Big Brother 19 interview: Allison Grodner on Battle Back, Mark vs. Josh

Coming into tonight’s episode of Big Brother 19, there was certainly a lot of curiosity about the battle back through the lens of one key question: What happened if the Halting Hex was used? Would the competition go on with just three people?

In our weekly Q&A with executive producer Allison Grodner, she was kind enough to clear that up for us! Not only that, but she also gave us a sense of how production monitored the Mark vs. Josh fight that took place and also the gloriousness that is Kevin. Remember that there is a special episode airing on CBS Friday night and that the live feeds are going to return after the show at around 9:00 p.m. Big Brother Time.

CarterMatt – I know this is a question many people are wondering — had Jessica used the Halting Hex, would the Battle Back have happened with just three people? 

Allison Grodner – Yes.  The Battle Back was planned to happen from before the season even began.  Had Jessica used the Hex, there would have been three people playing to get back into the house instead of four.

When the pickle juice / hot sauce chaos broke out with Mark and Josh, was there any initial fear that the two guys were going to go to blows? Were you surprised that this incident spiraled into so much drama in the house? (It made for a really good segment on the show!)  

Who knew that pickle juice and hot sauce would blow up the way it did?  We always look out for the houseguests’ safety and we were definitely watching this play out live.  Most of the time, the houseguests police themselves in these tense situations and that is exactly what happened.  Kevin and Jason stepped in as a preventative measure and Mark and Josh followed the rules.  We are happy that in the end it resulted in a memorable segment for the BB ages and not an expulsion from the house.

On a casting level, Kevin is outstanding and he may be one of my favorites in a long time. I know you can’t play favorites, but does seeing the audience response to him make you consider having more older contestants down the road?  

We always strive to have the best mix of personalities in the house regardless of age. Kevin would have been cast whether he was 30, 50 or 80.

Further Big Brother insight — including a Battle Back preview!

If you missed it earlier, what we’ve posted is our projections of what could happen based on a wide array of people re-entering the house. You can take a look at that further over at the link here.

Have any questions you want asked in future Q&A sessions? Share in the comments or tweet them @MattCarterMedia. We can’t guarantee anything, but we’ll take it into consideration. (Photo: CBS.)