The 'Big Brother' Casting Director Explains Why the Show Doesn’t Have Many "Older" Houseguests
The CBS hit show Big Brother returned this week with a brand new cast for season 21.
In a new interview, Robyn Kass, the show's casting director, explained how the 2019 cast was selected.
This year only one contestant, Cliff Hogg III, is over the age of 40. According to Robyn, there's a reason for that.
Big Brother just started this past Tuesday night, and season 21 is already proving to be pretty crazy. Part of that craziness (besides the controversial camp-themed house) comes from this year's crop of houseguests.
How were the 16 new cast members chosen this year? Casting Director Robyn Kass got into her process on the podcast Big Brother Small World with JC Mounduix. As she explained, the show first offered several casting calls in big cities across the country. From there, they narrowed down the contestants to 25 and eventually whittled it down even more to just 16.
"We all sit around a table and we see the mixture and what do we think and these two people maybe are too similar. Let’s put somebody else in. Or, this person I think that this would be kinda fun to make a mix," Robyn said. "But there’s no, like, you have to get one person like this, and you have to get one person like this."
One of the biggest casting challenges Robyn said was getting "older" contestants to compete on the show. As you'll notice from season 21's cast, the majority of the houseguests are in their 20s and 30s, with the exception of Cliff Hogg III (who is 53).
So, why are there not older houseguests in Big Brother's 2019 cast?
To be clear, it's not because the CBS show has a thing against contestants in their 40s and beyond. In fact, according to Robyn, the reason is simply that they don't get a ton of people from that age group wanting to come on the show.
"The reason why we don’t get a ton of applicants, older applicants, is because they usually have jobs that they can’t leave for three months, families that they can’t leave ... bills, kids, dogs, like, all these things and sometimes life won’t allow them three months."
And so instead, Big Brother usually ends up with cast members who don't necessarily have nine-to-five jobs.
"It’s difficult to get people like, with legitimate jobs because they, I know right now they’re saying, well ‘I would leave my job.’ But really? When you’re faced with it, to leave your job is a big deal," Robyn concluded.
So there you have it. And after all of those things were considered in the casting process, the show ended up with the below fun contestants for season 21:
Holly Allen, 31 - Wine Safari Guide
David Alexander, 29 - Photographer [ELIMINATED]
Nicole Anthony, 24 - Pre-school Aide
Tommy Bracco, 28 - Broadway Dancer
Kathryn Dunn, 29 - Digital Marketing Executive
Kemi Faknule, 25 - Marketing Strategist
Cliff Hogg III, 53 - Petroleum Engineer
Ovi Kabir, 22 - College Student
Nick Maccarone, 27 - Therapist
Jack Matthews, 28 - Fitness Trainer
Jackson Michie, 23 - Server
Jessica Milagros, 30-ish - Model
Christie Murphy, 28 - Boutique Owner
Sam Smith, 31 - Truck Driver
Analyse Talavera, 22 - College Soccer Star
Isabella Wang, 22 - Public Health Analyst
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