Huzzah! The live premiere of “Big Brother 23” went off without a hitch — that is, there were no awkward technical difficulties or locked doors. Among the many, many twists for this 2021 season is one that’s familiar to longtime fans: teams. The 90-minute opener was all about creating the teams, beginning with four mini-challenges that determined the four captains: Brandon “Frenchie” French for the Jokers, Whitney Williams for the Aces, Christian Birkenberger for the Kings and Claire Rehfuss for the Queens. Based solely on first impressions, we’re curious to know which team is YOUR favorite? Vote in our poll below.
SEE ‘Big Brother’ winners list: All 22 seasons, plus spin-offs
The four houseguests who won their initial plexiglass challenges became captains, and then they got to choose the other members of their teams. “Big Brother” offered each captain a pair of options seemingly at random, both with brief factoids about themselves. The captains briefly weighed their options before picking which person they liked better. In the end, the four team breakdowns were as follows:
Jokers
Brandon “Frenchie” French (Captain)
Azah Awasum
Britini D’Angelo
Derek Frazier
Aces
Whitney Williams (Captain)
Brent Champagne
Derek Xiao
Hannah Chaddha
Kings
Christian Birkenberger (Captain)
Alyssa Lopez
Xavier Prather
Sarah Beth Steagall
Queens
Claire Rehfuss (Captain)
Kyland Young
Tiffany Mitchell
Travis Long
The four teams then competed in a challenge to determine who would become the first Head of Household of the summer and which team would be safe for the week. The “House of Cards” inspired competition forced each team to work together to balance their oversized cards. The Jokers ended up prevailing, with Frenchie becoming HOH for the week. Second place went to the Queens, followed by the Aces in third and the Kings in fourth.
However, host Julie Chen Moonves soon gave Frenchie the option of risking his HOH by going “double or nothing.” If he took her offer and rolled two large dice cubes onto a platform, the Jokers would be safe for the next two weeks. If he lost her challenge, they would no longer be safe for the first week and the Queens would be safe instead, with Claire taking over Frenchie’s HOH duties. Frenchie declined the offer, so nothing changed.
