‘Big Brother’: Are Players Allowed to Speak Different Languages in the House?
The last two seasons of Big Brother have been more diverse than ever. And that’s partly thanks to CBS’s pledge to have their reality series’ casts be at least fifty percent Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). However, if Big Brother players are bilingual or multilingual, there are specific rules against speaking anything other than English.
1 ‘Big Brother 24’ player is from Brazil
Over its 24 seasons, Big Brother has featured many bilingual players. But Big Brother 24 was the first time the cast contained a Brazilian-born contestant — Indy Santos. Indy was born in Brazil but currently resides in Los Angeles as a private jet flight attendant.
Indy was the sixth person evicted from the Big Brother house and the first member of the jury. She was a part of the Girls Girls alliance and the Five Swatters. However, the Leftovers perceived her as too big of a threat and sent her packing on Day 44.
Although Indy’s first language is Portuguese, fans rarely saw her speak anything but English on the live feeds and the show. Perhaps this is because Big Brother players are forbidden from speaking other languages in the house.
Fans wonder if the houseguests aren’t permitted to speak languages other than English
One Big Brother fan started a Reddit thread and posited, “Are [houseguests] required to only speak in English in the house? I don’t remember anyone speaking Spanish, for example.”
A Reddit user answered, “Yeah, [Big Brother 18 players] Victor and Natalie spoke to each other in Spanish a couple times, but the [Big Brother] voice told them to stop. In [Big Brother Canada], they are allowed to speak French because it’s an official language in Canada. Seasons 5 and 10 had French speakers conversing in French.”
“Spanish is huge in many parts of USA,” someone added. “I wish [Big Brother U.S.] gets inspiration and allow Spanish dialogue. It’s another part of being inclusive.”
As for why Big Brother players can only speak English in the house, a fan wrote, “Mostly so they can’t hide things from production.” However, another Reddit user had a different answer. They commented, “I think it is because it is an unfair advantage to be able to talk to someone else openly without other [houseguests] knowing what you are saying.”
‘Big Brother 3’ players used ASL to communicate
In the Reddit thread, fans pointed out that a couple of Big Brother 3 players were able to use American Sign Language during the game.
“Danielle Reyes and Lisa [Donahue] used sign language to communicate on season 3,” one person commented. “Two queens were way ahead of their time.”
A fan added, “[Big Brother 4 players] Jun [Song] and Jee [Choe] spoke Korean to each other.”
So it seems like the rule about only speaking English in the house came about following Big Brother 3 and Big Brother 4.
New episodes of Big Brother 24 air Sundays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET and Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
