Big Brother 20 interview: Allison Grodner assesses the season so far

We are now past the halfway point of Big Brother 20 and since we’re also at the weekend, we’re back with another interview with executive producer Allison Grodner! Every week we ask a few questions via email to Grodner in the midst of her super-busy schedule, and this week we have a few fun behind-the-scenes teases about punishments, editing, and the game as a whole.

To go along with this interview, be sure to check out the video below for more discussion on the live feeds. If you enjoy that, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube and also pay a visit to our playlist.

CarterMatt – I’ve been curious for a long time how the Veto punishments are created. What’s the process like of figuring out and discussing the right way to playfully torment the houseguests? Bringing in the grandma was especially fun (especially since Brett wore the sweater tonight!).

We have an amazing creative team of producers that dream up these punishments. There is usually a long list of the most ridiculous and funny costumes and bits you could think of and then we pick our favorites. We go for humor as well as discomfort for the houseguests as that can stir up drama and make for fun segments in the show. Big Brother has a unique tone where the silly, corny, and absurd are celebrated and the punishments are a great way to play that up.

I was watching the feeds for most of the house meeting, and was amazed at how much content was whittled down from it in the show. Given that this only happened a little over a day before the episode, how challenging was it to build up the story for it and the aftermath in 24 hours?

Big Brother has always been a fast turnaround show which means that we are putting an hour’s worth of prime time television together in less then two days. Many times a big event happens in the house the night before the live show and our editing and story team turn it around the same day. There are up to 400 people working on this show every summer and we are all working around the clock so our content is as current as possible.

Since we’re at about the halfway point this season, let’s close by talking about the cast. What has surprised you the most about this group so far in the game?

The biggest and best surprise is that this group of houseguests are all playing the game (Sam may be the exception…) and that we have not heard the familiar and disappointing phrase “I just want to make it to jury.”

Related – Check out some more updates on the live feeds in written from!

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