Reality Bites: Big Brother Season 16 Preview and Cast

Season 16 of Big Brother starts in 6 days! I have mixed feelings about this new season. Part of me wants to be really excited, but part of me is really worried that we could end up with a complete disaster like last season. Not only was the cast pretty horrible by the way they acted toward one another, but they weren't even that great at playing the game. And then we ended up with a terrible winner, Andy Herron. On screen, he was a kind of funny character, but he was a major floater, and since winning has been nothing but disgusting on social media. I can't wait to crown a new winner and completely put Season 15 out of memory.

So, onto Season 16...what can we expect?

Season 16 Twists
Yesterday, on Julie Chen's daytime talk show, The Talk, she announced the major twists in store for what they are calling "the most twisted season ever".

1) Each week, there will be, not 1, but 2 Head of Households! Each one will nominate 2 people, which means that there will be 4 people up for eviction every week! Just think of the problems this will cause for people wanting to play the standard "backdoor" and "pawn" game. However, if you look at the photos of the house, there are still only 2 nominee chairs, so will the "Battle of the Block" (see Twist #2 below) have an effect on the number of people actually facing eviction each week? Looks like it might.

2) HOH's are no longer considered "safe"! Each week there will be a "Battle of the Block". This is really all that Julie said, so we don't know exactly how the HOH's figure into this. By the title, it sounds like all the nominees will be competing. Is it possible that the winner could then nominate someone in their place, including an HOH? Let the speculating begin on other possible theories. Also, by adding another competition, it is likely that one of the competitions we are accustomed to might not be a part of this season. I mean, do they really have time to show another competition? There's really only time for 1 competition per episode. So, it seems likely that maybe there will be no Power of Veto competition this year. Either that, or they get rid of the Food Competitions/Have-Have Not Competitions.

3) America will be impacting the game through "Team America". No word on exactly what the public will be voting on, but I would guess that it would be similar to previous seasons. Things like, what to make the houseguests do or eat. Or like last season, the public voted for an MVP (which totally backfired when it turned out to be Elissa every week).

4) 6/23/14 UPDATE!!! Big Brother Network announced today that the house will be divided (somehow) into 2 groups when entering the house. One group of 8 will arrive on Wednesday night, and the other group will enter on Thursday night. This is something that is VERY common on both the Australian and the UK version of Big Brother. It is most similar to the UK version, in which they usually do that very same thing. This announcement adds to the earlier announced twist of 2 HOHs. The question remains to be seen how the group will be divided, and whether or not the groups will be competing as "teams". There is certain to be a division of the "1st-nighters" and the "2nd-nighters". Alliances will begin forming immediately on the first night, and they will for sure vow to "stick together until the end" and pick off the other "team" one by one. It is also said that the first HOH competition will be taking place on Night 1 as well. We can expect the same of the 2nd group on Night 2. Another question, we'll just have to wait to find out the answer to is: will the HOHs be nominating among their "team" or is anyone going to be fair game?

House Theme

This year, the Big Brother house has a tree house theme. Each room has a nature theme that represents one of the elements: earth, wind, water, fire.


The Treehouse (upstairs)	The giant tree	The Hive Room

The Living Room	The Kitchen	The Dining Room

The Bathroom	The Earth Bedroom	The Fire Bedroom

Let's meet the 16 new houseguests for Season 16!

Cast Bios

		Amber Borzotra Age: 26 Hometown: Knoxville, TN Current City: North Hollywood, CA Occupation: Esthetician and Model Marital Stauts: Single Fun Fact: She wants to win the money so she can help her mom, who raised her as a single mother in low income housing.
		Brittany Martinez Age: 29 Hometown: Long Beach, CA Current City: Torrance, CA Occupation: Event Coordinator Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: Mother of 3
		Christine Brecht Age: 23 Hometown: Tuscon, AZ Occupation: Barista Marital Status: Married Strange Fact: You wouldn't know it by looking at her head shot, but she has several large tattoos up and down both arms.
		Jocasta Odom Age: 33 Hometown: Griffin, GA Current City: Lovejoy, GA Occupation: Minister Marital Status: Married Fun Fact: Once got into an argument with a church goer for complaining about her not wearing panty hose.
		Joey Van Pelt Age: 27 Hometown: Seattle, WA Occupation: Makeup Artist Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: She was her high school's mascot (a tiger), homecoming queen and senior class president. She traveled to the San Juan Islands to help terminally ill patients with end of life care.
		Nicole Franzel Age: 21 Hometown: Ubly, MI Occupation: Recent Nursing Graduate Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: She would love to have a showmance with Ian.
		Paola Shea Age: 27 Hometown: East Hampton, CT Current City: Astoria, NY Occupation: DJ Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: She is a Maxim girl and is a top ranked female gamer
		Victoria Rafaeli Age: 22 Hometown: Brooklyn, NY and Holon, Israel Current City: Weston, FL Occupation: Photographer Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: She was raised by Orthodox Israeli parents and is expected to live at home until she is married. She once rejected a public marriage proposal. She started her own photography business without any formal training.
		Caleb Reynolds Age: 26 Hometown: Dallas, TX Current City: Hopkinsville, KY Occupation: Adventure Hunting Guide (family business) Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: Joined the army after high school and was a prison guard in Iraq
		Cody Calafiore Age: 23 Hometown: Hackensack, NJ Current City: Howell, NJ Occupation: Sales Account Executive Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: He is a Seventeen Magazine "2014 Hot Guy Panelist" where he gives young female readers advice on dating and fashion. He was also drafted to a pro soccer team in college but was cut after getting injured.
		Derrick Levasseur Age: 30 Hometown: Providence, RI Occupation: Police Sergeant Marital Status: Married Fun Fact: Went to college on a full ride baseball scholarship and got his Master's Degree in Business Management. He has been a Police Sergeant for 10 years, after starting as an undercover officer when he was 20.
		Devin Shepherd Age: 26 Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA Current City: San Antonio, TX Occupation: Motorcycle Sales Manager Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: He was a professional baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. Strange Fact: He was 6'2" by the time he was 12 years old
		Donny Thompson Age: 42 Hometown: Albermale, NC Occupation: School Groundskeeper Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: He is the janitor at the former high school of American Idol finalist, and popular country singer, Kellie Pickler. Strange Fact: Although he dresses in camo, and looks like a hunter...he hates killing animals.
		Frankie Grande Age: 31 (or 28?) Hometown: Boca Raton, FL Current City: New York, NY Occupation: YouTube Personality Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: He is the brother of pop singer Ariana Grande. His YouTube channel has over 175,000 subscribers and nearly 10,000,000 views. He is also a former Broadway actor.
		Hayden Voss Age: 21 Hometown: Marlborough, MA Current City: Long Beach, CA Occupation: Pedicab Driver Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: He only recently moved to Los Angeles, without knowing anyone.
		Zach Rance Age: 23 Hometown: Palm Beach, FL Occupation: Recent College Graduate Marital Status: Single Fun Fact: He recently earned a degree in Economics, but someday, he wants to be a professional caddy. He is a self-described "con artist".