Big Brother 19 interview: EP Allison Grodner on Battle Back ‘wrinkle,’ eviction votes

We’re back once more with our latest Big Brother 19 weekly Q&A featuring executive producer Allison Grodner, and this one features a wide array of discussion topics. There may only be three questions, but in here Grodner teases everything from a Battle Back “wrinkle” to the surprise eviction vote from Christmas while she was in the hospital. (As of this writing, she still isn’t back in the house.)

Given that we’ve taken on some serious topics as of late, we did feel it would be fun this time around to end on something a little more silly — toad costumes, because why not? Check out the Q&A below, and remember you can get all of our live feed updates (which typically happen every morning and evening) over at the link here.

CarterMatt – Given that Cody was such a lightning rod in the house, were you ultimately surprised to see three people vote to evict Ramses?

Allison Grodner – From the first eviction to now, this has already been a season of surprises. I think the most surprising vote was Christmas given that she was put on the block by Cody.

What made you want to bring back the Battle Back this season? Were you concerned that after debuting it last season, some people would expect it and play with it in mind?

I think that Cody was genuinely surprised by the news that he might have a second chance. We love to twist things up, so we have a wrinkle to the Battle Back – it’s something we’ve never done before that will definitely keep them on their toes.

I want to end on something silly this week — Where do the VeToads stand in your mind in the pantheon of ridiculous Big Brother costumes?

Ha! They were indeed ridiculous, but I think we have played in the absurd quite a bit – the banana, the penguin, the humilitard, etc…are all up there as well.

Now, your take

What do you think the “wrinkle” to the Battle Back competition could be this season, and do you think that it could be something to hurt a physical guy like Cody? Share some of your thoughts below! So long as there’s a variety of different physical / mental competitions, we personally liked the format of the Battle Back last season. We’ll see what they come up with this time.

As mentioned, head over here to get some more of the latest news regarding Big Brother. New Grodner interviews will come your way every Friday. (Photo: CBS.)