Big Brother: Reindeer Games (also known as Reindeer Games) is a reality competition television series and spin-off of the American version of Big Brother. It aired on CBS on December 11, 2023 to December 21, 2023 and hosted by former Big Brother Houseguests Derek Xiao, Tiffany Mitchell, and Jordan Lloyd. The series features nine former Houseguests competing against each other across six episodes which aired over the course of two weeks. Big Brother: Reindeer Games was placed on hiatus in 2024, due to lack of scheduling availability on the network.

House The house used for Big Brother: Reindeer Games was renamed to the Santa's Lodge under the holiday-theme. The entryway of the house was decorated with flying reindeer, gold-wrapped presents, and a red flannel rug. The living room had a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and wreaths. The kitchen, which in this season was named "Mrs. Claus Bakery", had red and green wallpaper with Christmas symbols, and gingerbread men on the counters.

Format Each episode consists of three games and ends in a "Santa's Showdown", the outcome of which determines the elimination of one HouseGuest. The players did not live in the Big Brother house or together, and there was no voting to evict other players. Four HouseGuest remained in the finale with one winning a grand prize.

Format changes and additions Unlike the previous seasons of Big Brother, Reindeer Games did not involve any nominations, house-voted evictions or live broadcasts. Instead, the nine houseguests from previous seasons would compete in a series of holiday-themed daily challenges.

Naughty and Nice Challenge In this challenge, the houseguests would compete to gain an advantage for the next challenge, while simultaneously, giving a disadvantage for a houseguest of their choosing, also known as the Naughty List Punishment.

Jingle Bell Brawl Challenge The winner, or winners, of this challenge, would receive safety from elimination.

Santa's Showdown The nominees would compete against each other in various challenges to determine who would remain in the lodge and who would be eliminated from the game. The losing houseguest would get to choose a present under the Christmas tree that contains gifts from a fruit cake to $5,000.

Santa's gifts history Episode Eliminated HouseGuest Santa's gift1Cameron2Cody3Danielle4Josh5Britney

HouseGuests

The HouseGuests were revealed intermittently throughout December 6 and 7, 2023.

Name Age Occupation ResidenceResult Big Brother 16, Big Brother 18 & Big Brother 22: All-Stars 31 Boutique owner Ubly, Michigan WinnerEpisode 6 Taylor HaleBig Brother 24 28 Motivational speaker Detroit, Michigan Big Brother 16 40 Actor Los Angeles, California FinalistEpisode 6 Big Brother 23 29 Attorney Milwaukee, Wisconsin FinalistEpisode 6 Big Brother 12 & Big Brother 14 36 Real estate agent Tulsa, Oklahoma EliminatedEpisode 5 Big Brother 19 29 Content creator Miami, Florida EliminatedEpisode 4 Big Brother 3 & Big Brother 7: All-Stars 51 Real estate manager San Francisco, California EliminatedEpisode 3Big Brother 16 & Big Brother 22: All-Stars 32 Software sales rep Howell, New Jersey EliminatedEpisode 2 Big Brother 25 34 Stay-at-home dad Eastman, Georgia EliminatedEpisode 1 Notes

Future appearances In 2024, Josh Martinez competed on The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras. Martinez competed on the second season of the Telemundo reality television series Los 50.

In 2025, Xavier Prather competed on season one of The Anonymous. Britney Haynes and Danielle Reyes competed on season three of The Traitors US. Martinez competed in season one of Destination X. Taylor Hale competed in The Amazing Race 38.

In 2026, Martinez competed on the sixth season of La casa de los famosos.

Episodes

Competition history The Houseguest won Big Brother: Reindeer Games and the $100,000 prize. The Houseguest was the runner-up. The Houseguest was eliminated in the finale. The Houseguest won the Jingle Bell Brawl challenge, securing immunity and nomination power. The Houseguest was nominated to compete in the Santa's Showdown challenge. The Houseguest was eliminated from the Lodge after losing the Santa's Showdown challenge.

