Big Brother's slogan is "expect the unexpected." But it isn't only the contestants who need to expect the unexpected, sometimes the producers have to as well. In certain situations, producers need to make adjustments to their plans, adapting based on the circumstances in the house.
Sometimes this happens as a result of player's choices in the house and sometimes it's due to circumstances outside of anyone's control. Either way, it always comes as a shock to both houseguests and fans when a producer has to interject. Take a look at these 10 times a producer had to step in on Big Brother.
Christmas' Broken Leg
Big Brother 19 introduced a promising athlete in Christmas Abbott. Unfortunately, Christmas broke her leg the first week of the show. All contestants are required to be medically cleared before competing in the show. Typically, Christmas would have been sent home after an injury this large.
However, Big Brother was already short one cast member, as contestant Megan had self evicted earlier in the week. Instead of sending Christmas home, production allowed her to continue to play the game while keeping her from participating in certain competitions.
Jen's Penalty Vote
Jen from Big Brother 8 is mostly ed for her famed red jumpsuit. Though Jen was disliked by many in the house, she didn't seem to be bothered by what others thought of her. Her general attitude seemed to be "whatever."
When she was placed on the block for eviction and knew she was on her way out, she applied this attitude to her rule-following. Though Jen was a have-not, she refused to eat slop, choosing to munch on real food instead. This earned her a penalty vote against her on eviction night, not that it would have made a difference anyway as she was evicted unanimously.
Audrey's Penalty Vote
Contestants who throw in the towel are typically disliked by fans, but that isn't the case for Audrey. This iconic player competed on season 17 and had plans to mastermind the game. Unfortunately, she played a little too quickly and was caught in her lies.
This led to a breakdown in which Audrey almost self-evicted. After spending hours in the diary room, Audrey reentered the house and promptly broke the have-not rules by both eating food and taking a hot shower. This earned her a penalty vote on eviction night.
Matt's Penalty Vote
The cast of season 19 was pretty unlikable. Among those disliked were the cringy showmance Matt and Raven. When the two were put on the block next to each other, Matt was determined to ensure that Raven stayed instead of him.
He decided to intentionally break the rules in hopes that it would earn him a penalty vote and result in his eviction. When Matt violated his have-not rules, the producers were forced to do just that.
Sharon Comes Back
Big Brother 9 is one of the least liked seasons of all time, partially due to its couples twist which forced the contestants to play as duos. When Joshuah's partner Neil decided to walk on day 7 of the game for personal reasons, the producers were forced to step in.
They decided to allow Josh to choose a new partner from the previously evicted duo, giving one of them another chance in the game. He chose Sharon and she returned to the game as his partner.
Scott's Expulsion
Big Brother 4 included a twist called "The X Factor." Some of the houseguests were surprised to find that they were going to be living with and competing against their exes. While many of the houseguests weren't excited to learn this information, one houseguest got a little more worked up than others.
When learning that his ex would be living in the house, Scott began to get extremely violent. He intentionally began to intimidate some of the other players in the house and began throwing chairs. Violence and aggression are not tolerated in the Big Brother house and production quickly expelled him from the game.
Willie's Expulsion
Sometimes Big Brother sets themselves up for failure. Such was the case in season 14 as they cast houseguest Willie, whose brother was well known for being a "villain" on Survivor. While they surely expected Willie to play the role of the villain on this season, they bit off more than they could chew.
Willie proved to be extremely hot-headed. He was immediately disliked by his fellow houseguests. He called the others names and even threw food at well-respected veteran Janelle. A physical altercation with fellow houseguest Joe was the last straw and Willie was expelled from the game.
Chima's Expulsion
Chima's departure from season 11 is perhaps the most well-ed instance of a houseguest getting expelled from the game. After her ally Jessie was evicted, Chima became frustrated. She believed the producers were influencing houseguests and manipulating the outcome of the game, something many fans have also accused the show of doing.
Chima decided that she was going to completely disregard the rules of the game. Despite multiple prompts from "Big Brother" (the name given to the voice used to relay messages to houseguests), Chima refused to put on her microphone. When Chima's friends attempted to encourage her to comply with the requests and brought her mic pack to her outside, she promptly threw it into the pool. When called to the diary room, Chima again refused to listen. This prompted executive producer Allison to come over the speaker, a rare occurrence on Big Brother. When Chima entered the diary room, she was promptly removed from the house.
Justin's Expulsion
The first instance of expulsion in the Big Brother house happened in season 2 of the show. Justin had made several poor decisions in the house and was on notice for smashing bottles and a chess set, urinating on a window, and threatening other houseguests.
One night, Krista and Justin were drunk and flirting. After kissing, he pretending to swing a mop at her head and asked her if she would be mad if he "cracked her over the head." The two resumed kissing before Justin put a large kitchen knife to Krista's throat and asked "would you be mad if I killed you?" while kissing her. Though an intoxicated Krista seemed unbothered by his behavior and Justin claimed he was "just joking," the producers had no choice but to expel him as they feared for the safety of the houseguests.
911 Tragedy
Typically, Big Brother does not share news from outside of the house with the houseguests. Cutting them off from the outside world is a major aspect of the game. Unfortunately, while filming season 2, the attack on the World Trade Center occurred.
The game was nearing finale night and at this point, only 3 contestants were left in the game - Will, Nicole, and Monica. Production thought it was important to update the houseguests on this situation, making an exception to their rules. Sadly, Monica's cousin Tamitha tragically died in this terrorist attack.