If you tuned into CBS in the summer of 2000, you weren't watching the cutthroat, backstabbing strategy game we know today. Not even close. You were watching a bizarre social experiment that felt more like a public access channel version of a commune. Big Brother US 1 was the black sheep of the franchise, a clunky Dutch import that didn't quite know what it wanted to be. It had no Head of Household. There was no Power of Veto. Basically, it was just ten strangers in a house doing chores and waiting for the phone to ring.
Honestly, it’s a miracle the show survived at all.
Most modern fans who go back and watch the first season are usually shocked. It’s slow. Like, really slow. Instead of the high-octane competitions for safety, we got the "Weekly Task." Think: building a clock out of potatoes or taking care of a pug named Chiquita. It was a different era. The "Houseguests" weren't there to build a resume for Instagram; they were there to see if they could coexist without losing their minds.
What Big Brother US 1 Actually Looked Like
The setup was simple but arguably boring. Ten people entered a house that looked like a basic IKEA showroom. They were isolated from the world—no TV, no internet, no books. Every two weeks, the houseguests would nominate two of their own for "banishment." Then, the power shifted to the people at home.
You.
Viewers had to call a 1-900 number—and pay for the privilege—to vote someone out. Because the public usually votes off the "villains" or anyone causing drama, the show quickly lost its most interesting characters. It was a self-defeating cycle. By the time the finale rolled around, the house was mostly filled with nice people who got along. Great for a dinner party, but terrible for television ratings.
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The Cast That Started It All
The houseguests weren't the archetypes we see now. There wasn't a "comp beast" or a "manipulative mastermind" because there was nothing to master.
- Eddie McGee: An entertainer from New York and an amputee who was blunt about wanting the money.
- Josh Souza: A civil engineering student who ended up as the runner-up.
- George "Chicken" Boswell: A roofer from Illinois who became a fan favorite.
- Jamie Kern: A model who later founded IT Cosmetics and became a billionaire.
- Cassandra Waldon: A UN communications director who brought a level of maturity rarely seen on reality TV.
Eddie ultimately won the $500,000 grand prize with 59% of the public vote. He wasn't a "game player" in the modern sense. He was just a guy people liked. Or, at least, they liked him more than Josh and Curtis.
Why the Format Failed (and Saved) the Series
The ratings for the premiere were massive—22 million people watched. But then people realized the show was just a lot of sitting around. Ratings tanked. Critics called it a "train wreck." At one point, a plane even flew over the house with a banner saying, "Big Brother is worse than you think."
The producers were panicking.
They started breaking their own rules to keep people watching. They offered houseguests $50,000 to walk away so they could bring in a replacement. They let contestants talk to their families. It was desperate. But that desperation is actually what led to the total reboot in Season 2. If Big Brother US 1 had been a mediocre success, we might still be watching people wash dishes and nominate based on who didn't do the laundry. Because it was such a disaster, CBS allowed producers to throw the whole format in the trash.
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They kept the name, the house, and the host, Julie Chen. Everything else? Gone.
Season 2 introduced the "Head of Household" and allowed the players to vote each other out. That changed everything. It turned a boring documentary into a game of "social chess." Suddenly, you had to be mean to win. You had to lie. You had to form alliances. The "banishment" of Season 1 became the "eviction" of the future.
The Weirdest Moments You Forgot
It wasn't all just sitting on the couch. There were some truly "only in 2000" moments.
William Collins, one of the first banished houseguests, was a politician who intentionally failed a task just to spite the others. Then there was the "Red Room," which was the original version of the Diary Room but much more atmospheric. The houseguests also had a vegetable garden and a chicken coop because they had to literally grow some of their own food if they failed their weekly tasks.
Remember the potato clock? They had to build a functioning clock out of potatoes to know what time it was. If they failed, they lived in a timeless void. It was psychological warfare disguised as a middle school science project.
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The Legacy of the First Season
Does Big Brother US 1 still matter? Kinda. It’s the "Pangea" of American reality competition. Without its failure, we wouldn't have the sophisticated strategies of Dr. Will Kirby or Dan Gheesling.
It also gave us "The Chenbot." Julie Chen was so stiff and formal in that first season that the nickname stuck for decades. She survived the reboot, but the co-host, Ian O'Malley, did not. He was quietly let go after the first year, leaving Julie as the sole face of the franchise.
The show also proved that the "Live Feeds" were a goldmine. Even when the CBS broadcast was boring, the 24/7 feeds had a cult following. People loved the voyeurism. That hasn't changed. We're still obsessed with watching strangers sleep and whisper in the dark.
How to Watch It Today
If you're a completionist, you can find the season on streaming platforms like Paramount+. Just a fair warning: it’s 70 episodes long. Yes, 70. Back then, they aired six nights a week. It’s a massive time commitment for a show where the biggest conflict is often about who used too much toilet paper.
If you want to understand the history of the show, watch the first few episodes and then the finale. You’ll see the DNA of what Big Brother was supposed to be—a "Fly on the Wall" documentary. Then watch Season 2 and see the moment it became a game.
Actionable Insights for Fans
- Skip the filler: If you're watching for the first time, focus on the "Banishment" episodes. The daily recaps are mostly fluff.
- Watch the evolution: Compare the Season 1 house (1,800 square feet, one story) to the modern mansions. It puts the "struggle" of the early years into perspective.
- Observe the casting: Notice how the cast members are older and have "real" jobs. It's a stark contrast to the influencer-heavy casts of the 2020s.
- Appreciate the "Chicken": George Boswell is the only Season 1 player to ever return for an All-Stars season. Watch his journey to see why he became the show's first "character."
The first season of Big Brother US was a beautiful, boring, chaotic mess. It tried to be a serious study of human nature and ended up being a cautionary tale about let-the-audience-decide mechanics. But without those 88 days in the summer of 2000, the landscape of American television would look very different.
Next Steps for Your Big Brother Deep Dive:
- Research the "Season 2 Reboot" to see how Dr. Will Kirby fundamentally changed the rules of reality TV.
- Look up the IT Cosmetics success story to see how Jamie Marie Kern turned a reality TV stint into a billion-dollar empire.
- Explore the history of the "Live Feeds" to understand how they revolutionized fan engagement.