‘Big Brother’ Fans Praise Diverse Season 23 Cast: “Such a Breath of Fresh Air”

Big Brother fans are calling the latest season the most diverse yet after seeing last night’s premiere. The long-running CBS reality competition show, which is now in Season 23, kicked off its latest installment with a cast that met last year’s diversity targets, which the network set last fall following the death of George Floyd and the nation-wide protests that followed in the summer of 2020.

While Big Brother has had its own race-related controversies over the years, the show is making a conscious effort to diversify its cast, committing to 50% contestants of color in the latest season. And when fans met the 16 stars on last night’s season premiere, they were impressed to see that CBS followed through with their promise, Yahoo Entertainment reports.

“Ok, now we just need some Indian, Asian and Latino players this season and we’ve got a fully diverse house….. FINALLYY,” one wrote. Another fan added, “This is the most diverse, highly educated Big Brother cast I’ve ever seen. I love the representation.”

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the Season 23 premiere, host Julie Chen said she was looking forward to more complex conversations and teaching moments with a more diverse group of Big Brother contestants sharing the house.

“In summers past, we’ve seen some people who are used to their bubble, where their world outside of the Big Brother house is not very diverse, and then they behave in a way that is unacceptable,” she said. “So hopefully with this diverse cast, those who are, quote-unquote, minorities, are going to be able to have deep conversations and school people who maybe come from a neighborhood or an area where there’s not a lot of diversity.”

Big Brother airs Sundays and Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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