+Progress of HouseGuests including competition and nomination history during each episode of the program. HouseGuest Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Naughty and Nice Challenge Winner Britney Cody Taylor Frankie Nicole Xavier Naughty List (s) Cody Taylor Josh NicoleXavier Xavier Nicole Jingle Bell Brawl Challenge Winner(s) Frankie BritneyDanielleJoshTaylor Nicole FrankieTaylor TaylorFrankie (None) Santa's Showdown Nominees CameronXavier CodyFrankieXavier FrankieXavierBritneyDanielle JoshNicole BritneyXavier Nicole Safe SafeBrawl Winner Showdown SafeWinner Taylor Safe Brawl Winner SafeBrawl WinnerBrawl Winner(Episode 6) FrankieBrawl Winner Showdown ShowdownBrawl WinnerBrawl Winner Finalist(Episode 6) Xavier Showdown Showdown Showdown Safe Showdown Finalist(Episode 6) Britney SafeBrawl Winner Showdown Safe Showdown Eliminated (Episode 5) Josh SafeBrawl Winner Safe Showdown Eliminated (Episode 4) Danielle SafeBrawl Winner Showdown Eliminated (Episode 3) Cody Safe Showdown Eliminated (Episode 2) Cameron Showdown Eliminated (Episode 1)EliminatedCameron Lost Santa's ShowdownCody Lost Santa's ShowdownDanielle Lost Santa's ShowdownJosh Lost Santa's ShowdownBritney Lost Santa's Showdown Xavier Bracket FrankieLost Semi-final Bracket TaylorLost Final Bracket NicoleWon Final Bracket Notes

Production Development In May 2023 Deadline Hollywood reported that CBS was considering an additional season of Big Brother in the 2023–24 television schedule, with "all-star contestants", to fill in gaps left by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. CBS had previously done the same with Big Brother 9 which aired in 2008, to combat the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.

Prior to the Big Brother 25 finale in November 2023, host Julie Chen Moonves teased a "holiday surprise" from the "Big Brother universe". In an interview following the episode, Chen Moonves stated that a fourth season of Celebrity Big Brother was unlikely to happen, but noted the possibility of a shortened season with returning players. The Hollywood labor disputes ended with the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike ending in September, and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ending two months after. With most scripted series set to begin filming shortened seasons in late-November and early-December, and most premiering in 2024, there were still empty slots in the schedule.

During the Big Brother 25 finale, it was announced that a new spin-off of Big Brother would air in December titled Big Brother: Reindeer Games. The series was produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment and Banijay Americas (originally Endemol Shine North America) with Allison Grodner, Rich Meehan, and Chris Roach serving as executive producers, all returning from Big Brother.

In November 2024, it was announced that the series would not air a second season in December, with producers citing that they could not find airtime availability on CBS. Although they remained hopeful that it could return in the future.

Casting The series did not feature Chen Moonves and was instead hosted by former Big Brother HouseGuests Derek Xiao, Tiffany Mitchell, and Jordan Lloyd, who were known as "Santa's Elf Ambassadors"; Xiao and Mitchell competed on Big Brother 23, while Lloyd was on both Big Brother 11 and Big Brother 13. Additionally, nine other former contestants, including one from Big Brother 25, would return to compete.

Marketing and release The series premiered on December 11, 2023, and was filmed in its entirety prior to its release. It did not feature any live feeds. Big Brother Reindeer Games aired three episodes a week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, over two weeks, totaling six episodes before its finale on December 21. A teaser trailer was aired during the Big Brother 25 finale featuring former competitors Frankie Grande, Britney Haynes, and Danielle Reyes, and was based off a similar teaser that aired to promote the twenty-fifth season. Episodes from the series also streamed on Paramount+.

See also Big Brother UK Panto – A Christmas-themed spin-off of Big Brother UK in which former contestants reunited to produce the pantomime play.

References

External links Official website