Big Brother is reportedly moving ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic, bringing in an all-star cast for Season 22, according to TMZ. The outlet reported that after casting the new season was shut down in May amid a widespread filming pause, executives decided to change the format to an all-star edition instead.
Although there has been no official casting announcement, contestants were reportedly supposed to head to Los Angeles at the beginning of the month to be tested for coronavirus and begin their two-week quarantine period. That timetable, TMZ says, has been pushed back to the end of the month. It’s unclear when the show will premiere on CBS, but network execs seemed optimistic that both Big Brother and Love Island would be on air this summer, according to Deadline.
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“With Love Island and Big Brother, we still hope to have on the air this summer, it could be a little later than usual but we’re still optimistic about getting those on,” CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl told the outlet in May. “Those shows turn around pretty quickly, Big Brother has live shows every week and Love Island literally airs the night after it shoots, those shows do not have long post processes.”
Love Island was originally scheduled to begin airing May 21, with the second season of the American spinoff of the hit U.K. show initially planned to film in Fiji. Hosted by Arielle Vandenberg, the show could be entering its sophomore season from another location, however, as Deadline reported CBS and producer ITV Entertainment are reportedly exploring other locations, including within the U.S.
ITV America CEO David George told the outlet in March that during a normal season, the show requires each episode to be turned around in less than 48 hours, which makes Love Island perfectly designed for this kind of filming pressure. “Once the switch is turned on, we can get it to air very quickly,” he said. “We’re trying to get it as ready as possible so when [CBS] says ‘go’, we’re ready, location-wise, build-outs, casting.”
Other reality shows affected by the coronavirus filming shutdown include The Amazing Race, Survivor and The Bachelorette, which is reportedly planning to film in a singular resort for a fall debut. This would be quite a shift from the ABC series’ typical format, which includes not only domestic and international travel, but also hometown visits for the competitors as well as star Clare Crawley.
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