeks, you may choose one time in which to use the Cloud to keep yourself safe!

Outcome: The App was won by Tyler Crispen. It ended up becoming the last app left in the game, as the Bonus Life was used automatically, and the Identity Theft was eliminated alongside its holder.
 * -|Week 3=BBAppIdentityTheft.pngIdentity Theft Description: At any point in the first half of the game, you can secretly steal the identity of one Head of Household at the Nomination Ceremony! The reigning HOH cannot be nominated and will still control the replacement nominee at the Veto Meeting. When only 8 houseguests remain, the Identity Theft power is no longer in play.

Outcome: The App was won by Bayleigh Dayton. After initially telling Faysal Shafaat about the app immediately after winning it, Bayleigh kept it a secret until she won the Week 6 HoH and told Rachel Swindler in order to convince her to be a Pawn. Rachel then told Angela Rummans, who then told the rest of their alliance, before Brett Robinson exposed it to the entire house at the eviction. Angela won the next HoH and targeted Bayleigh because of the Power App, and so she successfully backdoored her, sending her to The Jury House, and eliminating the Identity Theft.

Crap Apps

 * -|Week 1=BBAppHamazon.png Hamazon Description: Congratulations, Hamazon will be delivering you packages all week long! Every time you hear there is a Hamazon delivery, retrieve your package and prepare to feast! With Hamazon, freshness is key! So you must eat all the ham in each delivery as soon as it arrives.
 * -|Week 2=BBAppYell.png Yell! Description: For the next 24 hours, an Angry Reviewer will be unleashed into the house at random times to loudly give feedback on you and your game.
 * -|Week 3=BBAppReadIt.png Read It! Description: Congratulations, you are the new narrator for an Audio Book version of Hamlet! Every time you hear "To Read or Not to Read... To Read", you must put on your Shakespeare costume, go to the reading area, stand on your soapbox and in your best Shakespearean accent, read from the Hamlet book out loud. When you hear "To Read or Not to Read... Not to Read", you will stop reading. This punishment will continue until you have read the entire book.

Controversies

 * July 2: JC was seen inappropriately touching houseguests private regions. In one scene, JC jokingly attempted to touch Kaycee and Kaitlyn's with an ice cream scooper. He tried to attempt the same on Tyler, however he blocked his private region. Later JC walked up to Tyler, who was having a massage at the time, and rubbed his genitals. However, no houseguests complained about JC's actions.
 * Production later discussed his actions on the live feeds with him and warned him of future actions.
 * July 3: Rachel and Angela were outside on the hammocks when Rachel said that her stomach was tanning as dark as African-American houseguest Bayleigh. Angela later responded with, "I know. I'm looking ghetto here with the skin coloration". Rachel agreed and said if she stayed in the sun for another two days that she would "change ethnicities".
 * Production later discussed their actions on the live feeds with both women and warned them of future actions.
 * July 6: Kaitlyn was lying down in the upstairs lounge with Tyler and Scottie where she quoted a Drake lyric. "I did go zero to 100 n**ga, real quick." Immediately realising what she had done with an "oops", Kaitlyn began to continue the song to cover the mistake up and to infer to the live feed audience that she was not racist. Neither Tyler or Scottie reacted to what she said.
 * July 17: JC was in the HOH room talking with Bayleigh, Scottie, and Faysal about how the word m***et is considered a derogatory/offensive word. He then compared the word to how "gay and f***ot or ni**er and black" are not the same thing. Bayleigh was instantly offended and lectured JC to never use the word again.
 * This controversy sparked a conversation between the two that was not shown on the Live Feeds, but was made the focus of the Sunday, July 22nd, 2018 episode (Episode 12).
 * July 30: Rachel was trying to fall asleep when JC woke her up asking "Are you a real girl?" indirectly asking if she was transgender. In response, Rachel stated that she was. JC then said that "There was a comment that you are trans." Rachel asked "who said that" and JC said that he did. JC then attempted to touch Rachel's adam apple multiple times while she swatted him away repeatedly.
 * July 30: Bayleigh was in a discussion with Haleigh and Rockstar when she began discussing how "they" (Muslims) act the way they do. Since Faysal is a Muslim, Bayleigh began saying that “Fessy should suck it” and “go find a virgin”. She later said “go to Pakistan and go get you one" saying “that’s what ‘they’ do.”
 * August 5: Bayleigh was in a discussion with Rockstar on Big Brother: After Dark on how Rockstar is “(you’re) the only white person I know that hates white people.” After a laugh by Rockstar, Bayleigh responds with "Yes, you do. Like normal white people. You don’t like them [any] more than I do."
 * August 6: Bayleigh was in the bathroom and pulled Haleigh aside and told her that she had a dream. She thinks she missed her period, her breasts were bigger, and that she is pregnant with Swaggy C's baby. Haleigh then asks if she took a pregnancy test, to which Bayleigh responded with “No, it’s more like pure fear. I don’t even want to know.”

Les Moonves Sexual Allegations
On July 27, the New Yorker published an articled that stated that Julie Chen's husband and head of CBS Les Moonves had sexually assaulted six women. Julie went on to twitter to support her husband as his battle over CBS and Viacom continues.

We are currently following this story in relevance to host Julie and BB20.

Notable Prizes

 * For winning Week 3’s “Mamma Mia Madness” Veto competition, Scottie won a trip to Greece.
 * After the Week 6 Power of Veto competition, several HouseGuests received prizes:
 * Scottie won $5,000
 * Tyler won a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii

Notable Punishments

 * Week 1's first two challenges gave punishments to the last place finisher in each challenge. Kaycee received the Pinwheel of Doom punishment and Sam received the Big Brother Bot punishment.
 * After the Week 6 Power of Veto competition, several HouseGuests received punishments:
 * Brett had a 24 Hour InstaGranny punishment.
 * Kaycee had to wear a "Health Nut-itard" for a week and had to sing and dance to a jingle whenever it played.
 * Rockstar had to complete Jessie's Fitness & Food Program for a week whenever his voice sounded.

Trivia

 * This season marks the first time that one country has produced twenty civilian seasons of Big Brother
 * Celebrity Big Brother (UK) is the first season to produce more than twenty seasons.
 * Following Big Brother 10 (US) and Big Brother 18 (US), this is the third season where two houseguests share the same first name, the two being Angela Rummans and Angela Lantry. The latter was officially referred to by her nicknames ("Angie" and "Rockstar") throughout the season in order to differentiate between the two of them.
 * There also many names that rhyme this season (Bayleigh Dayton and Haleigh Broucher, JC Monduix and Kaycee Clark).