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The backbone of Big Brother has been and always will be the live feeds. Without them, the CBS competition series isn’t special and is just like any other edited reality show. And if CBS ever entertains the thought of removing live feeds from Big Brother, they should just cancel the series instead.

Taylor Hale, the winner of 'Big Brother 24' on CBS, wears a red dress while sitting at the 'Big Brother' house's kitchen table.
Taylor Hale | Photo: CBS

‘Big Brother Canada’ canceled live feeds for season 11

Big Brother fans received terrible news when the Canadian version of the show’s Twitter account announced that the upcoming season wouldn’t feature the standard live feeds.

The tweet reads, “Attention BBCAN fam! As we head into Season 11, Big Brother Canada‘s Live Feeds are evolving. Behind the scenes content will now be delivered through Digital Dailies — uncut footage from inside the BBCAN house, offering viewers an extended peek into the houseguests’ lives.”

So instead of 24/7 live feeds, Big Brother Canada Season 11 will provide viewers with “Digital Dailies,” which is a mockery to its audience. They will no longer have access to unfiltered and unlimited footage of the Big Brother Canada house. So if something controversial happens, like a houseguest making a racist remark, producers can control whether or not fans learn about it.

The news immediately upset fans, and we don’t blame them. So much happens inside the Big Brother house, and sometimes, networks, including CBS, don’t get the narrative right. The live feeds are a way of holding producers, the network, and houseguests accountable. So we predict Big Brother Canada‘s quality will suffer due to losing live feeds.

CBS announced they wouldn’t remove the ‘Big Brother’ live feeds

Thankfully, days after Big Brother Canada‘s announcement, CBS reassured fans that the U.S. version wouldn’t follow suit.

Entertainment Weekly reported that sources confirmed Big Brother 25 would still feature the 24/7 live feeds. As the publication pointed out, CBS and Paramount profit immensely from the live feeds, which are accessible via a Paramount+ account. So it wouldn’t make sense for them to remove the service so that they could avoid controversy.

So, at least for the foreseeable future, Big Brother on CBS will feature live feeds. And if that ever changes, we should assume that the network canceled the show.

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‘Big Brother’ is pointless without the live feeds

Since the CBS show’s title takes inspiration from George Orwell’s novel, 1984, Big Brother wouldn’t make sense without the live feeds. Like in the book, the houseguests are being watched 24/7, so producers and fans can witness their every move. We are the flies on the wall, and if the producers remove the live feeds, they throw the show’s concept out the window.

Aside from forgetting the point of Big Brother, removing live feeds mean that fans don’t get the competition’s full story. One of the best examples is Big Brother 24. The season immediately began with the unfair targeting and bullying of Taylor Hale, but viewers would never know the full extent of the trauma she endured just by watching the episodes.

CBS can control the narrative via the episodes but can never hide the true story since the live feeds exist. The 24/7 surveillance allows viewers to discuss all the happenings inside the house and shed light on sketchy behavior.

But even the current live feeds aren’t perfect since producers often cut away from important conversations (see Michael Bruner and Brittany Hoopes informing Taylor and Monte Taylor of Kyle Capener’s racist comments). So if CBS ever decides to eliminate the live feeds, there would be no point in watching the overproduced Big Brother episodes. The network might as well cancel it and put everyone out of their misery.

Big Brother 25 premieres in the summer of 2023 on CBS. And all seasons of Big Brother are available to stream on Paramount+.

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