'Big Brother All-Stars' Sets Season 22 Premiere Date

The Big Brother house is open once again! After weeks of rumors that an All-Star season was coming, TVLine reported Thursday that it was official, with the network teasing past winners, fan-favorites, and "some of the best to never win the game" would be competing in Season 22 coming this August. The hit CBS summer show will kick off the second-ever All-Stars season with the first-ever live move-in event on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 9 p.m. ET. Following the premiere, episodes will air weekly on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.

Houseguests have yet to be announced, but TMZ reported Wednesday the following former players had been flown out to Los Angeles to begin coronavirus testing and quarantine: Season 19 winner Josh Martinez, Season 8 runner-up Daniele Donato, Season 18 alum Paulie Calafiore, Season 18 winner Nicole Franzel, Season 20 runner-up Tyler Crispen, three-time contestant Janelle Pierzina, Season 14 winner Ian Terry, Season 12 winner Hayden Moss and Season 20 alum Bayleigh Dayton.

To protect the cast and crew, CBS has put in place a COVID-19 compliance officer whose job will be to protect the "welfare of everyone involved" and make sure everyone complies with health and safety protocols. While much of the already-isolated show will look the same, Thursday's show will go without a live audience for the first time in the show's 20-year history.

Ahead of the premiere, the houseguests will quarantine and be tested several times before entering the house. Once inside, they will be tested on a weekly basis and have no contact with crew members. Crew members and other staff will also be tested regularly, and masks will be required when the crew is not working in their individual social distancing pods.

Big Brother is airing later than usual this year after the pandemic scrapped initial plans for the season. The most recent season to air was Big Brother Germany, which had the rare challenge of informing clueless houseguests that the coronavirus was spreading across the globe in mid-March. During a live episode, host Jochen Schropp told the cast that "a disease called COVID-19 has spread across the world" and had "reached Europe," prompting emotional responses from the houseguests, who had entered the house in February and missed all the news about the deadly virus. The only time this had been done before in Big Brother history was in 2001 after the 9/11 terror attacks.