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There\u2019s a lot to be said about \u201cBig Brother.\u201d It is a reality show that, beyond its three weekly episodes, also streams a 24\/7 live feed of its contestants as they compete for $750,000. It\u2019s a thrilling concept, one that attempts to push reality TV to its extreme. As houseguests are voted out week after week in a process called \u201ceviction,\u201d they form alliances \u2014 and break them \u2014 trying to be the last one standing. It\u2019s often hailed<\/a> as more of a social experiment than reality TV, a shiny Los Angeles \u201cSurvivor\u201d counterpart. But the start of its most recent season has proved that the crux of any reality TV show is its casting. And with \u201cBig Brother,\u201d the question is, how familiar should these players be with the game before they enter it?<\/p>\n \u201cBig Brother\u201d is played in a pretty consistent format. At the start of the week, players compete in a competition to be crowned head of household. Not only is the HOH safe for the week, but they are also responsible for making the nominations for eviction. Halfway through, players are also able to compete in a Veto competition \u2014 to win the Golden Power of Veto (the right to take someone down from the chopping block). Then, on Sunday, there\u2019s a live eviction ceremony where the players who are not on the block vote for who to send home.\u00a0<\/p>\n The core of any reality show is who is on it. The current players of \u201cBig Brother\u201d are a mix of people who\u2019ve never seen the show before they found out <\/a>they were going to be on it, self-professed die-hard fans and people who agree to the show to advance their social media careers. For a lot of modern contestants, the most valuable boon can often seem to no longer be the $750,000 prize, but becoming popular enough among fans that you can establish your own social media presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bottom line is that a lot of these cast members don\u2019t just not know how to play or have never seen the show; they also don\u2019t really need<\/em> to win. The first part of this deal isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. Season 2, the first time the game was played with the current eviction format, birthed one of the most iconic<\/a> \u201cBig Brother\u201d players \u2014 both entertainment and strategy-wise \u2014 of all time, the evil dermatologist Will Kirby. No one entering the house had seen the game played before, but the season is both fascinating and dramatic. Houseguests grapple with the constant perception that comes with the live feeds and being isolated from the outside world, and define what role morality should play in what is essentially a game \u2014 but a game that has life-changing money at stake. It\u2019s one of the only seasons to fully live up to its social experiment claim, having a much more serious and emotional tone, a large part of this being due to none of the houseguests having any notion of how to cope with being in the surveilled house.\u00a0<\/p>\n